Advent Day 12 :: Our Kinsman-Redeemer

“And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by the Lord, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!” Naomi also said to her, “The man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers.” (Ruth 2:20)

We saw in yesterday’s reading that the royal line that would lead to Christ was continued through Ruth and Boaz who gave birth to Obed the grandfather of King David.

There is an even greater personification of Christ in the book of Ruth that needs pointed out. Boaz is known as the kinsman-redeemer of Naomi. This idea or custom can be found in Leviticus 25 where it states that in the case of an Israelite man’s death in which he fails to leave behind a son, the brother of the deceased man is commanded to take his widow as wife and both redeem the land and provide a son to carry on the deceased father’s name.

We learn through the story of Ruth that Boaz was not the nearest relative of Naomi but because of his loving-kindness and compassion (hesed) he decides to rise to the task of being the redeemer to Naomi through Ruth. This birth of Obed was the redemption of Naomi. It is through Boaz that we see Christ as the ultimate kinsman-redeemer who came to redeem a bride for himself - the Church. It is because of His compassionate loving-kindness (hesed) that Christ gave His life in order to bring success to the redemptive plan of God the Father.

Christ, our Messiah, was born to be our royal kinsman-redeemer. The one who would come to take away the sin of the world (Matthew 1:21).

Further Reading: Philippians 2:1-11

Photo by Samuel Lopes on Unsplash