Ruth 2:18-23

CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES.—Her mother-in-law saw. With astonishment at the quantity evidently. And she brought forth. And she showed (Vulgate, Syr.-Arab., Wright, Lange). Brought forth out of a wallet (Targum). Drew out of her pocket, as the Chaldee has correctly supplied (Keil). That she had reserved. Of the parched corn (see Ruth 2:14). After she was sufficed. Satisfied (Lange). Lit. From her satiety (Morison).

Ruth 2:19. Where wroughtest thou? Where didst thou procure? (Dr. Cassel). Where hast thou stayed? (Wright). Where strayedest thou? (Gesen). As in EV. LXX. Vulg. Rosen. Bertheau. Blessed be he. Naomi seems to have seen at once that someone must have treated Ruth with unexpected and unwonted kindness. Did take knowledge. Friendly and special notice. The same word used by Ruth (Ruth 2:10) in expressing her gratitude to Boaz (Lange). With whom I wrought. Certainly a better translation than “with whom I spent my time,” as Wright would appear to propose. Boaz. She could not know what a consolation and joy the utterance of this name conveyed to Naomi (Lange).

Ruth 2:20. Who hath not left off. Precisely the same expression Eliezer uses when he meets Rebekah, after having prayed for guidance (Genesis 24:27). There, however, it is Jehovah Himself who is pronounced “blessed” (Speaker’s Com.). Naomi possibly only applied a general formula or even a common proverb to her special case, and in this sense Jehovah alone is to be seen as the source of kindness to the living and the dead. So the Syriac, Arab, Bertheau, Keil, Lange, &c. The Chaldee, LXX., and Vulg. apply the words, however, to Boaz. [See on Ruth 1:8, and also cf. Genesis 14:19; Psalms 115:15.] To the living and the dead. Here is a profession of faith in the existence of the faithful after death (Wordsworth). Not so (Bertheau, Morison). If these words do not presuppose the immortality of the soul as an article of Israelitish faith, what meaning can they have? (Lange). God is not the God of the dead [those who have passed away and are no more for ever] but of the living (Matthew 22:32). Ruth is still the wife of the dead in the Hebrew way of thinking and speaking (Ruth 4:5). And does not this and kindred Jewish notions as to the dead having claims upon the living, receiving kindnesses from them, having seed raised up by them, &c., necessarily point to an underlying conviction of the continuing existence of those who have only passed away to the outward senses and sight? The man is near of kin. Is our relative (Keil). Lit. Near, not in comparison with other relatives, but with men in general (Lange). One of our next kinsmen. One of our redeemers (Lange, Keil). One that hath a right to redeem (Kitio). The second in the order of the Goëlim (Michaelis, Gesenius). The Redeemer had a right

(1) of redeeming the inheritance of the person,
(2) of marrying the widow,
(3) of avenging the death (Speaker’s Com.). Cf. Leviticus 25:25; Leviticus 25:47; Deuteronomy 25:5; Deuteronomy 19:1; Jeremiah 32:8.

Ruth 2:21. He said unto me also. Even so may he be blessed (Carpzov, Wordsworth, Wright). Not so (Lange). Yea also he said to me (Morison). More! I have not told you all, for he said, &c. (Lange) Keep fast by my young men. My people (Keil). My servants (Lange). The people also belong to my house as distinguished from the people of other masters (Keil). The masculine here to be taken as including both sexes (Gesen, Furst, Maurer). Boaz (Ruth 2:3) and Naomi (Ruth 2:22), however, use the feminine form, which seems to show that the distinction of gender was no longer neglected (Lange). A special point is made of Ruth being allowed to glean among the sheaves close to the reapers (Ruth 2:15), that is, the young men, evidently a special and privileged place. The young men had a commission, too, from their master to countenance and encourage her (Ruth 2:16).

Ruth 2:22. It is good. The key to much which follows as well as an approval of what has passed. That they meet thee not. Lit., that they do not fall upon thee (Keil, Wordsworth). Originally means to light upon, whether for good or evil (Morison). Keil views the verb, however, as having only a bad meaning, and as signifying to fall upon a person to smite and ill-treat him. Fall not upon thee, or solicit thee to folly. Vulgo dicitur castam esse quam nemo rogarit (Trapp). In a strange field she would be exposed to annoyances and, possibly, insults (Steele and Terry), from which Boaz has specially guarded her in his (Ruth 2:9; Ruth 2:15). To go elsewhere also would be to show a want of appreciation for the kind words and actions of which she has been the recipient already. Her seemingly needless repetition of this idea of clinging to the fields and servants of Boaz, is, indeed, highly artistic, and serves to prepare the mind for what is to follow.

Ruth 2:23. So she kept fast. And she kept gleaning along with the maiden of Boaz (Wright) (cf. Ruth 2:9; Ruth 2:21). Gives the opportunity for Boaz to acquire that knowledge of Ruth and respect for her implied in Ruth 3:10). By the maidens. Showing clearly that his maidens were only gleaners (Speaker’s Com.). Unto the end of barley and wheat harvest. Until about the beginning of June. The two harvests would cover from two to three months. And dwelt with her mother in-law. After she returned to her mother-in-law (Vulg., Luther, Coverdale). And lived with her mother-in-law (Kiel). A tacit allusion to the fact that a change took place when the harvest was over (ibid). She did not gad abroad, but kept her aged mother company at home (Patrick).

