Ruth 4:7-12 | The Redemption and Transfer of Property | TCBS

"God's posture is always one of redemption, one of abundance, one of blessing, one of caring for his people. That's always God's posture." — Pastor Chris Reed

The Tree Church Bible Study picks up in Ruth chapter 4, and the transaction that has been building throughout the entire story is finally made official. Pastor Stacey Crawford is joined by Pastor Phil Venrick and Pastor Chris Reed as they walk through verses 7 through 12, a passage that is as historically layered as it is spiritually rich.

Before diving into the text, Pastor Stacey briefly recaps where the story left off. In the previous episode, Boaz had a conversation with another man who had the first right to be the family redeemer for Naomi and Ruth. That man chose not to fulfill the responsibility, and so the role passed to Boaz. Now it is time to make things official.

Ruth 4:7 introduces a cultural detail that stops the group in their tracks. The text explains that in those days, the custom for transferring a right of purchase was for a man to remove his sandal and hand it to the other party, publicly validating the transaction.

Pastor Stacey admits she has encountered several unusual moments in this study, and this one ranks among them. Pastor Chris adds that the commentaries he read noted the same thing. The sandal custom as described here does not appear in other places in Scripture in quite the same way, and scholars have wrestled with exactly what was happening. The closest reference point is a passage in Deuteronomy connected to the Levitite law, where removing a sandal carried an element of shame for someone who refused to fulfill a family duty.

The group also acknowledges there is some confusion in the text itself about who removed whose sandal and what happened to it afterward, which leads to some light humor about whether the other man limped home. But the deeper point comes through clearly. Boaz is going through the proper process, doing things the right way, and honoring the other man in the process. The text does not even record the other man's name. Pastor Chris notes that in the Hebrew, he is referred to with language that essentially means Mr. So-and-So. The story is not about this man's failure. It is about Boaz's desire and character.

In verse 9, Boaz turns to the elders and the crowd gathered at the gate and makes his declaration. He has acquired all the property of Naomi's late husband and sons. He has also taken Ruth, the Moabite widow, as his wife so that the family name of her deceased husband can continue and the family property can be preserved.

The elders and the people respond with a blessing. They invoke the names of Rachel and Leah, the matriarchs from whom all of Israel descended, and express hope that Ruth will be like them in Boaz's home. They also mention Perez, the son of Tamar and Judah, as a reference point for the descendants they hope God will give.

Pastor Stacey asks Pastor Chris to provide some background on Rachel and Leah for listeners who may not be familiar. Pastor Chris explains that Rachel and Leah were sisters, both wives of Jacob, and the mothers of the twelve tribes of Israel. Without them, there is no Israel. Their inclusion in this blessing is significant. It connects Ruth and Boaz to the founding story of the nation and foreshadows what God is about to do through their family line.

The group also notes the literary technique at work. Earlier in the book of Ruth, blessings were spoken over Boaz and Ruth by those around them. Now another blessing is spoken. As Pastor Chris points out, the author is foreshadowing. The prayers are being prayed, and the reader is about to see God bring them to fruition.

With the transaction complete, the conversation moves into one of the most meaningful discussions of the entire series. Pastor Stacey raises the theme of God's blessing of obedience, pointing to how both Ruth and Boaz consistently displayed character and integrity throughout the story and how God blessed every step.

Pastor Phil shares that one of his clearest examples of stepping into obedience came through tithing. For a long time, tithing felt scary. It did not make sense on paper. His way of avoiding it was to say it was between him and God, which he acknowledges was really just his way of saying he was not ready. When he finally took the step, he watched God be faithful in ways that could not be explained otherwise. He describes it as one of those things that had to be a God thing.

Pastor Chris shares a similar experience. After working at The Tree Church for eleven years as a tech director, he began to sense God stirring something in his heart toward biblical education and discipleship. The role he eventually moved into did not exist yet when he felt that stirring. Going to Pastor Matthew Johnson and saying he did not want to spend the rest of his life in tech ministry was not a comfortable conversation. But he felt God prompting him to have it rather than waiting for a door to open on its own. That step of obedience led to exactly the transition he had felt called toward.

Pastor Chris then offers an illustration that reframes the entire conversation about blessing. He describes thinking through this topic during a morning run while preparing for the episode, and what emerged is a picture of a waterfall.

God's posture, Pastor Chris explains, is always one of blessing, abundance, redemption, and care for his people. That never changes. The question is not whether God is willing to bless. The question is whether a person is positioned to receive it. Obedience is the act of stepping under the waterfall. When someone aligns themselves with what God is doing, the way Ruth and Boaz did, they place themselves in the flow of what God is already pouring out.

This reframes blessing in an important way. It is not a transaction where obedience earns a reward. God is not waiting to be convinced. His heart is already inclined toward his people. What obedience does is move a person into alignment with that reality.

Pastor Chris takes the illustration one step further. Even God's resistance when someone steps out of that alignment can be understood as a form of blessing. It is God drawing his people back toward the place where life is truly found. The story of Israel is this story on repeat. They wander, they fall away, and God pursues them, forgives them, and draws them back.

Pastor Phil connects this to how the group tends to equate blessing with happiness or personal comfort. But blessing is bigger than that. It is about being in a place of dependence on God, being shaped by him, and living within his design. That can look like difficulty. It can look like discipline. It can look like the discomfort of a step of faith that does not feel safe.

The episode closes with a reflection on the story of Perez, whose name appears in the elders blessing over Boaz and Ruth. Pastor Chris notes that Perez's origin story, found in Genesis, is not a clean or straightforward one. Judah, his father, fails in a number of significant ways. And yet Perez becomes a line through which God's promise and plan continue to move forward. God brings about fulfillment and redemption in spite of human mess and failure.

This is, the group agrees, the throughline of the entire book of Ruth. These are not perfect people. Naomi and her husband made decisions that were less than ideal. Ruth was a Moabite outsider. And yet God's faithfulness pursues every one of them and brings restoration.

Pastor Stacey closes by reflecting on how much she loves the waterfall picture. Even when she steps out in disobedience, God's blessing is still flowing. The invitation is always there to step back in.

Pastor Chris closes the episode in prayer, asking that everyone who hears these stories would recognize that the things God calls his people to are ultimately an invitation to position themselves where he can pour out what he desires most to give, beginning with his presence.

This Bible study is part of The Tree Church Bible Study podcast (TCBS), created to help the Tree grow deeper in understanding the Scriptures. New episodes are released regularly on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.