In Ruth 4:11-17, the story turns to the real answer for the problem that Naomi and Ruth faced. That answer? A son! Without a son being born to Ruth and Boaz the redemption is incomplete. And so, as the story continues, all the people proclaim, "We are witnesses. The LORD make the woman who is coming to your house like Rachel and Leah, the two who built the house of Israel; and may you prosper in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. May your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring which the LORD will give you from this young woman" (v. 11-12).
The people pronounced a blessing of fertility on Ruth (v. 11a), that she would be like Rachel and Leah, who had twelve sons between them (Gen 29:31-30:24). Then they pronounced a dual blessing on Boaz: First, literally, "may you have standing" (v. 11b) or "may you prosper" (v. 11b), referring to wealth, and second, that he "be famous in Bethlehem" (v. 11b).
Verse 12 expands on the idea of being "famous in Bethlehem" (v. 11b). It is the offspring of Boaz and Ruth that will bring fame to this family. It is the birth of their son and all who follow that are in view here. "Perez" was the more important of the two sons born to Judah by Tamar, as he is an ancestor of the people of Bethlehem of the tribe of Judah. Not only do they long to see a son raised up for Elimelech, but a famous line of descendants from Boaz himself, as a reward for his faithful, compassionate love and kindness. They ask for God's blessing to be poured on the man who has acted faithfully for the preservation of the family line, by granting him a famous dynasty—a prayer that was abundantly answered.
It was to Bethlehem that Samuel, the prophet, came (1 Sam. 16:4) to anoint David, the great grandson of Boaz and Ruth, to be king over Israel. It was about Bethlehem that the prophet Micah later proclaimed: "Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting" (Micah 5:2). And so it was to Bethlehem that Joseph from Nazareth came with Mary, under the decree of Caesar Augustus, to be registered, and in Bethlehem that the Savior of the world was born (Luke 2:1–12).
"So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife; and when he went in to her, the LORD gave her conception, and she bore a son" (v. 13). Obed, the son of Ruth and Boaz, the true "kinsman-redeemer!" Obed is being referred to throughout verses 14-15, and he is clearly regarded as the "kinsman-redeemer." "Then the women said to Naomi, 'Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a close relative; and may his name be famous in Israel! And may he be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has borne him'" (vs. 14-15).
As one commentator put it: "The child was the real kinsman-redeemer, a word that here has the broad sense of 'deliverer' and 'helper'… Only through the child was the yoke of affliction that the Lord had laid on Naomi completely removed." (David Jackman, quoting Goslinga, The Preacher’s Commentary, Vol. 7: Judges, Ruth, [Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, 1991], 349)
The problem is taken care of. The need is met. A son is born who is the true "kinsman-redeemer" for Naomi. So she cares for her grandson, Obed, and helps raise him (that is the literal thought of verse 16): "Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her bosom, and became a nurse to him."
Obed, meaning "servant," indicates that this son would serve his grandmother as her "kinsman-redeemer" in the sense that he would take care of her in her old age. And so, as we look back we can see God's answers to prayer in the birth of the son, Obed, and then, as we look forward to David, we see it even more dramatically. Obed was "the father of Jesse, the father of David" (v. 17b). That is what God had been working toward behind the scenes all along.
The birth of a son to Ruth, a "kinsman-redeemer" for Naomi, is the ultimate answer! And it all points to the future, not only to the birth of David, but certainly to the birth of Jesus in the line of David. Jesus is the Son born that first Christmas morning to be our redeemer! What a glorious truth to keep in mind as we prepare in the weeks ahead to celebrate the birth of Christ our Savior, Christ our Lord. Amen.
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