In order to gain an in depth understanding of what’s happening not only in Ruth Chapter 4 but the entire Bible, there’s one thing about ancient Israel you’ve got to understand.
Land was EVERYTHING to them.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise because Israel was an agricultural-based society.
But it went further than that.
The Lord God declared that the original owner of a piece of real estate in the Holy Land was to keep it in his family FOREVER.
However, when I say “family”, I’m not talking about our modern notions of what a family is.
I’m talking about tribal families that were made up of many clans.
It was perfectly okay to transfer land from one family to another…
But the property had to STAY INSIDE THE CLAN!
Now one may wonder what if some disaster wiped out an entire clan?
Or what if the clan became poverty-stricken and was unable to hold onto the land?
Then the next best thing was to make sure it stayed within the tribe to which the clan belonged.
But what if something happened and the clan’s tribe itself was wiped out?
Then the land would go to another Hebrew tribe.
The idea was to keep the land under Israelite ownership no matter what.
The thing that should NEVER happen was to have to hand over the land to gentiles.
However, having said all that, even if a clan or tribe lost possession of their land, the laws of Jubilee guaranteed it would be returned to them debt free and at no cost.
However, this chance only came around once every 50 years.
So I hope this gives you a good idea of just how important property and land rights were to Israel back in those days.
But interestingly, over the years, when it comes to land and property ownership in general, I’ve always sense the Lord telling me it wasn’t important.
I’ve rented all of my life and to this day have never felt an urge to take out a mortgage (which is really another form of debt anyway) to buy a house.
Don’t get me wrong.
I’m not saying it’s bad to wanna buy house or own your own property.
I’m just saying as for me I’ve always sensed God telling me that being attached to the idea of owning my own house or property just wasn’t important in a world that will soon be passing away.
He said building up spiritual treasure was ultimately more important than amassing earthly things.
We can also see this was how Yeshua lived his life here on earth.
He was functionally a homeless guy if you think about it.
Even after his death, he had to rely on the good graces of a rich man named Joseph Arimathea to provide a grave plot for his burial.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“And Yeshua said to him,
‘Foxes have holes,
and birds of the air have nests,
but the Son of Man
has nowhere to lay his head.'”
-Matthew 8:20
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,
where moths and vermin destroy,
and where thieves break in and steal.
But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where moths and vermin do not destroy,
and where thieves do not break in and steal.
For where your treasure is,
there your heart will be also.”
-Matthew 6:19-21
“And everyone who has given up houses
or brothers or sisters or father or mother
or children or property, for my sake,
will receive a hundred times as much
in return and will inherit eternal life.”
-Matthew 19:29
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