Shabbat Shalom, everyone. Please open your Bibles. We're going to begin today the ministry of this meeting with the Book of Ruth. The Book of Ruth, as we have gone already through much of the Book of Ruth, we are drawing near to the last portion of the Book of Ruth. We are in Ruth chapter 4, and I'm going to read the first 12 verses of this chapter. Please follow me in the reading of the passage. Let's begin with verse 1: Then went Boaz up to the gate, and set him down there. And behold, the kinsman, of whom Boaz spake, came by, unto whom he said, "Oh, such a one, turn aside, sit down here." And he turned aside and sat down.

And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, "Sit ye down here." And they sat down. And he said unto the kinsman, "Naomi, that is come again out of the country of Moab, selleth a parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech's. And I thought to advertise thee, saying, Buy it before the inhabitants and before the elders of my people. If thou will redeem it, redeem it. But if thou will not redeem it, then tell me that I may know, for there is none to redeem it beside thee. And I am after thee." And he said, "I will redeem it." Then said Boaz, "What day thou buyest the field of the hands of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Hut the Moabites, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance." And the kinsman said, "I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance.

Redeem thou my right to thyself, for I cannot redeem it." But this was the manner in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing. For to confirm all things a man plucked off his shoe and gave it to his neighbor, and this was a testimony in Israel. And therefore the kinsman said unto Boaz, "Buy it for thee," so he drew off his shoe.

And Boaz said unto the elders and unto all the people, "Ye are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was Elimelech's and all that was Kilayon and Machlon's of the hand of Naomi." "Moreover, Ruth, the Moabites, the wife of Machlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, from the gate of his place, ye are witnesses this day." And all the people that were in the gate and the elders said, "We are witnesses." "The Lord make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which

too did build the house of Israel." "And do thou worthily in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem." "And let thy house be like the house of Peretz whom Tamar bear unto Judah of the seed which the Lord shall give thee of this young woman." "And I'm going to stop with the reading here." "The passage that I read today leads us to the time and to the manner whereby Boaz ultimately redeemed Ruth, the Moabitish woman." "Very interesting the way things have been in the history of our nation Israel." "I want to remind you that Boaz made a promise to Ruth." "You remember that Naomi suggested to Ruth to go to the threshing floor where Boaz was

threshing what he had been gleaning." "Here you go when he is going to go to sleep very late at night after everyone has gone away." "You lay down yourself by the feet of Boaz and then he will tell you what you have to do." "So Ruth the Moabitish woman went to the threshing floor." "She had laid by the feet of Boaz an expression of dependence, of need." "And she uncovered his feet and she remained there laying down." "At midnight Boaz is rising up and he was shocked and he was amazed." "All of a sudden he saw a woman laying at his feet." "And this woman expressed her need by laying at his feet." "And he

discovered and he asked who are you?" "And she said I am Ruth your handmaid." "I am your servant." "And she beseeched from Boaz that he will redeem her." "She said to him in verse 9." "Thou art a near kinsman." "You are the one that is able to redeem me." "My husband had died, Machlon." "My mother-in-law is a poor woman as well, returning from the land of Moab." "We are in a great need Boaz." "You are a relative." "You are a kinsman." "You are a goel." "Redeem us please." "And he gave her a promise." "And Boaz said to her." "My daughter." "Now he says fear not." "I will do." "This is chapter 3 and verse 11."

"To thee the part that you are required." "For all the city of my people know that thou art a virtuous woman." "Eshet chail" in Hebrew.

"Indeed she was a virtuous woman." "A woman that we read of in Proverbs chapter 31." "And there is a list that King Solomon had given to us of the kind of a godly woman that is called a virtuous woman." "But he made a promise." "He said, I'm going to seek to do for you that which you require to become your goel." "To redeem you." "Lig ol otach." "To purchase you for myself." "But," he said to her, "there is a little problem." "There is a kinsman that is nearer than I." "This is chapter 3 and verse 12." "So Boaz wanted now to redeem Ruth but he had a problem." "And the problem was that there is

someone else that was a closer relative to Naomi's family." "And he has the first right of redemption." "And apparently, beloved brothers and sisters, she was a woman that was an example even for our people Israel." "A virtuous woman." "Eshet chail." "She was a unique godly woman." "In fact, in chapter 3, all the city of my people know that you are a virtuous woman." "What an example." "She became in the city of Bethlehem." "Everybody mentioned this woman." "Ruth." "Do you know this Ruth, the Moabitish woman?" "She came from Moab." "She left all her family." "She left her gods." "And she embraced the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." "She embraced the people of Naomi." "And she

