No Name

At the beginning of Ruth 4, Boaz takes a seat at the gate, the place of courts and judgments. The nearer kinsman happens by, and Boaz greets him. Lawson Younger points out that the common translation of his greeting, “friend,” doesn’t capture the Hebrew, which is a farrago, a nonsense phrase implying an anonymous “somebody.” The other kinsman has no name.

And he continues to have no name, because he refuses to take on Ruth as bride and raise up a seed for Naomi. He could have had an enduring name by providing a perpetual name for Elimelech. Because he refuses to carry on Elimelech’s name, his own name is lost.

If we had to choose a name, it might be Onan. The nameless non-redeemer has the same motivations as Judah’s son. He wants the benefits of acquiring a brother’s property without the labor and expense and sacrifice of raising his brother’s heir.