And now it is true that I am thy near kinsman: howbeit there is a kinsman nearer than I.
Ruth 3:12 belongs to the beautiful, brief story of Ruth, a pastoral tale from the time of the judges whose close brings out the ancestry of the Lord Jesus, into which Ruth the Moabite woman is brought. In the verse Boaz acknowledges that he is truly a near kinsman, meaning redeemer, for the Hebrew word covers both, but that there is another kinsman nearer than he with the prior right and obligation to redeem, and Boaz is willing to do a kinsman's duty and will act if the nearer kinsman declines. The verse illustrates the law of redemption: when an Israelite could not redeem himself or his inheritance or had fallen into adversity, the right and duty to redeem passed to the nearest able blood relative, not merely to any relative but to the nearest eligible one. That nearer-kinsman arrangement, like the related law about providing an heir for a man who died without one in Deuteronomy 25:5-10, kept land within the family by preserving the inheritance and perpetuating the family name.
The lesson of the near kinsman is a type of Christ: to redeem humanity the Son of God became the Son of Man while remaining the Son of God, taking human nature and flesh and blood, sharing human kinship and becoming a brother and blood-relative to sinners. The redeemer had to take the nature and kinship of those he came to redeem, belonging to the family whose inheritance he would preserve and whose name he would perpetuate. As the nearest kin who alone is able, he bears human iniquity to redeem the lost inheritance and free humanity from bondage to sin, for humanity having lost its inheritance and fallen into bondage needs a redeemer who is both nearest kin and able to redeem.
The arrangement for redeeming the family inheritance will not be needed after the resurrection, because those who are resurrected cannot die and each person's inheritance in the new earth will remain secure forever.
Ruth 3:12 belongs to the beautiful, brief story of Ruth, a pastoral tale from the time of the judges whose close brings out the ancestry of the Lord Jesus, into which Ruth the Moabite woman is brought. In the verse Boaz acknowledges that he is truly a near kinsman, meaning redeemer, for the Hebrew word covers both, but that there is another kinsman nearer than he with the prior right and obligation to redeem, and Boaz is willing to do a kinsman's duty and will act if the nearer kinsman declines. The verse illustrates the law of redemption: when an Israelite could not redeem himself or his inheritance or had fallen into adversity, the right and duty to redeem passed to the nearest able blood relative, not merely to any relative but to the nearest eligible one. That nearer-kinsman arrangement, like the related law about providing an heir for a man who died without one in Deuteronomy 25:5-10, kept land within the family by preserving the inheritance and perpetuating the family name.
The lesson of the near kinsman is a type of Christ: to redeem humanity the Son of God became the Son of Man while remaining the Son of God, taking human nature and flesh and blood, sharing human kinship and becoming a brother and blood-relative to sinners. The redeemer had to take the nature and kinship of those he came to redeem, belonging to the family whose inheritance he would preserve and whose name he would perpetuate. As the nearest kin who alone is able, he bears human iniquity to redeem the lost inheritance and free humanity from bondage to sin, for humanity having lost its inheritance and fallen into bondage needs a redeemer who is both nearest kin and able to redeem.
The arrangement for redeeming the family inheritance will not be needed after the resurrection, because those who are resurrected cannot die and each person's inheritance in the new earth will remain secure forever.