Reading for January 31st

Read Ruth 4.1-22
In 4.1-22: At the gate.
In verse 1-2: In ancient Israel, business was transacted at the city gate and was witnessed by elders.
In verses 3-6: Boaz offers to buy Naomi's land (implying that she owned the property) if the other man does not wish to do so.
The next-of-kin retracts his offer when Boaz links land redemption to the marriage of Ruth.
If the man begets a child with Ruth, the land reverts to Naomi.
In verse 7: The removing of a sandal to seal a business deal differs from the practice in Deut 25.9, in which a man who refuses to perform levirate marriage is shamed by the dead man's widow.
In verses 9-10: Boaz announces his intention both to redeem the land and to marry Ruth.
In verse 11-12: The crowds link Ruth with other biblical character: with Rachel and Leah, two sisters who struggled for love and children (Gen 30); and with Perez, born after Tamar trick Judah into fulfilling the duties of levirate marriage (Gen 38).
In verse 13-17: Naomi's security is sealed by the birth of a male child, whom Boaz designates as the redeemer of her land.
In a story that assumes the inheritance rights of men, the praise that Ruth is more to Naomi then seven sons is striking.
In verses 18-22: Boaz, like many other important biblical figures, appears in seventh place in the genealogy traced from Perez (4.12).
While the book began with a man's decision and ends with a list of male names, the women Ruth and Naomi remain solidly in the heart of the story.
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