Ruth 2:18

Theme.—THE BREAD-WINNER AND HER PRECIOUS BURDEN

“Find out men’s wants and will

And meet them there. All worldly joys go less
To the one joy of doing kindnesses.”—Herbert.

And she took it up … and she brought forth, and gave, etc.

Ruth returns to the city, bearing herself the results of her toil, but not for herself alone. True affection is always carrying some burden or other, and love’s crosses are never her own entirely.

She returns to bestow of her labour. The needy may often play the benefactor to others. Christ carried a bag to relieve those who were in want, and the poor widow had still “two mites to spare” (Luke 21:2). How the text condemns the covetousness of such as Nabal, who have plenty and yet give not out of their abundance!

I. She was frugal. Carefulness as necessary as industry. That nothing be lost for want of frugality comes with the force of Divine authority. “Gather up the fragments,” etc. Wisdom teaches us to have an eye upon the future as upon the present. Even dumb creatures, like the ant and the bee, have this instinct. Note. Wastefulness as much a sin as idleness.

II. She was frugal amid unexpected abundance. A contrast to such as plunge into mad riot and wanton, reckless wastefulness at such times. The prodigal, when he had obtained his “portion,” made all haste to spend it among harlots. Must be confessed that the poor are not always the most careful when fortune favours them. “Beggars on horseback ride the faster to the devil.” Note. A true test of character to be found here.

“Who cannot live on twenty pound a-year,
Cannot on forty; he’s a man of pleasure,
A kind of thing that’s for itself too dear.”—Herbert.

III. She was frugal for the sake of others. The thought of Naomi at home had evidently stimulated her to carefulness as well as industry in the harvest-field. Ruth not one lost in vacant reveries and so missing the hour of service. The spirit of love and self-sacrifice breathes in all that she does. Note. (a) Extravagance is especially reprehensible when there may be those in want at home. Becomes doubly a sin then to waste, or to neglect opportunities of providing for them. (b) A kindred thoughtfulness to Ruth’s not unusual among the poor. Only that while the good deeds of the rich are concealed with difficulty, theirs are too often passed by unnoticed. How many a heart has thrilled with joy at the thought of being able to minister to the joy of those at home! Burns gives us the picture of the eldest daughter, in his “Cotter’s Saturday Night,” bringing home

“her sair-won penny fee

To help her parents dear, if they in hardship be.”

Ministries like this have gladdened and sweetened family life all the world over. Note. Men may and ought to find the sweetest and noblest use of all their gains at home.

LESSONS.

(1) Even love must have its burden, if it would enjoy its after-recompense and approval. There are who would scatter without first having gathered, but that is not God’s law.
(2) The lavishness of this evening hour only follows the gleaning and carefulness of the day.
(3) What is gained in a nook of the harvest-field comes to be seen and reported in the city (Price).

“They come home from their busy toil feeling that they have the day’s sweetest and not always lightest task before them—to lighten the heares and gladden the lives of those whom they love best. Whatever the world has done to them or for them they have one thing to do—to do the very best they can for the dear ones round their fireside. Not that these are to be kept always ignorant of the cares, troubles, and losses without which the world’s business cannot be carried on.”—Baldwin Brown.

“See here, the shoulders of God’s saints are wonted to the bearing of burthens. Little Isaac carried the faggot wherewith himself was to be sacrificed; our Saviour, His own cross, till His faintness claimed Simeon of Cyrene to be His successor. Yet, let not God’s saints be disheartened: if their father had a ‘bottle’ wherein He puts the tears which they spend, surely He hath a balance wherein He weighs the burthens, which they bear, He keeps a note to what weight their burthens amount, and, no doubt, will accordingly comfort them.”—Fuller.

“It is no less necessary to be careful of the fruit of our labours, than to labour with diligence. Christ Himself, who could multiply bread at His pleasure, commanded the fragments of the barley loaves and fishes to be gathered up, that nothing might be lost. ‘In all labour there is profit,’ says the wise man; yet there are some that labour for the wind. They lose what they have wrought, because they suffer it, through their carelessness, to slip through their fingers. This folly, however, is much less frequent in things relating to the body than in those which relate to the soul.”—Lawson.

“The Church is our mother, whom we are called to serve and comfort; therefore every comfort you glean ought to be brought home to her; so disposed of and applied that she may share in your pleasure.”—Macgowan.

Ruth 2:19

Theme.—HOME CONFIDENCES, MUTUAL CONFESSIONS, AND ENQUIRIES

“And none can say but all my life

I have His wordis kept,

And summed the actions of the day

Each night before I slept.”—Chatterton.

“Think nought a trifle, though it small appear—
Small sands the mountain, moments make the year,
And trifles life.”—Young.

And her mother-in-law said, Where hast thou, etc.… Blessed be he, etc.… And she showed, etc.

It is in the very nature of affection to feel the interest, solicitude, anxiety expressed here. Parents see their children go out to the snares and difficulties of life. Will they be preserved spotless? etc. More, it is the duty of such to ascertain how their children have been employed, what associations they have formed, with whom and where they have been. Such sympathetic questioning

(1) elicits confidence,
(2) shows thoughtful interest,
(3) offers opportunity for wise counsel and encouragement (Braden). Carelessness on these points

(1) unnatural,

(2) dangerous. Even Eli did not sin in neglecting this duty. He noticed and enquired (1 Samuel 2:23). His sin was that he restrained not after knowledge (Ruth 3:13).

