Now since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity, so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For surely it is not the angels He helps, but the descendants of Abraham. For this reason He had to be made like His brothers in every way, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, in order to make atonement for the sins of the people.
"Who are you?" he asked. "I am your servant Ruth," she replied. "Spread the corner of your garment over me, for you are a kinsman-redeemer." Then Boaz said, "May the LORD bless you, my daughter. You have shown more kindness now than before, because you have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. And now do not be afraid, my daughter. I will do for you whatever you request, since all my fellow townspeople know that you are a woman of noble character. Yes, it is true that I am a kinsman-redeemer, but there is a redeemer nearer than I. Stay here tonight, and in the morning, if he wants to redeem you, good. Let him redeem you. But if he does not want to redeem you, as surely as the LORD lives, I will. Now lie here until morning."
Meanwhile, Boaz went to the gate and sat down there. Soon the kinsman-redeemer of whom he had spoken came along, and Boaz said, "Come over here, my friend, and sit down." So he went over and sat down. Then Boaz took ten of the elders of the city and said, "Sit here," and they did so. And he said to the kinsman-redeemer, "Naomi, who has returned from the land of Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our brother Elimelech. I thought I should inform you that you may buy it back in the presence of those seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you want to redeem it, do so. But if you will not redeem it, tell me so I may know, because there is no one but you to redeem it, and I am next after you." "I will redeem it," he replied. Then Boaz said, "On the day you buy the land from Naomi and also from Ruth the Moabitess, you must also acquire the widow of the deceased in order to raise up the name of the deceased on his inheritance." The kinsman-redeemer replied, "I cannot redeem it myself, or I would jeopardize my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption, because I cannot redeem it." Now in former times in Israel, concerning the redemption or exchange of property, to make any matter legally binding a man would remove his sandal and give it to the other party, and this was a confirmation in Israel. So the kinsman-redeemer removed his sandal and said to Boaz, "Buy it for yourself." At this, Boaz said to the elders and all the people, "You are witnesses today that I am buying from Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech, Chilion, and Mahlon. Moreover, I have acquired Ruth the Moabitess, Mahlon's widow, as my wife, to raise up the name of the deceased through his inheritance, so that his name will not disappear from among his brothers or from the gate of his home. You are witnesses today." "We are witnesses," said the elders and all the people at the gate. "May the LORD make the woman entering your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you be prosperous in Ephrathah and famous in Bethlehem. And may your house become like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring the LORD will give you by this young woman." So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And when he had relations with her, the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. Then the women said to Naomi, "Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a kinsman-redeemer. May his name become famous in Israel.
Significance
Hebrews grounds the incarnation in the logic of kinship-redemption: "since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity, so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death" (Heb 2:14), and "He had to be made like His brothers in every way, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest... to make atonement" (2:17). This echoes the conceptual world of the gō'ēl, the kinsman-redeemer embodied in Boaz of Ruth, who must be a near relative to redeem Naomi's family line and estate and who freely takes that obligation upon himself. The link is an Echo carried by the Boaz/kinsman-redeemer pattern rather than a verbal citation — Hebrews does not quote Ruth — yet the structural correspondence is real: redemption requires shared kinship, and the redeemer acts to rescue the helpless and continue the line. Read typologically the escalation is immense. Boaz redeems an estate, a name, and a widow within Israel; Christ takes on flesh-and-blood kinship to redeem His brothers from death itself and the devil's power, freeing those "held in slavery by their fear of death" (2:15). Where Boaz pays the price of land, the greater Kinsman pays with His own death. The telos is warmth, not mere mechanism: "Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers" (2:11) — the Redeemer became one of us so that we might delight in a Savior who is bone of our bone, our merciful High Priest and near Kinsman forever.
Found via
G.K. Beale & D.A. Carson (eds.), Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (Baker, 2007) — attribution only; the connection is conceptual (no citing verse to check against TOSK), and Gill's exposition of Hebrews 2 does not draw the Boaz/kinsman-redeemer parallel by name
Reference Type
Echo
Connection Method(s)
Typology
What this pair warrants, precisely, is the kinsman premise — and the bondage-deliverance of 2:15, which answers the go'el slave-redemption clause of Lev 25:47-49. It does not carry the ransom-price. Hebrews' own antitype is high-priesthood and atonement (ἱλάσκεσθαι, v. 17): go'el redemption is purchase, a price paid across to free a debtor, while propitiation is sacrifice, blood offered up on an altar — and Hebrews reasons incarnation → kinship → priesthood → atonement without ever citing Lev 25 or Ruth. The blood-price of the trajectory re-attributes to 1 Peter 1:18-19 and Ephesians 1:7, and the ability to the Isaianic YHWH-go'el title (Isa 44:6). Read at that measure the link is a genuine supporting connection rather than a load-bearing one.