had accepted the true and living God." "She became that well-known virtuous woman." "Eshet chail." "Well, now in chapter 4, we have the faithfulness of Boaz seeking to redeem Ruth." "To act as the kinsman redeemer, as the goel." "So you notice, first of all, in the first six verses of Ruth chapter 4, that we have Boaz appealed to the nearer kinsman." "First, he is seeking to go to this man that was a nearer kinsman, a nearer relative, to see what this man is going to do." "Notice verse 1." "The first thing Boaz does, he went up to the gate and he set himself down." "Now why did he go to the gate?" "In Hebrew we call

it "shar," "the gate." "Why?" "Because at the gate, people would come in and people would go out." "This is the gate of the city of Bethlehem." "At the gate, the elders will sit." "At the gate, the court sessions will go." "At the gate, there will be transactions and movement of all sorts of things." "Dealings and arrangements will be at the gate." "In fact, it's very similar to what we do today in many cities." "We don't do it at the gate of the city." "But you remember, throughout history, you know, you build the city." "In the center of the city, you have what you call the city hall." "And everything around the city hall is moving

about." "You have anything to register something, you come to the city hall." "A baby is being born, you come to the city hall." "Whatever that is happening, if you purchase a house, you come to the city hall." "It is at the city hall where all the arrangements and registrations are done." "Well, in the history, not only of our people Israel, but in biblical time, the place where the elders sit will be at the gate of the city." "And there the elders will sit, there will be various arrangements and contracts at the city gate." "Now, I want you to turn back to Deuteronomy chapter 25." "You will notice that he's doing it exactly in accordance with

the commandments of the God of Israel." "Already to our people of all the people of Israel before they enter into the land of Israel." "Into the land of Canaan." "In chapter 25 and verse 7 it said," "If a man like not to take his brother's wife, then let his brother's wife go up to the gate and to the elders of the city." "It's not something that is starting at the time when Boaz went to the gate of the city of Bethlehem." "But God gave these instructions to our people of all Israel even before they have entered into the land." "He told them," "You deal, make the arrangement at the gate." "Why?" "Notice, the elders of

the city will sit there and they will give the judgment upon every situation." "I want to show you that when it's come to our people Israel, even if you just turn back to Genesis chapter 19, you know the sad story about Lot.

When Lot left Abraham, his uncle, and he was looking towards the city of Sodom, it was rather sad to see that Lot now have gone to the city of Sodom and by the time we arrived to chapter 19, Lot was already sitting at the gate of the city of Sodom, where this sad moral condition have existed in this city of Sodom. Notice it says in chapter 19 of the book of Genesis and verse 1, "There came two angels to Sodom, to Sodom in Hebrew." "And Lot sat at the gate of Sodom." "You can see that Lot, who was a believer, a child of God, had departed from the way of the Lord, and now he is sitting as the elder in the city of Sodom." "Here you can see that the meeting place and the arrangement was done in the city of Sodom." "You can see it in other passages." "Like Abraham, he went to purchase a grave site for his wife Sarah." "In Genesis 23 and verse 10, he went to the gate to deal with the arrangement for the purchasing of the burial place for his wife Sarah." "In fact, in Lamentation, in chapter 5 and verse 14, when our people Israel were taken to Babylon, we have a sad commentary." "Jeremiah said, when the elders will no longer sit at the gate." "Why?

Because Jerusalem was burnt, and Babylon took the Jewish people to the land of Babylon, and there were no longer the elders of Israel sitting at the gate." "Bashar, where the leaders would lead the nation and the city." "Well, just to mention this, this is exactly what Boaz does." "He goes to the gate of the city of Bethlehem, and there he is sitting there, and he is waiting now until the kinsman will come." "Because he wanted to ask him about this person by the name of Ruth." "Now notice it says also in Ruth chapter 4 and verse 1, that after he sat there..." "And behold, what does he see all of a sudden?

Who passes by?" "The kinsman." Verse 4b. "And behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz spake." "He spake about him to Ruth earlier in chapter 3." "He came by." "He was passing by." "Why?" "Because you got to go to the city, you got to come out of the city." "You got to go make an arrangement in the city, you're coming out of the city to your field." "And so on." "And he was the nearer kinsman to Ruth, the Moabite." "And so we read here that he calls him." "Do you notice what he calls him?" "Ho, such a one." "In Hebrew it says ploni almoni." "The name really means the anonymous one, the unknown one." "That's what he was saying to him." "Ho, such a one." "He says come here," he said to him.