But see how “love thinketh no evil,” and makes even a duty like this free from whatever might be otherwise irksome or unpleasant. Naomi asks from a desire to know who was the instrument in God’s hands through whom His bounty came, not from curiosity merely, or from any suspicion concerning Ruth. Favours bestowed naturally bring the desire to know from whom they come.
We have,

I. A fitting conclusion to a well-spent day. Note. Good to sum up the actions of the day

(1) to ourselves,

(2) to others when convenient and proper, as here. “Confess your sins one to another.” The New Testament idea of a confessor, however, not that of an official person, a “priest,” but a friend whom we can trust and to whom we can unbosom, as Ruth evidently did to Naomi [cf. Malachi 3:16; Judges 5:11]. Especially is such confession one to another good when accompanied and permeated by a devout spirit such as breathes through the whole context. Note. When integrity directs our steps there is no need for evasion. Can give a minute account of our conduct.

II. A mutual stimulus and encouragement to gratitude. Gratitude kindles gratitude. Good deeds to ourselves, recognised and pointed out, bring thankfulness to other hearts beside our own, to the devout everywhere.

“Whene’er a noble deed is wrought,
Whene’er is spoken a noble thought,
Our hearts in glad surprise
To higher levels rise.”—Longfellow.

Many men niggardly in letting it be known they have received favours. They would hide the sunshine which has gladdened life in their own hearts, were it possible. Not so Ruth. She brings to her home, and to her friend, these abundant signs and tokens of that which has made the labour of gleaning a light and pleasant task. Christ’s command, “Return to thine own house,” etc. (Luke 5:39), enforces the duty illustrated here.

It is,

III. A mutual stimulus and encouragement to piety. The heart naturally looks upward and thanks God when it comes face to face with noble deeds of any kind. Men stifle the feeling if they can, it may be, and feel ashamed of it, but it is there. Note. Thanksgiving as natural as prayer.

Here the kindness of Boaz and the success of Ruth both come in to fan the flame of piety in the heart of Naomi. Her first thought is not that the wants of the morrow are satisfied, and that abundantly, but “Blessed be he,” etc. True always that—

“The tidal wave of deeper souls
Into our inmost being rolls,
And lifts us unawares
Out of all meaner cares.”

Noble deeds, when seen and realised, lead men almost unconsciously to think and to speak nobly. Note. Prayer is sometimes the only possible way left us of expressing our gratitude. [On these ejaculatory expressions see Ruth 2:12 pp. 116, 117.] The debt contracted in the currency of earth is paid back in the coin of heaven (Thomson).

IMPROVEMENT.—

(1) We should take special notice of such as do us good (Bernard).

(2) A good heart rejoices in the welfare of another (ibid.).

(3) How naturally the name of God comes in on occasions like these!
(4) How potent our kindness may be in quickening the sense of God’s kindness (Cox).

E. Price on this:—God’s Providence an excitement to a question. Wherever can such a blessing have come from? to a benediction. Blessed be God in the fact and in the agent of His will; and to a recognition of His inscrutable but merciful designs. Who can this man be—coming at the very time when needed—but a Boaz, and he the father of blessings yet beyond the present hour?

Observe.—A man may be as a stranger to-day, and yet God may cause him to appear an angel of blessedness to-morrow. Despise nothing—hope in everything, and unite the actions of life by the spirit of cheerfulness. If Providence be a fact, trust in it!

J. P. Allen, M.A., on this:— Ruth 2:19, “Where hast thou gleaned today?”—A simple question is sometimes startling, and is often stirringly suggestive.

I.

The Sphere: Life’s opportunities.

(1)

The law of labour is the law of life. In this world but little can be accomplished without energy and enterprise. In every department this is true.

(2)

To the open and eager eye openings invite and opportunities multiply. “Let me now go to the field.” “I have set before thee an open door.” “The field is the world.” See Isaiah 6:8.

(3)

Forms of activity, how diversified they are. There is not only the reaper but the “gleaner” also. “All works are good, and each is best when most it pleases Thee.” “Gather up the fragments,” and despise not “the day of small things.”

(4)

Scope exists for all. “How many serve, how many more may to the service come.” “Even I, in fields so broad, some duties may fulfil.”—Woman’s work.

(5)

Each “day” brings its demands. “To-day.”

II.

The Service: Our use or neglect of life’s opportunities.

(1)

Neglect possible. There is no compulsion. The parable of the talents. The field of the slothful (Proverbs 24).

(2)

Success attainable. Satisfaction in healthful industry. Beneficent results are an “ephah of barley.” “Neither man nor work unblest wilt thou Thou permit to be.” “He shall doubtless come again bringing his sheaves with him.” “Enter into the joy of thy Lord.”

(3)

Co-operation here desirable. “Let fall some for her.” “Reproach her not.” Community in labour. Unselfishly thinking of others and their work, without unkindliness or rebuke. Cp. moroseness and malevolence. “Each worker pleases where the rest he serves in charity.”

III.

The Scrutiny: Direct investigation into our use of life’s opportunities.

