(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Ruth 4:1–8, “Then went Boaz up to the gate, and sat him down there: and, behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz spake came by; unto whom he said, Ho, 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 wilt redeem it, redeem it: but if thou wilt 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 hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, 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. Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing, for to confirm all things; a man plucked off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbour: and this was a testimony in Israel. Therefore the kinsman said unto Boaz, Buy it for thee. So he drew off his shoe.”
Boaz had behaved properly at every stage of this episode. In order to take the last step he wen to the place where the important people in the town of Bethlehem went to conduct business and waited for his relative, the one who was more closely related to Elimelech than he was. There were other important men there as well, they were also conducting their own business. Boaz asked ten of those men to witness his transaction with his relative. Naomi was poor but owned land that had belonged to her husband. The Lord had established this principle in the Law as a form of superannuation so that older people would have proper security when they were no longer able to support themselves. If a relative bought the land it would stay in the family and also give the person in need enough to support themselves as well. When Boaz asked Naomi’s relative to buy the land he said that he was happy to do that. However, Boaz reminded that relative of his obligation to raise children with the childless widow he refused. He had imagined that the extra land would increase his own wealth and give his family extra wealth in future generations but he wasn’t willing to risk that because the land would return to Elimelech’s family rather than his own. In order to make the contract legitimate the man took off his shoe and handed it to Boaz, giving Boaz all the rights of redemption. This was a custom of the times and shows us that this history was written close to the time it happened otherwise the author would not have included a quaint custom that was practiced then but would have been forgotten if it was recored at a much later date.
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