"Turn aside and sit down here." "And he turned aside and he sat down there." "Now do you think Boaz did not know his name?" "Well, of course he knew his name." "He was a family." "He was a relative of Naomi." "He was perhaps the brother of Elimelech." "The husband of Naomi who died, the father-in-law of Ruth, the Moabitish woman." "He knew very well." "But the Holy Spirit of God gave us, for some reason, this expression." "Oh, such a one." "Ploni almoni." "Unknown person." "This word, ploni almoni, only mentioned two other times in the whole Hebrew Scriptures." "It's mentioned here in 1 Samuel 21:2 and 2 Kings 6:8." "Only three times in the entire Scripture, this

word ploni almoni, or such a one, is mentioned in the Hebrew Scripture." "It is a person who might be unknown to everybody else." "Boaz, of course, knew him." "But the Holy Spirit of God gave us this expression." "He is unknown." "And yet he is one that Boaz is approaching as the nearer kinsman redeemer." "So verse 1, Boaz meet the nearer kinsman at the city gate." "Secondly, in verse 2 now, I want you to notice that Boaz now calls the ten elders." "It says in verse 2, and he took ten men of the elders of the city," "the city of Bethlehem." "And he said, 'Sit ye down here.'" "And they sat down." "You notice he arranging

almost, you might say, a court session." "In Jewish rabbinical teaching, one of the ways whereby our Jewish people look into the Hebrew words, "Minyan," to have ten men to start a synagogue, come right from here." "In order to have a synagogue today in any city in the world," "you have to have ten men older than thirteen years of age," "to start what you call a synagogue, Beth Knesset." "Well, one of the places in Biblical history from which it had been taken is right from here." "Ten elders that Boaz took." "And those elders," in Hebrew, "zkenim," "they will come and they will listen in on the conversation between Boaz and the nearer kinsman redeemer." "Hagoel HaKarov."

"So Boaz is setting up the stage." "He's longing to redeem Ruth." "And to remind you, beloved brothers and sisters," "that Boaz is a type and a picture of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah." "Even his name means in him there is strength." "It's really representing to us the person of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah." "And here he is now setting the stage so he will appeal to the kinsman who was nearer than him." "Well, look at the thought here, beloved brothers and sisters." "In verses 3 and 4, Boaz shared with this nearer kinsman all the doings of Naomi." "And he began in verse 3 and he said unto the kinsman," "Naomi, that is come again out

of the country of Moab," "she sells us a parcel of land," "which was our brother's Elimelech." "And I thought to advertise thee saying," "buy it before the inhabitants and before the elders of the people." "Here he's approaching him and he's informing him about Naomi." "Now I'm confident, and you and I can be as well," "that this man already knew very well who Naomi is," "that she was in the land of Moab for 10 years with her husband Elimelech." "They probably knew all the events that occurred there," "that Elimelech died," "and that the two sons Machlon and Kilion married two Moabitish women," "and then that the two sons Machlon and Kilion also died in the land

of Moab." "He knows all the story." "He probably also know very well that Rut and Orpah began their journey to come back to the land of Bethlehem with their mother," "but Orpah decided to go back to Moab to their family," "to their family, to her gods," "but Rut made a decision to come to the land of Israel." "He probably knew all this," "but he hadn't done anything about it." "And now Boaz was approached by Rut to redeem her," "and Boaz made a decision to go and to do something about it." "And as we have seen, it must have been that Boaz fell in love with this Moabitish woman." "He must have fallen in love with

her and he said," "I'm going to do whatever I can in order to help you and to redeem you." "And you know when we look at Rut, it reminds us of ourselves." "We who were strangers." "We were the ones who had no hope." "We were the ones who had no future." "We were the ones who are sinners by nature and no ground to stand upon before the living God." "We were the ones who were far away from God." "As the Bible says, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." "Man loved darkness rather than light." "While we were yet poor." "While we were yet without strength." "While we were yet enemies." "God

has done something in order to redeem us to Himself." "Really we can see ourselves here in this love story of this man by the name of Boaz," "who is the type of Yeshua the Messiah." "Approaching this nearer kinsman." "And he's telling him all these things before everybody else." "So everybody will understand what Boaz is appealing to." "He says, Naomi sold the parcel of land." "It would belong to our brother Elimelech." "And I want to inform you and I would challenge you to buy it." "Buy the land before the inhabitants of Canaan." "Naomi has a need." "Naomi became poor." "Remember, she left the land of Canaan, the city of Bethlehem, because there was a famine in

