Plot Twist - July 28

Read Ruth 4:1-5       

Now Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there. And behold, the redeemer, of whom Boaz had spoken, came by. So Boaz said, “Turn aside, friend; sit down here.” And he turned aside and sat down. And he took ten men of the leaders of the city and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down. Then he said to the redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech. So I thought I would tell you of it and say, ‘Buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people.’ If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not, tell me, that I may know, for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I come after you.” And he said, “I will redeem it.” Then Boaz said, “The day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also will acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.”

Reflect

Has your future ever seemed obvious until you experienced a plot twist? How did it turn out?

Every good romance story has to have a plot twist. If there wasn’t a moment in which the couple’s love was hanging in the balance, it would be boring. If you watch the cheesy Christmas chick flicks, you know what I’m talking about. From the moment the boy meets the girl, we pretty much know they are going to get together in the end. So, it isn’t much of a movie unless there is some kind of conflict or problem that makes us second guess our gut feeling that the couple is going to live happily ever after.

Now, I hope I’m not spoiling anything for you but you have probably already assumed that Ruth and Boaz are going to end up together in the end. When we left off last week, Naomi had sent Ruth to Boaz at the threshing floor in the middle of the night to propose that he be her kinsman-redeemer. In other words, she asked him to marry her in order to preserve her late husband’s name and redeem his land so that it would stay within the family as God intended when he divided up the Promised Land among the tribes of Israel.

Boaz assured her that he would be honored to do so but that there was one problem. There was another guy (whose name is never given) that had first dibs to be the redeemer. But if that guy declined, Boaz promised that he would redeem Ruth. Then, he sent her home early in the morning where Naomi told her to be patient and wait. Naomi knew that Boaz was a man who would do the right thing and he’d do it right away.

Today we see that Naomi was correct. It appears that Boaz took initiative to resolve the issue legally that very day. He went straight to the city gate which, in those days, is where business and legal matters were settled. And guess who just so happened to walk by? The nearer kinsman-redeemer, of course! As we’ve been studying the book of Ruth, we’ve seen that there are no coincidences. God’s sovereignty is on full display when God ensured that Boaz and Mr. So-and-so would cross paths that very morning.

So, Boaz called the man over, gathered a quorum of ten elders, and got down to business. He told the man that Naomi, the widow of Elimelech, had land that needed to get back into the clan and that, as Elimelech’s relative, the man could redeem it and acquire rights to it if he wanted to. The unnamed closer relative…agreed to redeem it!

Wait, what? Plot twist! At this point, you might be wondering how in the world Boaz and Ruth are going to end up married if this obscure guy turns out to be the redeemer! But Boaz is strategic and responded with, “But wait! There’s more!” He informed the man that the land and the older widow, Naomi, weren’t all that he would acquire in the redemption. Whoever redeemed Elimelech’s land should also seek to redeem Elimelech’s family line and keep it from dying out. Because Naomi was too old to have children, the redeemer should also marry Ruth, whom Boaz points out, is a Moabite.

What is going to happen? How is it all going to end? Well, I can’t tell you today! But I can once again call your attention to the integrity of Boaz and the sovereignty of God. Boaz knew he was risking losing his opportunity to marry Ruth and redeem the land. But he also knew he was not first in line. He wanted to do the right thing, not just by Ruth and Naomi, but by the other man involved. Boaz wanted to do things God’s way, not his own way. And then, he trusted God to work out the plot twist.

Respond

Lord, thank You for the righteous example of Boaz. May I also be a person of integrity who seeks to do things Your way—the right way—and not my own way. Help me to trust You to work out the unexpected according to Your sovereign will. Amen.

Reveal

How can your faithfulness to do the right thing reveal the heart of God to others?