Mon.’s Devo. - Our Kinsman Redeemer

Read: Ruth 2:1-4:22; John 4:43-54; Psalm 105:16-36; Proverbs 114:26-27 Boaz was a wealthy man who had been a relative of Ruth’s deceased husband, Elimelech. It was the wheat harvest and Ruth wanted to work in the fields. It was a law that the poor could walk behind the reapers and pick up whatever they missed. Naomi agreed to let Ruth go glean. *** Ruth just happened to end up in Boaz’s field. He knew who she was and had heard her story of losing her husband, then following Ruth back to live among Israelites. When he saw her gleaning in his field he introduced himself to her and told her to stay in his fields and he would make sure she was safe. *** Boaz then went to his workers and told them to drop extra sheaves for her to pick up and not to harass her in any way. Boaz also invited her to eat the food he had prepared for his workers. She stayed there all day and went home with enough sheaves to make a whole bowl of grain. *** Ruth was amazed at the amount of grain Ruth had gathered and asked her whose field she had gathered in. When she learned it was Boaz’s, she told Ruth that he was a kinsman redeemer for their family. ***At the end of the barley harvest, Boaz would be staying at the threshing floor over night. Naomi told Ruth to get cleaned up and put on her prettiest dress. She was stay in the background until Boaz had eaten and was full of wine. Once he had laid down, she was to uncover his feet and lay there. Boaz would instruct her from there. *** Boaz had already searched to find there was a relative who was ahead of him in redeeming her. He told Ruth to go home and he would talk to the other relative and see if he would redeem her. If he did, there was nothing Boaz could do, but if he didn’t, Boaz would marry Ruth. *** When Boaz went to the gates of the city, he met the relative. He didn’t want to redeem Ruth, so Boaz became her redeemer. Witnesses of the transaction blessed Boaz and he took Ruth as his wife. She became pregnant and the child became Naomi’s birthright. They named the son Obed which means “serving”. *** In the genealogy in Matthew we learn that Boaz’s mother was Rahab, who was a Canaanite woman who chose, like Ruth, to become an Israelite. That was why Boaz had so much compassion on Ruth, a foreigner like his mother. *** In John, Jesus went back to Judea where he had been kicked out before. This time so many of them had been touched by the miracles he had done at Passover, they welcomed him. He came to the city of Cana where he had turned the water to wine and met a government official whose son was about to die. He begged Jesus to heal his son. *** Jesus told the man to go back home, his son would live. The man believed him and went home. On his way, some of his servants met him with the good news that his son was well. It had happened the very moment Jesus spoke his healing. He and his entire household became believers in Christ. *** Lord, thank you for being our Kinsman Redeemer. Thank you for saving the whole world that we might become children of God. May we be the light of the world for you.