The Return of Naomi with Ruth

v. 6. Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab, for it was understood that the younger women were merely to accompany her for some distance, perhaps to the boundary of the country; for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited His people, in mercy, in giving them bread, in delivering them from the ravages of the famine.

v. 7. Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was, where she had been an alien, where she had not been at home, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah, they took the road leading to Canaan.

v. 8. And Naomi said unto her daughters-in-law, after they had traversed some distance. Go, return each to her mother’s house, the usual place of refuge for young widows; the Lord deal kindly with you, in showing them merciful kindness, as ye have dealt with the dead and with me. The relation of these former heathen women, not only toward their husbands, but also toward their mother-in-law had been one of the most tender affection and service, a model, in this respect, to this very day and hour.

v. 9. The Lord grant you that ye may find rest, quiet and safe happiness, an asylum of honor and freedom, each of you in the house of her husband, in a second happy marriage. Then she kissed them, as the signal of parting; and they lifted up their voice and wept, unwilling to leave Naomi, whom they had learned to love so dearly.

v. 10. And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people. They found the parting so hard that they preferred to stay with Naomi on her solitary walk through life.

v. 11. And Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters; why will ye go with me? It was her great love for them which prompted her to deter them, if possible. Are there yet any more sons in my womb that they may be your husbands? She was not pregnant with possible sons, who would then be able to perform the duty of levirs toward Ruth and Orpah, Deu 25:5; Gen 38:8.

v. 12. Turn again, my daughters, go your way; her love was great enough to bear the sacrifice of their parting with her, since she had only their happiness in mind; for I am too old to have an husband, she was past the age when the normal consequence of marriage might be expected. If I should say, I have hope, if she should expect the apparently impossible to happen, if I should have an husband also tonight, and should also bear sons,

v. 13. would ye tarry for them, hope to be married to them, till they were grown? Would ye stay for them from having husbands? Should they let this very uncertain possibility keep them from becoming happily married in their own country? Nay, my daughters, for it grieveth me much for your sakes, that was the bitterest drop in her cup of sorrow, that the hand of the Lord is gone out against me, in taking both her husband and her sons. She did not even mention another possibility, namely, that of a marriage in the land of Judah, for her delicacy kept her from mentioning what would probably prove a disappointment, since the sentiment in Israel was strongly against marriages also with Moabites, Deu 7:3-4.

v. 14. And they lifted up their voice and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, convinced that the way pointed out by her was the best; but Ruth clave unto her, clinging to her all the more closely now that Orpah was leaving.

v. 15. And she, Naomi, said, Behold, thy sister-in-law is gone back unto her people and unto her gods, for the one implied the other; return thou after thy sister-in-law. Naomi’s love for Ruth was so great that she desired her earthly welfare even at the sacrifice of her company.

v. 16. And Ruth said, as the climax of a scene of wonderful delicacy and unequaled tenderness, in a rivalry of affection which is without a parallel in human annals, Intreat me not to leave thee or to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people and thy God my God;

v. 17. where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried. She will not be swerved from her intention to cast her lot with that of Naomi. It was not the affection of a daughter to her natural mother nor that of a wife to the husband of her choice, but it was her love toward Naomi which had knit their hearts together. And the highest stage of the devotion which she yielded to Naomi for life was reached in the confession that she had found the God of Israel to be the true God, a fact which implied the highest unity of spirit. The Lord, Jehovah, do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me. It was an oath inviting the severest penalty on the part of Jehovah if Ruth should prove fickle in her affection and devotion.

v. 18. When she, Naomi, saw that she was steadfastly minded, that her resolution was unshakable, to go with her, then she left speaking unto her, she no longer attempted to dissuade her.

v. 19. So they two went until they came to Bethlehem, the end of their journey. And it came to pass, when they were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, there was great excitement on account of their return, and they, chiefly the women, said, Is this Naomi? It was not a cry of surprise over the fact that she was still alive, but rather an expression of sympathy that she had returned bereft of both husband and sons.

v. 20. And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi (lovely, gracious), call me Mara (bitter); for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me, He had inflicted sorrow upon her, as her obvious bereavement showed; the God of fruitfulness and life had withheld His blessings from her.

v. 21. I went out full, rich, as a wife and mother, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty, with neither husband nor sons; why, then, call ye me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified against me, had declared Himself her opponent by depriving her of her loved ones, and the Almighty hath afflicted me? God had made sorrow her portion, to teach her to trust in Him all the more implicitly.

v. 22. So Naomi returned, such was the nature of her return to the city of her fathers, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab. The curiosity of the Bethlehemites was satisfied, and their interest soon died down, since Naomi had sunk into poverty and no longer could take her place with the influential people of the town; but Ruth remained faithful, standing by her mother-in-law in her misery. And they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley-harvest, about the latter part of March or the beginning of April, fortunate for them, since they were now dependent upon the portion of the poor to get a livelihood, Lev 19:9-10; Lev 23:22. Thus Ruth, in denying herself the advantages which she might have had in her home country, became a partaker of the blessings of the true God. Whenever we are placed before a decision such as she made, the way which points to the service and worship of the true God must be our choice without hesitation, for in Him we find the eternal blessings of His mercy.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

Rth 1:6

Thenthe conjunction in Hebrew is the common generic copulative andshe arose. She had been sitting, as it were, where her husband had settled, and she now rose up to depart (see Rth 1:4). She, and her daughters-in, law. The word for “her daughters-in-law” is literally “her brides,” that is, the brides of her sons. That she might returnan admirable rendering into English idiom. The phrase in the original is simply “and she returned,” that is, “and she began to return.” From the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread. Or, more literally, “for she heard in the country of Moab that Jehovah”or, rather, “Yahveh,” or, as Epiphanius gives it, “had visited his people to give them bread.” There is no warrant, however, and no need, to add, with the Chaldee Targumist, that the news was conveyed by the mouth of an angel. And the representation is not that Yahveh, in giving, bread to his people, had thereby visited them; it is that he hid visited them” to give them bread. The word , rendered visited, is quite peculiar, with no analogue in English, German, Greek, or Latin. Yahveh had directed his attention to his people, and had, so to speak, made inquisition into their state, and had hence taken steps to give them bread (see Exo 3:16; Exo 4:31). They had already got it, or, as the Septuagint translates, they had got loaves (). The Vulgate translates it meats (escas). It is assumed in the tidings that the seasons and their products, and all beneficent influences in nature, belong to Yahveh. It is likewise assumed that the Hebrews were his people, albeit not in such a sense as to secure for them more “bread” and “milk and honey” than other peoples enjoyed. Their chief prerogatives were spiritual and moral. They were his Messianic people. That is the key to unlock the secret of the whole Old Testament Scriptures.

Rth 1:7

And so she went forth out of the place where she was. There is no attempt on the part of the writer to localize the spot. And her two daughters-in-law with her. They had kept, it seems, on terms of affectionate sympathy with their mother-in-law. The jealousies that so often disturb the peace of households had no place within the bounds of Naomi’s jurisdiction. The home of which she was the matronly center had been kept in its own beautiful orbit by the law of mutual respect, deference, affection, and esteemthe law that insures happiness to both the loving and the loved. “If there were more Naomis,” says Lawson, “there might be more Orpahs and Ruths.” And they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. Having left her Moabitish abode, and got into the frequented track which led in the direction of her native land, she journeyed onward for a stage or two, accompanied by her daughters-in-law. Such is the picture. It must be subsumed in it that her daughters-in-law had made up their minds to go with her to the land of her nativity. The subject had been often talked over and discussed. Naomi would from time to time start objections to their kind intention. They, on their part, would try to remove her difficulties, and would insist on accompanying her. So the three widows journeyed onward together, walking. Adversity had pressed hard on their attenuated resources, and they would not be encumbered with burdensome baggage.

Rth 1:8

And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, Go, return each to her mother’s house. She reverted, with deeper earnestness, to their theme, of discussion. She acknowledged that most kindly had they acted toward her. Her heart was filled with gratitude. It was likewise agitated with grief at the prospect of bidding them a final farewell, Nevertheless, she felt that it would be unreasonable and unkind to invite them to be, to any further degree, sharers of her adversity. Hence, thanking them for their loving convoy, she would remind them that every step further on would only increase the length of their return-journey; and she said, Go, return each to her mother’s home. There, in the females’ apartment, and in the bosom of their mothers, they would surely find a welcome and a refuge. She judges of their mothers by herself, and she refers rather to them than to their fathers, partly, perhaps, because she bears in mind her own motherhood, but principally, no doubt, because, in those Oriental countries, it lay very particularly within the province of mothers to make arrangements in reference to their daughters. May Yahveh deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the deceased, and with me. It is beautiful gratitude, and at the same time a touching monument to the faithfulness and gentleness that had characterized and adorned the young widows. Her simple Hebrew theology, moreover, comes finely out. She assumes that her own Yahveh reigned in Moab as in Judah, and that all blessing descended from him. There is a little peculiarity in the Hebrew pronouns in this clause. They are masculine instead of feminine. The influence of the stronger sex overrides grammatically, for the moment, the influence of the weaker.

