Analysis of Ruth 4 — Gate, Sandal, and a Son of Promise: When Redemption Becomes a Story for the Nations
- Pr Enos Mwakalindile
- Dec 5, 2025
- 15 min read
At the city gate, a quiet legal act, a dusty sandal, and a baby’s cry become the doorway through which God’s purposes walk toward David—and beyond David, to the hope of the world.
1.0 Introduction — From Midnight Promise to Daylight Verdict
Ruth 4 moves us from the shadows of the threshing floor to the bright openness of the city gate.
The night in chapter 3 ended with a pledge: Boaz promised Ruth that he would act as redeemer if the nearer kinsman refused (Ruth 3:12–13). Naomi, reading Boaz’s character rightly, declared that “the man will not rest but will settle the matter today” (3:18). Now “today” has come.
Boaz goes up to the gate, the place of legal decisions and public life. There he meets the nearer redeemer, gathers ten elders, and lays out the situation: the land of Elimelech and the future of Naomi’s family are at stake. What begins as a discussion about a field quickly becomes a decision about whether a Moabite widow’s womb will be welcomed into Israel’s story.
By the end of the chapter:
Boaz has publicly secured the role of redeemer.
Ruth has become his wife, and the LORD has granted conception.
Naomi, once empty, holds a grandson called “restorer of life.”
A genealogy stretches from Perez through Boaz to David, hinting at a future king—and, from a New Testament vantage point, at the Messiah himself (Ruth 4:17–22; Matt 1:5).
Ruth 4 gathers the threads of famine, migration, mourning, gleaning, and midnight risk into a tapestry of public redemption and generational hope. What seemed like a small, local story about two widows in Bethlehem expands to become a turning point in the history of Israel and, ultimately, of the nations.
This final chapter invites us to ponder:
How does God weave legal procedures, economic decisions, and family life into his redemptive plan?
What does it mean that the future of Israel’s monarchy—and the Messiah—runs through the story of a Moabite woman and a man of hesed?
How does public, communal redemption speak to our often privatized view of salvation?
At the gate, with a sandal in hand and witnesses all around, redemption moves from promise to enactment.
2.0 Historical and Literary Context — Gate, Go’el, and Genealogy
2.1 The City Gate: Courtroom and Crossroads
In ancient Israelite towns, the gate was far more than an entrance. It was the place where elders sat, disputes were heard, and transactions were ratified (cf. Deut 21:19; Prov 31:23). To “go up to the gate” (Ruth 4:1) is to step into the public, legal arena.
Boaz deliberately relocates the story from the private, ambiguous space of the threshing floor (Ruth 3) to the public, accountable space of the gate (Block 1999, 678–79; Sakenfeld 1999, 63–65). Redemption here will not be hidden or whispered but witnessed and affirmed.
2.2 Go’el and Levirate: Law and Creative Faithfulness
The institution of the go’el (kinsman‑redeemer) is rooted in covenantal responsibility within extended families. A go’el could redeem family land sold due to poverty (Lev 25:25–28), help rescue relatives from slavery (Lev 25:47–49), and act to secure justice for a murdered kinsman (Num 35:19).
Levirate marriage, outlined in Deuteronomy 25:5–10, is a related but distinct custom in which a man marries his deceased brother’s widow to raise up offspring in the dead man’s name.
Ruth 4 intertwines these institutions in a creative way. Boaz is a go’el, not a brother‑in‑law. Yet Naomi’s and Ruth’s situation calls for a redeemer who can both buy the land and marry Ruth to “raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance” (Ruth 4:5, 10). As many scholars note, the narrative does not present a rigid legal template but an improvisation of covenant principles in a unique family crisis (Block 1999, 680–83; Lau 2010, 183–90; Nielsen 1997, 79–81).
2.3 The Sandal Ceremony
Ruth 4:7–8 explains an older custom in Israel: “To confirm a transaction, the one drew off his sandal and gave it to the other” (4:7). This practice symbolized the transfer of the right to walk on (and thus possess) the land. Deuteronomy 25 connects sandal removal with levirate refusal, though there it carries an element of shame (Deut 25:9–10). In Ruth 4, the tone is more neutral; the nearer redeemer’s refusal is noted but not publicly humiliated (Sakenfeld 1999, 66–67).