the land." "Her land had no more value." "And no crop had been sown." "There was no crop that had rose up in a time of reaping and so on and so on." "She was in a poor condition." "She sailed this land that belonged to Elimelech." "And I want you and I challenge you to buy the land before the inhabitants and before the elders of the people." "And I want you to notice that at this point of time he doesn't mention root at all." "He only mentioned the land." "Notice what he tells him in verse 4." "He challenged him, the kinsman, to redeem it." "If you will not redeem it, then tell me that I may

know, for there is none to redeem it before thee." "And I am after thee." "So he's challenging this kinsman, this goel, this relative of Naomi, to buy the land from Naomi." "And he said to him, if you're not going to buy it, let me know." "And I'm going to buy it myself." "And notice what he says." "In verse 4 he says, I will redeem it." "This nearer kinsman than Boaz said, I'm going to buy it." "I'm going to ligol, to purchase it." "Now remember, beloved brothers and sisters, when a person will buy a part of a land that belonged to the family." "He will buy it in trust until the time comes and he will

have to hand it over back to the family." "Of course they will have to pay the money, but he will hold it in trust." "Because the land belonged to their family and they ought not to be given to someone else." "It will be kept for Elimelech and Machlon, the family, through Naomi." "It will be kept until the time will come and they will be able to purchase this back for themselves." "Now please turn with me back to Leviticus chapter 25 and verse 23." "The land shall not be sold forever, for the land is mine, for ye are strangers and surgeons with me." "And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption

for the land." "And if thy brother works in poor and has sold away some of his possession," "and if any of his kin," here's where you get the word kinsman, "if any of his relatives come to redeem it," "then shall he redeem that which his brother sold." "You see, there is a law that God had given to our people of old," "that when a man of the family becomes poor and is unable to sustain his land," "that a relative, a goel, a kin, a family member will buy it on his behalf." "And he will keep that land for a while." "And of course, as we read in our previous meeting together, verse 28 tells us

that in the year of Jubilee," "all the land is going back to their original owners." "So no one will ever lose his or her land," "because that belonged to the tribe and to the family of each from among the people of Israel." "So there is that law." "And he's saying to him," "Listen, you are first in line, buy the land from Naomi, and if you are not going to buy the land from Naomi, I'm going to buy it." "And the answer was, I will redeem it." "But now notice, beloved brothers and sisters, what Boaz does." "In verse 5, Boaz now presents the fact that the Redeemer must also buy what?" "Novia, the Moabitish woman." "He

says in verse 5," "Then said Boaz," "What they thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi," "Thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitish woman," "the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance." "You see, again, there were various laws that had been given to our people of all, the people of Israel concerning the Redeemer." "And for one, he must buy the land." "Secondly, he also must purchase the widow for the purpose that he will marry her and will raise up a seed unto his own brother." "This is very important to understand, beloved brothers and sisters." "Not only that the Redeemer has to buy the land,

but the Redeemer also has to purchase the wife of the dead and to marry her and to have a child through her and that this child will carry on the family of the deceased." "Now you and I have to realize how important among the people of Israel was to maintain a seed for the family." "The rabbis of Israel also said that the soul of a deceased Jewish man cannot rest until he has a seed to continue his family generation." "Of course, we know very well that it's not only a matter of the soul cannot rest, this is just simply an expression that the rabbis say." "No, according to the word of God that God wanted

that the seed of Israel will maintain and continue on for many, many reasons, especially because ultimately the seed of the woman, the Messiah, will be born." "And he must go through a certain line of the families, whether it is through Adam, and then later on to the family of David, and on and on, the tribe of Judah, the family of David, and ultimately the Messiah will be born." "So even for this express purpose, they had to preserve families and seed of the family." "Here it's very important that he would also have to buy Ruth." "And I want you to notice here, that it clearly says Ruth a Moabitess." "You see in chapter 3, when Boaz

asked Ruth, who are you?" "She eliminated the word Moabitess, she just said, I am Ruth, your servant." "But here, Boaz is mentioning the word Moab." "She is not a Hebrew." "She is not an Israeli." "She is not Jewish." "She is a Moabitess woman." "Now, look what God said to Israel about the Moabites." "This is Deuteronomy 23, verse 3." "And Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord." "Even to their tenth generation, they shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord." "And he added at the end, forever." "And now Boaz is mentioning this to the nearer kinsmen." "And he says, listen, you already declared that you are willing to buy Naomi's