Rth 1:9

May Yahveh grant to you that ye may find rest, each in the house of her husband. Naomi again, when the current of her tenderest feelings was running full and strong, lifts up her longing heart toward her own Yahveh. He was the God not of the Hebrews only, but of the Gentiles likewise, and rifled and overruled in Moab. The prayer is, in its form, full of syntactical peculiarity: “May Yahveh give to you,” and, as the result of his giving, “may you find rest, each [in] the house of her husband.” The expression, “the house of her husband,” is used locatively. It is an answer to the suppressed question, “Where are they to find rest?” And hence, in our English idiom, we must insert the preposition, “in the house of her husband.” As to the substance of the prayer, it has, as truly as the grammatical syntax, its own tinge of Orientalism. Young females in Moab had but little scope for a life of usefulness and happiness, unless shielded round and round within the home of a pure and devoted husband. Naomi was well aware of this, and hence, in her motherly solicitude for her virtuous daughters-in-law, she gave them to understand that it would be the opposite of a grief to her if they should seek, in the one way open to them in that comparatively undeveloped state of society, to brighten the homes of the lonely. In such homes, it circumstances were propitious, they would find deliverance from unrest and anxiety. They would find rest. It would be a position in which they could abide, and in which their tenderest feelings and most honorable desires would find satisfaction and repose. The peculiar force of the Hebrew is finely displayed by the texture of the associated expressions in Isa 32:17, Isa 32:18 : “And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever; and my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting-places“ (). And she kissed them, locking them lingeringly and lovingly in a farewell embrace. “Kissed them.” The preposition to, according to the customary Hebrew idiom, stands before the pronoun. In kissing, Naomi imparted herself passionately to her beloved daughters-in-law, and clung to them. There would be full-hearted reciprocation, and each to each would cling “in their embracement, as they grew together” (Shakespeare, Henry VIII.). And they lifted up their voice and wept. The idea is not that all three wept aloud. The pronoun “they” refers to the daughters-in-law, as is evident both from the preceding and from the succeeding context. The fine idiomatic version of the Vulgate brings out successfully and unambiguously the true state of the casequae elevata voce flere coeperunt. The lifting, up of the voice in weeping must be thought of according to the measure of Oriental, as distinguished from Occidental, custom. In the East there is less self-restraint in this matter than in the West.

Rth 1:10

And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people. So King James’s version. The expression in the original is broken at the commencement: “And they said to her, For with thee we shall return to thy people.” It is as if they had said, “Do not insist on our return to our mothers’ homes, for with thee we shall return to thy people.” Note the expression, “we shall return, instead of “we shall go with thee in thy return to thy people.” For the moment they identify themselves with their mother-in-law, as if they had come with her from Judah.

Rth 1:11

And Naomi said, Turn back, my daughters. To what purpose should you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb, that might be husbands to you? According to the old Levirate lawa survival of rude and barbarous timesOrpah and Ruth, having had husbands who died without issue, would have been entitled to claim marriage with their husbands’ brothers, if such surviving brothers there had been (see Deu 25:5-9; Mat 22:24-28). And if the surviving brothers were too young to be married, the widows, if they chose, might wait on till they reached maturity (see Gen 38:1-30.). It is in the light of these customs that we are to read Naomi’s remonstrance’s. The phraseology in the second interrogation is very primitive, and primitively ‘ agglutinative.’ “Are there yet to be sons in my womb, and they shall be to you for husbands?” (see on verse 1).

Rth 1:12

Turn back, my daughters, go; for I am too old to have a husband. But even if I could say, I have hope; yea, even if I had a husband this very night; yea, even if I had already given birth to sons; (Rth 1:13) would ye therefore wait till they grew up? would ye therefore shut yourselves up so as not to have husbands? nay, my daughters; for my lot is exceedingly bitter, more than even yours, for the hand of Yahveh has gone out against me. Most pathetic pleading, and not easily reproduced on lines of literal rendering. “Go, for I am too old to have a husband.” A euphemistic rendering; but the original is euphemistic too, though under another phraseological phase. “But even if I could say, I have hope.” The poverty of the Hebrew verb, in respect of provision to express “moods, ‘ is conspicuous: “that,” i.e. “suppose that I said, I have hope.” Mark the climactic representation. Firstly, Naomi makes, for argument’s sake, the supposition that she might yet have sons; then, secondly, she carries her supposition much higher, namely, that she might that very night have a husband; and then, thirdly, she carries the supposition a great deal higher still, namely, that even already her sons were brought forth: “Would you therefore wait?” Note the therefore. Ibn Ezra, the Septuagint, the Vulgate, and King James’s version assume that means for them. The feminine pronoun, however, as applied to Naomi’s sons, is, on that supposition, all but inexplicable. It is much better to assume, with the majority of modern critics, that it is equivalent to , whether we call it a Chaldaism or not. Certainly it was current in Chaldee (see Dan 2:6, Dan 2:9). But it may have floated in circles of Semitic society that were never included within Chaldaea proper. Indeed, there were no precise limits bounding off the Chaldee language from the kindred dialects, just as there are no such limits in English or in German, or in any member of a linguistic group. Idioms often overlap. In the two interrogative clauses, “Would ye for that purpose wait till they grew up. Would ye for that purpose seclude, yourselves, so as not to have husbands? there is a parallelism; only, in the second clause, the representation rises. “For my lot is exceedingly bitter, more than even yours;” literally, “for it is bitter to me exceedingly, beyond you.” The verb is used impersonally. Naomi means that her case was even more lamentable than theirs, so that she could not encourage them to hang their dependence on her help, or to hope for a retrieval of their circumstances in becoming partakers of her fortunes. The translation of King James’s version, “for your sakes,” though decidedly supported by the Septuagint, is unnatural. Pagnin and Drusius both give the correct rendering, “more than you.” So do Michaelis and Wright, But Bertheau and Gesenius agree with King James s version. The Syriac Peshito, strange to say, gives both translations, “I feel very bitterly for you, and to me it is more bitter than to you.”

Rth 1:14

And they, the daughters-in-law, lifted up their voice in unison and unity, as if instead of two voices there had been but one. Hence the propriety of the singular number, as in Rth 1:9. And wept again. The “again” doubles back on the statement in Rth 1:9. With uplifted voice, in shrill Oriental wail, and amid streams of tears, they bemoaned their hapless lot. Then, after the paroxysm of grief had somewhat spent itself, Orpah yielded to her mother-in-law’s dissuasives, and at length imprinted on her, reluctantly and passionately, a farewell kiss. Then, not waiting to ascertain the ultimate decision of Ruth, or rather, perhaps, having now a fixed presentiment what it would be, she moved regretfully and tearfully away. She was afraid, perhaps, that if she, as well as Ruth, should insist on accompanying her mother-in-law, the two might be unreasonably burdensome to the aged widow. Perhaps, too, she was not without fear that her own burden in a foreign land, amid strangers, might be too heavy to be borne. There is not, however, the slightest need for supposing that she was, in any respect, deficient in attachment to her mother-in-law. But, it is added, Ruth clave to her mother-in-law, all reasonings, remonstrances, dissuasives on Naomi’s part notwithstanding. Ruth would not be parted from her. “Clave.” It is the same word that is used in the primitive law of marriage. “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be one flesh” (Gen 2:24). It occurs again in Psa 63:8 : “My soul followeth hard after thee; and in Psa 119:31 : “I have stuck to thy testimonies.” Joshua said, “Cleave unto the Lord thy God” (Jos 23:8); and many have had sweet, while others have had bitter, experience of the truth that “there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother” (Pro 18:24).

HOMILETICS

Rth 1:6-14

Longing for the old home.

Brings to view

(1) Naomi’s resolution to return to the land of Judah, and then it records

(2) a touching scene that occurred at her departure.

I. NAOMI‘S RESOLUTION. No wonder that she formed it; for

1. The ties that bound her to the land of Moab had been snapped by the hand of death. In the death of her husband there was the disruption of the house-band. In the deaths of her two sons who had become husbands, the only other bands or bonds that could keep together for Naomi a home in Moab were burst. Matthew Henry says, “The land of Moab was now become a melancholy place to her. It is with little pleasure that she can breathe in that air in which her husband and sons had expired; or go on that ground in which they lay buried out of her sight, but not out of her thoughts.”

