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Is Boaz a picture of Messiah, or someone else?

While there certainly are similarities between Boaz and the Messiah, we believe, as we examine this, that you will see that Boaz not only fits the role of God the Father much better, but that his representation of the Father opens up a much better understanding of the roles of others, especially Obed. Let’s take a look.

Boaz the Redeemer

Boaz is a redeemer in the Book of Ruth, this is absolutely clear. But what is the price he pays? He does not pay with his life as Messiah did. Rather, the greatest price he pays is that he gives up his only son in order to resurrect the line of Elimelech[1].   Therefore, who is the agent of redemption? It is his son Obed. It is his son Obed who fulfills the redemption of Naomi’s inheritance and resurrects the name of the deceased husband.   This is specifically articulated in detail at the end of the Ruth, Chapter 4:

13 "So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife, and he went in to her. And the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. 14 Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed is the LORD who has not left you without a redeemer today, and may his name become famous in Israel. 15 “May he also be to you a restorer of life and a sustainer of your old age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you and is better to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.”

Read this passage carefully and you will notice that Obed, the son who was just born, is referred to as the redeemer, the restorer of life, and that he shall be famous in Israel. So even though Boaz is a redeemer, Obed also plays the role of redeemer. We might say that Obed is the agent of the redemption; he is the one whom redemption is worked through.

This is critical to understanding the Book of Ruth and is all too often overlooked. But the concept of God as the Redeemer and Messiah as the agent of redemption is foundational in the Scriptures. It is so critical to understand this that we shall spend a little time examining it before we move on to the other attributes of Boaz which best represent the Father.

God the Redeemer and Messiah His Arm

God the Father, Yahweh, is the Redeemer, גאל (Goel). We see that explicitly stated in the T’NaKh in many places.   For example:

Psalm 19:14: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD (Yahweh), my rock and my Redeemer.”

Psalm 78:35: “And they remembered that God was their rock, and the Most High God their Redeemer.”

Isaiah 43:14: “Thus says the LORD your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, "For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and will bring them all down as fugitives, Even the Chaldeans, into the ships in which they rejoice.”

Isaiah 47:4: “Our Redeemer, the LORD of hosts is His name, The Holy One of Israel.”

Jeremiah 50:34: "Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name: he shall thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon."

But the Messiah, His son, is also called the Redeemer.

Isaiah 59:20: "A Redeemer will come to Zion, And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob," declares the LORD.”

The disciples on the road to Emmaus spoke of Yeshua as the Redeemer.

Luke 24:21: "But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened."

By the way, notice who they say Messiah was going to redeem!

The author of Hebrews tells us that Messiah's death took place for the redemption.

Hebrews 9:15: "For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance."

God sent His son to perform the redemption.  

Galatians 4:4-5: "But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, 5 so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons."

The Messiah gave Himself for us to redeem us.

Titus 2:13-14: "...looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, 14 who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds."

It is in Yeshua that we have redemption.

Col 1:13 "For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

Rom 3:23 "...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;"

He became to us the means of redemption.

1 Cr 1:30 "But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption..."

So how should we understand then that the Father and the Son are both redeemers?  Does the Father redeem only Israel and the Son only the Church? Or are they both involved in the same redemption?

Yahweh and the Zeroah

The first place the word goel occurs in Scripture is Genesis 48:16 when Israel (Jacob), in his prayer over Ephraim and Manesheh, addresses the Lord as,

“The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked,
The God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day,
The angel who has redeemed me from all evil”

Who is the angel who has redeemed Jacob?  Is he not referring to the angel of the Lord whom he wrestled with in Genesis 32:24-32?   It is well understood by most Bible scholars that the angel of the Lord is Yeshua.

The second occurrence is when Yahweh speaks to Israel regarding their freedom from slavery.   Notice here in Exodus that Yahweh will redeem and He will perform the redemption with the zeroah, the arm.

Exodus 6:6: "Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, 'I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm (zeroah) and with great judgments."

Exodus 15:16: "Terror and dread fall upon them; By the greatness of Your arm (zeroah) they are motionless as stone; Until Your people pass over, O LORD, Until the people pass over whom You have purchased."

In Deuteronomy 9 we see again the zeroah is the agent, or means of redemption.

Deut. 9:28-29: "Otherwise the land from which You brought us may say, "Because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land which He had promised them and because He hated them He has brought them out to slay them in the wilderness." 29 'Yet they are Your people, even Your inheritance, whom You have brought out by Your great power and Your outstretched arm (zeroah)."

Notice that the people of Israel are described as the Lord’s inheritance, what He paid to redeem, and that He did so by power and His zeroah.

In Psalm 77 we also see that it is through the zeroah that Yahweh redeems.

Psalm 77:15: "You have by Your arm (zeroah) redeemed Your people, The sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah."

