It seems somewhat bizarre that you would be a stickler on the Levirate Law (Kinsman Redeemer) [Deuteronomy 25:5-10] and so easily dismiss the commands given to not marry Moabite women: [Deuteronomy 23:3][I Kings 11:1-2][Ezra 9:1-2][Nehemiah 13:1]. You seem to think that Naomi and family would cavalierly disregard the command in Deuteronomy given just a couple of hundred years prior....but then turn around and follow commands to the letter....about the Levirate Law....ten years later....back in Judah.
If you stop and think about it you would realize that the reason the law was carefully being followed by Boaz, Naomi and Ruth was because Ruth was recognized as an Israelite. The Law that they were following expressly forbid marriage with foreign women. All offspring of these marriages were to be treated as outcasts in Israel!
If Mahlon had married a foreign women then there would be no requirement for any relative (Kinsman) to perpetuate the act. Naomi would be able to have her land redeemed but in no way could observance of the Law be made to include procreating with a foreign woman. The kinsman who refused the deal and relinquished his rights would have been the first to say: "Hey, no law exists here....and I don't have to raise up any outcast children!" [Deuteronomy 23:2] But, he doesn't say that...he just says, "You do it"... further proving that Ruth was indeed an Israelite.
The Hebrew word used in the above scripture is : Strong's #4464 mamzer (mam-zare')from an unused root meaning to alienate; a mongrel, i.e. born of a Jewish father and a heathen mother; bastard.
The Levirate Law did not require the first in line to be the Kinsman Redeemer.....only that a brother accept the responsibility. Notice that Boaz says in verse 13 of Chapter 3 that the first Kinsman Redeemer may not want to accept. In other words...he may have accepted a younger, more fertile Naomi....but having to accept the responsibility of the daughter-in-law also.....no way! He told Boaz....Go for it! The first Kinsman was not prevented from taking Ruth...he just opted out.
This is a good example of translators reading something into scripture that is simply not there. They all praise Ruth for being a Heathen Moabitess, a descendant of a people abhorrent to God and proclaim her to be a saintly ancestor of Our Lord. But Ruth could not have been a racial descendant of Moab because the "Levirate Law" would then not apply to her.
Finally....700/800 years later when Ezra brings the folks back from Babylon he tore his hair and his beard, lamenting of the crime committed of intermarriage with Heathens. Read these two chapters of Ezra (9&10) and then ask yourself why the Holy Spirit caused these words to be written if it was O.K. for Boaz to marry a foreign women and set the stage for the Davidic line down through Christ.
Bottom line....there is too much in scripture commanding the Israelites not to marry foreign women to even consider that Ruth, an ancestor of Our Lord, could ever be one.
Ruth 3:11 And now, my daughter, fear not; I will do to thee all that thou requirest: for all the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous womanHave you considered that it is Naomi and Ruth that had no hope? Naomi set up the meeting between Boaz and Ruth. Perhaps it was Naomi that required Ruth to be part of the deal. This would explain why the nearer kinsman did not appear to know. Note the following details;
Boaz promises Ruth to fulfill the kinsman’s part.
Boaz says go not empty to thy mother-in-law.
Boaz says to the kinsman, ”Naomi … selleth a parcel of land.”
Ruth 4:14 And the women said unto Naomi, Blessed be the LORD, which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel.
Ruth 4:17 And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.There are no insignificant details in scripture. I think that Naomi is a type of Israel and Ruth is a type of the Church.