Ruth 1:5

Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them.

Bereavement a blessing

What a melancholy collapse it all had been! For those so dear to her, death; for herself, solitude--the woman was left of her two sons and her husband. And yet what a marvellous blessing bereavement not only may be but often is. Surrounded by those who make up to us our world, we are slow to raise our eyes above or beyond them, or to realise that we have any need which they are incapable of supplying; but when they are taken from us, these beloved ones upon whom alone we have leaned and to whom alone we have been in the habit of looking for strength and consolation and advice, then it sometimes is that the soul looks up as she hears the Master calling her by name, and through her tears recognises for the first time the patient Lord who has ever been her truest friend. God would not have us love our dear ones one whit the less, but He would have us learn to put Him first and to trust Him implicitly about them no less than about ourselves. (H. A. Hall, B. D.)

Enormous trials

Observe--

1. That many afflictions do attend the most gracious souls (Psalms 34:19).

2. Crosses seldom come single upon God’s servants.

3. God did wonderfully support her in all these her great trials, and left her upon Scripture record as a pattern of patience unto all succeeding generations. (C. Ness.)