Righteousness and faith are always rewarded.
Then Boaz said, "The day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance." Then the redeemer said, "I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it."
Ruth 4:5-6 (ESV)
Ruth 4:5-6 (ESV)
The value of the closer relative to Ruth was the land Ruth had title to, not Ruth. In fact, if you look closely at the passage, you see that if this man had married Ruth, he felt he would be jeopardizing his future inheritance. This could only be because Ruth was a Moabite, and any children they may have would not be purely Jewish. This man was interested, but not in Ruth. Ruth was too much of a liability.
Boaz and Ruth eventually had a child named Obed, who eventually became the father of Jesse, who was the father of David the king, the line from which the Messiah Himself came.
Righteousness and faith are always rewarded, regardless of ethnicity. It is something we all can do.
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