The sandal in Ruth 4 functions as a tangible sign that Boaz now steps into the redeemer’s role. What was formerly the right—and responsibility—of the nearer kinsman now belongs to Boaz.
2.4 Structure of Ruth 4
Commentators commonly outline Ruth 4 as four main scenes (Block 1999, 678–88; Sakenfeld 1999, 63–75; Webb 2015, 255–63):
Boaz at the Gate: Negotiation with the Nearest Redeemer (4:1–6) — Boaz presents the issue of land and lineage; the nearer redeemer declines.
The Sandal, the Declaration, and the Blessing (4:7–12) — The transaction is ratified; Boaz announces his actions; the elders and people bless Boaz and Ruth.
Marriage, Conception, and the Women’s Praise (4:13–17a) — Boaz marries Ruth; the LORD grants conception; the women praise YHWH and bless Naomi.
Genealogy: From Perez to David (4:17b–22) — The story’s horizon widens from Naomi’s house to Israel’s monarchy.
Literarily, Ruth 4 mirrors and reverses themes from chapter 1. Naomi’s “emptiness” (1:21) is answered with fullness. The women of Bethlehem who once asked, “Is this Naomi?” (1:19) now proclaim, “A son has been born to Naomi!” (4:17).
2.5 Genealogy as Theological Horizon
The book closes with a ten‑generation genealogy from Perez (Judah’s son by Tamar) to David (4:18–22). This list situates Ruth’s story within the broader covenant line of Judah and anticipates the rise of Israel’s first great king.
As N. T. Wright and others emphasize, biblical genealogies are theological signposts. They trace the faithfulness of God across generations, linking small, local stories to the larger drama of God’s kingdom. The mention of Tamar in the elders’ blessing (4:12) and Perez in the genealogy subtly reminds us that God has often worked through unexpected, even scandal‑tinged family situations to move his purposes forward (Wright 2012; Lau 2010).
3.0 Walking Through the Text — Gate, Sandal, Blessing, and Baby
3.1 Ruth 4:1–4 — Boaz at the Gate and a Carefully Framed Offer
“Now Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there. And behold, the redeemer, of whom Boaz had spoken, came by.” (4:1)
Boaz positions himself at the gate and waits. The near redeemer “happens” to pass by—another quiet providence. Boaz calls him to sit, then gathers ten elders, forming a kind of ad hoc court (4:1–2).
Boaz first presents the issue as a matter of land: Naomi is selling the portion of land that belonged to Elimelech (4:3). The nearer redeemer has the first right to buy it; if he declines, Boaz may act. The offer is attractive: to acquire land that can be folded into one’s own estate while fulfilling family duty.
The nearer redeemer initially agrees: “I will redeem it” (4:4). At this point, the reader feels the tension: Will the story’s hoped‑for union of Boaz and Ruth be thwarted? More deeply, how will Naomi’s and Ruth’s future be shaped by this man’s character and choices?
3.2 Ruth 4:5–6 — The Cost of Redemption and a Reluctant Redeemer
Boaz then adds a crucial piece of information:
“The day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance.” (4:5)
Redemption here is not merely economic; it includes the responsibility to marry Ruth and raise up offspring in Mahlon’s name, preserving Elimelech’s line. The children born from such a union would, in some sense, belong to the dead man’s house rather than strengthening the redeemer’s own estate.
Confronted with the full cost, the nearer redeemer reverses his decision: “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it” (4:6). He is not portrayed as wicked, but he is unwilling to bear the financial and genealogical cost of a redemption that will not ultimately center his own name.
Boaz’s careful framing exposes the heart of redemption: it is not a bargain but a costly act of self‑giving. The unnamed redeemer fades from the story; his refusal clears the path for Boaz.
3.3 Ruth 4:7–12 — The Sandal, the Declaration, and a Chorus of Blessing
“Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging: to confirm a transaction, the one drew off his sandal and gave it to the other…” (4:7)
The narrator pauses to explain the sandal custom for later readers. The nearer redeemer removes his sandal and gives it to Boaz (4:8). With that symbolic gesture, the transfer is complete.
Boaz then makes a public declaration before the elders and all the people:
He has bought all that belonged to Elimelech, Chilion, and Mahlon from Naomi.
He has acquired Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon, to be his wife.
