Ruth 4:13-17

Ruth 4:13-17

[13] So Boaz  took  Ruth,  and she was his wife:  and when he went in  unto her, the LORD  gave  her conception,  and she bare  a son.  [14] And the women  said  unto Naomi,  Blessed  be the LORD,  which hath not left  thee this day  without a kinsman,  that his name  may be famous  in Israel.  [15] And he shall be unto thee a restorer  of thy life,  and a nourisher  of thine old age:  for thy daughter in law,  which loveth  thee, which is better  to thee than seven  sons,  hath born  him. [16] And Naomi  took  the child,  and laid  it in her bosom,  and became nurse  unto it. [17] And the women her neighbours  gave  it a name,  saying,  There is a son  born  to Naomi;  and they called  his name  Obed:  he is the father  of Jesse,  the father  of David. 

What does Ruth 4:13-17 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

Ruth 4:13 is a key verse in the book because it records the fulfillment of Naomi and Ruth"s plans to obtain rest ( Ruth 2:2; Ruth 3:1-5). [1] A son was indispensable to the continuation of the line of Boaz as well as that of Mahlon and Elimelech. With the birth of Obed, Ruth and Naomi could both rest. They had produced someone who would carry on the program of God for Israel. The redeemer in view in this discussion was Obed, not Boaz.
Why did a godly Israelite such as Boaz marry a Moabite woman? Did the Mosaic Law not forbid the Israelites from admitting Moabites into their nation ( Deuteronomy 23:3)? Several solutions to this problem have been proposed.
1.Perhaps Boaz simply disregarded the law at this point. Was this not, after all, the time of the judges in which everyone did what was right in his own eyes, including ignoring the proscription about welcoming Moabites into Israel? This is unlikely because Boaz, as the writer presented him in Ruth , was a scrupulous observer of the Law (cf. Ruth 2:4; Ruth 2:12; Ruth 3:9-13; Ruth 4:1-6; Ruth 4:9-10; Ruth 4:13).
2.Perhaps the prohibition in Deuteronomy applied only to male Moabites since Moses used the masculine gender when he referred to them. However, the masculine gender would have been the normal gender to use when referring to both male and female Moabites. Moreover, there is no other clue in Deuteronomy that only males were in view in this prohibition.
3.Probably the law in Deuteronomy had in view unbelievers who wanted to immigrate into Israel. God had always welcomed believers from outside Israel into the covenant community ( Genesis 17; Genesis 38; Joshua 2; et al.). His purpose for Israel was that she bring people from other nations to God ( Exodus 19:5-6). God"s purpose in the Abrahamic Covenant to make Israel a blessing to the world by bringing all people into relationship with God antedated and superseded all provisions of the later Mosaic Covenant. God brought the Mosaic Covenant in alongside the Abrahamic Covenant to help the Israelites maximize the blessings He had promised Abraham.
The women blessed the Lord ( Ruth 4:14), acknowledging His goodness in providing a redeemer for Naomi, as well as Ruth , in Obed ( Ruth 4:15). God eventually granted their desire that Obed"s name become famous in Israel. Little did Ruth and Boaz realize that from their union would come Israel"s greatest kings, including David and Jesus Christ. Obed did indeed restore life to Naomi"s apparently dead branch of the family of Judah ( Ruth 4:15). Furthermore he sustained her in her old age by giving her hope (cf. Ruth 1:20-21).
". . . in all probability, Obed originally meant "servant" of Naomi; as her go"el, he "served" her by assuring her family"s survival and providing her food.... Obed"s name perhaps added the nuance "servant of Yahweh," for in the end his service of Naomi served Yahweh"s larger purpose as well." [2]
Ruth too received praise for her unusually selfless love and care for her mother-in-law. The ancient Israelites believed that seven sons constituted the ideal family (cf. 1 Samuel 2:5; Job 1:2; Job 42:13; Acts 19:14-17). Thus saying that Ruth was better to Naomi than seven sons was to say that she provided all that an ideal family could for Naomi.
Naomi became a nurse of Obed ( Ruth 4:16) in the sense of becoming his guardian, the meaning of the Hebrew word "aman (lit. "cared for him" or "one who serves"). Compare " Obadiah ," which means "servant of Yahweh." She did not become his wet nurse but his nanny. [3] Naomi adopted this grandson as her own child. [4]
Ruth 4:17 contains one of only two instances in Scripture when a child received its name from someone other than the immediate family (cf. Exodus 2:10; Luke 1:59).
"This verse [5] Isaiah , of course, a clue to the book"s purpose: to show that the reign of David resulted from neither his shrewd politics nor his clever tactics but from the divine preservation of his worthy family line. Therefore, Israel was to accept David"s kingship as the gift of divine guidance." [6]
Why did the writer feature Naomi in this closing section of the book rather than Ruth? I believe he did so to finish off the main point of chapter1. There Naomi said it was impossible for her to have a son ( Ruth 1:11-13). Yet at the end of the book she has a son ( Ruth 4:17). This motif of a need for the line of Judah, therefore, is one that the writer wanted his readers to appreciate. God provided the seed supernaturally ( Ruth 4:14) to a godly couple. Ruth"s faith in Yahweh qualified her as a channel of blessing in spite of her Moabite origins. The Book of Ruth opens with three funerals and closes with a wedding. [7]