So Yahweh, God the Father, redeemed Israel, and He did so (and will again) with the zeroah.

The Zeroah is the Messiah.

Isa 40:10: "Behold, the Lord GOD will come with might, With His arm (Zeroah) ruling for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him and His recompense before Him. 11 Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, In His arm (Zeroah) He will gather the lambs and carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes."

Does this not speak clearly of the Messiah, Yeshua? How about Isaiah 53:1?

"Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm (zeroah) of the LORD been revealed?"

Isaiah 53 is one of the most unambiguous and detailed descriptions of the Messiah. The use of zeroah in Isaiah 53 shows us that it is clearly a metaphor for the Messiah, the agent whom the Father works through. Even the shankbone of the lamb which is part of the Passover tradition is called the zeroah Adonai.

So the picture of redemption in the T'NaKh is that of the Father being the Redeemer; but the Zeroah, the Messiah, is His agent, or means, of redemption. In this way both the Father and Son are redeemers. This is why both Boaz and Obed are called redeemers. If Boaz is a picture of the Messiah, then how is it that Obed can be called a redeemer in Ruth chapter 4?

If Obed were not born, Boaz would not have fulfilled the redemption. Just marrying Ruth did not accomplish the redemption.[2] Ruth is not the one being redeemed. Ruth is not the object of the redemption. The objects of the redemption are Naomi's possessions and her family's lineage and their inheritance. These are what must be restored.   Boaz must provide his son to fulfill the redemption.  That is why Boaz said that he married Ruth "…in order to raise up the name of the deceased on his inheritance." (Ruth 4:10)

Of course Ruth is involved, but she is part of the process of redemption; she is not the object of redemption. There is nothing about Ruth that needs to be redeemed.  She is a widow, but widows are not redeemed.  They simply re-marry.  Had Ruth married another man outside Naomi's family, there would not have been any type of redemption.

With regard to this matter, Ruth 3:13 can be confusing because Boaz says to Ruth I will redeem you, where the you is in the singular feminine form (יִגְאָלֵ֥ךְ, y'ga'lek). So it appears that Boaz means that he intends to specifically redeem Ruth. But from the context in the Book of Ruth (as well as the rest of Scripture), we should understand that he is speaking of Ruth as part of Naomi's family, not that Ruth herself is the specific object of the redemption.

The NIV translates Ruth 3:13 in this way.

"Stay here for the night, and in the morning if he wants to redeem, good; let him redeem. But if he is not willing, as surely as the LORD lives I will do it. Lie here until morning." (NIV)

Can you see why this is so important to understand?   If we ignore this and see Boaz as a representation of the Messiah whose goal is to redeem Ruth, we set ourselves up for a cascade of misunderstanding and a myriad of problems to follow.  The Book of Ruth is not about Boaz and Ruth and the redemption of Ruth.  It is about the redemption of Naomi and her family line. This is why the end of the book focuses on the genealogy from Perez to David. That establishes David in the line of Judah. The genealogy is critical to God's ultimate plan of redemption.  Ruth plays a role in that and receives tremendous blessing and an inheritance by it, but Obed is the one who continues the line and connects Judah to David.

Back to Boaz

Let us now return to the issue of Boaz and look at some of the other characteristics which reflect God the Father, and not the Messiah.

How is the redemption carried out?

Boaz must pay a price to redeem Naomi’s possessions and pay an additional cost which is to take Ruth as a wife and then give his only son (Obed, as far as we know from the Scriptures, is Boaz’s only son) to resurrect the name of Ruth’s dead husband.  This is in fact what Boaz himself declares as the reason for marrying Ruth.

Ruth 4:10: "Moreover, I have acquired Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Mahlon, to be my wife in order to raise up the name of the deceased on his inheritance, so that the name of the deceased will not be cut off from his brothers or from the court of his birth place; you are witnesses today."

Raising up the name of the deceased is a picture of resurrection. Obed is born for the purpose of resurrection!

By marrying Ruth, Boaz is giving away his first born. This is why Judah's son Onan would not give a child to Tamar.

Genesis 38:8-9: "Then Judah said to Onan, 'Go in to your brother’s wife, and perform your duty as a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother.' 9 Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so when he went in to his brother’s wife, he wasted his seed on the ground in order not to give offspring to his brother."

Is this why Yeshua calls himself the Son of Man? He is the literal Son of the Father, but the Father gave Him up for us. Yet He did not stop being the Son of the Father.   He is both the Son of Man and the Son of the Father.  Yeshua has both an earthly lineage and a heavenly lineage.   That is the same picture we see in Obed! Obed is the literal son of Boaz and is part of the lineage of Boaz. This is true and will always be true. But Obed is also the son of Naomi and Elimelech. He has a dual lineage. Can you see how amazing this is? The Book of Ruth literally contains a picture of the gospel.

