So now that we have a solid grasp of how the laws governing land inheritance in Israel worked, one thing should be pretty crystal clear at this point in our study of Ruth Chapter Four.
Naomi did NOT legally possess the land that Boaz and the other redeemer were bargaining over.
This point should be obvious simply from the fact she was currently living in poverty.
Even if she wasn’t physically capable of working the land for food, she could have rented her property out to another party in order to secure a steady source of income.
So it’s clear that Naomi didn’t own nor have control over the land in question.
If so, then who in the world did have possession have it?
And under what circumstances did this person take control of the land?
Well, here’s the truth of the matter.
I don’t know.
And you know what?
Nobody else on the planet knows for sure either.
Simply because the people living during the time of Ruth had information that was common knowledge to them but not to us.
In other words, the circumstances themselves revealed the proper course of action.
Circumstances that although confusing to our Western gentile or modern minds were NOT confusing to the Hebrews in that era.
We simply underestimate the impact the huge cultural and linguistic gap that exists between us now and the Israelites back then has on our understanding.
We can try our best through research to bridge that gap but we’re never gonna have the same understanding of someone who actually lived during that era.
Ya feel me homies?
In fact, take that phrase “Ya feel me homies”?
Do you think someone from 16th century England or someone from the future like from the year 3021 would understand that phrase?
Of course, we know it’s slang for “Do you understand or agree with what I’m saying?”
But someone who is divorced from our culture by thousands of years would at first glance have no idea what it means.
I imagine they’d be saying to themselves in confusion…
“Hmm, a “homie” must be somebody who owns a home or maybe somebody who likes to spend all of his or her time at home?
But why in the world are they asking this person to feel or touch them?”
You get my point here?
Because more often than not, we also face this exact same problem every time we open our up our Bibles…
And Ruth Chapter Four is a perfect case in point.
Anyways, let’s get back to the topic at hand.
So we know Naomi did NOT possess the land…
Which means she didn’t have the right to hold it or get rid of it simply because she was not a legal heir.
This leads us to only two possible conclusions.
POSSIBLE CONCLUSION 1:
The land was possessed by some other unnamed person who legally obtained it from Elimelech before he passed away.
If this is the case, then what’s happening here in Ruth Chapter Four is that Boaz or the other unnamed senior redeemer were bargaining about how to redeem it back from the unnamed owner…
OR that Naomi’s return to Bethlehem meant it was finally time to settle the issue of Elimelech’s land inheritance by deciding who should be the GO’EL to take control of the land so as to return possession of it to back inside the clan.
Again, the issue of utmost importance was keeping possession of the land INSIDE THE CLAN!
POSSIBLE CONCLUSION 2:
The possession of the land was already INSIDE the family and what’s going on here is a negotiation process to STOP the property from being transferred to an OUTSIDER who is not a member of the family or clan.
And again, the way this was accomplished was by having a family redeemer (a near relative) step in and buy the land (in order to prevent some outsider from purchasing it).
So which situation are we dealing with here?
Well, that’s what we’re gonna discuss the next time we meet!
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