(1)

The “day,” however, varying in incident and duration, soon “goeth away.” “The shadows of the evening are stretched out.” “The night cometh when no man can work.”

(2)

After that, the Tribunal and award. (a) The Fact of Judgment [cf. Matthew 25:19.] (b) Its characteristics

(1) Personal and individual: “Those.”

(2) Practical: “Where.”

(3) Precise: each “day” and its doings. How wise to let the inquiry here anticipate the inquiry hereafter. Day by day and every day should conscience put the question—“Where hast thou gleaned to-day?”

“If we are not our brethren’s, yet surely we are our children’s keepers; and we know what a son Adonijah proved, that had never been chidden. Parents should examine their children, not to frighten nor discourage them, not so as to make them hate home or tempt them to tell a lie, but to commend them if they have done well, and with mildness to reprove and caution them if they have done otherwise.”—Matthew Henry.

“It is a good question for us to ask ourselves in the close of every day, ‘Where have I gleaned to-day? What improvements have I made in knowledge and grace? What have I done or obtained that will turn to a good account?’ ”

“Sum up at night what thou hast done by day;
And in the morning what thou hast to do.
Dress and undress thy soul: mark the decay
And growth of it: if with thy watch, that too
Be down, then wind up both; since we shall be
Most surely judged, make thy accounts agree.”

—Herbert.

“Spirits rest in duty, in the interchange of the communications and ministries of thought and love.”—Baldwin Brown.

“The recording of these small matters showeth how dear to God are His saints, and how He is taken with everything they say or do, if not sinful.”—Trapp.

“They are rich who have friends. There is no living without friends.”—Portuguese Proverbs

“And whether a man be poor or rich, caressed of fortune or crushed under difficulties, if he be homeless in this sense, if he have no loved ones caring for him and not for his substance, sympathizing in his trials and rejoicing in his successes, the veriest dog that has a kennel to creep in out of the cold wind at nights, is to be envied more than he.”—B.

“Piety, however, does more than indulge in curiosity. The natural heart would have rejoiced, received, enjoyed, and inquired just as Naomi did, but withal with no thought except of self. She, on the contrary, before her inquiries are answered, induced simply by the abundance of the gifts and the manifest happiness of Ruth, blesses the giver.”—Lange.

“The blessings of grace also are scattered abroad in the gospel field in the greatest abundance, but they must all be gathered in a diligent use of the appointed means. Sovereign grace could, if infinite wisdom saw meet, save its object without the intervention of means; and so might Boaz have given Ruth the handfuls unscattered, but he did not choose to do that, neither does grace choose to do this. God has therefore bound His people to as strict, as conscientious a use of the means, as if upon them only salvation was entirely dependent.… What He gives in a way of sovereign goodness must be gathered in the way of the strictest diligence.”—Macgowan.

“If the rich can exchange their alms with the poor for blessings. they have no cause to complain of an ill bargain. Our gifts cannot be worth their faithful prayers: therefore it is better to give than receive; because he that receives hath a worthless alms: he that gives receives an invaluable blessing.”—Bishop Hall.

“If we would but recollect that life is a mosaic, made up of very little things, and that the very smallest and meanest well done, is as thankworthy as the greatest.”—Anon.

“Before even her question can be answered, and moved simply by the manifest happiness of Ruth in the abundance of her gleanings, she ‘blesses’ the man who has given her this happiness. For this she does not need to know who he is. Whoever had been kind and bountiful to Ruth must have meant to show that he appreciated her virtues and felt for her misfortunes.”—Cox.

“ ‘For the last ten years I (Gambetta) have made a pledge with myself to entirely avoid introducing the name of God into any speech of mine. You can hardly believe how difficult it has been, but I have succeeded, thank God!’ (‘Dieu merci!’). Thus the name so sternly tabooed rose unconsciously to his lips at the very moment when he was congratulating himself on having overcome the habit of using it.”—E. D. Pressense.

Ruth 2:20

Theme.—KINDNESS TO THE LIVING AND THE DEAD

“Those that he loved so long, and sees no more,
Loved and still loves—not dead, but gone before.”—Rogers.

“The dead are like the stars by day,
Withdrawn from mortal eye,
Yet holding unperceived their way
Through the unclouded sky.”—Bernard.

Blessed be he of the Lord [Jehovah] who hath not left off His kindness to the living and the dead.

It is just possible these words apply entirely to Boaz. New favours cause a fresh remembrance of former courtesies (Fuller). Memory is busy, and Naomi may see in the kindness of to-day only a continuance of similar acts to the dead Elimelech done years ago. If so, she recognises in this the habit and spirit of his life. The new benefactor is the benefactor of old. He “hath not left off,” &c. Note. Benevolence grows upon men. One deed of charity leads to another, fosters the spirit, forms, or helps to form, the habit. Characteristic of a good man that he has not “left off” those deeds of kindness which bring down lifelong blessings and benedictions upon him [cf. Job 31:16; Job 29:11.] While some give from impulse merely, and others from ostentation, he gives from a heart permeated by the spirit of love, and so he is always ready to respond to he wants of those around him. Note. What a noble and spontaneous testimony to the worth of Boaz, if the words are to be so employed and applied.

