The Hyperlinked Bible
Intertextuality Pair
Allusion
Later text
Ruth 4:5-6BSB
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."
Earlier text
The land must not be sold permanently, because it is Mine, and you are but foreigners and residents with Me. Thus for every piece of property you possess, you must provide for the redemption of the land. If your brother becomes impoverished and sells some of his property, his nearest of kin may come and redeem what his brother has sold. Or if a man has no one to redeem it for him, but he prospers and acquires enough to redeem his land,
Leviticus 25:23-26 establishes the foundational principle that land belongs to the LORD and cannot be sold permanently, mandating that when a brother becomes impoverished and sells his property, his nearest kinsman (גֹּאֵל, go'el, "redeemer") shall come and redeem what his brother has sold. Boaz's action in Ruth 4:5-6 is the narrative fulfillment of this Jubilee legislation: he publicly announces his intention to buy the land that belonged to Elimelech from Naomi. The go'el institution in Leviticus focuses on land redemption alone, but Ruth's narrative interweaves it with marriage obligation, creating a compound act of redemption that restores both נַחֲלָה (nachalah, "inheritance") and family line. Boaz thus embodies the Levitical ideal of the kinsman-redeemer who prevents covenant land from passing out of the family. In the narrative a nearer kinsman first holds the redemption right but withdraws when the obligation to marry Ruth threatens his own inheritance (Ruth 4:6), so Boaz redeems (גָּאַל, ga'al) where the closer kinsman declines.