land." "But now I want to tell you something else." "You also must buy it of Ruth, the Moabitess, the wife of the dead." "And here is the reason, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance." "Naomi's husband, Neomi's husband, Elimelech, died." "Ruth's husband, Machlon, died." "And here are these two women without no one to continue on the family's name." "And now the only one that can help them is the kinsman redeemer." "Is their relative to buy the land and also to buy Ruth and marry her." "To raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance." "Now, you notice what happened here." "The moment Boaz said this to the nearer kinsmen," "And

according to verse 6, the kinsmen said," "I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance." "Then he says," "Redeem thou my right to thyself, for I cannot redeem it." "In this verse we learn that he did not say, I will not redeem it." "He just said," "I will redeem it when it's come to the land." "But when it's come to Ruth ha-moaviyah," "Rut the Moabitish woman," "Then he stopped and he says," "I cannot redeem it." "Why you cannot redeem it?" "Lest I mar mine own inheritance." "Now you see, for him to purchase Ruth the Moabitish woman," "which the law said in Deuteronomy chapter 23 and verse 3," "An Ammonite and a Moabite

shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord forever." "Lahad." "There is a great lesson here, beloved brothers and sisters, to learn here." "And I want to emphasize," "He did not say, I will not, but he did say, I cannot." "And why he said, I cannot?" "Because I do not want to mar my own inheritance." "That's why it is so important for us to study the Word of God," "and to learn the Scripture with the help of the Holy Spirit of God." "Let me remind you once again of the verses that we often read." "In Romans chapter 15, the Apostle Paul said to the brothers and sisters of Rome," "The believers," "the Christians," "the Meshichim,"

"those who believe in Yeshua the Messiah." "He says to them in verse 4," "For whatsoever were written aforetime," "they were written for our learning," "that we, through the patience and comfort of the Scripture," "might have hope." "What Paul is saying to the brothers and sisters of Rome," "he says, brethren, whatever was written aforetime by the Hebrews," "by the Israelis," "by the Hebrew prophets," "by the Jewish people of all world," "was written for our learning." "And that we," "they were written for our learning," "that we, through patience and through the comfort of the Scripture," "might have hope." "In 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 13," "He continued," "and he said there to the brothers and sisters there

at Corinth," "Now all these things happen unto them for our example," "and they are written for our admonition," "upon whom the end of the world was come." "In other words, what we are to learn, beloved brothers and sisters," "that there is a spiritual lesson from the book of Ruth." "There is a spiritual lesson for us from the event that happened some years ago," "before Yeshua the Messiah came to this world." "And so he is saying to him," "in the moment that you are going to buy the land," "you also have to take to you the woman by the name of Ruth from Moab," "and to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance."

"And this nearer kinsman," "who is called, "ho, such a one," "Ploni almoni said to Boaz," "this time I cannot redeem it for myself," "lest I mar mine own inheritance." "Now what is the lesson?" "I am going to say a few points here that are very, very important." "There were laws that were given to the people of Israel by the Lord," "in order to redeem some family member," "or also to carry on the name of a deceased brother," "or relative." "There was a law, we read them," "Leviticus chapter 25 and verses 25 to 31." "We read Deuteronomy chapter 25 and verse 5 on," "and also we can read other passages like Job 29." "Those laws, those

instructions that were given to Israel were for a reason." "And all of them served to be a type and a picture of Yeshua, the Messiah," "who would come to redeem you and I, who are really like root." "We were far from a far away land, we were strangers, we had no hope," "and the way where God could bring us to a relationship with Himself," "we who were poor away from the Lord," "and so those laws were given." "And so if someone was going to become a redeemer," "a goel," "a savior," "there were three things that he must have." "Number one, the goel," "the redeemer," "must be a relative." "And sure indeed," "we find out that

this redeemer," "he was a relative." "Boaz was a relative." "If someone was going to be able to redeem someone's land," "a person to raise up a seed for them," "he must be a relative." "That's the first thing that the Hebrew scripture teaches us." "Number two, he must be willing to redeem the person with a need." "In light of this passage in Ruth chapter 4, in verse 4," "he says, I'm willing to redeem the land." "But when it's come to the person of Ruth the Moabitish," "he says, I am unable to redeem her," "because I'm going to mar my inheritance." "Thirdly," we learn from this passage, "that if someone is going to become a goel, a

redeemer," "he also must be able to redeem." "And here we learn," "that this person was not able to redeem," "because he didn't want to mar his inheritance," "by embracing a Moabitish woman," "and bringing her into his family," "having a child through her," "extending the family," "ultimately, can you imagine now, through this Moabitish woman," "he will extend the seed of Elimelech and Machlon," "and he didn't want to have any Ammonite among the nation of Israel," "because of Deuteronomy 23, in verse 3." But here what we learn about the Messiah Yeshua, here Boaz becomes a wonderful type of Yeshua the Messiah.