Again, the phrase is a very significant one as to the whole action and scope of the book. Among the Hebrews kindness to the widow, duties performed to and for the bereaved were looked upon as done to and for the dead. This one of the fixed ideas in Naomi’s mind seemingly hopeless at first [see on i:11–13; p. 46] as to any outward accomplishment, but now to be seen as beginning to shape itself in another way. Note. There is a sense in which we may be kind to the dead—to his memory, to his loved one [see on Ruth 1:9, p. 40; Fuller’s remarks.]

The very close relationship, however, between the name of Jehovah and the following sentence seems to intimate that it is the Divine Mercy as bestowed upon the living and the dead which is filling her heart with a gratitude not to be concealed [cf. Crit. and Exegetical Notes.] She thinks of God, not so much of Boaz as the author of this new kindness. It is, “Jehovah who hath not,” &c. Note. Naomi recognizes this even more profoundly than Eliezer. (Genesis 24:26.) (Lange.)

May be looked upon if taken in this way.

I. In the sense of the unbroken continuance of the Divine favour throughout the ages, to children, and children’s children. He is the God of Abraham and of Isaac, and of Jacob. He blesses Ruth to-day, even as He blessed her husband yesterday. To each new generation there is this revelation of new mercies, for He is the God of each “succeeding race.” Men there are whose charitable deeds are as rare as an eclipse or a blazing star (Fuller). Not so with Him. He ceaseth not. “He hath not left off,” &c.

Note. The pious have recognised this in all ages. Moses saw Him as, keeping covenant to a thousand generations (Deuteronomy 7:9) and as, “the dwelling-place” of His people in all generations (Psalms 90:1). David conceived Him as keeping mercy for ever (Psalms 89:28), and as not suffering His “faithfulness to fail”

(33). Isaiah speaks of Him as hearing and preserving and establishing His own (Isaiah 49:8). Jeremiah says, “His compassions fail not—they are new every morning” (Lamentations 3:22). This unchanging faithfulness and compassion of God

(1) Comes from the Divine Nature (Isaiah 49; 1 Corinthians 1:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:24).

(2) Endures with the Divine existence [146:3].

(3) Shows itself in the Divine action at all times.

It may be looked upon

II. In that completer sense in which God controls the unseen world as well as this. The dead are with Him even as the living are, and this thought may possibly have been in Naomi’s mind. For how can mercy be shown to such as exist no longer? (Lange). Would never occur to speak of that as mercy [kindness] to the dead, which is mercy to the living and nothing more (Ibid). [See Critical and Exeg. Notes, and Lange in loco]. Certainly the dead held a very conspicuous and important place in Naomi’s speech and thoughts [cf. i:8, 21], as well as in that of the Hebrews generally [iv:5, 10]. And can we imagine this as side by side with the conception that they had ceased to exist for ever? To do so is to commit the error of the Sadducees, who erred, “not knowing the Scriptures.” All the light of subsequent revelation has not made the dead one whit more real to us, more clearly identified with ourselves, than we see them here. Why, then, refuse to believe that Naomi saw her loved ones as resting even then in Abraham’s bosom? Where otherwise is the force of Christ’s appeal (Matthew 22:31), “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living?”

Blessed thought if taught here! He comforts us to-day, and He comforts those who are no longer with us but with Him. Death has not removed them from the sphere of His kindness. Separation from us does not necessarily mean separation from Him; rather it means, with the righteous, to come more completely within the scope of His love (Revelation 14:13). They serve and we serve (Revelation 6:15). He feeds them

(17) and He feeds us. He strengthens the heart of the mourners here, and He wipes away all tears from their eyes yonder. He hath not left off, etc. Note. The dead and the living are linked together still in the eyes of God and of good men. Not so much two worlds as one, that the other side of this and God over all blessed for evermore. Parted only by a thin and perhaps, from their side, transparent veil (Braden).

LESSONS.

(1) Kindness to the living may be, and is sometimes, kindness to the dead.
(2) As health is the poor man’s patrimony, so prayers are the poor man’s requital (Trapp).

Bernard on “Blessed be he of the Lord.”

(1) That prayer in and by every true member of the Church hath been only made unto God.
(2) That it is the Lord who doth bless and make happy.
(3) That the Lord will bless the merciful.
(4) That the poor’s reward unto the rich for their work of charity is only their prayer to God for them.

E. Price on this:—God’s Blessing.

(1) In its nature, it is “kindness”—the very soul of tenderness to the God-fearing among men.

(2) In its continuance. He can’t “leave off” making His children happy.

(3) In its application to both worlds—to the “living” as the song of a Ruth may testify; to the “dead,” as the hope of a Naomi must imply. Both are in the covenant of the God of Israel. And

(4) in its expression. He knows how to prepare some lip to give it adequate expression before the world. The old shall ever confirm the faith of the young.

“It is kindness to the dead as well as to the living. The natural human protectors are gone, but the Almighty Father has taken their place. It is what Elimelech and Mahlon would hare desired, and it is kindness to them. Can we not imagine that those who have passed from earth, leaving poor disconsolate ones behind to struggle with life’s difficulties, often find, in their glorified condition, fresh and continuous reasons for rejoicing, because they see how the ever-watchful love of God is constantly shown towards beloved ones, whose comfort was their desire and endeavour?”—Braden.

