“He asked, ‘Who are you?’ and she answered, ‘I’m your handmaid Ruth. Spread your robe over your handmaid, because you are a redeeming kinsman.'”-Ruth 3:9
Notice in verse 9 the reason why Ruth feels she has the right to ask Boaz to marry her is because he is her GO’EL or Kinsman Redeemer and thus has certain obligations to her and the family….
In this case, the obligation Ruth is referring to is the duty of a Kinsman Redeemer to perform Levirate Marriage for a family member.
I’ve already discussed this in tons of detail in our study of chapter 2 but let’s do a quick review here.
Levirate Marriage was an ancient Middle Eastern custom not restricted to the Hebrews but practiced by the Hebrews way before it was codified as Law at Mount Sinai.
How it worked is if a married man who had a brother died before he was able to produce children with his wife, then the brother was obligated to step in and marry his now widowed sister-in-law.
This was done so any sons born from this new marriage would be considered the children of the deceased brother and the deceased brother’s family line and name could be preserved in Israel.
However, here’s the thing.
The Law of Moses concerning Levirate Marriage is restricted to ONLY the brothers of a married man who died without producing children.
If there’s no brother-in-law…
Or if the brother-in-law refuses to do his duty…
Then the widow is flat out of luck.
Recall that God killed Judah’s sons because they refused to perform Levirate Marriage and have children with Tamar who ended up resorting to prostitution in order to trick Judah into sleeping with her.
So if this is case, you’re probably wondering what in the world does Levirate Marriage have to do with Ruth and Boaz since Ruth’s dead husband didn’t have any brothers?
The answer is Levirate Marriage had NOTHING to do with Ruth and Boaz…
According to the Torah that is…
A Levirate Marriage solution should never have been an option for Ruth and Naomi.
This is a point Christianity is completely ignorant about.
See, what happened is that sometime after Sinai, a tradition developed whereby if a wife had a husband who had no brothers and he ended up dying, then it was decided that the closest male member in the clan should step up and perform Levirate Marriage.
That’s right.
I’m saying the obligation to perform Levirate Marriage was ADDED to the Kinsman Redeemer’s many obligations EVEN THOUGH IT’S NOT SCRIPTURAL.
And because it isn’t Scriptural, rather than being viewed as a legal requirement, it was viewed as just the right thing to do…
An act of charity or CHESED so to speak.
Now you might wonder what happened if the Kinsman Redeemer refused to perform Levirate Marriage for a childless widow in his clan?
Again, because it wasn’t Scriptural it was considered more an option of conscience than anything.
A senior kinsman refusing to marry the widow was nothing compared to if a legitimate brother-in-law refused to marry his sister in law (remember God killed Judah’s sons in that case).
So it wasn’t like he would be ostracized for refusing the duty of marriage…
And in many cases, there were other male family members who could have performed Levirate Marriage if the most senior kinsman refused.
But having said that, it was still a STRONG tradition and the closest male family member would have been looked down on if he refused his duty.
And if you think about it, this tradition wasn’t necessarily a bad thing…
It did provide a way to help unfortunate widows who had no children…
But just know that Ruth asking Boaz to marry her on the grounds he was her Kinsman Redeemer was based on Hebrew customs and tradition, NOT on God’s Word, the Torah.
Over and out.
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