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Title: Enter the Kinsman Redeemer
Intro:
“Relative of Naomi’s husband…”
Hebrew: Mowda
Definition: Kinsman or relative
The word “mowda” leaves a bit of mystery as to whether or not Boaz is a relative or just a very, very close family friend.
Show Slide
(How many of you have life long friends that you, without hesitation, consider family? For us and our children, that’s “Aunt Jodie”)
POINT: In either case (close friend or actual relative) what we see is the groundwork being laid for the concept of the Kinsman Redeemer. That is the role that Boaz will play as the Christ Figure or redemption.
Kinsman Redeemer
How many of you have heard the phrase “Kinsman Redeemer”?
Who can define it for us?
Does anyone know where the concept originates in Scripture?
Leviticus 25:25
If one of your brethren becomes poor, and has sold some of his possession, and if his redeeming relative comes to redeem it, then he may redeem what his brother sold.
The kinsman-redeemer is a male relative who, according to various laws of the Pentateuch, had the privilege or responsibility to act on behalf of a relative who was in trouble, danger, or need.
The Hebrew term (go el) for kinsman-redeemer designates one who delivers or rescues (Genesis 48:16; Exodus 6:6) or redeems property or person (Leviticus 27:9–25, 25:47–55).
The kinsman who redeems or vindicates a relative is illustrated most clearly in the book of Ruth, where the kinsman-redeemer is Boaz.
“Please let me go to the field and glean heads of grain…”
What does this mean?
Gleaning is the act of collecting leftover crops from farmers’ fields after they have been commercially harvested or on fields where it is not economically profitable to harvest. It is a practice described in the Hebrew Bible that became a legally enforced entitlement of the poor in a number of Christian kingdoms.
Yeah, okay…but what does this mean?
- This is what Ruth and Naomi’s life has come to. Ruth is not too proud to do what must be done to ensure her mother-in-law’s survival.
- These are not even scraps from the master’s table, this is food that doesn’t even make it to the table. (Story of Jenny Beck in San Francisco throwing away the Sundae and the homeless women eating it.)
- God’s provision doesn’t always come on a silver platter. (Ruth could have been run off the field, she wasn’t. She would be fed, and all it would cost her was humiliation.)
“And she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz…”
- Was this a strategy? Did Ruth even know who Boaz was?
- Do you believe in coincidence? (Because I believe in sovereignty)
Application:
- Hebrew law made provisions and opportunities for the poor, shouldn’t we?
- Most of us will have an opportunity to BOTH redeem a kinsman, and be redeemed by a Kinsman in our lifetimes. The question is, will we act on those opportunities?
- Ruth was not to proud to do what had to be done, are you?
- There is no coincidence, there is only the Sovereignty of God.