“Though old Barzillai be incapable of thy favours, let young Chimham taste of thy kindness. Though the dead cannot, need not, have thy mercy, yet may they receive thy kindness by a proxy—by their friends that still are living.
“Mercy, then to the dead, makes nothing for the Popish purgatory, and yet no wonder if the Papists fight for it.… In a word, were purgatory taken away, the Pope himself would be in purgatory, as not knowing which way to maintain his expensiveness.”—Fuller.

“Call upon the Almighty, He will help thee; thou needest not perplex thyself about anything else: shut thy eyes, and while thou art asleep, God will change thy bad fortune into good.”—Arabian Nights.

“The Lord is the fountain from whom all blessedness flows. Indeed, Jacob blessed his sons; Moses, the twelve tribes; the priests, in the law, the people: but these were but the instruments, God the Principal; these the pipe, God the Fountain; these the ministers to pronounce it, God the author who bestowed it.”—Fuller.

“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.… With true hearts they can never be disassociated.”—Statham.

“Oh, ye beloved ones!

Though speechless, though unseen,

Love’s bond is strong to-day,

As love has ever been.

“Deathless the memories,

And though unspoken now;

Dear names and tender words,

Binding as lover’s vow.

“Tender and true ye were,

All passionless ye lie

Beneath the churchyard grass,

The weird wind wanders by.

“We speak, the murmuring wind

Wanders earth-born above;

They rest below;—that calm,

Speaks God’s best gift of love.”—B.

“In the wonderful providence of God which made Ruth find a friend in Boaz, the rich relative of her husband, she feels herself justified to find an indication that God is once more gracious to her, and has not left off his kindness. If now it was through the fault of her dear departed ones that she had hitherto experienced distress, then it also follows that, since God’s goodness again manifests itself so conspicuously, his anger against those must likewise be come to an end. For that reason she speaks of his kindness, not only to the living but also of the dead. For these had died through the same sin which had brought suffering on herself. Hence, God’s help to her in her suffering is a manifestation of His unwearied grace toward both the living and the dead.”—Lange.

“If we would enter into the force of this outburst of praise, we must remember that Naomi had lost her faith—not in God, indeed, but in the goodwill of God for her.… Now she descries a proof that God had not wholly abandoned her. No one who has witnessed such a revulsion from spiritual despair to renewed hope in the Divine goodness and compassion will marvel at the ecstasy which breathes in Naomi’s words.”—Cox.

Ruth 2:20

Theme.—KINSHIP THE GROUND OF REDEMPTION

“O God, O kinsman loved, but not enough!

O man, with eyes majestic after death,

Whose feet have toiled along our pathways rough,

Whose lips drawn human breath!

By that one likeness which is ours and thine,

By that one nature which doth hold us kin;

By that high heaven where sinless Thou dost shine,

To draw us sinners in.

Come, lest this heart,” etc.—Jean Ingelow.

And Naomi said, the man is near of kin etc.… And Ruth said, He said unto me also, etc.… And Naomi said, it is good, my daughter, etc.

In this exquisite dialogue Ruth goes on, we can imagine, to relate and unfold at greater length than is here written the goodness of Boaz. She is evidently pleased to speak well of him and his. Then comes out in reply what has all along possibly been in the mind of Naomi. She had been no boaster of her rich friend and kinsman, as many, and that only to be disappointed at last. But the right moment for speech has arrived. It is not merely “by chance” that this Good Samaritan has come along. She sees that Providence has been playing its part in the unfolding of events, and the loneliness and bitterness of spirit which found expression in her cry, “Call me not Naomi, call me Mara,” is already a thing of the past. It is no casual helper who has come forward to relieve their necessities, but one of the goelim. “The man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen.”

Notice

I. That this nearness of kinship gives the right to redeem. (a) A principle underlying the whole Jewish economy to be seen alike in the patriarchial and Mosaic systems. Everything centred from the family centre. Kinship the very cement of their society.

The law has, however, a wider application, (b) kinship is a natural and so a Divinely ordained institution. The principle as true to-day as when laid hold of by Naomi. When kindred show themselves kind they only follow and satisfy the law of nature. The apostle says, “If any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith and is worse than an infidel” (1 Timothy 5:8). So that men even standing aside from the claims of God, allow and respond to these claims.

Again (c). The law touches a deeper realm still, that of spiritual and eternal things. Christ Himself must conform to it when He came to redeem.

(1) There was a necessity for this, a needs be. In all things “it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren,” says the apostle (Hebrews 2:16).

(2) There was a reason for it. Forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He Himself took part of the same, that through death He might destroy, &c., and deliver them who through fear of death, &c. Note. Christ is the kinsman—Redeemer of all men. [cf also on iii:2, iv; Ruth 4:9.]

II. This nearness of kinship points out and emphasises the direction in which to look for help. Naomi saw their safety secured by this intervention, their wants provided for, therefore she says in effect, “Cling to the deliverer thus providentially pointed out.” So God often, and still opens up the path of safety and plenty in life

(1) suddenly,
(2) unexpectedly,
(3), unmistakably.

“It is good,” she says, immediately and prospectively. Usual both in the Old and New Testament to put the positive for the comparative in this kind. [Mary hath chosen the good part, i.e. the better part, Luke 10:42. It is profitable for thee; i.e. more profitable, Matthew 5:29.] (Fuller). Note. God not only gives us providential directions, there are special moments when He opens our eyes to see them as such. Such a moment comes when the scales fall from our eyes and we see Jesus as our kinsman and our all (cf. Luke 24:31; John 11:40; 2 Kings 7:7). It came to doubting Thomas, and he cried, “My Lord and my God.”

