However, the levirate was indelibly linked to the inherited estate (nahalah).20 Where the land has already been alienated (as in the case of Elimelek), redemption of it triggers the levirate duty21 (cf. the discussion about the levirate in the Introduction to Ruth, pp. 498–503). Thus Boaz now publicly calls on the nearer redeemer to take on (lit., “you acquire”22) the voluntary family or clan responsibility of marrying Ruth the Moabite, in order (lit.) “to raise up the name23 of the deceased on his inherited estate [nahalah]” (v. 5).
