Our Willing Redeemer
The Kinsman Redeemer—Part Two
Submitted by Ted Mock
May 7, 2025
Heb 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
In the Mosaic Law there was no compulsion placed on the kinsman redeemer. Leviticus 25:48 uses the word “may” twice. The near kinsman had to be willing to perform the duty of redemption. The kinsman who was nearer than Boaz declined his position, leaving Boaz next in line. Most commentaries propose two main reasons why the barefoot kinsman did not want to exercise his right.
One was that he was already married, but the other seems the most likely to me. He didn’t want to marry a Moabite, a gentile people under a curse.
The first restriction for any kinsman redeemer was that he must be near kin. After that, he had to be willing, and in this case the barefoot kinsman plainly was not willing. If love for the unfortunate brother was not enough to compel him to act as redeemer, no law could force him to act. He might have had a moral obligation, but no law could demand him to act.
From the first encounter Boaz had with Ruth, he exhibited a willingness to help the stranger from Moab. When he invited Ruth to stay in his fields, close to his maidens, taking lunch breaks with his workers, all under his protection, it points to love at first sight. If that was not enough, the “handfuls of purpose” should remove all doubt.
Naomi played matchmaker for Ruth. In chapter three, she told her to go to the threshing floor. When Boaz found her at his feet, she was proposing marriage. Boaz was more than willing, he was eager!
Thank God that our Kinsman Redeemer was willing! It was His love for us that made Him willing to die in our place to redeem us from the bondage and penalty of sin. His motive for redemption was not found in us but in His Person. We were not lovely, but He was wonderful because of His yearning love for us.
What a Redeemer we have in our Lord Jesus Christ!
Ga 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Consider –To make a living is how much you get. To make a life is how much you give.