His purpose is “to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off” (4:10).
Boaz’s speech is saturated with concern for the dead’s name and inheritance, not his own status. He stands as a willing substitute, taking on cost so that another’s name will endure.
The elders and people respond with a threefold blessing (4:11–12):
Rachel and Leah Blessing — “May the LORD make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel.” Ruth, the Moabite, is prayed into the matriarchal company of Israel.
Ephrathah and Bethlehem Blessing — “May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem.” Boaz’s reputation and influence are entrusted to God’s care.
Perez and Tamar Blessing — “May your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.” This invokes another story of a vulnerable woman and a complex quasi‑levirate situation (Gen 38). Like Tamar, Ruth stands in a messy yet ultimately redemptive line through which Judah’s posterity continues.
These blessings recognize that what is happening at the gate has national significance. Boaz and Ruth’s union is being woven into the fabric of Israel’s story.
3.4 Ruth 4:13–15 — Marriage, Conception, and a Restorer of Life
“So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in to her, and the LORD gave her conception, and she bore a son.” (4:13)
The narrator is discreet but theologically rich: “the LORD gave her conception.” After years of childlessness in Moab (Ruth 1:4–5), Ruth’s fertility is explicitly attributed to YHWH’s gracious action (Block 1999, 688–89; Sakenfeld 1999, 71–72).
The women of Bethlehem become a chorus of praise:
“Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel!” (4:14)
Interestingly, they speak to Naomi, not Ruth. They see the child as Naomi’s redeemer—one who will “restore your life and nourish you in your old age” (4:15). The baby will carry Naomi’s family line forward and provide future care.
Then comes a stunning statement about Ruth:
“For your daughter‑in‑law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.” (4:15)
In a culture that prized sons, the women declare that Ruth’s hesed surpasses the value of “seven sons”—the number of fullness. The Moabite daughter‑in‑law is publicly honored above the idealized Israelite sons Naomi never had.
3.5 Ruth 4:16–17a — Naomi Holds the Child and the Neighborhood Names Him
Naomi takes the child, lays him on her lap, and becomes his nurse (4:16). The image is tender and symbolic: the woman who once renamed herself “Bitter” now cradles new life.
The neighborhood women supply the name: “A son has been born to Naomi.” They call him Obed, likely meaning “servant” (4:17). He is, in a sense, Naomi’s servant‑redeemer, the one through whom her story will continue.
Naomi, who once lamented that the LORD had brought her back empty (1:21), now holds fullness in her arms.
3.6 Ruth 4:17b–22 — From Obed to David: A Line of Promise
The narrator then steps back:
“He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.” (4:17b)
With a single sentence, the story leaps forward. The child of Ruth and Boaz is the grandfather of David. A genealogy follows, linking Perez to Hezron, Ram, Amminadab, Nahshon, Salmon, Boaz, Obed, Jesse, and David (4:18–22).
This list frames Ruth’s story as part of the royal line. As Kirsten Nielsen and Peter Lau note, the mention of Perez and Tamar at both ends of the book (4:12, 18) creates an inclusio, underscoring that God’s purposes often advance through marginal, vulnerable figures—Tamar, Ruth, and, in the New Testament genealogy, other surprising women (Nielsen 1997, 82–84; Lau 2010, 195–200).
From a Christian perspective, Matthew 1 will later name Ruth in Jesus’ genealogy (Matt 1:5). The Moabite widow gleaning in Bethlehem’s fields becomes an ancestress of the world’s Redeemer.
4.0 Theological Reflection — Public Redemption, Costly Hesed, and a Story for the Nations
4.1 Redemption as Public, Communal, and Concrete
Ruth 4 resists any purely privatized notion of salvation. Redemption here is:
Public — negotiated at the gate, witnessed by elders and townspeople.
Communal — affecting not just individuals but family lines, land distribution, and the town’s future.
Concrete — involving land, marriage, a child, and lifelong care for an elderly widow.
As BibleProject and others highlight, Ruth portrays redemption not as escaping the material world but as God’s faithfulness within it—restoring relationships, securing economic stability, and preserving a family within Israel’s covenant story (BibleProject 2023; Block 1999, 680–83).