2. Her heart had got sick for the home of her youth, that home which was now to her imagination and recollection “home, sweet home.” “Heaven,” she remembered, “lay around her” in her childhood. And such feelings as then thrilled within her are the stuff out of which, as years roll on, patriotism is woven.

3. She was reduced to absolute poverty. Diseases and death are costly, especially in a strange land, among strangers. And pitiable is the condition of those who, in a strange land and among strangers, are unable to “pay their way.”

4. She would shrink, moreover, from the possibility of being burdensome to her daughters-in-law, who might, in consequence of their own widowhood, have difficulty in lending efficient assistance. However much she was pulled down in her circumstances, in her spirit her fine womanly independence stood erect.

5. She had learned that brighter days bad dawned on the land of her early love. “The Lord had visited his people to give them bread.” And “bread,” as Dr. Thomas Fuller remarks, “is a dish in every course. Without it can be no feast; with it can be no famine.” The Lord gave it.

The miracle of the loaves was a sudden putting forth of God’s bountiful hand from behind the veil of his ordinary providence; the miracle of the harvest is the working of the same bountiful hand, only unseen, giving power to the living grains to drink the dew and imbibe the sunshine, and appropriate the nourishment of the soil during the long bright days of summer. I understand the one miracle in the light of the other”.

II. SCENE AT NAOMI‘S DEPARTURE.

1. Her daughters-in-law, who had “dealt kindly” with their husbands, had likewise dealt kindly with her. What was to become of them?

2. They convoyed Naomi for some distance, and then, as they all halted, she reminded them that every step in advance took them further from their mothers’ homes, and she insisted on their returning. Not for her own sake, however, but for theirs. In their own land their prospects would be brighter than in Judaea. Their mothers were still living, and would no doubt be motherly. Their other relatives would be at hand. They themselves might each be the means of brightening some solitary home. She prayed that they might have “rest.” This word, so sweet to the weary and the distracted, reveals one element that is essential to the comfort of a home, whether that home be a cottage or a castle.

3. Naomi’s words overwhelm the hearts of her daughters-in-law. They passionately express their desire to accompany her to her old home. But she persists firmly, though tenderly and meltingly, in her dissuasives. It is a scene of weepinga valley of Baca. At length Orpah yields, and tears herself away. But Ruth would not yield. She “clave to her mother-in-law.” The character of both the young widows is beautiful, but that of Ruth is heroic. This world is a constantly checkered scene of arrivals and departures. Looming in the near or more remote future, there is one departure which must be made “in solemn loneliness.” Whither? With what convoy?

HOMILIES BY J.R. THOMSON

Rth 1:8

Kindness.

Tidings reached Naomi that peace and plenty had returned to Judah, and she resolved to return to Bethlehem. She acknowledged the Lord’s goodness, who “had visited his people in giving them bread.” Doubtless she sought the Lord’s guidance with reference to her return. It must have needed courage on her part to form and carry out this resolution. Her affectionate daughters-in-law accompanied her part of the way. Then came the hour of separation. As Naomi bade the young widows return, she uttered words of testimony to their kindness, words of prayer that Heaven might deal kindly with them. Coming from her lips, this witness was precious. They had dealt kindly with the deadtheir husbands, her sons. They had dealt kindly with her, in her bereavements and loneliness; they had sympathized with her, and now were willing to accompany her to the land of her birth and early days.

I. THE FOUNDATION OF KINDNESS. We must seek this below what is called “good nature;” and, taught by Christianity, must find it in the brotherhood of man, the fatherhood of God. The sacrifice of Christ is the power and the model of true Christian kindness.

II. THE SPHERE OF KINDNESS. The family, as in the passage before, s, comes first. “Kind” is related, as a word, to “kin.” “Charity begins at home.” But, as has been remarked, it does not end there. Kindness should be shown to our fellow-creatures, as Christians, as neighbors, as fellow-countrymen, as members of the human race.

III. THE DIFFICULTIES in the way of kindness. It is not always easy for persons of one nation to agree with those of another; foreigners are often foes. It is not always easy for mothers-in-law to agree with daughters-in-law. Yet these difficulties may be overcome, as in this narrative.

IV. THE RECOMPENSE of kindness. Naomi’s prayer was answered, and the Lord dealt kindly with those who had shown kindness. True kindness will breathe many a prayer. And the Lord’s loving-kindness, condescending, unmerited, and free, is his people s most precious possession; it is “better than life!”T.

Rth 1:10-14

Separation.

These three women were bound together by the memory of common happiness, by the memory of common sorrows. The proposal that they should part, however reasonable and just, could not but reopen the flood-gates of their grief. Orpah found her consolation in her home in Moab, and Ruth found hers in Naomi’s life-long society and affection. But as the three stand before us on the borders of the land, as Naomi begs her daughters-in-law to return, the sorrow and the sanctity of human separations are suggested to our minds.

I. SEPARATIONS BETWEEN LOVING FRIENDS ARE OFTEN EXPEDIENT AND NECESSARY.

II. SEPARATIONS ARE SOMETIMES THE OCCASION OF ALMOST THE BITTEREST SORROWS OF HUMAN LIFE.

III. SEPARATIONS MAY, BY GOD‘S GRACE, BE MADE A DISCIPLINE OF THE SOUL‘S HEALTH AND WELFARE.

IV. SEPARATIONS MAY BE OVERRULED, BY GOD‘S PROVIDENCE, FOR THE REAL GOOD, PROSPERITY, AND HAPPINESS OF THOSE WHO ARE PUT APART.

V. SEPARATIONS REMIND US OF HIM WHO HAS SAID, “I WILL NEVER LEAVE THEE; I WILL NEVER FORSAKE THEE“T.

HOMILIES BY W.M. STATHAM

Rth 1:6, Rth 1:7

Home returning.

“Then she arose with her daughters-in-law, that she might return. And they went on their way to return.” Home again! The first step is everything! “She arose.” It was all well with the prodigal when he did that. Not simply when he said, “I will arise;” but when be arose and went to his father. Directly the eye and the heart and the step agree, then the whole is settled. We read nothing of the preliminaries of departure. Who does not know the power of the loadstone when it first begins to act? When the breeze swells the sail from the foreign port, the sailor sees not the intervening waters, but the home cottage under the familiar cliffs. There are many beautiful home-returnings in the Bible, but the best of all is the son seeking the father’s house.

I. HEARTS ARE UNITED BY COMMON EXPERIENCES. These daughters-in-law were not of her land, nor of her religion; they were not Hebrews; but they were widows! A common sorrow is a welding power, uniting hearts more closely than before. It is said that a babe in a house is a new clasp of affection between husband and wife. True; but an empty cradle has done more than a living child. During the time of these ten years these two wives remained still heathen. We do not know what family they sprang from, or if they were sisters. We do know that Naomi exercised no control or domination over their religious principles. She respects their personal liberty and responsibility; she even urges Ruth not to let natural affection for her override her religious convictions, but to go back to “her gods,” as Orpah did. “Behold, thy sister-in-law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister-in-law.” What a sorrow it must have been to her that her sons had married heathen women. We can respect that sorrow. And we can see that Naomi did not slight her own religion when she said these words, but used them as a test of the sincerity of Ruth. A common sorrow had brought them all very close together. “For,” as Bailey says in Festus, “the world is one, and hath one great heart.”

II. RETURN JOURNEYS HAVE A TOUCHING ELOQUENCE IN THEIR SCENES. There were the places Naomi had traversed with her husband and her boys; places of rest under the shadow of the rocks, and of refreshment at the wells. Much must there have been, to recall conversations touched with anxiety concerning their future in the land of Moab. So would many places speak to us today. There, care gazed at us wistfully, and we remember all the thoughts it suggested. There she heard the tinkling of the bells of the camels, as the little trading cavalcade passed by her. What reminiscences! And they would all remind her of the good hand which had led her on, and never forgotten or forsaken her.

III. RETURN JOURNEYS REMIND US OF LITTLE EPISODES OF LIFE THAT ARE OVER FOR EVER. We cannot in the ordinary course of an unbroken and unshifting home realize the flight of time so well as when we have marked changes, which by their very abruptness divide life into chapters, which, like volumes, have their commencement and close. A new nest has to be built, and new trees have to be sought to build it in. Thus with ordinary observation we may notice how those who have had to seek new homes find the pilgrim-nature of life more marked in their thought than those who are born and brought up and settled through the long years in one home. There is a dreamy sense of continuance unbroken in some lives! “That she might return!” But she would not, could not take all of herself with her. She would leave, as we all do, a memory of character, an influence of good or evil over those who had been associated with her in the foreign land.W.M.S.

