January 22 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Devotional

When someone dies no notice is given to the general public until the next of kin is notified. Ruth 4 tells us that the next of kin is to be notified before Boaz can marry Ruth and redeem the family of Elimelech. Boaz approaches the next of kin to find out whether he is willing to do his part. Very selfishly the man refuses. He is interested in the property, which will become his once Ruth and Naomi are dead. But if he marries Ruth and she has a son, he will have to give the son the inheritance and he will be back at square one—minus the money he paid for the land. Due to his selfish behaviour no one knows his name today. He did not see the necessity of building the church of God and therefore his name is not remembered.

Before many witnesses present at the gates of Bethlehem, the next of kin takes off his sandal. That was an interesting custom. If you took off your sandal and handed it to someone else, it symbolized the transfer of a possession or a right of ownership. You no longer had the right to walk on that soil. This is why the Lord, when He spoke to Moses at the burning bush, tells him to remove his sandals. The place where Moses was standing was holy ground. He was on God’s territory and had no rights.

Boaz takes the sandal and puts it on, symbolizing his willingness to take ownership of the situation. In obedience to the Messianic law, Boaz will redeem the inheritance of Elimelech. His willingness to be a redeemer foreshadows the great redemption in Jesus Christ.

We willingly threw away what had been given to us. We have no natural rights to possess anything. But Christ, in great kindness, came to redeem and purchase us. He gets into our shoes, paying the debts we owed and bearing the wrath of God against sin. According to the law of redemption Jesus became one with His people in every respect. He redeemed us from sin and iniquity and guarantees to us that we will receive the inheritance of eternal life.

We have an inheritance kept safe for us by the Redeemer! We were poor but now we are rich in Him. By God’s sovereign grace you and I may keep our shoes on in the presence of the Lord.