Old Testament Character Study: Boaz

1 OLD TESTAMENT CHARACTER STUDY (BOAZ)2 In a time when everyone did what was right in his own eyes (Jgs 21:25), the narrator introduces readers to Boaz, a God-fearing man who through his kindness, becomes the resolution to two bereft widows crisis. A narrative analysis of the book of Ruth reveals Boaz to be a godly man whose covenant faithfulness to God and others lead him to fulfill the role of a kinsman-redeemer. As kinsman-redeemer, Boaz preserves a faithful family that would bear the royal seed of King David and, ultimately, the Messiah, the Redeemer of a lost humanity. The narrative of Ruth follows a comic plot in which the two main female characters, Naomi and Ruth, experience loss and poverty but overcome them through divine intervention.1 The story is set in a time of moral chaos during the period of the judges. Famine in Bethlehem drove Elimelech, Naomi, and their sons to migrate to Moab. While there, Elimelech dies and his sons, Mahlon and Chilion, marry Moabite women, Ruth and Orpah. Ten years later, Mahlon and Chilion died, leaving no children behind. Grieved and bitter, Naomi decides to return to Bethlehem when the famine in Israel is over. Orpah