The Heart of God - Ruth Series

This devotion is an excerpt from the book, The Gospel of Ruth: Loving God Enough to Break the Rules and was written by Carolyn Custis James. We hope you will be encouraged.

THE CITY GATE

In ancient times, the city gate was not only the point of entry into town and the most logical place to look for fellow villagers coming and going, it was also the heart of the community. The gate was the seat of government and the site of important business transactions, a platform for local dignitaries, a pulpit for prophetic messages, and the hub of local gossip for the entire village. So whenever you hear of someone being praised in the gates (like the legendary woman of Proverbs 31),1 the entire community from the top down is honoring them. It’s comparable to a New York City ticker tape parade for a national hero or having your name emblazoned on a star inlaid on the sidewalk at Hollywood and Vine. Praise in the gates is high honor indeed.

Boaz is heading straight for Bethlehem’s gate where he plans to assemble a quorum of city elders to deliberate and rule on legal matters and seal business transactions for the Elimelech family. This is not a closed-door session. Deliberations take place in full view of the curious public as villagers congregate to see what the commotion is all about and to witness the proceedings. Here, along with all Bethlehem, we will discover the enormity of what Boaz is giving up.

Boaz’s urgency is matched by the speed with which the relevant parties of his business come together. Almost immediately he spots Elimelech’s anonymous nearest relative (scholars nicknamed him Mr. No-Name) and calls him aside. Before you know it, Boaz has collected ten Bethlehem elders, and an ad hoc meeting of the ancient court is gaveled into session. A jury of ten men will decide Ruth’s fate. What happens next leaves modern readers scratching their heads, as legal codes and local customs entirely foreign to us play out, and Boaz with the savvy and surprise of a well-prepared district attorney makes his case.

BOAZ GOES TO BAT

Right away, Boaz catches readers off-guard by raising the subject of land, when we are expecting him to present the more pressing matter (at least from our vantage point) of who will marry Ruth. For some unknown reason, Boaz changes the first order of business from marriage to real estate. We have forgotten that Ruth already raised the subject of Elimelech’s property, for when she appealed to Boaz as the family’s kinsman-redeemer, she targeted his responsibility to buy and reactivate Elimelech’s abandoned fields.2

While we may find Boaz’s tactics confusing, he knows exactly what he’s doing. He is speaking a language these men understand, for the most tantalizing part of the bargain he is putting in front of his relative isn’t Ruth, but the piece of land once cultivated by Elimelech that now lies fallow. Under Mosaic legal code, the Promised Land belonged to Yahweh but was subdivided and parceled out permanently by tribe and family. Each man took possession of his own land. In an agrarian culture, a man’s land is the family business and the centerpiece of the inheritance he passes on to his sons. Elimelech’s land must be redeemed, and the relative who takes home the deed will probably be doubling his own estate.

When a hurricane blasts through Florida (which happens frequently), homeowners patch up holes in their own roofs and clear away fallen trees and debris from their own yards before helping out a neighbor. According to law, Mr. No-Name was first in line to assist Elimelech in recovering his land during hard times. But just like a hurricane, the unforgettable and seemingly endless Bethlehem famine hit everyone with hard times all at once. Everybody was coping with dried up fields, crop failures, and food shortages. Consumed by the needs of their own families, Mr. No-Name, Boaz, and the other men in the region were in no position to help out Elimelech or anyone else. Now that the famine is finally over and the countryside is in recovery mode, they’re in a better position to discuss land issues again.

What is also surprising about Boaz’s first order of business, however, is the fact that he describes this abandoned piece of property as Naomi’s land. When did widows start inheriting their husband’s property, scholars want to know? Mosaic Law made an exception so daughters could inherit land in families without sons, but only if they married within their father’s clan, for the whole objective of the law was to keep a man’s land within his tribe.3 If a man had neither sons nor daughters, then his land went to his brothers and, in lieu of brothers, to his nearest relative. Nowhere are widows given rights of inheritance. And it is one of the most frightening injustices in the world today, that widows are evicted from their husband’s land and left to fend for themselves and their children on the streets.

The only way a widow could hang on to her husband’s property and protect it from seizure by her husband’s relatives was if she had an heir or could produce one. On both counts, Naomi was out of luck. Already Boaz seems to be breaking the rules by granting Naomi rights to Elimelech’s land. Surprisingly, no one seems to object to this or any of the other terms Boaz adds to these arrangements.

Perhaps this is as good a place as any to remind ourselves of how the narrator originally introduced Boaz — as a man of valor and high standing in the community. We assumed this description was purely a recommendation for his suitability as a prospective husband for Ruth. But these admirable qualities also set us up for the scene at the Bethlehem gate and help us understand the substantial clout Boaz clearly possesses in these legal proceedings and why he is able to press forward with Ruth’s initiatives without the slightest protest from the other men.

It is entirely possible that Boaz isn’t the sort of man anyone would want to oppose. This imposing man has earned a place of stature in the community because of his character and his achievements, which by themselves explain the kind of influence he wields in these deliberations. Not until the conclusion of the narrative do we learn that Boaz’s stature in the community is also genetic. The genealogy that concludes the book of Ruth identifies Boaz as an Israelite blueblood — the direct descendant of Nahshon, one of Israel’s greatest leaders. During the time of Moses, Boaz’s grandfather,4 Nahshon, was the tribal chief of Judah, Israel’s largest tribe, and the commanding general of the largest division of the Israelite army. When the cloud of God’s glory lifted and the Israelites broke camp, Nahshon led the tribe of Judah out first.5 At the dedication of the tabernacle, Nahshon was the first tribal chief to offer sacrifices.6 Anyone born in this family was something of a Kennedy in the ancient culture — a member of the nation’s first family — an identity that brought with it a natural expectation of high-profile leadership in the community.

Putting all of this together, Naomi and Ruth couldn’t have found a more powerful advocate than Boaz. His advocacy for them carries enormous weight and forms a solid barrier against the inevitable exploitations widows often suffered. Boaz is a leader among leaders and wields his advantages in wise and righteous ways that promote hesed within the community. Consequently, Bethlehem elders don’t raise the slightest objection to the notion of Naomi selling land, but follow Boaz’s lead in making allowances. This is only the beginning.