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Ruth 4 Bible study: The name of the dead
At the gate a man the book never names says, "I can’t redeem it" (4:6), and Boaz takes Ruth "to raise up the name of the dead" (4:10). The women name the child Obed, and the book that began in famine ends on one name: David (4:22).
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“The women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you today without a near kinsman. Let his name be famous in Israel.”
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“The child Obed was named by the women who were Naomi's neighbors.”
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What's really going on
Settled the same day
At the end of chapter 3 Naomi said, "the man will not rest until he has settled this today" (3:18). The next verse is "Now Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there" (4:1). He calls over "the near kinsman of whom Boaz spoke" (4:1) (tap near kinsman), then "took ten men of the elders of the city" (4:2). He tells the man that Naomi "is selling the parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech’s" (4:3), and says, "If you will redeem it, redeem it" (4:4). The man answers, "I will redeem it" (4:4). Then Boaz adds, "On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must buy it also from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance" (4:5). The man answers, "I can’t redeem it for myself, lest I endanger my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption for yourself; for I can’t redeem it" (4:6). Boaz tells the elders and all the people, "You are witnesses today" (4:9), and he says it again at the end of his words (4:10).
Where it leads to Jesus
From the book's last line to King David
Ruth 4:22leads toMatthew 1:6
Ruth ends, "Obed became the father of Jesse, and Jesse became the father of David" (4:22). Later the LORD sends Samuel "to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided a king for myself among his sons" (1 Samuel 16:1). Matthew's "book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David" (Matthew 1:1) carries this family's line on: "Obed became the father of Jesse" (Matthew 1:5), and "Jesse became the father of King David" (Matthew 1:6). Luke's list, which runs back from Jesus (Luke 3:23), has "the son of David" (Luke 3:31).
Honest questions
Questions people ask about Ruth 4
That was a taste
The rest of Ruth 4 is waiting in Favor
- The name of the dead
- "A son is born to Naomi"
- From Perez to David
- Like Rachel, like Leah, like Perez
- A field bought before witnesses
- 11 questions as you read
- 11 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
Favor reads the Bible in order, so you'll reach Ruth 4 with everything before it in view. First week free, then $10 a month per person.
The Hebrew word behind it
גָּאַלga'alsay ga-AL
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "redeem, act as kinsman". Strong's: "to redeem (according to the Oriental law of kinship), i.e. to be the next of kin (and as such to buy back a relative's property, marry his widow, etc.)". Near kinsman is its participle, go'el, the one who acts as kinsman. The verb comes thirteen times in this chapter: the WEB's "near kinsman" in 4:1, 4:3, 4:6, 4:8 and 4:14; "redeem" five times in Boaz's offer and the man's first answer (4:4); and three more times in the man's refusal, twice as "redeem" and once as "Take" in "Take my right of redemption for yourself" (4:6). It is the verb of Israel's law about land: "his kinsman who is next to him shall come, and redeem that which his brother has sold" (Leviticus 25:25). "Right of redemption" (4:6) and "redeeming" (4:7) are a noun from it (tap redeeming).
For your group
Ruth 4 Bible study questions
- 1The nearer kinsman said, "I can’t redeem it for myself, lest I endanger my own inheritance" (4:6). When has stepping in for someone else felt like a risk to what's yours? What did you do?
- 2Naomi once said, "the LORD has brought me home again empty" (1:21). Now the women say, "Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you today without a near kinsman" (4:14). Where have you seen God fill something you thought was empty?
- 3The book ends with a list of names from Perez to David (4:18-22). Whose faithfulness before you has shaped your life, and who might be shaped by yours?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Ruth 4 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home