旧约 - 路得记(Ruth)第4章

Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat there. When the kinsman-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 of the elders of the town and said, "Sit here," and they did so.
Then he said to the kinsman-redeemer, "Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our brother Elimelech.
I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these 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." "I will redeem it," he said.
Then Boaz said, "On the day you buy the land from Naomi and from Ruth the Moabitess, you acquire the dead man's widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property."
At this, the kinsman-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 kinsman-redeemer said to Boaz, "Buy it yourself." And he removed his sandal.
Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, "Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech, Kilion and Mahlon.
I have also acquired Ruth the Moabitess, 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 the town records. Today you are witnesses!"
Then the elders and all those 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 house 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."
So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. Then he went to her, and the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son.
The women said to Naomi: "Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel!
He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth."
Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him.
The women living there said, "Naomi has a son." And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
This, then, is the family line of Perez: Perez was the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon,
Salmon the father of Boaz, Boaz the father of Obed,
Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David.
路得记第四章   第 4 章 

  得 4:1> 要找人竟是坐在城门口?这波阿斯也真是…… 

  4:1 波阿斯知道他能在城门口找到他的亲属。因为该处是城中的活动中心。任何出入城的人都得经过这个门。在城门附近商人设立他们的临时商店,这里具有“市政厅”的职能。市民们聚集在一起处理各项事务。由于如此频繁的活动在这里进行,所以也成为波阿斯寻找见证人和处理这事的最合适之处。 

  得 4:3> 波阿斯提出条件也颇合理,那所谓至亲究竟怕什么而不答应? 

  4:3 波阿斯机智地向亲属们陈述了有关事项。首先,他引出了尚未提到的新情况:拿俄米的丈夫以利米勒遗留的一些财产,现在要出售。那位至近亲属有优先权买这些土地(参利 25:25 ),而且他也有意买下。但波阿斯接着说,根据律法,如果那位近亲买这分遗产(也可能是以利米勒的儿子、路得的前夫玛伦的遗产),就必须娶寡妇路得为妻。鉴于这项规定,那位至近亲属退缩了,因为他不想使自己的财产陷入混乱,也可能他害怕如果与路得有了儿子,他自己的财产将会有一部分流到以利米勒的家。不管怎样,波阿斯将娶路得为妻已成必然。 

  从文学结构看路得记的信息 

  得 4:15> 在别人眼中的路得是──在别人眼中的我是── 

  4:15 路得对婆婆的仁爱,在伯利恒是有口皆碑的,她对其他人的友善贯穿于路得记的始终。 

  得 4:15> 到最后,拿俄米何其幸福!我想想其中原因,啊,是因为…… 

  4:15 在拿俄米的悲剧经历中,神极大地赐福给她,赐与她的这个儿媳妇甚至比有“七个儿子”还好。拿俄米恒心信奉神,神也不断地大大赐福给她。即使在悲哀和灾难之际,神总能大大赐福给我们。我们要像拿俄米一样,面临不幸时,也决不离弃神。不要埋怨神为什么会允许灾难降临,只须坚信在任何艰难的时刻,神总是与你同在。 

  得 4:16-17> 看完了,你看到的──是一个美丽的爱情故事?一段动人的婆媳关系?还是还有其他? 

  4:16-17 对于某些人来说,路得记也许只是一段发生在一个幸运女子身上的美好故事。但事实上,它所记载的是神计划的一部分──大卫和祂所应许的弥赛亚耶稣的诞生。就像路得不明白在她的生命中有如此宏伟的蓝图一样,我们现在也同样不知道自己整个人生历程的目的和意义,这只有在我们将来获得永生生命而回首往事时才有可能领悟。我们必须就神所应许的永恒价值而作出选择。走精神上的捷径和追求短暂的消遣,并不是进取的好方法。由于路得虔诚地敬畏神,尽管她自己没能看见所有的结果,她的生命和遗产却是意味深长的。生活在对神的信奉之中,就知道你生活的意义不只局限于你的有生之年,神的恩赐将会远远超过你所付出的。──《灵修版圣经注释》