Boaz gave away his son which led to the resurrection of the dead.  By redeeming Naomi and marrying Ruth, Boaz redeemed, that is, restored the line of Elimelech and Naomi and provided a shared inheritance for Naomi's descendants and Ruth. In fact, one might say,

For Boaz so loved Naomi and Ruth (Jew and Gentile) that he gave his only begotten son (Obed) to redeem the house of Naomi (Israel) and give an inheritance to Ruth (Gentiles) and Naomi (Israel), such that the name of the dead shall not perish.  

It is often overlooked that Yeshua was not the only one to pay a price to redeem us. God the Father paid an incalculable price by giving His only Son to redeem mankind.  The fact that Boaz paid the price to redeem Naomi’s inheritance does not have to reflect the price Yeshua paid, for the Father paid a great price as well.  In fact, the Father paid the actual cost; He is the one who gave His only Son, while the Messiah carried out the will of the Father, by laying down His life, giving himself.

Galatians 1:3-4: "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.”

Remember the garden of Gethsemene where Yeshua said (Luke 22:42),

"Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done."

Yes, the Messiah gave Himself for us, but it is best understood that He willingly laid down His life. He did so because it was the Father’s good and perfect will. God the Father brought His Son into the world to accomplish and fulfill the redemption. This is best reflected in the Book of Ruth if Boaz is a type of God the Father, and Obed a type of Messiah, as Obed is the one who is given to, and serves, Naomi and Ruth.  

Boaz as a kinsmen

One of the traits of Boaz often cited in favor of Boaz representing the Messiah is that Boaz was related by blood to Naomi as Yeshua was related by blood to Israel. While it is certainly true that Yeshua was an Israelite, Boaz does not resemble the Messiah much beyond that. The table below compares Boaz, Messiah, and the Father.  

Boaz	Messiah	Father
Wealthy landowner	Not a wealthy landowner, did not even have a place to lay His head	The earth is the LORD'S, and all it contains, Psalm 24:1
Relatively old man[3]	Was a relatively young man	He is the Ancient of Days
Ruler of many servants	Was Himself a servant	Rules over many servants
Gave his son to redeem	Gave Himself to redeem	Gave His Son to redeem
Gave his son to resurrect	He is the resurrection	Gave His Son to resurrect
In him is strength (meaning of His Name)	In Him is forgiveness[4]	In Him is Strength & Power
Redeemer	Redeemer, i.e. agent of redemption	Redeemer
Israelite, from the line of Judah	Israelite, from the line of Judah	No beginning or end

 

Likewise, we can compare Obed and the Messiah.

 

Obed is a much better representation, typologically, of the Messiah than Boaz, who better represents of the Father.

The Name Boaz

There is some debate as to the meaning of the name Boaz, since it is not found anywhere else in Scripture except as the name of one of the great bronze pillars in Solomon's temple[5].

Some interpret the name as to mean nimble or fleeting. But those clearly do not fit the character of the Boaz in Ruth, nor the pillar. The meaning commonly given is in him is strength.   This certainly fits the character of the Boaz in Ruth and the pillar of the Temple, especially when one looks at the name of the other pillar, Yachin, Yahweh establishes. The Hebrew word עֹז (oze) means strength, and Baoz would be a more literal form of in him is strength.  Boaz in Hebrew is written as בֹּ֔עַז, so there is some possibility that Boaz bears this meaning.

So let us assume, as many commentators do, that Boaz means in him is strength. We can clearly see that is a description of the Father, but one might also argue that we have strength in the Son as well. Let's look at Paul's letter to the Ephesians and see how he described it.

Ephesians 1:18-20: "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His (God's) calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might 20 which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places..."

Notice that the strength of the Father was brought about in Messiah, when Messiah was resurrected.   As Obed is a picture of the resurrection, we can see that the strength of Boaz is brought about in Obed. Thus, understanding Boaz as the Father in whom is strength (that is, Obed, a picture of the Messiah) fits right in with Paul's teaching.   If Boaz were to represent the Messiah, this would make little sense.

Seeking the refuge of Yahweh

In Ruth 2:12, we see that Ruth sought refuge under the wings of Yahweh, as Boaz declared,

"May the LORD reward your work, and your wages be full from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings (kanaph) you have come to seek refuge."

This is consistent with Ruth’s declaration that Naomi’s God shall be her God.

Later on at the threshing floor, when Ruth, lying at the feet of Boaz, asks for his covering, she literally asks for him to spread his kanaph, over her, exactly the same thing Boaz associated with her seeking refuge from Yahweh earlier in the story.

Ruth 3:9: He said, "Who are you?" And she answered, "I am Ruth your maid. So spread your covering (kanaph) over your maid, for you are a close relative."

Thus, Boaz again is a consistent picture of Yahweh, the one whom Ruth sought refuge with.