Again, mark that just as natural affection, and the Levirate law alike, bound Boaz to render this help: they laid the obligation upon both Naomi and Ruth look to him for it. He had opened the way to aright relationship between them, and now there can be no excuse on their side. Note

(1) How exactly this illustrates Christ’s position towards us. He has taken the first step—given invitations which are unmistakable; now it is ours—under charge of the blackest ingratitude if we refuse—to respond.

(2) It is a discourtesy where we are beholden to alter our dependency (Bishop Hall). Generosity dislikes to have its gifts slighted or its sincerity doubted (Thomson). Ruth evidently felt that because the kindness of Boaz was so great her obedience and dependence should be complete, while Naomi encouraged her thus to regard his orders as obligatory.

IMPROVEMENT.

(1) Follow Providential guidances as they unfold in life.
(2) Fall in with the natural and Divinely-appointed way of redemption.
(3) May we not say that these words express the duty of the spiritual Ruth to labour in Christ’s fields and believe steadfastly in Him, and not to stray from His presence into other fields even till the end of the world (Wordsworth).

“So suggestive is this figure, which was not a mere random selection, but an institution designed to foreshadow a great truth, that it is constantly referred to in the Word of God. We all recollect the touching case of Job. In the depth of his affliction, when all seemed desperate, he said, ‘I know that my Redeemer liveth’ [Heb., ‘My Goel liveth’].”—Dr. Cumming.

“Christ came into our home, breathed our air, clad Himself in our dress, wept our tears, and was penetrated and pierced with more than all the accumulated sorrows that humanity is heir to, that we thus—there being no other process in the world besides—might be rescued from our sins, and might hear, ringing in the depths of our hearts, with the opening of the prison doors to the captive, ‘There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.’ ”—Dr. Cumming.

“I have seen the twine-thread of a cordial friend hold, when the cable-rope of a rich kinsman hath broken. Let those therefore be thankful to God, to whom God hath given means to be maintained of themselves, without dependance on their kindred. Better it is to be the weakest of substances to subsist of themselves, than to be the bravest accidents to be maintained by another.”—Fuller.

“Our blessed Saviour is our Goel; it is He that hath a right to redeem. If we expect to receive benefit by him, let us closely adhere to Him, and His fields, and His family; let us not go to the world and its fields for that which is to be had with Him only, and which He has encouraged us to expect from Him. Has the Lord dealt bountifully with us? Let us not be found in any other field, nor seek for happiness and satisfaction in the creature. Tradesmen take it ill if those that are in their books go to another shop. We lose Divine favours if we slight them.”—Matt. Henry.

“Even the lump of clay, when it was placed near the rose, according to the beautiful Persian proverb, caught some of its fragrance. It is the direction of Him in Whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, ‘Go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherd’s tents.’ ”—A. Thomson, D.D.

Ruth 2:23

Theme—CONSTANCY AT HOME AND ABROAD

“Man to thy labour bow,
Thrust in the sickle now,
Reap where thou once did plough—
God sends thee bread.”—Montgomery.

“Home to calmer bliss invites,
More tranquil and more true.”—Bowring.

So she kept fast by the maidens of Boaz to glean unto the end, etc. And dwelt with her mother-in-law.

The homely history repeats and re-repeats this idea of keeping fast by, etc. The wandering sheep never thrives (Thomson). Wisdom to prevent danger by not exposing ourselves to peril (Bernard). Naomi has wisely and affectionately warned her against the danger of going elsewhere (Ruth 2:22). Boaz, too, has spoken to the same end (Ruth 2:8; Ruth 2:21). Here we see the good counsel (a) thankfully accepted, (b) carefully followed [cf. Proverbs 13:20].

Note. Ruth an example to the young in this—obedient, scrupulously attentive in carrying out the advice which has been given. Even Ishmael obeyed his mother in matters of moment (Genesis 21:21), and Herodias first consulted her mother before she asked a boon of her father Herod (Matthew 14:7,). In this respect they condemn many undutiful children of our days (Fuller).

Labour and rest go a long way to make up life. Here is constancy in both.
Notice

I. The commendable constancy and continuity in connexion with labour enforced here. Harvest prospects naturally

(1) reconcile to exertion,
(2) animate to diligence,
(3) stimulate to constant and continual toil. Whether as gleaners or reapers we should respond to the appeal. Ruth evidently laboured as one who felt that the present gracious season of ingathering would not last for long. Blayed the ant and not the grasshopper (Bernard). A few days or weeks, and it would be all over—its opportunities gone for ever. Reasonable, therefore, that every other concern should give place to this, and that every exertion should be made to improve the short, but all-important, period.

How true the principle in other directions! (a) So with life itself—fleeting—once ours, then gone for ever. (b) So with gospel opportunities. The season for repentance and the ingathering of faith

(1) limited,
(2) short,

(3) uncertain in duration. Hence the wisdom of improving the present opportunity. To-day if ye will hear His voice, etc. (Hebrews 4:7). He that gathereth in summer is a wise son; but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame (Proverbs 10:5). Note. The best thrift is to use the present opportunity.