Rth 1:8

Benedictions.

The Hebrews were fond of benedictions. “The Lord bless thee and keep thee,” “And Jacob blessed Joseph, and said, The God which fed me all my life long unto this day, the angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads.” “The Lord bless thee out of Zion.” These Scriptures of olden time touch us so tenderly, because they recognize the living hand, the loving heart of God. It is this which will make them never grow old. It is this which makes their inspiration living, and keeps their fountains of consolation open still. We are always meeting and parting, journeying forth and returning home. Our families are broken up, our churches have gates of entrance and departure, and the picture of life is always one of a tent-life. We are pilgrims and strangers, as all our fathers were. The keynote of all that I have to say to you from this text is in that word “kindly.” The argument is this. We can understand kindness in the sphere of the human, and rise from that to a prayer for the Divine kindness. No society in any age can be cemented together by force alone. Feudalism, for instance, in olden times, was not all terror. The baron could command his dependents in time of war, as he fed and housed and clothed them in times of peace; but, as the old chroniclers tell us, there was often a rare hospitality, a hearty cheerfulness, a chivalrous affection in the somewhat stern relationship; nor will any political economy of government ever be able to preserve nations in allegiance to each other, or at peace amongst themselves, without the cultivation of Christian brotherhood.

I. THE LORD KNOWS BEST WHAT KINDNESS IS. The Lord deal kindly with you. Has he been kind? That is the question for us all. At times we should have been tempted to answer, No! The vine is blighted, the fig tree withered, the locusts have spoiled the green of spring, the little lambs have died. Kindly? Yes, we shall answer one time when we stand in our lot at the end of days. For kindness is not indulgence. I am thankful that this once common word has dropped out of our prayersIndulgent Father. No word in the English language describes a feebler state of being than the word indulgence; it refers always to the weaker side of our nature; that which is pleasant to us, that which eases us of pain and of discipline and effort. Prayer like this goes to the heart; more especially from the Naomis of the universe who have had so hard a time of it, to whom life has been so full of bereavement and battle. But if you study life, you will see it is the indulged who complain; it is those nursed in the lap of luxury who whine and whimper if the sun does not shine, if the pomegranate, and the fig, and the grape do not supplement the bread. Indulgence breeds supercilious mannerism and contempt for common things in them; and all seems so very strange if men, and women, and things are not ready for their comfort. God’s kindness to us may take forms which surprise us. At the heart of his severest judgments there is mercy, in the bitter spring there is healing water, in the desolated altar there is the downfall of idolatry. Abba, Father, we cry, and he seems not to hear us. The wild winds seem to waft away into empty space our cries for help and pity, but he who sitteth in the heavens hears and answers according to the wisdom of his own will. The kindest things God has ever done for us have been, perhaps, the strangest and severest. So it was with Daniel, and Jacob, and Joseph, and Abraham our father. All God’s ways are clone in truth, and truth is always kindness, for the music of the universe is set in that key. The throne of the Almighty himself has its firm pillars planted on that. Away we go to business and duty. Farewell to son and daughter. Go thy way, pilgrim of life, with knapsack and staff; henceforth our paths are separate, and for you there will come battles when we cannot fight beside you, burdens we cannot help you to bear. To another hearth you will come at evening, when the day’s work is done, and the anodynes of sympathy are needed for the worker’s heart. “Go thy way. The Lord deal kindly with thee.”

II. THE LORD ALONE WILL BE WITH US ALL THROUGH OUR FUTURE PILGRIMAGE. Apart from Divine power, which we have not to bless with, there is Divine presence which we all need. Christ will be with us to the end. Never will come a battle, a temptation, a solitude, a sorrow, a needful sacrifice, but the Lord will be at hand. The scepter will never be laid in front of an empty throne. The Lord reigns. It is touching to see the struggles of modern thought in the minds of men who have drifted away from the incarnation and resurrection of our Lord. “The ocean encroaches more and more each year”to use a figure of one who has marked the “ebb” of thought”and he watches his fields eaten up from year to year.” Yes, says the same writer, who is depicting the drift:”The meadow-land, whereon he played in the innocent delights of childhood, has now become a marshy waste of sand. The garden where he gathered flowers, an offering of love and devotion to his parents, is now sown with sea-salt. The church where he offered up his childish prayers, and wondered at the high mysteries of which his teachers spoke, stands tottering upon the edge of a crumbling cliff that the next storm may bring down in ruin.” And this is rightly called “an experience of spiritual misery.” Pathetic, indeed, is this. The picture is most touching and saddening! Who can feel it more than those who suffer the eclipse of faith? We, who worship here, trust in the living God, who as we believe revealed himself to our fathers by the prophets, and who in these last days has spoken to us by his Son, whom he hath made heir of all things, and hath given us this testimony, in that he hath raised him from the dead.W.M.S.

Rth 1:8

“As you have dealt with the dead and me.” This beautiful analogy, which has its root idea in love and home, is very suggestive.

I. THE LORD KNOWS BEST WHAT OTHERS HAVE BEEN TO US. “As you have dealt with the dead and me.” You have been good and true to them, Naomi says, with a voice that trembles with remembrances of the old days gone forever. It is a touching little sentence. The dead. So silent now. Never to come back for us to touch imperfectness into riper good; never to charm away with pleasant thoughts the dull hours; never to fill with deeper meanings of love the half-empty words; never to make more Divine the common service of life; never to put the best interpretation upon conduct; never to lift the leaden crown of care from the anxious brow; never to help to transfigure the mean and lowly with heavenly hopes and aspirations. Gone! What a world of vacancy, and silence, and subtle mystery! Is it strange we should wish well to those who were kind to the dead? And Naomi links her own being with them still. “The dead and me.” And with true hearts they never can be disassociated. Anniversaries of remembrance make our separations no more distant. They soften them. They give place for comforting remembrances; but the dead are near as ever! “The dead and me!” Who shall separate? None. Christ died, yea, rather is risen again, and he will raise us up together to the heavenly places. What a blessing so to live, so to fill our place as sons and daughters, so to sweeten, sublime, and sanctify life that others may make our conduct a plea with that God who has known our heart and life, and say, “The Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and me.”

II. THE LORD HAS GIVEN US GUARANTEES OF HIS KINDNESS. We are not left to meditate on rain and fruitful seasons only. Not the green of spring, nor the south wind of summer, nor the gold of autumn alone proclaim his goodness. So long as the story of the cross has Divine meaning for us, so long as we believe it, not alone as the spirit of a good man’s life, but as the revelation of God manifest in the flesh, so long can we exclaim, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us.” Nor can we exclude conscience from our argument; that, too, is a guarantee that the Almighty cares for us, that he will not let us sin and suffer without the very voice Divine awakening, alarming, and arresting us. None but a good Being would have put conscience there, and made it universal, and filled it with such sweet benedictions for the soul. We are surrounded by evidences of the Eternal pity. God who spared not his own Son, will with him also freely give us all thingsfor man is still his child, and he has a desire to the work of his hands. When we pray, therefore, “The Lord deal kindly with thee,” we only ask him to be like himself, we only put him in remembrance of his promise to hear when we call upon him. Some would think God kind, indeed, if he were less severe on sin; to them all law is baneful, and the sorest evils are only evidences of an imperfect brain, or an untrained mind, or an ungovernable power of impulse. How, then, should the law of God be other than dislikablenay, detestable to them; but he who prepared the light, prepared also the throne of his judgment, and he will by no means clear the guiltyfor the love of God would be but a weak sentiment if it were not harmonized with a law which means order, truth, righteousness, and justice in all domains of his eternal empire. We only predicate that love is the root of law, as it is also the essence of mercy, and how God’s kindness even on the cross shows that justice and mercy blend with each other.

