Levirate Law

Ruth 2:1-2

I am so glad we do not have arranged marriages in the U.S. Can you imagine being stuck with someone you never wanted to marry in the first place? On the other hand, at least there was a time of preparation for the arranged marriage. What if you woke up one day and were told that you had to marry a woman because it was your duty, and you were already married? I'm no rocket scientist, but I can see all kinds of problems arising out of that situation. Would you have to remember two anniversaries? Date nights would be interesting; NOT. As crazy as all of this sounds, there is just such a law that if REALLY important to understand if we are going to truly understand the book of Ruth.

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There was a relative of Naomi’s husband, a man of great wealth, of the family of Elimelech. His name was Boaz. 2 So Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Please let me go to the field, and glean heads of grain after him in whose sight I may find favor.”

Ruth 2:1-2

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This is kind of a strange introduction to chapter 2. Verse 1 says that Naomi has a relative and then the subject changes, and in verse two Ruth asks permission to go glean or gather grain that the farmers had dropped. The two seem very disjointed. What we need to understand is that verse one is the hinge upon which the door of hope and blessings will swing. This verse is a reference to an Old Testament law that we call the "Levirate Law". We read about it in Deuteronomy.

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“If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the widow of the dead man shall not be married to a stranger outside the family; her husband’s brother shall go in to her, take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. 6 And it shall be that the firstborn son which she bears will succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel. 7 But if the man does not want to take his brother’s wife, then let his brother’s wife go up to the gate to the elders, and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to raise up a name to his brother in Israel; he will not perform the duty of my husband’s brother.’ 8 Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him. But if he stands firm and says, ‘I do not want to take her,’ 9 then his brother’s wife shall come to him in the presence of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, spit in his face, and answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who will not build up his brother’s house.’ 10 And his name shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal removed.’

Deuteronomy 25:5-10

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I'm not going to go verse by verse through this. Rather, I am going to give you a quick summary. The law says that if there are two brothers, and one of the brothers gets married, then dies before he has children, the other brother must marry the widow and have children with her. The child that is born by the widow of the first brother, even though he is fathered by the second brother, will carry on the name of the first brother. If the second brother refuses, then the widow will take him before the elders of the city and she will remove his sandals and spit in his face. This was a big dishonor to the people of that time. It was all about there perpetuity of the family name. No Jewish family was to ever lose their inheritance in the land if at all possible.

While verse one seems out of place, to a Hebrew reader they would be aware of this law and they would read verse one and feel a sense of excitement and anticipation. It is the equivalent of the prince being introduced into the story of a fairytale. This is the hero that will save the day. We do not know much about him yet, other than his name is Elimelech.

I will mention one last thing before we end this today. The name Elimelech comes from two Hebrew words; "El", which means "God" and "Melech", which means "King". This man's name means "God is my king". This is important to know because it was more than a name for him, as we will see. Living up to his name will play a major role in God's blessings later in the story.

As crazy as this law seems to our Western American culture, it was a really big deal for the Old Testament Hebrews. While we may be thankful that we do not have to fulfill such a law in our culture, as you will see, we should be extremely thankful that such a law was around in ancient Israel. If you do not understand what I am getting at, keep reading though this study. It will all make sense soon.

Father thank You for knowing our end from the beginning. You knew just what it would take to redeem humanity from our sins, and You put everything in place so that we could be redeemed. You put everything in place so that Jesus could legally redeem us and never violate Your law. You are Holy and Righteous!