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Thoughts for a Woman's Heart |
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encouragement in things that matter |
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A Near Relative
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Naomi and her family had traveled to Moab to escape the famine in their homeland. Two young sons grew and took Moabitess women to be their wives. Tragedy took the lives of both these newly married husbands, and their father as well. Three women were suddenly destitute in a culture that ignored the needs of widows, and Naomi, and one of her daughters-in-law, Ruth, return to Bethlehem in Judah. Greeted by women who had known her before, Naomi laments God’s dealings with her, and states that she left "full," but God brought her back "empty." Her words seem insensitive if we consider the young woman who has pledged her loyalty and love to her, and may have stood beside her even as she spoke, but Naomi’s immediate situation was an "empty" one. Threatened with lifelong extreme poverty, she seeks to sell the land that had belonged to her deceased husband.
The "nearest relative" of Naomi would have the first option to purchase the land. Boaz had already befriended the warm, supportive, and industrious young daughter-in-law who would become the bride of the near-relative who redeemed the land. A closer near-relative declined the option that was presented to him, and Boaz became the Old Testament kinsman-redeemer who parallels the kinsman-redeemer position of Christ Himself. Boaz foreshadowed the relationship of Christ because Boaz was not only a near-relative, but he was also willing to pay the redemptive price, and he was capable of doing so.
A message that resounds from Hebrews 2:9-17 is the message that Jesus is a near-relative. He places every believer within the family of God, and calls Himself, our brother. In becoming the God-man, and in His death as the God-man, He became our representative before the Father. As Boaz "bought back" the land that had belonged to Naomi’s deceased husband, even so Christ "bought us back" from the bondage of Satan, and gives us the freedom to live in relationship with the Father. Jesus was capable of redeeming us because redemption required not only a blood sacrifice, but also a perfect sacrifice. He was holy, innocent, undefiled, and separated from sinners, but He chose on the basis of His own will and initiative to lay down His life for those whom He wanted to know, and love, and treasure as His near-relatives.
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— Bev |
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