III. THE LORD LOOKS FOR OUR LOVE TO HIM IN OUR LOVE TO EACH OTHER. If we love him we shall feed his lambs, forgive our enemies, and fulfill the whole law of love. How many there have been who, professing even an extreme sanctity, have robbed their partners, deluded their followers, and sometimes darkened forever a brightly opening life. It is saddening to think what religion has suffered from those whose countenances advertise asperity and contempt, selfishness and pride, whilst they carry their Bibles under their arms, and seem shocked at the exuberance of a healthy joy. Deal kindly? Not they. Their silken words are often the soft sheaths of dagger purposes, and their sham friendship is often only the occasion of stealing mental photographs of you to distribute among their friends. Deal kindly? Why they sleep as well when they have wounded as when they have healed, and they do not understand what the plan of salvation has to do with a conscientious rectitude, a tender consideration, and a warm and loving heart. Deal kindly. Let the Church arise and shine, and put on her beautiful garments. Let the venerable Apostle John take his place once more in the midst of the Churches, and say, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, for God is love.” “If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.” “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and truth.” “He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.” How true we feel all this to be, and yet how hard in such a world as this. God is light, God is love, but unless we walk in the light with him we know nothing of it at all. It is still more popular to discuss a mystery than to seek after a Divine ideal. It is still true that many appraise their goodness by their greater enlightenment on some disputable points of religion, and they greatly hope their friend and brother will come to see like themselves. Alas! alas! all the while we may perchance be so untrue to Christ, we may be experiencing no sensitive grief that we are unlike the chief Shepherd of the sheep, so worldly, so captious, so dull in all Divine sensibilities. Naomi’s prayer, therefore, may teach us much today about Godour Savior; much, too, about ourselves. This, at all events, is true. If the harvests of love come late, they are very real and very precious. Years alone can reveal character. We know what others are in times of test and trial, as Naomi did in a strange land. She was a mother-in-law, and that is a hard part to fulfill, often the subject of satire, too often, indeed, an experience which awakens slender sympathy; she yet gained the crown of trust, and honor, and love. And now, how can she speak better for others than by speaking to God for them? The God who has never left her, the God who has been the husband of the widow, the God who sent her human solace in the trying hours of her bereavement in the far away land. “The Lord deal kindly with you.” When once in the hush of death a girl stood at the threshold of the door, trembling, as childhood does, in the presence of death, the mother, bending over the quiet sleeper, beckoned her in. She regained confidence then, and taking up the cold hand kissed it, and said of her dead brother, “Mother, that hand never struck me.” How beautiful I Can we say the same, that we never wounded the dead? Can we say it of the Christ himself, that we never crucified the Son of God afresh? And now we look up to the great Father of our spirits, and the God of our salvation, and pray him to bless all we love, to make them his own now and evermore. His kindness is truer, deeper, wiser than our own. “The Lord bless them and keep them.” “The Lord deal kindly with them.”W.M.S.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the LORD had visited his people in giving them bread.

Reader! may we not, without violence to the history, conceive this to be no unapt representation of the return of a sinner after his wandering from the Lord? Every man, like Elimelech, hath departed from the Lord by sin and transgression. The Lord in mercy sends afflictions after us. There is a famine of ordinances, trouble, sickness, death. When these visitations are properly received and felt, and the heart by grace is humbled under them, the soul, like Naomi, hears the rod, and who hath appointed it. And then, like her, we are told that the Lord is returned to Jerusalem in mercies. I will arise, and go to my Father, is then the language of the soul. Oh! how sweet, how very sweet is it, when by sanctified afflictions the Lord hedges up our way with thorns, or unsettles the nest we had made for ourselves, amidst the Moabs of the world Luk 15:13 ; Hos 2:7

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Rth 1:6 Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the LORD had visited his people in giving them bread.

Ver. 6. Then she arose with her daughters-in-law. ] Now she “heard the rod, and who had appointed it,” Mic 6:9 saying, “He, he, come forth,” Arise and he gone; “this is not your rest, for it is polluted.” God’s corrections are vocal and disciplinary. Her daughters-in-law, moved by her virtues, arise to go with her. If moral virtue could be seen with mortal eyes, it would attract all hearts to itself, saith Plato. How much more then would true grace, Son 6:1 which is such an elixir, as by contaction, if there be any disposition of goodness in the same metal, it will render it of the property!

That she might return from the country of Moab. ] Where, although she had been courteously used, yet her heart hankereth homewards, So should ours heavenwards, though we might live here in the height of the world’s blandishments, quae non sunt tantum fallacia quia dubia, sed etiam insidiosa, guia dulcia, which are not only deceitful because doubtful, but also dangerous because delicious, saith a father. a

For she had heard in the country of Moab. ] This “good news from a far country was as cold water to her thirsty soul”; Pro 25:25 this cheered up her good heart, when almost dead within her. God reserveth his hand for a dead lift.

a Lactant.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

return. This was in 1326, the year before the second jubilee (1325-1324). See App-50.

the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.

visited. Compare Exo 4:31. Psa 132:15. Luk 1:68.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Chapter 4

Good News Heard In Moab

Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread.

Rth 1:6

The Scriptures tell us plainly that when God is pleased to save a sinner, he causes that sinner to hear the gospel. Rth 1:6 gives us an illustration of that fact. There is, by divine arrangement, a blessed necessity for gospel preaching. Sinners are regenerated, born again, given faith in Christ, and converted by the Word of God through the preaching of the gospel. This is the doctrine of Holy Scripture. All that is needed to convince us of this is a casual reading of the Word of God itself (Rom 10:13-17; 1Co 1:21; Heb 4:12; Jas 1:18; 1Pe 1:23-25).

Let people argue and debate all they want to about this issue. This fact is plainly revealed in Holy Scriptures. God does not save his elect apart from the preaching of the gospel, any more than he saves them without repentance and faith. God does not save chosen, redeemed sinners by the light of nature, sincere idolatry, a false , man-centered gospel, freewill, works religion, or even the bare reading of Holy Scripture. If sinners are saved by the reading of the Bible, the best missionary work in the world would be to hire a plane and drop pages from the Bible all over the world. It is not the reading of the Word that saves, but the exposition of the Word in the preaching of the gospel (1Pe 1:25). Let any who question this fact simply read the story of Philip and the Eunuch (Act 8:30-31).

In his exposition of Rom 10:14-17, Martin Luther was exactly right in declaring that Paul asserts in that passage that four things are impossible. It is absolutely impossible for anyone to (1) call upon Christ until he believes on Christ, (2) believe on Christ until he hears the gospel of Christ, (3) hear the gospel of Christ without a preacher, or (4) preach the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit until he is sent of God.

Whenever men and women realize the necessity and the value of the preaching of the gospel three things are certain: (1.) They will honor Gods servants (Isa 52:7; Rom 10:15; 1Th 5:12-13). (2.) They will attend the ministry of the Word. (3.) They will involve themselves in the preaching of the gospel. They will bring people to hear the gospel. They will support the work of the ministry, the preaching of the gospel, at home and around the world. And they will themselves endeavor to tell out the good news of redemption accomplished by Christ by personal witnessing, distributing tracts, gospel literature, tapes, etc.

It was when Naomi heard in Moab how that the Lord had visited his people that she left Moab and returned with Ruth to Bethlehem. The turning point in the family of Naomi, that which forever changed the lives of Naomi and Ruth, was what they heard in the country of Moab that the Lord had done for his people.

What a beautiful picture this is of the gospel, the good news that proclaims to sinners what the Lord God has done for his people by the life, death, and resurrection of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, as their Substitute. Naomi had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread. Someone told her what God had done for his people. She believed the report (Isa 53:1). Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Rom 10:17). She acted upon her faith. Believing God, Naomi abandoned Moab (2Co 6:17; Rev 18:4) and returned to Bethlehem. There are seven distinct parallels between the Word which Naomi heard in Moab and the hearing of faith.

1. THE MESSAGE NAOMI HEARD IN MOAB WAS A VERY SIMPLE MESSAGE – The Lord had visited his people. Like Zacharias prophecy many years later (Luk 1:78-79), the report Naomi heard was of a divine visitation. That is what happened when Christ came into this world. When God visits his people in mercy, salvation is accomplished. The way of peace was opened up by the death of Christ. The light for them that sit in darkness is the gospel.

The gospel of Gods free and sovereign grace in Christ is simplicity itself (2Co 11:3). It reveals the most profound mysteries of the universe as simple statements of undeniable truth. Here is a simple fact – We have broken Gods law (Rom 3:19-23). Here is a simple requirement – Justice demands satisfaction (Eze 18:24). Here is a simple declaration – Christ has visited and redeemed his people (Gal 3:13). Here is a simple command – Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (Heb 11:6; 1Jn 3:23). Here is a simple promise – Thou shalt be saved (Act 16:30).

Those who are responsible to preach the gospel must do so with clarity and simplicity ( 1Co 2:1-5; 1Co 2:13). True preachers studiously avoid the words of mans wisdom. The power of the gospel is not in the eloquence of the preacher but in the message we preach (1Co 15:1-3) – H -O-W that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures. Here are four words that describe the death of Christ. These four words tell us how the Lord visited his people: sovereignty, substitution, satisfaction, and success. The Lord Jesus Christ died at Calvary according to his own sovereign will and purpose, according to the terms agreed upon when he became our Surety in the covenant of grace before the world began (Joh 10:15-18; Heb 10:1-10).

