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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
R U T H
CHAP. I.
In this chapter we have Naomi’s afflictions.
I. As a distressed housekeeper, forced by famine to remove into the
land of Moab,
II. As a mournful widow and mother, bewailing the death of her husband
and her two sons,
III. As a careful mother-in-law, desirous to be kind to her two
daughters, but at a loss how to be so when she returns to her own
country,
Orpah she parts with in sorrow,
Ruth she takes with her in fear,
IV. As a poor woman sent back to the place of her first settlement, to
be supported by the kindness of her friends,
All these things were melancholy and seemed against her, and yet all
were working for good.
| Elimelech and Naomi; Death of Elimelech and His Sons. | B. C. 1312. |
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1 Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that
there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of
Beth-lehem-judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and
his wife, and his two sons.
2 And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his
wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion,
Ephrathites of Beth-lehem-judah. And they came into the country of
Moab, and continued there.
3 And Elimelech Naomi’s husband died; and she was left, and her
two sons.
4 And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of
the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they
dwelled there about ten years.
5 And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman
was left of her two sons and her husband.
The first words give all the date we have of this story. It was in
the days when the judges ruled
(v. 1),
not in those disorderly times when there was no king in Israel;
but under which of the judges these things happened we are not told,
and the conjectures of the learned are very uncertain. It must have
been towards the beginning of the judges’ time, for Boaz, who married
Ruth, was born of Rahab, who received the spies in Joshua’s time. Some
think it was in the days of Ehud, others of Deborah; the learned
bishop Patrick inclines to think it was in the days of Gideon, because
in his days only we read of a famine by the Midianites’ invasion,
While the judges were ruling, some one city and some another,
Providence takes particular cognizance of Bethlehem, and has an eye to
a King, to Messiah himself, who should descend from two Gentile
mothers, Rahab and Ruth. Here is,
I. A famine in the land, in the land of Canaan, that land flowing
with milk and honey. This was one of the judgments which God had
threatened to bring upon them for their sins,
He has many arrows in his quiver. In the days of the judges they were
oppressed by their enemies; and, when by that judgment they were not
reformed, God tried this, for when he judges he will overcome.
When the land had rest, yet it had not plenty; even in Bethlehem,
which signifies the house of bread, there was scarcity. A
fruitful land is turned into barrenness, to correct and
restrain the luxury and wantonness of those that dwell therein.
II. An account of one particular family distressed in the famine; it is
that of Elimelech. His name signifies my God a king,
agreeable to the state of Israel when the judges ruled, for the Lord
was their King, and comfortable to him and his family in their
affliction, that God was theirs and that he reigns for ever. His wife
was Naomi, which signifies my amiable or pleasant
one. But his sons’ names were Mahlon and Chilion,
sickness and consumption, perhaps because weakly children,
and not likely to be long-lived. Such are the productions of our
pleasant things, weak and infirm, fading and dying.
III. The removal of this family from Bethlehem into the country of Moab
on the other side Jordan, for subsistence, because of the famine,
It seems there was plenty in the country of Moab when there was
scarcity of bread in the land of Israel. Common gifts of providence
are often bestowed in greater plenty upon those that are strangers to
God than upon those that know and worship him. Moab is at ease from
his youth, while Israel is emptied from vessel to vessel
not because God loves Moabites better, but because they have their
portion in this life. Thither Elimelech goes, not to settle for
ever, but to sojourn for a time, during the dearth, as Abraham, on a
similar occasion, went into Egypt, and Isaac into the land of the
Philistines. Now here,
1. Elimelech’s care to provide for his family, and his taking his wife
and children with him, were without doubt commendable. If any
provide not for his own, he hath denied the faith,
1 Tim. v. 8.
When he was in his straits he did not forsake his house, go seek his
fortune himself, and leave his wife and children to shift for their
own maintenance; but, as became a tender husband and a loving father,
where he went he took them with him, not as the ostrich,
But,
2. I see not how his removal into the country of Moab, upon this
occasion, could be justified. Abraham and Isaac were only sojourners
in Canaan, and it was agreeable to their condition to remove; but the
seed of Israel were now fixed, and ought not to remove into the
territories of the heathen. What reason had Elimelech to go more than
any of his neighbours? If by any ill husbandry he had wasted his
patrimony, and sold his land or mortgaged it (as it should seem,
which brought him in to a more necessitous condition than others, the
law of God would have obliged his neighbours to relieve him
(Lev. xxv. 35);
but that was not his case, for he went out full,
By those who tarried at home it appears that the famine was not so
extreme but that there was sufficient to keep life and soul together;
and his charge was but small, only two sons. But if he could not be
content with the short allowance that his neighbours took up with, and
in the day of famine could not be satisfied unless he kept as
plentiful a table as he had done formerly, if he could not live in
hope that there would come years of plenty again in due time, or could
not with patience wait for those years, it was his fault, and he did
by it dishonour God and the good land he had given them, weaken the
hands of his brethren, with whom he should have been willing to
take his lot, and set an ill example to others. If all should do as he
did Canaan would be dispeopled. Note, It is an evidence of a
discontented, distrustful, unstable spirit, to be weary of the place
in which God hath set us, and to be for leaving it immediately
whenever we meet with any uneasiness or inconvenience in it. It is
folly to think of escaping that cross which, being laid in our way, we
ought to take up. It is our wisdom to make the best of that which is,
for it is seldom that changing our place is mending it. Or, if he
would remove, why to the country of Moab? If he had made enquiry, it
is probable he would have found plenty in some of the tribes of
Israel, those, for instance, on the other side Jordan, that bordered
on the land of Moab; if he had had that zeal for God and his worship,
and that affection for his brethren which became an Israelite, he
would not have persuaded himself so easily to go and sojourn among
Moabites.