The grace of Boaz

It is Boaz who by grace allows Ruth, a Moabite woman, to glean in his field.  In fact, Boaz instructs Ruth not to glean anywhere else. This presents a nice picture of the jealousy of the Father, that Ruth would not go to any other gods for her needs.

But much more than that, Boaz showed incredible favor to Ruth. In Ruth 2:14-16, we see that not only was she allowed to glean in his field (a legal right even for foreigners[6]), but he also allowed her to drink the water of his servants, which is an excellent perk, as she would have otherwise had to go get her own water, and thus lose time and energy from gleaning. She recognized that all by itself as great favor, but that was not all.  Boaz brought Ruth to his table, next to the reapers, to eat (a big step up from where she was, as they were paid workers), served her roasted grain (a meal for the reapers), and even gave her so much she had some left over to take home to Naomi.  When she went back to gleaning after the meal, he told his servants to let her glean among the sheaves (that is, the already-bundled grain) and even to go so far as to pull out some of the bundled grain and let her glean that as well.

With all that, most commentators make the quick assumption that Boaz must have really been smitten with Ruth; he must have had a romantic eye for her; she must have been beautiful.  But that is all assumed! Not one word is ever said about Ruth's appearance, or Boaz's attraction to her physically or romantically.  In fact, Ruth even asks Boaz in Ruth 2:10 why she has found favor in his sight.  Boaz answers:

"All that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband has been fully reported to me, and how you left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and came to a people that you did not previously know. "May the LORD reward your work, and your wages be full from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge."

Boaz is showing all of his loving-kindness (chesed in Hebrew) toward Ruth because she showed it toward Naomi; because she left everything to come to be a part of Israel.  She came to seek refuge under the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It was Ruth's character that gained Boaz's favor. Nothing beyond that is said; and, frankly, nothing beyond that should be injected into it.  In fact, later on, at the threshing floor, Boaz again tells Ruth that he will do whatever she asks because "all my people in the city know that you are a woman of excellence."

But none of this, other than letting her glean to begin with, was required; and in fact, Moabites were banned by the law from entering into the assembly of Israel.  Why did God say the Moabites should never be able to enter the assembly of Israel?[7]

Deut. 23:3-4 "No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter the assembly of the LORD; none of their descendants, even to the tenth generation, shall ever enter the assembly of the LORD, 4 because they did not meet you with food and water on the way when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you.”

So now comes Ruth, a friend to Naomi; and Boaz has heard that she showed great loving-kindness to Naomi in Naomi's time of need, exactly what the Moabites did not do that angered Yahweh, God the Father. So Boaz received Ruth and showed her great kindness and mercy.  We must remember that the Moabites (and Ammonites) are descendants of Lot and related to Abraham.  Though they acted evil in the sight of the Lord, they were not on the list of those to be totally destroyed.  It was their treatment of the Israelites in the Israelites' time of need that angered the Lord.  It was also in Numbers 25 that Yahweh was angry with Israel for joining themselves to the daughters of Moab, and even instructed that all the leaders who were involved be executed.  However, we see just the opposite occurring with Ruth, as she behaved toward Ruth as the Lord would have preferred Moab to behave toward the Israelites; and she is therefore blessed for it.  This picture of anger at one time, but grace and forgiveness at another, is tied to God the Father.

One might even say that Ruth is a reminder of the Genesis 12 promise to Abraham, "I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse."

The Moabites certainly cursed Israel and suffered a curse for it, but Ruth the Moabitess indeed blessed Israel and was blessed for it.  It was Yahweh who pronounced that promise. It makes sense that Yahweh, by His grace, would fulfill it as pictured in Ruth.  

Boaz and the nearer kinsman

There was a goel (kinsman) nearer to Naomi than Boaz who had the first right to redeem Naomi's possessions.   Boaz gave the nearer kinsman a chance to carry out the redemption first. If the nearer kinsman represents the law of Moses[8], then much becomes clear. God first gives the law a chance to redeem, but the law cannot; and so the Lord Himself must give His Son to redeem.

Rom 8:3 “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh...”

Though the law could redeem property, the law could not redeem those who were dead (from sin), so God sent His Son to carry out the redemption.  In the same manner, the nearest kinsman could not restore (resurrect) the name of the dead, so Boaz had to give his son to fulfill that part of the redemption.

Conclusion

So we see in many profound ways that Boaz fits the type of God the Father and Obed fits a type of Messiah. Although there are certainly some common characteristics between Boaz and the Messiah, so much is lost if we assume that view.  In particular, we risk missing the picture of the Messiah in Obed, who himself is a redeemer.

Undoubtedly, the biggest objection to the view presented here is that if Boaz is a type of God the Father, then how does that square with Messiah marrying the Church?   After all, that is the predominant prophetic view of Ruth and Boaz. We will tackle that issue in the next article.