2. THE MESSAGE NAOMI HEARD IN MOAB WAS A MESSAGE OF LIFE – The Lord had visited his people in giving them bread. Bread was the one thing needed, just as Christ, the Bread of Life, is the one thing needful (Luk 10:42).Bread is a common figure and emblem of life, ever illustrative of our Lord Jesus Christ (Joh 6:32-33; Joh 6:48).

3. NAOMIS DESTITUTE FAMILY HEARD A MESSAGE OF GRACE DOWN IN MOAB. They did not hear how that the Lord visited his people in providing a means for them to get bread, in making bread possible, in offering them bread, or in giving them a plan by which to get bread, but in giving them bread! Eternal life and all that pertains to it is the free-gift of Gods unconditional, unqualified grace in Christ (Rom 6:23).

Satan is a great deceiver. He knows the deceitfulness of the human heart. And he has stocked the world with numerous religions that appeal to the proud heart of man. All satanic religions have one thing in common. They all make salvation to be, in some way, at some point, to some degree dependent upon and ultimately determined by man. The religion of the Bible is the religion of grace, free, sovereign, irresistible grace (Eph 2:8-9; 1Co 15:10; 1Co 4:7). From election and predestination to resurrection and glorification there is no part of salvation that is determined by either the will, works, or worth of man. Salvation is of the Lord! It is, in its totality, the work of Gods grace in Christ.

4. NAOMIS FAITH IN THE WORD SHE HEARD IN MOAB WAS SHOWN BY HER WORKS (Rth 1:6-7). All who truly believe God show their faith by their works (Jas 2:17). Gods children do nothing to get saved, but do much because they are saved (Eph 2:10). We show our faith by coming to Christ (Heb 11:6). We show our faith by works of love (Jas 1:27; Jas 2:14-26). It is not legal austerity that demonstrates true faith in Christ, but mercy, love, and grace (Rom 14:17).

5. THE HISTORY OF NAOMIS FAMILY SHOWS US THAT FAITH IN CHRIST AND SALVATION BY HIM IS A PERSONAL, INDIVIDUAL MATTER. Naomi had faith, and Ruth had faith. God graciously gave them that gift which no man can have, but by the gift of his grace (Eph 2:8). Orpah only had a profession of faith. Multitudes there are like her. Philip Mauro[1] wrote, God is a God of truth, that is to say, of reality; and he will have reality. A mere profession of Christianity…may deceive men. But God knoweth the hearts.

[1] Mauro, Phillip, Ruth The Satisfied Stranger, (Fleming H. Revel, Old Tappan, New Jersey, 1920), pp 63-64

6. THOSE WHO TRULY BELIEVE THE GOSPEL OF GOD ARE CONTROLLED IN THEIR LIVES BY THINGS NOT SEEN (2Co 4:18 to 2Co 5:1; Heb 11:13-16). Orpah went back to Moab, because she was mindful of that country. Her mind was full of Moab. Like Lots wife (Gen 19:15-26), she started out, but her heart was still in Moab. Ruth had the same opportunity to go back, but her mind was full of another country. Therefore, she persevered.

7. THE ONLY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ORPAH AND RUTH, THE ONLY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SAVED SINNERS AND LOST SINNERS, IS THE DIFFERENCE MADE BY THE GRACE OF GOD (1 Corinthians 4; 1 Corinthians 7). Ruth was not a better woman than Orpah. Both were kind, affectionate, caring, and tender daughters to Naomi (Rth 1:8-9). But Orpah was lost and Ruth was saved. A sweet, lovable disposition, a tender, affectionate heart, and faithfulness in responsibilities and relationships, though they are commendable traits of character, will never take us to heaven. The one thing needful is faith in Christ. If that one thing needful is lacking, like the rich young ruler, we are yet without hope before God (Joh 3:15-18).

Naomi dealt fairly and truthfully with both Orpah and Ruth. She made no appeals to their flesh She offered no carnal inducements to get them to go back to Bethlehem with her. She simply told them

What she had left. She told them of her fall, her departure from the house of bread.

What God had done. How he visited his people.

What was to be found at Bethlehem. Bread, life, deliverance, and restoration if a kinsman were pleased to undertake their cause.

Orpah chose to stay in Moab. She counted the cost and went back. Ruth came to Bethlehem with Naomi, believing the report of good news and grace she heard from the lips of her mother-in-law. Once she met and married Boaz, she found with him a better life than she had ever known before.

Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible

visited: Gen 21:1, Gen 50:25, Exo 3:16, Exo 4:31, 1Sa 2:21, Luk 1:68, Luk 19:44, 1Pe 2:12

in giving: Gen 28:20, Gen 48:15, Exo 16:4-6, Psa 104:14, Psa 104:15, Psa 111:5, Psa 132:15, Psa 145:15, Psa 146:7, Psa 147:14, Pro 30:8, Isa 55:10, Mat 6:11, 1Ti 6:8

Reciprocal: Psa 65:9 – visitest Zec 10:3 – visited

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Ruth, the Moabitess

Rth 1:6-18

INTRODUCTORY WORDS

1. A study in genealogy. In the last chapter of the Book of Ruth beginning with Rth 1:17 we read that marvelous announcement, “There is a son born to Naomi.” This son, of course, was born by Ruth who was wife of Boaz, and the daughter-in-law of Naomi. Now comes a remarkable statement, “and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.” Thus it was that when Naomi took the child and laid it to her heart she took from the arms of its mother the grandfather of the beloved David.

Little did Ruth realize as she left her home far away in the land of Moab that her willingness to follow Naomi’s God would be so richly rewarded. Thus it was that she, herself, though an alien, was received into the family of God, and was honored by being in the lineage of David who was in the lineage from Abraham to Mary, the mother of Christ.

2. A study of womanhood. When we think of a book in the Bible being named for Ruth, immediately we begin to think of what God and the Gospel have done for womanhood. Ruth, though a Moabitess, proved herself in every way a worthy daughter, not only to Naomi, but to God. The story of women in the Old Testament Scriptures is a remarkable elucidation of God’s great grace.

We cannot take time to name the mighty women, but we remember the words of David who said, “The women who publish the glad tidings are a great host.” In the Bible a virtuous woman is spoken of in the highest of terms: “Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. * * She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children rise up, and call her blessed, her husband also, and he praiseth her.”

Thus it is that a woman who feareth the Lord may well be praised. As we come into the New Testament we can do no better than to turn to Rom 16:1-27, where Paul speaks so favorably of many women. He said, “I commend unto you Phoebe our sister, which is a servant of the Church which is at Cenchrea.” He commands that Priscilla and Aquila should be greeted as his fellow laborers in Christ, as they “have for my life laid down their own necks.” He admonished the brethren to greet Mary, “who bestowed much labour on us.” He spoke of Junia as his kinsman, and said she was of note among the Apostles. He spoke of Narcissus and her household who were in the Lord. He mentioned Tryphosa who labored in the Lord. Then, he brought in the beloved Persis who labored much in the Lord. The most tender of all, perhaps, he referred to the mother of one, Rufus, and called her his own mother, because of her faithfulness to him. He spoke of Julia, Nereus, and his sister.

Surely Ruth finds her name clustered in a great gallery of noble women who knew and served the Lord. It has often been said that women were the last at the tomb, and the first at the sepulcher.

I. A STUDY IN NAMES (Rth 1:2)

As we open the Book of Ruth one of the first things that strikes us is the meaning of the names of the characters described therein.

1. We have Elimelech who was the husband of Naomi and his name meant “My God is King.” Had the poor man fully realized the meaning of his name he would never have gone down to Moab. Alas, how many there are today who carry the name, “Christ.” We are called “Christians,” and yet how little are we worthy to bear so marvelous a name.

2. Naomi. The meaning of this name is “My pleasant one.” The word, “Naomi” stood for everything that was lovely and delightful. So should the Christian be “My pleasant one.” Indeed, we are everything to Him. Of us He says, Ye shall be Mine “in that day when I make up My jewels.” We are His pearl of great price. In the Song of Songs how many times does the Lord speak in glowing terms of His own. We are set forth in that Book as the Shulamite.

3. Mahlon and Chilion. These two were the sons of Elimelech and Naomi. It seems incredible that the man whose name was “My God is King,” and the woman whose name was “My pleasant one,” should have had two sons named “sick” and “pining.” Yet so it was. This was due to the fact that Elimelech and Naomi did not live up to the glory of their names.

4. The name of the town and country where these individuals lived was Beth-lehem-judah. The meaning of this name is the “house of bread and praise.” It was there that a famine pervaded the land.

Alas! Alas, that so many places where the pulpit should be filled with the finest of the wheat, there is nothing there to eat, and in the pew, there is a famine for the Word of God.