IV. The marriage of his two sons to two of the daughters of Moab after
his death,
v. 4.
All agree that this was ill done. The Chaldee says, They
transgressed the decree of the word of the Lord in taking strange
wives. If they would not stay unmarried till their return to the
land of Israel, they were not so far off but that they might have
fetched themselves wives thence. Little did Elimelech think, when he
went to sojourn in Moab, that ever his sons would thus join in
affinity with Moabites. But those that bring young people into bad
acquaintance, and take them out of the way of public ordinances,
though they may think them well-principled and armed against
temptation, know not what they do, nor what will be the end
thereof. It does not appear that the women they married were
proselyted to the Jewish religion, for Orpah is said to return to her
gods
(v. 15);
the gods of Moab were hers still. It is a groundless tradition of the
Jews that Ruth was the daughter of Eglon king of Moab, yet the Chaldee
paraphrast inserts it; but this and their other tradition, which he
inserts likewise, cannot agree, that Boaz who married Ruth was the
same with Ibzan, who judged Israel 200 years after Eglon’s death,
Judg. xii.
V. The death of Elimelech and his two sons, and the disconsolate
condition Naomi was thereby reduced to. Her husband died
(v. 3)
and her two sons
(v. 5)
soon after their marriage, and the Chaldee says, Their days were
shortened, because they transgressed the law in marrying strange
wives. See here,
1. That wherever we go we cannot out-run death, whose fatal arrows fly
in all places.
2. That we cannot expect to prosper when we go out of the way of our
duty. He that will save his life by any indirect course
shall lose it.
3. That death, when it comes into a family, often makes breach upon
breach. One is taken away to prepare another to follow soon after; one
is taken away, and that affliction is not duly improved, and therefore
God sends another of the same kind. When Naomi had lost her husband
she took so much the more complacency and put so much the more
confidence in her sons. Under the shadow of these surviving comforts
she thinks she shall live among the heathen, and exceedingly glad she
was of these gourds; but behold they wither presently, green and
growing up in the morning, cut down and dried up before night,
buried soon after they were married, for neither of them left any
children. So uncertain and transient are all our enjoyments here. It
is therefore our wisdom to make sure of those comforts that will be
made sure and of which death cannot rob us. But how desolate was the
condition, and how disconsolate the spirit, of poor Naomi, when the
woman was left of her two sons and her husband! When these
two things, loss of children and widowhood, come upon her in a
moment, come upon her in their perfection, by whom shall she be
comforted?
Isa. xlvii. 9; li. 19.
It is God alone who has wherewithal to comfort those who are thus cast
down.
| Naomi Returns to Canaan; Naomi and Her Daughters-in-Law; Ruth’s Constancy to Naomi. | B. C. 1312. |
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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.
7 Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was, and
her two daughters in law with her; and they went on the way to
return unto the land of Judah.
8 And Naomi said unto her two daughters in law, Go, return each
to her mother’s house: the LORD deal kindly with you, as ye have
dealt with the dead, and with me.
9 The LORD grant you that ye may find rest, each of you in
the house of her husband. Then she kissed them; and they lifted
up their voice, and wept.
10 And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto
thy people.
11 And Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters: why will ye go
with me? are there yet any more sons in my womb, that they
may be your husbands?
12 Turn again, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to
have a husband. If I should say, I have hope, if I should have
a husband also to night, and should also bear sons;
13 Would ye tarry for them till they were grown? would ye stay
for them from having husbands? nay, my daughters; for it grieveth
me much for your sakes that the hand of the LORD is gone out
against me.
14 And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah
kissed her mother in law; but Ruth clave unto her.
15 And she said, Behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto
her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister in
law.
16 And Ruth said, 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:
17 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.
18 When she saw that she was stedfastly minded to go with her,
then she left speaking unto her.
See here,
I. The good affection Naomi bore to the land of Israel,
v. 6.
