"1 Now Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there. And behold, the redeemer, of whom Boaz had spoken, came by. So Boaz said, “Turn aside, friend; sit down here.” And he turned aside and sat down. 2 And he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down. 3 Then he said to the redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech. 4 So I thought I would tell you of it and say, ‘Buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people.’ If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not, tell me, that I may know, for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I come after you.” And he said, “I will redeem it.” 5 Then Boaz said, “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 perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.” 6 Then the redeemer said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.”
7 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, and this was the manner of attesting in Israel. 8 So when the redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself,” he drew off his sandal. 9 Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and to Mahlon. 10 Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon, I have bought to be my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native place. You are witnesses this day.” 11 Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem, 12 and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the Lord will give you by this young woman.”
Ruth 4:1-12
We spoke in the previous Note of believers refusing to do something that costs. With this man, it was his plain duty that he refused to do. It was not a question of his be- ing called to some dramatic act of heroism. And by failing to do his plain duty, he missed an illustrious part in God's plan of redemption. His refusal of his responsibility was one that involved the glory of being an ancestor of Christ. That is what he missed by being so concerned about his inheritance. Is there not something tremendously chal- lenging here, something that elevates duty to a high dignity? We are not, of course, to be doing our duty before God with a view. But when we fail to do it, we lose out all along the line. Crowns have been lost by people who have neglected their plain duty, who have opted out of what was right, because of prudential considerations. Some Christians have an outlook in life which regards true sacrificial service (performed at the call of duty) as throwing away all one's chances in life and marring one's inheritance. Well, let us look at this unfortunate man: he was unwilling to mar his inheritance, and he refused to accept the challenge of God's word. What is his inheritance now? He is nameless, obscure, unhonoured, unremembered. Jesus said. 'He that saveth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for My sake shall find it'. These are matters we need to look at from the standpoint of eternity, not of time. From this standpoint the kinsman's loss was irreparable. Let us ask ourselves, in the light of this, whether our name is likely to be re- membered - whether, in fact, we are living the life of obedience that will warrant re- membrance.