“Then he said to the redeeming kinsman, ‘The parcel of land which used to belong to our relative Elimelekh is being offered for sale by Na‘omi, who has returned from the plain of Mo’av.'”-Ruth 4:3
Verse 3 kicks off the dialogue to determine who would become Naomi’s Kinsman Redeemer.
Would it be Boaz?
Or the other unnamed guy?
Quite honestly, this might just be one of the most difficult conversations ever recorded in Scripture.
Just to make sure everything is clear and we’re all on the same page, here’s an easy to understand breakdown of the challenges we face when attempting to interpret these passages.
DIFFICULTY 1:
Due to the weird changing of Hebrew verb tenses in this passage, it’s difficult to tell whether Naomi had already sold the land or was in the process of doing so.
One verse seems to say the sale had been completed while another gives the impression the sale was about to take place.
DIFFICULTY 2:
This difficulty in the Hebrew is NOT reflected in our English translations.
Since most translators have no freakin’ idea how to deal with the confusing change in verb tenses contained in this passage, they willy nilly make their own decision of whether the land had been sold or not.
So they end up changing all the verb tenses in English to reflect their own conclusions of whether or not the sale of the land had been finished or the process was still ongoing.
DIFFICULTY 3:
Gentile scholars and commentators have for centuries promoted the falsehood that what Ruth and Boaz were about to engage in was Levirate Marriage.
And that this so-called Levirate Marriage solved the problem of who the land would be transferred to because it was hoped that Ruth and Boaz would produce a son who would become the heir to the property.
Well, things ain’t that black-and-white homies.
Because these verses in Ruth do NOT conform to the required duties of a Kinsman Redeemer as spelled out in the Torah.
DIFFICULTY 4:
Due to Difficulty 3, many scholars just write off Ruth Chapter 4 as being corrupt.
They end up ignoring the plain reading of the original text because they don’t possess the necessary Hebrew knowledge or background required to really and I mean REALLY understand what’s going on here.
As a result, they end up concocting their own version of what happened based more on their imagination rather than on what the Scripture really says.
Well, I’ll tell you right now, we ain’t gonna be cutting any corners here…
Even though it would be much more convenient and easier to do so.
We’re gonna take our good ‘ole sweet time to really understand what’s going on in these passages.
Because there is so much Scriptural treasure we’d be overlooking if we didn’t.
Ya hear me?
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