The kinsman's refusal to marry Ruth on fear of marring his own inheritance. How would his inheritance become marred?
Remember the story of Ruth, who found herself a widow at a young age when her Israelite husband died in the land of Moab. Although she was a Moabite and foreigner to the house of Israel she decided to join her mother-in-law and make her new home in Bethlehem of Judea.
Being a virtuous woman, Ruth found favor in the eyes of Boaz, a relative to Ruth's former husband. According to the Mosaic Law, a male relative had the responsibility to continue the family name of the deceased should the woman be childless at the time of her husband's death (Deuteronomy 25:6). This arrangement was commonly known as a levirate marriage. Since Ruth's husband had left her childless, Boaz desired to fulfill this duty by marrying Ruth. However, there was a nearer-kinsman to Ruth's former husband, and this nearer-kinsman had the right over Boaz to purchase the deceased's property and marry Ruth.
Being an upright man, Boaz confronted the near-kinsman and reminded him
of his responsibility to Ruth. Although the near-kinsman wanted to buy
the land Ruth's husband had owned, he refused to take Ruth as his wife.
The kinsman said, "I cannot redeem [it] for myself, lest I mar mine own
inheritance"
How would purchasing the property of the deceased and marrying Ruth "mar" (ruin) the near-kinsman's own inheritance?
Probably the near-kinsman felt he would gain very little by marrying Ruth, since the land he would purchase would eventually be forfeited at his death and given to Ruth's son, whom the near-kinsman was obligated to provide Ruth with. If he was to give Ruth a son, the son would not be given the family name of the near-kinsman, but rather the family name of Ruth's former husband. This is why the levirate marriage was legislated in the first place - to continue the name and family line of the deceased. And at the near-kinsman's death, the property he would have just purchased would be inherited by this son. Yet the property would no longer be in the possession of the near-kinsman's family, but passed on to Ruth's son and his future descendants. It would, therefore, be like mortgaging one's own estate, and that for the benefit of another. The near-kinsman, therefore, decided that marrying Ruth was not to his best interest. This left Boaz with the opportunity to take Ruth to wife, which he did.
From the joining of Boaz and Ruth in marriage, a son Obed was born
(Ruth 4:13-17). And Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat (King) David,
through whom Jesus of Nazareth descended. Therefore what would appear
to many readers as a boring, archaic legal transaction between
relatives is in fact an important link in the birth of the promised
Messiah.
Copyright © 1994-96 by Philip P. Kapusta