You see, there are those three things that we learn about Boaz, and we learn about our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. Well, the first thing that I want to say, if the Redeemer must be a blood relative, how will God redeem you and I who are sinners, who are far away from the things of God, who have gone astray, who have been poor and miserable and wretched, like would have been, who came for Moab. Well, in order for God to be able to save men, God had to become a man. He had to enter humanity, and as it were, beloved brothers and sisters, be a relative, have relationship with you and I as men, yet seen apart.

Turn with me to the Gospel of John, chapter 1 and verse 1, 2 and verse 14. Notice what it says. We are talking about the Redeemer. It says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the same was in the beginning with God." This is the divine nature of the Son of God. In the beginning was the Word, but notice what it says in verse 14. "Then the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." You see, God had to become a man.

Because if someone is able to redeem anyone from among the people of Israel, he must be a blood relative. When God could not save us by power, He had to save us on a basis of the work of the Messiah on the cross, substitution. So how can He do that? He had to enter humanity. In the person of the Son. And the Word became flesh. And you know those that have been just celebrating recently the birth of the Messiah in the city of Bethlehem. Well, the miracle of Bethlehem is that God became a man. He was born in the city of Bethlehem to the Jewish virgin Miriam in the city of Bethlehem.

And you remember the Magi with the star. We have seen this moving star from east to west, from north to south, is the Shekinah glory that really presented before the Magi this new-born babe or child that was born in the city of Bethlehem. God became a man. It was the prophet of Israel who said unto us, "A child is born and a son is given." Micah 5 verse 2 says, "Thou Bethlehem ephratah, though thou be the least among the cities of Judah, out of thee shall come the ruler who will rule my people Israel." And then he says, "Who is going forth is from everlasting." God existed in eternity past.

And humanity became a relative. Men like you and I. Yet without sin. Here's another verse. Please turn to Hebrews chapter 2 for a moment. Because this is where we really need to focus on the kinsman redeemer. He must be, number one, a blood relative like this kinsman was. And now notice that in Hebrews chapter 2, in verse 14, the Hebrew writers say about Yeshua. For as much as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, this is you and I, humanity, we have flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same. He took human nature. Why he take human nature? Verse 14b, that through death he might destroy him that had power of death, that is the devil, and deliver, notice verse 15, them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

For verily he took not on him the nature of angels. You see, he did not become an angel, Yeshua. He became a man. He did not take upon himself the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. He became a Hebrew. He became Jewish and Israeli man, a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Why? Because he wanted to redeem you and I, and he could not do it otherwise. Why we believe in the gospel message so much is because God cannot redeem a man by power. He must redeem a man or woman on the basis of substitution. Blood must be shed.

Life must be taken away that another life will be preserved. So how can he do it? Well, the Redeemer must be a blood relative. And Yeshua the Messiah became a man like you and I. Our Goel, our Redeemer. One more verse. Look what Paul mentioned in Galatians chapter 4 and verse 4. For when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son made of a woman. He was born here in this world just like you and I were born to a woman. This woman's name is Miriam. And he was the sinless one. And notice he said he was made under the law. Why did he come to this world?

Notice verse 5. To redeem them. Ligol. To buy them that were under the law that we might receive the adoptions of sons. So brothers and sisters, number one, to bear in mind when we think about the kinsman redeemer. Number one, he must be a blood relative. But I want you to notice the second thing. He must be willing. Well, the nearer kinsman to Boaz, he said, I will redeem the land. As far as the land was concerned, there was no problem. He was willing to redeem the land. But when it comes to the person of Ruth, he did not go that far. But when we think about the Lord, Yeshua the Messiah, he was willing.

He was willing to redeem. You know, the scripture gives us many, many verses that I can mention. But just to mention one or two, just look at Hebrews. Since you are in Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 12, in verse 1 and 2. Look at the willingness of Yeshua the Messiah to redeem mankind to himself. Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. It says, oh, so beautiful. The apostle said to us, looking, wherefore, seeing that we also have compassed about with so great of cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that he set before us, looking unto Yeshua, Jesus.

Look what it says about him. Looking unto Yeshua, the author and the finisher of faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endure the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. He was willing, beloved brothers and sisters, to come down from heaven. He was the one that said, I want to have this joy before me, to redeem a people for myself, that they will enjoy eternal relationship with him. I'm willing to endure the cross. I'm willing to despise the shame. He was willing. While the man here in Ruth was not willing to go that far.

