While Ruth waits at home with Naomi to see how things turn out, Boaz arranges for elders of the city to witness his conversation with the close kinsman of the women's dead husbands. "Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat there just as the guardian-redeemer he had mentioned came along. Boaz said, "Come over here, my friend, and sit down.' So he went over and sat down. Boaz took ten elders of the town and said, 'Sit here,' and they did so." (Ruth 4:1-2)
The entrance to the city is the best place to find anyone. As soon as the gates are opened in the morning, those who have fields and flocks and herds outside of the city will begin pouring out of the gates to go about their work. Tradesmen begin pouring into the city to do business. Those who need their legal cases heard will assemble there to have the judges and elders hear both sides of the story and render a verdict. It isn't long before Boaz spots the man he's looking for. He then calls for ten elders to sit and witness the offer he is about to make to the man. This way the man can never say later that the matter wasn't handled on the up-and-up. He can never claim something was said that wasn't said. Not only that, but if he declines the offer to redeem the land and marry Ruth, Boaz can make his declaration of intent to do so and his declaration will be witnessed and made into a binding legal contract.
After everyone is seated, he explains why they've been called together. "Then he said to the guardian-redeemer, 'Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling a piece of land that belonged to our relative Elimelek. I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of those seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do so. But if you will not, tell me, so I will know. For no one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in line.'" (Ruth 4:3-4a) This man has the "first right of refusal" to use a modern term for buy-sell agreements. This doesn't necessarily mean he can buy it. Boaz doesn't know his financial circumstances. This doesn't necessarily mean he wants to buy it. He may not need or want it.
I picture Boaz worriedly holding his breath as he waits for the answer. The answer isn't what he wanted to hear. "'I will redeem it,' he said." (Ruth 4:4b) Boaz only has one chance left and it depends on how the man reacts to the stipulations of this land sale. "Then Boaz said, 'On the day you buy the land from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the dead man's widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead man with his property." (Ruth 4:4b-5) Naomi's name and Ruth's name have been used interchangeably in regard to the ownership of the land. It originally belonged to Naomi's husband Elimelek and it would have been inherited by his eldest son Mahlon who was Ruth's husband. Elimelek predeceased Mahlon, who was an adult at the time. Strictly speaking, the majority of Elimelek's estate passed on to Mahlon who would then have been responsible for taking care of Naomi as long as she lived. But Mahlon died not long after his father, as did Mahlon's only brother Kilion. So again, strictly speaking, the land now belongs to Ruth who is the widow of Mahlon. But the man to whom Boaz is speaking may not know who Ruth is, although it's likely he heard she came back to Bethlehem with Naomi. The man knows exactly who Naomi is: she is the widow of his close kinsman Elimelek. Also, should he redeem the land and marry Ruth, he will be responsible for treating Naomi like his own mother and for providing for her for the rest of her life.
The stipulation attached to the land sale causes the man to decline the offer, much to Boaz's enormous relief. "At this, the guardian-redeemer said, 'Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it.' (Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel.) So the guardian-redeemer said to Boaz, 'Buy it yourself.' And he removed his sandal." (Ruth 4:6-8) It appears as if this man already has a son or sons to whom he wants to pass along all the land he will own upon his death. This is probably what he means by not wanting to endanger his own estate. If he marries Ruth and has a son with her, these other sons cannot inherit any of the land that belonged to Ruth's late husband's family. We don't know whether he's a widower with children or whether he has a living wife. We've seen incidences of plural marriage in the Bible but strife always comes into the household in these cases. It's perfectly understandable if he wants nothing to do with that.
"Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, 'Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelek, Kilion and Mahlon. I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon's widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from his hometown. Today you are witnesses!'" (Ruth 4:9-10) If Naomi and Ruth had not been destitute except for this land, they would not have had need of a kinsman redeemer. But they were not left well-off when their husbands died. If they were well-off we wouldn't have found Ruth gleaning behind Boaz's harvesters. They need a provider and a protector. Boaz happily steps up into this role.
Those gathered at the gate duly witness the legal transaction that has taken place here. "Then the elders and all the people at the gate said, 'We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the family of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. Through the offspring the Lord gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.'" (Ruth 4:11-12) Perez was an ancestor of the people of Bethlehem. His mother Tamar, like Ruth, was a foreigner. But from the offspring of this foreign woman and an Israelite man came a great many of the Lord's people. The witnesses are saying something like, "May your union with Ruth produce many of the Lord's people!" They don't know it at this time, but you and I know it from our reading of the gospel by Matthew: the names of Tamar and Ruth appear in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord did indeed bless the marriage of Boaz and Ruth, not only in their own day but in the day when "the Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us". (John 1:14)
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