Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ruth 1:10
And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people.
Rth 1:10
Surely we will return with thee.
Promises and purposes
I. Promises of speech and purposes of heart, whether to God, to His church, or to individuals, ought to go hand in hand. If a mans word does not express his meaning and bind him, nothing can.
II. Promises and purposes often proceed from passion instead of principle.
III. Promises and purposes proceeding merely from passion soon fall to the ground. I go, sir, one said in the Gospels, and went not. Some persons melting under the ministry of the Word as a summer brook (Job 6:15-20). A changed heart necessary to perseverance. Saul may have religious fits, and Jehu much zeal; for want of a regenerated nature both come to nothing. (John Macgowan.)
Promise and purpose to be allied
1. Promises of speech and purposes of spirit should walk hand in hand together. None ought to promise with their mouths what they do not purpose with their hearts; this is to be fraudulent and deceitful, which is destructive to human society. Gods children are all such as will not lie (Isa 63:8), to say and unsay, or to say one thing and think another, to blow hot and cold with one blast. Ye that have promised to give up yourselves to Christ, and to go with Him in ways of holiness, it must be your purpose to depart from iniquity (2Ti 2:19; Rev 14:4; Hos 2:7).
2. Promises of the mouth, yea, and purposes of the mind, do oft proceed from passion, and not from principle. So did Orpahs here; it was only a pang of passion which the discreet matron prudently distrusts, and therefore tries them both with powerful dissuasives. Thus Saul in a passion promised fairly to David (1Sa 24:16-17; 1Sa 26:21), and David discovered all those fair promises to proceed more from sudden passion than from fixed principles; therefore did he distrust both his talk and his tears. Hereupon David gets him up into the hold, well knowing there was little hold to be taken at such passionate promises and protestations (1Sa 24:22). Yea, and out of the land too, as not daring to trust his reconciliation in passion and strong conviction without any true conversion (1Sa 26:25; 1Sa 27:1-2; 1Sa 27:4), otherwise his malice had been restless and he faithless.
3. Purposes and promises that proceed from passion, and not from principle, do soon dwindle away into nothing. Thus did Orpahs (Rth 1:14), who said with that son in the parable (Mat 21:30), I go, sir; yea, but when, sir? So here, it is certain we will return with thee, was enough uncertain. It is a maxim, second thoughts are better than first, but Orpahs first were better than her second; her purposes and promises do dwindle away and vanish into smoke. (C. Ness.)
The failure of good impulses
The bright morning does not always shine into the perfect day; the sweetest spring-bud of promise does not always ripen into precious fruit. The seed that was cast on stony ground grew rapidly up, but withered in a moment. Orpahs decision was the decision of impulsive feeling, of filial affection; it was strong suddenly, it grew up in an instant, and in an instant it perished; and she resolved to forsake Ruth and Naomi, and return to her gods, her people, and her country. (J. Cumming.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
And they said unto her,…. When they had eased themselves in cries and tears, and had recovered their speech:
surely we will return with thee unto thy people; to be proselyted, as the Targum; not only to dwell with them, but to worship with them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
‘ And they said to her, “No, but we will return with you to your people.’
Both women felt a genuine duty and love towards Naomi. And recognising her loneliness they insisted that they should rather accompany her as she returned to her own people. It was not the kind of journey that an old woman should make alone.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people.
There is something captivating, even to natural affections, in the first view of religion. Nature, as in the case of these two Moabitish daughters, could not but feel a desire to be among God’s people. But alas! though nature feels, and is compelled to allow the superiority of grace, yet the mere feelings of nature, originating only in nature, can never rise above its source. When the spring ceases to flow, the streams dry away.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Rth 1:10 And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people.
Ver. 10. Surely we will return with thee. ] So they both said, and said as they thought: but Orpah, upon second thoughts, did otherwise. Saul in a passion promised fair, 1Sa 24:16-17 ; 1Sa 26:21 but David knew there was no trusting to either his tears or his talk.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
we will return with thee. This liberty was allowed by the laws of Khammurabi, 171-173 and 177.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Surely: Psa 16:3, Psa 119:63, Zec 8:23
Reciprocal: Rth 1:7 – they went