He doesn't want to mar his inheritance. And that's the different, beloved brothers and sisters. Yeshua the Messiah is the one that was not only a relative, he became a man, but he was willing to endure the cross and despise the shame. Imagine how much shame and how much endurance he had to endure for you and for me in order to redeem us, who were sinners without hope in our life. Thirdly, I just want to mention that as well. Not only that he must be a blood relative, not only that he must be willing, but he also must be able. You know, sometimes we sing that song, he's able.

He's able. I know that he's able. I know that my Lord is able to carry me through. But here in the context, he's not only to able to carry us through, but he's able to redeem us. You see, that man in Ruth says, I cannot redeem it. Why I cannot redeem it? Because I don't want to mar my inheritance. But here is where this man comes short of what Boaz was willing to do. And I want to read one or two other verses, beloved brothers, when it's come to be able to redeem it. And I just want you to go to Hebrews chapter 7. Here we find out why the Lord Yeshua the Messiah was able.

He was able because he was the sinless one. He was the one that had no sin in him whatsoever. Hebrews chapter 7 and verse 26 tells us, For such an high priest became us who is holy, who is harmless, who is undefiled, who is separate from sinners. And he made higher than the heavens. You see, Yeshua the Messiah is that holy one. God has glorified him because of the fact that he is a sinless one. He didn't have any sin in him. And you see, beloved brothers and sisters, we cannot even help each other when it's come to redemption because all of us have sinned. All of us came short of the glory of God.

None of us can redeem another but the only one that qualified to become that sinless one is none else but the person of Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah. Turn with me to 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse 18. Again, in connection with the Redeemer, Yeshua the Messiah, Peter said, For the Mashiach, for Christ, for Messiah, he has once suffered for sins, the just, for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. Being put to death in the flesh but he was raised, he was quickened by the Spirit. He was the just one, you and I the unjust one. He was the one who became a substitute for us in order to bring us to God.

He was the one that Boaz is a type of, Yeshua the Messiah, the one that would bring root, in this case, to be part of the family of Boaz and ultimately to raise up a seed for root. And this is exactly what happened to us where the Messiah, Yeshua died for us. So let me just repeat that. If someone is to be a Redeemer, he must be number one, a blood relative. Number two, he must be willing to redeem. And number three, he must be able to redeem. In all those three things we see Yeshua the Messiah. He was the one who became a man, he became a human being so he can redeem you and I.

He was willing because he says for the joy that was set before me, I'm willing to endure the cross and despise the shame. But he also was able because he was sinless. There was no sin in Yeshua the Messiah and that made him qualified to become the Redeemer. And so this man is not able to redeem. And now I want to add one more thought here to us. And some people, unfortunately, say to us that, you see, if I will keep the law fully, then I will be able to be accepted by God. If I will keep the law fully. And yet we find out that all of us never were able to keep the law to the standard that God had expected from humanity.

All of us came short. The law itself cannot save us. The law only is a mirror that shows us the reality in our hearts. In fact, when we look at the law, when we look at the mirror, we can say that there is a lot of things that are wrong with us. And we haven't fulfilled the law to its full requirement. The law cannot save us. The law only set before us the fact that we came short of what God demanded for man. And so the Messiah came. And I want you please to turn with me to Romans 8 for a second. We have very clearly an indication of what the Messiah came.

And notice what it says in Romans chapter 8 and verse 1 to 4. Therefore, there is now therefore no condemnation for them which are in the Messiah Yeshua, in Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit of life in the Messiah Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and of death. For what the law could not do. You remember the King of the Redeemer said, I cannot. The Bible tells us for what the law cannot do in that it was weak through the flesh. God sending His own Son in the likeness of flesh and forcing to condemn sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit.

Notice this expression, beloved brothers and sisters, verse 3, for what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh. You see, you can put rules on a plaque and you can tell men, I want you to follow these rules. Men break them every time. God gave us the law, if you want just to take a look, the Ten Commandments. You look in your life and in my life, we broke every one of the Ten Commandments that God gave to Israel the nation. And that's His declaration of condemnation. That if we keep one law or nine of them and we just violate one of them, we are deserving a punishment of death.