II. LEAVING HOME (Rth 1:1-5)

1. “In the place of bread there was famine.” It was this which caused Elimelech and his family to depart from Bethlehem-judah. Alas, when in the house of God and in the pulpit dedicated to the preaching of His Word there is no bread, there is sure to be on the part of the people a departure into the far country. Sometimes, to be sure, saints will go down to Moab when there is plenty to eat at home, but they are far more likely to forget God when they are not fed upon the Word of God.

2. Going down to Moab. Moab was no place for “My God is King” to dwell. Neither should one who is known by God as “My pleasant one” dwell in the country of Moab. We remember how the prodigal boy left his father’s house and went into the far country. We remember also what happened there. This brings us to our third point.

3. Death and destruction in the land whither they went. Rth 1:3 tells us that Elimelech died there. In Rth 1:5 we read that Mahlon and Chilion also died. Thus it was that Naomi was shorn of all human help. She now was bereft and left a widow, and with her were her two daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth, whose husbands, also, were dead.

Is it not always so when we turn aside from the house of bread? We are sure to reap sorrow and not song, disaster and not delight. Jonah ran away, but he ran into a raging storm and a fish’s belly.

“In Central America there grows a plant called the nardoo, which, although it satisfies hunger, is said to be destitute of all nutritious elements, and a party of Englishmen once perished of starvation while feeding daily upon it. This is the experience of those who find their portion in earthly things. Their desires are crowned, but they are actually perishing of want. God gives them their request but sends leanness to their souls.”

III. HOME AGAIN (Rth 1:6; Rth 1:14-16)

1. The two daughters contrasted. Rth 1:6 tells us that Naomi “arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab.” We wish you might study with us just a moment these two girls. Both of them sought to show courtesy to Namoi. They proved that they were devoted to her by escorting her to the edge of their own country. When, however, they had arrived on the borders of Canaan, Naomi urged her “daughters in law” saying, “Go, return each to her mother’s house: the Lord deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me.”

2. Orpha kissed her mother-in-law and returned. Ruth, however, took an entirely different attitude. She said to Naomi, “Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.”

Thus it was that Ruth showed, not only the intensity of her love, but the deepness of her faith. It was not only to Naomi to whom Ruth made her troth, but it was to Naomi’s God. As we see Ruth leaving everything, we see her stepping out into the great unknown to a place where she had never trodden, to a land she had never seen. It was a walk of faith. Like Abraham, she went out, not knowing whither she went.

God grant that we may have the faith which Ruth had; that we may turn our back upon the land of Moab. The truth is that God has called us out of the world. When Rebekah had received the servant of Abraham and heard his story concerning Abraham and Isaac, her mother said, “Wilt thou go with this man?” and she said, “I will go.” Then Eleazer and Rebekah made their way over the desert sands. Let us journey with them in spirit to the city whose Builder and Maker is God.

IV. THE ARRIVAL (Rth 1:19-22)

1. They went together. To me Rth 1:19 is one of the most beautiful in the Book of Ruth. It opens by saying, “So they two went until they came to Bethlehem.” In the story of the shepherds who received the annunciation of Christ’s birth from the angels, we read that they said, “Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass.” So here there were two who went to Bethlehem to the house of bread.

How true it is that no one of us is asking to journey the desert of this life alone. God promised us another Comforter to be with us. The word “comforter” comes from the Greek word “paracletos:” “para” means “near”; “cletos” means “side.” He is near our side.

2. They came to the city. As Naomi and Rath went to Bethlehem “all the city was moved about them, and they said, Is this Naomi?” Is this the “pleasant one?” They were startled at the change in her mien. She saw their confusion and said unto them, “Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.”

The word “Mara” means “bitterness.” Oh, how shortsighted we are. We wander from God and into Moab. We loose everything we have and then we complain against God. Naomi went on to say, “I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty.”

Let us beware that we lay not our confusion upon our God. The tragedy of it is that Naomi said “The Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.” The word “Almighty” is the Hebrew “Shaddai,” and it means “the all-sufficient God.” “The God who is enough.” How could He afflict one of His children with poverty and with death?

V. THE TIME OF HARVEST (Rth 1:22, l.c.)

1. The return. When the two returned to Bethlehem we read that they came in the beginning of barley harvest. This was in the month of April. The one who had just said, “The Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me,” spoke with her eyes utterly blindfolded to the wonderful blessing God had in store for His returning prodigal daughter. It was not long, though Naomi knew it not, before her lap would be filled with blessings from on high. If she could only have seen the picture with which the Book of Ruth closes where she took Ruth’s child and laid it in her bosom she would have said, “the Lord hath dealt marvelously with me.” If she had known that child was to be the father of Jesse, who was the father of David, she could not have contained her gladness.

2. The prodigal’s return. When the prodigal boy came home, was the fatted calf not killed, and was there not joy and dancing? The father had the robe and the ring all ready to bestow. This has ever been the case.

“Out in one of the cemeteries of Winnipeg is a tombstone marking the grave of a man who not until late in life became a Christian, and on the stone is this inscription:

‘Here lies the son of _________. He was a poor, wandering boy, but he came home at last.'”

3. Leaving all. On the other hand Ruth was coming to God, leaving all-her home and her native land. God saw her willingness to suffer loss, and to count everything that had ever been dear to her as refuse.

This was why God enriched her. He who leaves father, mother, brother, sister, houses and lands for His sake shall receive a hundredfold. The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are perfect toward Him.

VI. THE FULL REWARD (Rth 2:12)

1. The gleaning. It was not Naomi, but it was Ruth, the Moabitess, who said unto Naomi, “Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him,” etc., and Naomi said, “Go, ray daughter.” Ruth went, and we read, “Her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech.”

Ruth and Naomi may have thought it was a happen-so, that it was good luck, but we are sure that if Ruth had remained in Moab she never would have happened to any such a blessing as was about to be hers.

2. Boaz on the scene. Rth 2:4 tells us “And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, * * Whose damsel is this?” When he found out he said unto Ruth, “Hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens.” To the young men Boaz gave orders that she be permitted to glean among the sheaves. So far as Boaz was concerned it was evident that it was love at first sight. Let us, however, glance at another picture.

3. Ruth’s confession. Ruth, when Boaz addressed her, fell on her face and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, “Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger?”

Here is the attitude that every sinner should take as he comes to God. Ruth confessed herself a stranger and an alien. She made but one plea and that was a plea for grace. She knew that she had nothing by which to buy the favors of Boaz.

As we approach our Lord Jesus, let us say, “Nothing in my hand I bring; simply to Thy Cross I cling.”

VII. THE MARRIAGE (Rth 4:10)

1. Ruth gleaning. After the weeks had passed, and the time of harvest was waning, they were winnowing barley at night, and Ruth, upon the orders of her mother-in-law, went to the threshing floor, as Boaz slept, and lay down at his feet. In that day and hour, this was perfectly proper. She was casting herself on his mercy. Here is the place that we should seek the Lord-His love and His grace.

The Syrophenician came and fell at Christ’s feet saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.”

Mary Magdalene came and fell at the feet of Jesus, and bathed His feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.

The rich young ruler came and fell at the feet of Jesus.

Mary of old always delighted to sit at the feet of Jesus while she heard His word. How else should we come?

2. Ruth claiming. When Boaz awoke and saw Ruth at his feet he was startled, but Ruth immediately said, “I am Ruth thine handmaiden: * * thou art a near kinsman.” Boaz said, “Blessed be thou of the Lord, my daughter: * * inasmuch as thou followedst not young men, whether poor or rich.”

Thus it was that Boaz, whose name means “in him is strength,” became strength to the weak, and gave his vows of love to the one who sought his grace.

3. The call of Boaz. There was another “kinsman Redeemer.” Thus it was that Boaz sat in the main gate on the succeeding day, and as the people went by he cried, “Ho, such a one!” Ten men of the elders of the city were called, and Boaz said, “Sit ye down here.” He told them how Naomi had returned and how Ruth the Moabitess had married Naomi’s son, and that he (Boaz) had desired to redeem her inheritance which was a certain land, and to marry her as a part of the redemption.

According to the law of the time he gave “such a one” the opportunity first to redeem the land. “Such a one” immediately agreed to buy the land. Then Boaz said, “Thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance.” Then this “such a one” said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, * * redeem thou my right to thyself.”

Are we not amazed? Every name in the Book of Ruth is given such prominence until we come to the near kinsman of Naomi, and he is called “such a one.” No name is given to him.