4.2 Boaz as a Type of the Redeemer: Bearing the Cost for Another’s Name
Boaz’s actions embody the heart of go’el ministry. He willingly takes on economic and genealogical cost so that Elimelech’s and Mahlon’s names will not disappear. He does not insist on his own legacy being central. He uses his privilege, wealth, and reputation to lift up the poor and protect the vulnerable.
In doing so, Boaz foreshadows the greater Redeemer. Christ, the Son of David and descendant of Ruth and Boaz, will one day take on our debt, shame, and death so that our names may be written in God’s book. If Boaz surrendered some of his inheritance to raise up another’s name, Jesus surrenders his life to bring many sons and daughters to glory (Heb 2:10).
N. T. Wright’s kingdom theology reminds us that Jesus’ redemption is likewise public, communal, and embodied—launching a renewed people who live out his sacrificial love in the world (Wright 2012).
4.3 Ruth and Naomi: Women at the Center of God’s Purposes
Ruth and Naomi, widows on the margins, stand at the theological center of the book’s conclusion. The women of Bethlehem interpret events in ways that honor them:
Naomi is named as the one for whom God has provided a redeemer (4:14).
Ruth is praised as one who “loves you” and is worth more than seven sons (4:15).
Katharine Sakenfeld notes that Ruth’s and Naomi’s experiences give us a lens on God’s hesed from the underside of society (Sakenfeld 1999, 72–74). God’s redemptive work here is not an abstract doctrine but new life in the arms of a formerly bitter widow, secured through the steadfast love of a foreign daughter‑in‑law.
4.4 From Bethlehem to David to Jesus: A Story for the Nations
The genealogy that concludes Ruth leads us to David, yet the story’s forward movement reaches beyond him. Through David’s line will come a king whose kingdom embraces not just Israel but the nations.
It is no accident that Ruth is a Moabite. Her inclusion anticipates the prophetic hope that the nations will stream to Zion (Isa 2:2–4) and the New Testament reality in which Gentiles are grafted into Israel’s story through the Messiah (Rom 11). Ruth’s presence in Jesus’ genealogy in Matthew 1 signals that God’s long‑term plan has always been to bless the nations through Abraham’s family—and that he delights to do so through unexpected people (Wright 2012; Lau 2010).
Bethlehem, “house of bread,” will later be the birthplace of the Bread of Life. The fields where Ruth gleaned become, in the gospel story, the backdrop for a Savior born to feed the world.
4.5 Memory, Name, and the God Who Does Not Forget
A driving concern in Ruth 4 is that “the name of the dead may not be cut off” (4:10). Humanly, memory is fragile; names fade; lines end. Yet in Ruth, God works through human hesed and legal customs to preserve a family’s name within his covenant people.
For believers today, Ruth 4 bears witness to a God who does not forget the marginalized. He remembers Naomi’s tears, Ruth’s loyalty, Boaz’s integrity—and inscribes them into the lineage of his Messiah. Our acts of faithfulness, however small, are not lost in the dust; they are gathered into God’s long story.
5.0 Life Application — Living as Redeemed People and Agents of Redemption
5.1 Taking Redemption Out of the Private Corner
Ruth 4 challenges us to broaden our vision of redemption. Salvation is not only about private forgiveness and inner peace; it is also about:
Restoring broken family systems where possible.
Addressing economic injustice and vulnerability.
Creating structures where widows, migrants, and the poor are protected and included.
Churches shaped by Ruth will care about legal processes, property issues, and public policies that affect the most vulnerable, seeing these as arenas for living out God’s hesed.
5.2 Using Power and Wealth like Boaz
Most of us have some measure of economic or social power. Boaz invites us to ask:
Where might God be calling me to bear cost so that someone else’s future can be secured?
Are there “nearer redeemers” in my world—people or institutions with more obvious responsibility—who are refusing to act, leaving a gap God may be asking me to step into?
How can my business decisions, leadership choices, or family resources serve the Naomis and Ruths around me?
Boaz shows that godly leadership does not cling to advantage but uses it to lift others.
5.3 Honoring Those the World Overlooks
The women’s declaration that Ruth is “better to you than seven sons” confronts our own measures of worth. Today, many who quietly practice hesed—single parents, caregivers, foster families, those who welcome refugees, those who serve in unseen ministries—may feel invisible.
Ruth 4 calls the church to:
Speak blessing over such people publicly.