And therefore, you can see what we see in Boaz, Boaz gone beyond, simply paying for the land, but he took a step further. And he was willing to purchase not only the land like the first kinsman, but also Ruth, the Moabitish woman in order to raise a seed for the family. And what we really learned from here, that here is a type. In Boaz, we see what really Yeshua, Jesus, the Messiah, have done for us through death, burial, and resurrection on the cross in order to save us. And so now, brothers and sisters, in verse 7 to 12, look at the custom in the days such as this.

Boaz is now purchasing root in the presence of all the elders and all the passersby there. And we read here, first of all, in verse 7, the custom of redeeming in Israel. It says in verse 7, now this was the manner in the former times in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing to confirm all things. A man plucked off his shoe and he gave it unto his neighbor, and this was a testimony in Israel. You know, in Israel in olden time, in order to deal with something, to make an arrangement, there was a custom. If somebody redeemed, bought somebody, the changing of a possession of a land, there was a custom to take the shoe and to hand it over to somebody.

Now why shoe? Because shoe represents standing. It speaks of, here's a possession with shoes. We walk over the land, we walk over the ground that we possess. It's a representation of handing over the possession. Here is a proof that I have given you the right to redeem the land of Naomi and Ruth and Ruth the Moabitish woman. Then it says here in verse 8, that the kinsman asked Boaz to buy root and he gave his shoe. So you notice what he does. Therefore the kinsman said unto Boaz, you buy it for yourself, buy it for thee. So he drew off his shoe. And that shoe will be held by the new owner, by Boaz, in case sometime, a few years later on, he says, "Hey listen, wait a minute, this belongs to me, I'm the one who redeemed that inheritance and the shoe will be evident that here you gave me the shoe and the ownership of the land and the ownership of Ruth the Moabitish is now passed from your ability to get it to me and I am now the possessor of the land and Ruth the Moabitish woman." And notice Boaz is now probably so thankful that he could now redeem the one that he fell in love with, I'm sure.

And even though she was a Moabitish, even though she was from a strange country, he fell in love with her. And I want to again emphasize the love of the Lord for you and I, brothers and sisters. You and I were foreigners. We were without hope. And yet the love of the Lord towards us has been extended so much. And so in verse 9, Boaz said unto the elders and unto all the people, "Ye are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was Elimelech and all that was Kilayon and Machlon from the hand of Naomi." And he said to them, "You are witnesses, the elders, the passers-by, you are witnesses.

Here is the shoe. I have it in my hand. I am proving this to you. Here is the one. It was a testimony in Israel. I am the one who is now the new owner." Verse 10: "Moreover, the wife of Machlon have I purchased to be my wife." Why, Boaz? "To raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance. That the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren and from the gate of his place ye are witnesses this day." So they became witnesses there. And the conclusion now in verse 11 and 12, and I am going to stop with this, the declaration of all the people there at the gate.

And let me just read that. Verse 11 says, "And all the people that were in the gate and the elders said, "We are witnesses. The Lord make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which too did build the house of Israel, and do thou worthily in Ephrata, and be famous in Bethlehem. And let thine house be like the house of Peretz whom Tamar bear unto Judah of the seed which the Lord shall give thee of this young woman." And all the people said, "We are witnesses." And they wished him those three things. Number one, that this woman, Naomi, will be like Rachel and Leah.

You know, who are the mothers of all Israel? You remember Yaakov? He married Leah and Rachel. They became his wives. And out of these two wives, and of course their concubines, these four women, we have the whole twelve tribes of the people of Israel. Jacob's name was changed from Yaakov to Yisrael, and he became the head of the nation of Israel, the head of our people, the people of Israel. But then he goes also, the second he says, "Do worthily in Ephrata and be famous in Israel, Boaz." We wish you to be famous among the people of Israel, in Ephrata, and famous in the city of Bethlehem.

Ephrata and Bethlehem are the two same places. And finally, brothers and sisters, "Let thy house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bear unto Judah, of the seed Zerah in Hebrew." The rabbis believe that this is again, is a type of the Messiah here, because it's in Genesis 3:15, we have the seed of the woman. Zerah Aisha. Here again, the word seed. "The seed which the Lord shall give thee, of this young woman." And you remember the story of Tamar. And Tamar was not Jewish, just like Ruth the Moabite, and her name is mentioned in Matthew 1:3 "In the genealogy of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah." So here we have Leah, Rachel, and Tamar mentioned here.

And the wish is that Ruth, the Moabitish woman, will be such a blessing, and that through her the nation of Israel will develop, and ultimately the Messiah will come. Well, brothers and sisters, the topic for today was, Boaz the Kinsman redeemed Ruth the Moabitish woman. Thank God for the redemption that Yeshua, the Messiah, had accomplished for us.