We think we can solve the riddle. Boaz stands for Christ who is our strength, our Mighty One who is able to redeem us. “Such a one” stands for the law who was made weak through the flesh and could not save us. “Such a one,” as the law, must step aside that the True Christ, our Saviour, and kinsman Redeemer, may buy us back unto Himself. Then, by and by, will come the marriage of the Lamb, and we will be the bride.

AN ILLUSTRATION

Ruth had her opportunity and redeemed it “In the Tate Art Gallery in London is a painting called The Girl at the Gate.’ The scene is laid in the Highlands of Scotland. The farther background of the picture reveals the rocky cliff and the jagged scar. In the foreground is a rude highland cabin whose tiny yard is surrounded by a rickety picket fence. In front of the little home, the aged father is spading the ground. The mother, bedecked in an apron, standing akimbo feeding her chickens. At the front gate, about which daisies are blooming and a sparse vine clambers, stands a fair blue-eyed lassie, dressed in the native plaid. Her hand rests upon the gate post She is merely a peasant girl in form and surroundings, but with an expression of unutterable yearning after some great ideal. Her face is sweetly sad and beautiful. Her fine dreamy eyes-they form the center and point of the picture. What a study! Those fine eyes are looking across the hazy distances. She seems to have visions of a larger, fuller life. Her soul, imprisoned and uncultured, appears to be striving for liberty, noble activity and lofty service. Those who look upon this picture are attracted to it with awakened sympathy and tenderness. This picture reminds us of hundreds and thousands of girls who are held back within the barriers of circumstances and narrow environment. There is no nobler task intrusted to men and women than that of giving ‘the girl at the gate’ a chance in life.”

Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water

1:6 Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the LORD had {d} visited his people in giving them bread.

(d) By sending them plenty again.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

B. Naomi’s inability to provide husbands for Ruth and Orpah 1:6-14

God eventually withdrew the famine from Judah (Rth 1:6), probably in response to His people’s calling out to Him for deliverance (cf. Jdg 3:9; Jdg 3:15; Jdg 4:3; Jdg 6:6; Jdg 10:10; Jdg 16:28). This verse sounds one of the major themes of the story: Yahweh’s gracious intervention. [Note: K. Sacon, "The Book of Ruth-Its Literary Structure and Themes," Annual of the Japanese Biblical Institute 4 (1978):5.]

"Here is a central theme in the Bible: all of life is traced directly to the hand of God. To concentrate primarily on second causes may encourage us to seek to be manipulators of the system. It is concentration on the Great Cause which teaches us to live by faith." [Note: David Atkinson, The Message of Ruth, pp. 40-41.]

Naomi’s words to her daughters-in-law are very important. Of the book’s 85 verses, 56 report dialogue, indicating that dialogue is one of its dominant literary techniques. [Note: Hubbard, pp. 100-101.] She appealed to them to maintain their strongest earthly ties by returning to their mothers’ families (Rth 1:8). "Return" in its various Hebrew forms is a key word in Ruth (e.g., Rth 1:6-8; Rth 1:10; Rth 1:15-16; Rth 1:22 [twice]; Rth 2:6; Rth 4:3). Ruth is a story of return to the Promised Land, blessing, and primarily return to the Lord. Naomi incorrectly believed that there was more hope for her daughters-in-law by staying in Moab than there was by going with her to God’s chosen people and land.

"Naomi should have said to them what Moses said to his father-in-law, ’Come thou with us, and we will do thee good; for the Lord has spoken good concerning Israel’ (Num 10:29, KJV)." [Note: Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary/History, p. 181.]

"I may be wrong, but I get the impression that Naomi didn’t want to take Oprah and Ruth to Bethlehem because they were living proof that she and her husband had permitted their two sons to marry women from outside the covenant nation. In other words, Naomi was trying to cover up her disobedience." [Note: Ibid. Italics omitted.]

". . . the phrase ’mother’s house’ occurs in contexts having to do with love and marriage. It seems likely, then, that Naomi here referred to some custom according to which the ’mother’s house’-probably her bedroom, not a separate building-was the place where marriages were arranged." [Note: Hubbard, pp. 102-3. Cf. E. F. Campbell Jr., Ruth, pp. 64-65; and Huey, p. 521.]

Second, Naomi prayed that Yahweh would pay back loyal love ("deal kindly," Heb. hesed), to Ruth and Orpah since they had shown loyal love to their husbands and Naomi (Rth 1:8).

"Here emerges a key theological assumption of the book: the intimate link between human action and divine action. In this case, human kindness has earned the possibility (even likelihood) of a God-given reward." [Note: Hubbard, p. 104. "Kindly" or "kindness" (Heb. hesed) is also a key word in Ruth (cf. 2:20; 3:10).]

Third, Naomi wished "rest" (Heb. menuhah) for her daughters-in-law in the household of their next husbands (Rth 1:9). Rest was one of the great blessings God had promised the Israelites as they anticipated entrance into the Promised Land (Exo 33:14; Deu 3:20; Deu 12:9-10; Deu 25:19; Jos 1:13; Jos 1:15; Jos 21:44; Jos 22:4; Jos 23:1; cf. Gen 49:15; Exo 16:23; Exo 31:15; Exo 35:2; Lev 16:31; Lev 23:3; Lev 23:32; Lev 25:4-5; Psa 95:11; Heb 3:11; Heb 3:18). It refers to security, which in this case marriage would give Ruth (lit. friendship) and Orpah (lit. neck), rather than freedom from work. Probably Ruth’s parents named her hoping that she would demonstrate friendship, which she did admirably. Perhaps Orpah’s parents thought she had an attractive neck when she was born. Ironically, some of the later rabbis referred to her as "she of the turned neck" since she turned back to Moab (cf. Lot’s wife).

After the two daughters-in-law refused to leave their mother-in-law (Rth 1:10), which in Orpah’s case was only a polite refusal but in Ruth’s a genuine one, Naomi urged them again. Here one reason for her counsel comes out. She was too old to remarry, bear sons, have those sons marry their brothers’ (Mahlon’s and Chilion’s) widows, and raise up seed. That seed would perpetuate the families begun by Mahlon and Chilion with Ruth and Orpah. Levirate marriage was the practice of a single brother marrying his deceased brother’s widow to father children who would carry on the dead brother’s name and extend his branch of the family tree. It was common throughout the ancient Near East and in Israel (cf. Gen 38:8-10; Deu 25:5-10). [Note: See The New Bible Dictionary, 1962 ed., s.v. "Marriage," by J. S. Wright and J. A. Thompson; Dale W. Manor, "A Brief History of Levirate Marriage As It Relates to the Bible," Near East Archaeological Society Bulletin NS20 (Fall 1982):33-52; Donald A. Leggett, The Levirate and Goel Institutions in the Old Testament with Special Attention to the Book of Ruth; and Atkinson, pp. 86-98.] The word "levir" comes from the Latin translation of the Hebrew term for brother-in-law. Naomi was too old to remarry and bear sons who could provide loyal love and rest for Ruth and Orpah. (Had she forgotten what God had done for Sarah by enabling her to bear a son at age 90?) Consequently she urged her daughters-in-law to return home and start married life over with new Moabite husbands. She evidently did not even consider the possibility that God could provide for them if they sought refuge in Him. She was not presenting the God of Israel in a positive light or demonstrating much faith in Him.

It was harder for Naomi than for Ruth and Orpah (Rth 1:13), because while Ruth and Orpah had hope of marrying again and bearing children, Naomi did not, in view of her advanced age. She bitterly regarded her situation as a judgment from God (Rth 1:13; cf. Gen 30:1-2; Gen 42:36). Naomi was bitter rather than broken. Really her situation in life was the result of the decisions she and her husband and sons had made when they chose to leave the Promised Land. She did not realize that God would yet graciously bless her with a descendant through Boaz. Boaz would father a son who would carry on the name and lines of Ruth’s dead husband and Naomi’s dead husband.

"Ruth and Orpah demonstrate the two kinds of members in the church-the professors and the possessors. Orpah made only a profession of faith and failed at the climactic moment; Ruth possessed genuine faith, which produced fruit and works." [Note: McGee, p. 61.]

Ruth clung to Naomi. The Hebrew word for "clung to" is dabaq, which elsewhere refers to the ideal closeness that can be experienced in a marriage relationship (cf. Gen 2:24). [Note: Huey, p. 522.] Ruth determined to stick to her mother-in-law as closely as a husband would cleave to his wife (cf. Jas 1:27).

"It is a mistake to make the purpose of raising an heir to the deceased head of the family the exclusive purpose of each of the protagonists at every point and so dismiss the equally valid and legitimate concern of these women to find for themselves the security of home and husband-the only identity their patriarchal world afforded them." [Note: Bush, p. 97.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)