My Redeemer Lives

When I am reading through the Bible, I often stumble across certain words or phrases that stick out to me for no apparent reason. A lot of the time, these are words that we use without really thinking about why or what they mean, yet they are part of our Christian vocabulary and we rarely stop to question them. I like to stop and dig in, words are chosen for a purpose and I want to know what that purpose is. So this past week, when it was my night to share with the group, I took them on a little adventure, the same expedition I share with you now.

I've been reading through Ruth with one of the girls in my Bible study, and a word that kept popping out at me was "redeemer" and since then I've been chewing over the connection between Boaz as Ruth's redeemer, and Christ as ours. What was it about Ruth that needed to be redeemed? She was a widow. Whenever widows are mentioned in the Word, they are grouped with the poor, the needy. In 1 Kings 17:22 we meet the widow who has nothing but a little flour and some oil that she is set to use to prepare a last meal for her and her son. In 2 Kings 4, the widow is being pursued by creditors and has nothings but a jar of oil. In Luke 21, the widow who offers 2 small copper coins is said to have offered more than any of the others for she gave all she had. So widows were poor. Loss of a husband meant loss of income. A widow could not provide for herself, she was helpless, desperate.

In Genesis 38 we find the story of Tamar. Her first husband died so she married his brother in hopes that he might continue the line. (The story takes a turn for the worse soon after, but the practice is all I need to reference.)

This is the practice we see in Ruth. Ruth and Naomi have both become widows, they have no income. Ruth goes to the field to glean from the harvest with the rest of the poor. Boaz is able to provide for Ruth. He marries her to "redeem" her, to restore her and "raise up the name of the deceased." So how does that apply to us?

Boaz could redeem Ruth because he was a relative, even called a "closest relative" (Ruth 2:20) which can also be translated "redeemer." We have been adopted into God's family and are even called fellow heirs with Christ (Romans 8:15-17).

Our original relationship, the one we were intended to share with God, died in Adam's sin. We are widows. We are spiritually bankrupt and have no means of providing for ourselves. But Christ, Christ was sent into this world to reconcile--bring back into close relationship--all things. He was sent to redeem us, to restore our inheritance in God's kingdom, to bring glory to the name of the Father.

One of the great ideas behind this whole "redeemer" thing, is that redeemers had a choice. In Ruth 4, the closer relative had a choice as to whether he wanted to redeem Ruth or not, he chose not to. But Christ came with that sole purpose. It was His choice.

Like I said, this is just something I've been chewing on for a few days...