QUESTION: In Matt. 22:24 Moses said if a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up seed unto his brother. In Matt. 1:5 it says that Boaz begat Obed of Ruth. Boaz said he was taking Ruth to be his wife to raise up the name of the dead, Mahlon, upon his inheritance (Ruth 4:10). It seems Mahlon's name was lost and the name of Boaz is the only one remembered.
ANSWER: Boaz purchased all that his kinsman had sold, and took Ruth, and she became his wife. He fulfilled the intent of the Scriptures by raising up the name of the dead upon his inheritance.
QUESTION: It is said of the Lord: "In His humiliation His judgment was taken away: and who shall declare His generation?”
ANSWER: "Concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." Rom. 1:3, 4.
As Obed was born to Naomi, so was Jesus born to the remnant in Judah. Shepherds abiding in the field at night were the first to hear the joyful news. "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”
Thus the son of Boaz and Ruth is accounted as the son of Naomi: that is, Judah's child and son. Although a son, yet he bore the relationship of redeemer to Naomi. Did not the women say, "He shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age"? As each year rolls by, this has been fulfilled a thousand times.
W. Bothwell