The Devil is in the Details

Ruth 4:1-6

Credit card companies are notorious for hiding things in small print. If you do not make your payment on time, they hike your interest rate by 30% or if you miss a payment the interest rate goes up. Suddenly a $100 purchase becomes $130, and that is after just one month. That small detail can cost a fortune and take years to pay for. Sadly, it is a lesson that many of us have had to learn the hard way. The devil is truly in the details.

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Now Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there; and behold, the close relative of whom Boaz had spoken came by. So Boaz said, “Come aside, friend, sit down here.” So he came aside and sat down. 2 And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down. 3 Then he said to the close relative, “Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, sold the piece of land which belonged to our brother Elimelech. 4 And I thought to inform you, saying, ‘Buy it back in the presence of the inhabitants and the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it; but if you will not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know; for there is no one but you to redeem it, and I am next after you.’ ” And he said, “I will redeem it.” 5 Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must also buy it from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance.” 6 And the close relative said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I ruin my own inheritance. You redeem my right of redemption for yourself, for I cannot redeem it.”

Ruth 4:1-6

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In Old Testament times, the city gate was the place where legal transactions occurred. If a man was going to sell a piece of land to another man, they would meet at the city gate and there would be at least 2-3 other men there as witnesses to the transaction. This is what Boaz is doing. He goes to the city gate early in the day and waits for the other near kinsman to pass by. When he does, Boaz calls him to have a seat because there is some business they need to attend to.

They sit down with 10 other men and Boaz presents the business at hand. He tells this other man that Naomi has some land that needs to be redeemed. When she had her husband went to Moab, it passed into the possession of another man. Naomi has no legal standing to reclaim the land. So, she needs a near kinsman to redeem it for her, so that it returns into the family name. Boaz tells the man that he is willing to redeem it, but the other kinsman has legal rights to it first.

The other kinsman says that he will redeem the land. Then Boaz drops a bomb. He reveals the fine print of the contract. The day that the other kinsman redeems the land, he must also take Ruth THE MOABITESS to be his wife and have children with her. Suddenly the other man changes his mind. He cannot marry Ruth and mess up his inheritance. He tells Boaz to redeem it.

Boaz intentionally saved that little detail for last. The initial shock of hearing something so outlandish as "marrying a Moabitess" cased the man to cancel his transaction immediately. There was no inquiry. No negotiations. He just canceled his contract. This left Boaz free to marry Ruth and redeem the land.

This is a good time to point out that Boaz was only half Jewish. His father was a Hebrew, but his mother was a Canaanite woman named Rahab. Perhaps you remember her name from the story of Joshua and the battle of Jericho. While it was against the law to marry a Moabitess because Ruth had already been married into the family of Elimelech, the levirate law permitted her to be married by Boaz. While the other kinsman had a issue with a gentile, Boaz had no such prejudice because his mother was a gentile. God had already ordained this, and it was being worked out just as soon as Israel crossed the Jordan river. Ruth's redemption, but economically and spiritually was being set in mother two generations before her. This time it is not the devil that is in the details, but the hand of God!

Father, You are omniscient and know the end of history from the beginning of history. You are sovereign in the lives of humanity, and You work all things according to Your will. We may never see how You worked in our lives to bring about good, but I pray that we would all have the faith to trust You with this.