Tami's SOAP - Ruth 4: 13-22

Ruth 4: 13-22 - Boaz married Ruth. She became his wife. Boaz slept with her. By God's gracious gift she conceived and had a son.

14-15 The town women said to Naomi, "Blessed be God! He didn't leave you without family to carry on your life. May this baby grow up to be famous in Israel! He'll make you young again! He'll take care of you in old age. And this daughter-in-law who has brought him into the world and loves you so much, why, she's worth more to you than seven sons!"

16 Naomi took the baby and held him in her arms, cuddling him, cooing over him, waiting on him hand and foot.

17 The neighborhood women started calling him "Naomi's baby boy!" But his real name was Obed. Obed was the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David.

18-22 This is the family tree of Perez: Perez had Hezron,
Hezron had Ram,
Ram had Amminadab,
Amminadab had Nahshon,
Nahshon had Salmon,
Salmon had Boaz,
Boaz had Obed,
Obed had Jesse,
and Jesse had David.

S: verse 17 - The neighborhood women started calling him "Naomi's baby boy!" But his real name was Obed. Obed was the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David.

O: Out of Naomi's heartbreak & Ruth's marginalization comes this incredible gift - being grafted into the lineage of Christ! This is the good news of Jesus - that it doesn't matter how painful our life or how abandoned we are or how alone we feel or how much we feel cheated or how much we have been pushed aside or impoverished... Jesus will still come into the midst of our story with His unending, never-stopping, unbreakable love & buy us back. He will redeem us. He will turn our ashes into beauty. He'll make all things new again & adopt us into His family through His gift of grace.

A: This is what makes this story so poetic & so meaningful to me - I am His, rescued, redeemed, beloved - no matter what. There is such security & such gratitude in this knowledge. In it I live & rest.

P: Father God, thank you for being my kinsman-redeemer. Thank you for loving me & giving yourself for me. I don't deserve it, but I will spend my life saying thank you. The incredible gift of Jesus is what keeps my soul anchored down, & what gives me purpose. I am Yours forever. Amen

Tami's SOAP - Ruth 4:1-12

Ruth 4

1 Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat there. When the kinsman-redeemer he had mentioned came along, Boaz said, "Come over here, my friend, and sit down." So he went over and sat down.

2 Boaz took ten of the elders of the town and said, "Sit here," and they did so. 3 Then he said to the kinsman-redeemer, "Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our brother Elimelech. 4 I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do so. But if you will not, tell me, so I will know. For no one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in line."
"I will redeem it," he said.

5 Then Boaz said, "On the day you buy the land from Naomi and from Ruth the Moabitess, you acquire the dead man's widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property."

6 At this, the kinsman-redeemer said, "Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it."

7 (Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel.)

8 So the kinsman-redeemer said to Boaz, "Buy it yourself." And he removed his sandal.

9 Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, "Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech, Kilion and Mahlon. 10 I have also acquired Ruth the Moabitess, Mahlon's widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from the town records. Today you are witnesses!"

11 Then the elders and all those at the gate said, "We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. 12 Through the offspring the LORD gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah."

S: verse 8 - So the kinsman-redeemer said to Boaz, "Buy it yourself." And he removed his sandal.

O: Boaz went through the required legal steps to redeem Ruth- steps that caused him to incur risk, which the closer relative wasn't willing to take on. But in his great love for Ruth, there was no sacrifice or cost that would be too great for him to pay. Just like with us - Jesus goes through the required steps to redeem us - at the greatest possible cost & sacrifice - but because of His great love for us, He pays the price. It's a tender picture of the Father's heart for His lost children - He will go to any lengths to rescue & redeem us, to lavish His love upon us, to bring us back into His arms.

A: I just want to remember this every day of my life - the incredible love that the Father has for me and also for every other one of His beloved children. Help me to live like a beloved child, & to see everyone else as a beloved child too - worthy of pursuit, rescuing, dignity, love & compassion.

P: Guess I just did that, huh?! ;-) Amen.