The basic principles underlying the Israelite use of the levirate practice are very much the same principles pertaining to redemption practice, and are in turn among the basic ones undergirding all Israelite law and custom. Therefore, the juxtaposition of redemption and levirate practices in Ruth is a natural one, on the basis of principle. The fact that we can find no legal code which put the two together is probably irrelevant and as much due to the paucity of our sources as to any other cause.