Again, Ruth laboured until the end of the barley and wheat harvest—a double chance, and no part of it neglected. There are who at first have a ravenous appetite to work, but quickly surfeit thereof (Fuller). So in spiritual things many who begin well, as Orpah did, (i:14) (cf. Galatians 3:3; Galatians 4:9; Matthew 13:5, etc.) Note. (a) The constant pace goes farthest and is freest from being tired (Fuller). (b) He that endures unto the end is to be saved (Matthew 24:13). (c) Opportunities neglected are not likely to return again. How solemn the responsibility, then, of this present! lest we should be found saying, “The harvest is past,” etc. (Jeremiah 8:20).

Notice

II. The commendable constancy and continuity in connection with home and rest enforced here. And she dwelt with her mother-in-law

(1) Shows her discretion. She constantly came home to her mother at night as became a virtuous woman, that was for working days, and not for merry nights (Matt. Henry);

(2) Shows her affection for Naomi. No favour abroad, or gain reaped there, made her neglect the friend with whom she had come from Moab. Clinging fast to her new acquaintances in the harvest-field did not interfere with “cleaving to Naomi” at home. A lesson and an example to the inconstant here. Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy ways [cf. on Ruth 1:1. p. 11]?

(3) Shews her love for home. Had what so many men in these days want, a centre for her duties and affections, and was true to that—fixed—not given to change. Christ’s command to his disciples “go not from house to house;” enforces this in connection with the interests and spread of his kingdom (Matthew 10:16). Note. (a) Children are to cling to home so long as they may be of use there. How can they show their gratitude for the past better than as Ruth did by affection and care in the present? (b) Change apart from God’s guidance is always a foolish thing.

IMPROVEMENT.—An interesting illustration of youthful fidelity in the Saviour’s work (Tyng). Such fidelity makes its distinct and decided choice. The aim single, the pursuit absorbing. “This one thing I do,” said Paul. Suggest

(1) that every one should have his chosen field in which to gather instruction;
(2) And that having chosen it he ought to keep to it (Thomson). Wandering may very possibly lead on to dangerous ground.

(3) The necessity there is for the “home life”—(a) guard it, (b) cherish it. Go forth to work, come home to live (Baldwin Brown). Note. Home and heaven are kindred spheres (Ibid).

“Maids are the fittest company for maids; amongst whom a chaste widow, such as Ruth was, may well be recounted. Modesty is the life-guard of chastity.”—Fuller

“Dinah went out to see the daughters of the land, and we know what a disgrace her vanity ended in. Ruth kept at home, and helped to maintain her mother, and went out on no other errand than to get provision for her, and we shall find afterwards what preferment her humility and industry ended in. Seest thou a man diligent in his business? Honour is before him.”—Matt. Henry.

“Perhaps some will say, that Christ willeth us not to take care. But doth He ever will any man not to labour? The care which Christ speaketh of, is immoderate care, care without faith, or care full of doubting, and little faith, and that which is without care of religion, the mind being taken up wholly with the world; else men may, yea, and ought to labour for the things of this life to be provident for the time to come, and frugal in expenses for the time present.”—Bernard.

“It was Christ’s counsel to His disciples, (Matthew 10:2) to “abide” in the place wherein they did enter, and not to go from house to house. Such the settledness of Ruth,—where she first fastened, there she fixed; she “dwelt with her mother.” Naomi affords Ruth house room, Ruth gains Naomi food; Naomi provides a mansion, Ruth prays for meat; and so [they] mutually serve to supply the wants of each other. If envy, and covetousness, and idleness were not the hindrances, how might one Christian reciprocally be a help unto another! All have something, none have all things; yet all might have all things in comfortable and competent proportion, if seriously suiting themselves as Ruth and Naomi did, that what is defective in one might be supplied in the other.”—Fuller.

“This Ruth the Moabitess, a heathen by birth, may rise up in judgment against such as should be natural children, who having gotten from under their parents, when they can live of themselves, they make no reckoning of them being altogether unwilling to live with them, and most of all to relieve them.”—Bernard.

The Saviour’s field is perfectly distinct.… We can never doubt what positive and true religion is in the human character, or what it requires of us; our questions are never on the side of things which are certainly right, but on the side of those which are possibly wrong. In such cases there can be no question that it is right to abstain from that which is not perfectly free from doubt in its indulgence. Happy is it for the young christian to take a decided, positive standard of conduct; and in all things to seek and to pursue that which is manifestly good to the use of edifying, and adapted to minister to a growth in grace, and a real likeness to a holy Master. Such will avoid the scenes and instruments of temptation. “It is good that they meet thee not in any other field.”—Tyng.

“She stood breast high amid the corn,
Clasped by the golden light of morn,
Like the sweetheart of the sun,
Who many a glowing kiss had won
“On her cheeks an autumn flush
Deeply ripened—such a blush
In the midst of brown was born,
Like red poppies grown with corn.
“Round dark eyes her tresses fell,
Which were blackest none could tell,
But long lashes veiled a light
That had else been all too bright.
“And her hat with shady brim,
Made her tressy forehead dim;
Thus she stood amid the stocks,
Praising God with sweetest looks.
“Sure,’ I said, ‘Heaven did not mean
Where I reap thou should’st but glean
Lay thy sheaf adown and come,
Share my harvest and my home.’ ”

Thomas Hood.