The other redeemer has been exposed, and according to Israelite custom, Boaz has received his shoe as a sign of the position he is taking. Boaz is the one who meets all the conditions and can truly act as Ruth and Naomi’s redeemer.
Ruth 4
9 Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses today that I acquired all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and Mahlon from the hand of Naomi.
10 I also acquired Ruth the Moabite, wife of Mahlon, to be my wife, to establish a name for the dead in his inheritance. And the name of the dead will not be cut off from his brothers or from the gate of his place. You are witnesses today.”
A Name for the Dead
Boaz takes Ruth to be his wife. She is Mahlon’s widow, and through Boaz, “a name is established for the deceased in his inheritance.” Thus, Mahlon’s name is not cut off, but in a sense, he lives on. In Boaz, Mahlon receives new life. Here too, we see that Boaz is a type of the resurrected Christ.
Old and New Covenant
Although Ruth marries another man, this is legally considered a continuation of her first marriage. Similarly, Israel is said to have been maritally separated from the One who once made the covenant with them, who died, thus ending the old covenant. Therefore, she is free to enter into a (marriage) covenant with “another.”
another?
While the One who died is the same as the One who rose from the dead, Paul in the Epistle to the Romans refers to him as “another.” The resurrected Christ, who will establish the new covenant with Israel, has a completely new status and position. In this relationship, there is no more sin and death, only life and grace.
Ruth’s marriage to Mahlon is a picture of the old covenant, and her marriage to Boaz is a foreshadowing of the new covenant that God will establish with Israel (Isaiah 54:5; Hosea 2:18-22).
Romans 7
1 Or are you ignorant, brothers -I speak to those who know the law- that the law is man’s lord while a man lives?
2 For a married woman is legally bound to a living husband; but if her husband dies, she is freed from her husband’s law.
(…)
4 So then, my brothers, you also were put to death to the law -through the body of Christ -in order to belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, so that we might bear fruit for God.