Tell their stories as part of God’s redemptive work in our communities.
Resist equating success with visibility, platform, or biological offspring.
In God’s way of working, a Moabite widow gathering leftover grain at the edge of a field can become the small pivot on which his redemptive story swings.
5.4 Trusting God with the Generations We Cannot See
Naomi and Ruth never meet David, let alone Jesus. They die before seeing the full impact of their faithfulness. Yet their choices shape generations.
For us, this encourages:
Faithfulness in parenting, mentoring, and discipling, even when fruit seems small.
Perseverance in local, unimpressive acts of love, trusting that God may multiply them beyond our lifetime.
A willingness to plant trees under whose shade we will never sit.
5.5 Living under the Cloak of the Greater Redeemer
If Boaz is a picture of Christ, then Ruth 4 invites us to live as those who have been publicly redeemed. Our Redeemer has acted in history—at a public execution and an empty tomb. He has claimed us, given us a name, and placed us in his family.
Practically, that means:
Receiving our identity as beloved, redeemed sons and daughters.
Joining Christ’s mission of redemption in our neighborhoods, workplaces, and nations.
Offering our “fields”—our resources, skills, and social capital—as places where God’s hesed can be experienced.
Reflection Questions
What part of Ruth 4 speaks most powerfully to you—the gate negotiation, the blessings, the birth of Obed, or the genealogy? Why?
How does this chapter challenge your understanding of redemption as more than a private spiritual transaction?
In what ways do you see Boaz’s use of power as a model (or a critique) for how you or your community use influence and resources?
Who in your context might be a “Ruth” or a “Naomi” in need of someone willing to bear cost for their future? What might a first step of hesed look like?
How does the long horizon of the genealogy—from Perez to David and ultimately to Jesus—reshape the way you think about the impact of your own faithfulness?
Response Prayer
Faithful God,
You who sit at the true gate of justice, who see every transaction, every loss, every act of quiet kindness, we praise you for the story of Ruth and Naomi, for Boaz, and for the son of promise born in Bethlehem.
Thank you for being the God who does not leave the widow without a redeemer, who does not let the name of the poor be cut off, who remembers the tears of the bitter and turns them into songs of blessing.
Lord Jesus, greater Boaz, we bless you for stepping into our story, for bearing the cost we could not bear, for taking off your glory and taking on our flesh, so that our names might be written in your family line.
Holy Spirit, teach us to live as a redeemed people:
using our power to protect, not exploit;
sharing our bread with the hungry;
honoring those whose hesed is hidden from the world;
trusting you with the generations we will never see.
Make our churches like Bethlehem’s “house of bread,” where the vulnerable find a place, where the nations are welcomed into your family, and where the story of your redemption is told and retold.
Write our ordinary faithfulness into your extraordinary purposes, just as you wove the lives of Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz into the story of David and the coming King.
We rest under the cloak of your redemption, confident that you will not forget the work of love you have begun in us.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Window into the Next Chapter
Ruth’s written story ends here, with Naomi holding Obed and the genealogy rising to David. But the narrative of redemption continues.
The “next chapter” unfolds in the books of Samuel, where David emerges as a man after God’s own heart—and yet a flawed king pointing beyond himself. Centuries later, in the fullness of time, another child will be born in Bethlehem, of David’s line, whose kingdom will never end.
From Ruth 4 we step into the wider drama of 1–2 Samuel, the Psalms, the Prophets, and the Gospels, following the thread of God’s faithfulness from a barley field in Bethlehem to a cross and an empty tomb, and on toward the new creation in which all nations will find their place in the family of the Redeemer.
Bibliography
BibleProject. “Book of Ruth.” In BibleProject Study Notes. BibleProject, 2023.
Block, Daniel I. Judges, Ruth. New American Commentary 6. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1999.
Lau, Peter H. W. Identity and Ethics in the Book of Ruth: A Social Identity Approach. Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 416. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2010.
Nielsen, Kirsten. Ruth: A Commentary. Old Testament Library. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1997.
Sakenfeld, Katharine Doob. Ruth. Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. Louisville: John Knox, 1999.
Webb, Barry G. Judges and Ruth: God in Chaos. Preaching the Word. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2015.
Wright, N. T. How God Became King: The Forgotten Story of the Gospels. New York: HarperOne, 2012.
Comments