Though she could not stay in it while the famine lasted, she would not
stay out of it when the famine ceased. Though the country of Moab had
afforded her shelter and supply in a time of need, yet she did not
intend it should be her rest for ever; no land should be that but the
holy land, in which the sanctuary of God was, of which he had said,
This is my rest for ever. Observe,
1. God, at last, returned in mercy to his people; for, though he
contend long, he will not contend always. As the judgment of
oppression, under which they often groaned in the time of the judges,
still came to an end, after a while, when God had raised them up a
deliverer, so here the judgment of famine: At length God graciously
visited his people in giving them bread. Plenty is God’s gift,
and it is his visitation which by bread, the staff of life, holds
our souls in life. Though this mercy be the more striking when it
comes after famine, yet if we have constantly enjoyed it, and never
knew what famine meant, we are not to think it the less valuable.
2. Naomi then returned, in duty to her people. She had often enquired
of their state, what harvests they had and how the markets went, and
still the tidings were discouraging; but like the prophet’s servant,
who, having looked seven times and seen no sign of rain, at length
discerned a cloud no bigger than a man’s hand, which soon overspread
the heavens, so Naomi at last has good news brought her of plenty in
Bethlehem, and then she can think of no other than returning thither
again. Hew new alliances in the country of Moab could not make her
forget her relation to the land of Israel. Note, Though there be a
reason for our being in bad places, yet, when the reason ceases, we
must by no means continue in them. Forced absence from God’s
ordinances, and forced presence with wicked people, are great
afflictions; but when the force ceases, and such a situation is
continued of choice, then it becomes a great sin. It should seem she
began to think of returning immediately upon the death of her two sons,
(1.) Because she looked upon that affliction to be a judgment upon her
family for lingering in the country of Moab; and hearing this to be the
voice of the rod, and of him that appointed it, she obeys and
returns. Had she returned upon the death of her husband, perhaps she
might have saved the life of her sons; but, when God judgeth he will
overcome, and, if one affliction prevail not to awaken us to a
sight and sense of sin and duty, another shall. When death comes into a
family it ought to be improved for the reforming of what is amiss in
the family: when relations are taken away from us we are put upon
enquiry whether, in some instance or other, we are not out of the way
of our duty, that we may return to it. God calls our sins to
remembrance, when he slays a son,
1 Kings xvii. 18.
And, if he thus hedge up our way with thorns, it is that he may oblige
us to say, We will go and return to our first husband, as Naomi
here to her country,
(2.) Because the land of Moab had 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; now she
will go to Canaan again. Thus God takes away from us the comforts we
stay ourselves too much upon and solace ourselves too much in, here in
the land of our sojourning, that we may think more of our home in the
other world, and by faith and hope may hasten towards it. Earth is
embittered to us, that heaven may be endeared.
II. The good affection which her daughters-in-law, and one of them
especially, bore to her, and her generous return of their good
affection.
1. They were both so kind as to accompany her, some part of the way at
least, when she returned towards the land of Judah. Her two
daughters-in-law did not go about to persuade her to continue in the
land of Moab, but, if she was resolved to go home, would pay her all
possible civility and respect at parting; and this was one instance of
it: they would bring her on her way, at least to the utmost
limits of their country, and help her to carry her luggage as far as
they went, for it does not appear that she had any servant to attend
her,
v. 7.
By this we see both that Naomi, as became an Israelite, had been very
kind and obliging to them and had won their love, in which she is an
example to all mothers-in-law, and that Orpah and Ruth had a just
sense of her kindness, for they were willing to return it thus far. It
was a sign they had dwelt together in unity, though those were
dead by whom the relation between them came. Though they retained an
affection for the gods of Moab
(v. 15),
and Naomi was still faithful to the God of Israel, yet that was no
hindrance to either side from love and kindness, and all the good
offices that the relation required. Mothers-in-law and
daughters-in-law are too often at variance
(Matt. x. 35),
and therefore it is the more commendable if they live in love; let all
who sustain this relation aim at the praise of doing so.
2. When they had gone a little way with her Naomi, with a great deal of
affection, urged them to go back
(v. 8, 9):
Return each to her mother’s house. When they were dislodged by
a sad providence from the house of their husbands it was a mercy to
them that they had their parents yet living, that they had their
houses to go to, where they might be welcome and easy, and were not
turned out to the wide world. Naomi suggests that their own mothers
would be more agreeable to them than a mother-in-law, especially when
their own mothers had houses and their mother-in-law was not sure she
had a place to lay her head in which she could call her own. She
dismisses them,
(1.) With commendation. This is a debt owing to those who have
conducted themselves well in any relation, they ought to have the
praise of it: You have dealt kindly with the dead and with me,
that is, “You were good wives to your husbands that are gone, and have
been good daughters to me, and not wanting to your duty in either
relation.” Note, When we and our relations are parting, by death or
otherwise, it is very comfortable if we have both their testimony and
the testimony of our own consciences for us that while we were together
we carefully endeavoured to do our duty in the relation. This will help
to allay the bitterness of parting; and, while we are together, we
should labour so to conduct ourselves as that when we part we may not
have cause to reflect with regret upon our miscarriages in the
relation.
(2.) With prayer. It is very proper for friends, when they part, to
part with prayer. She sends them home with her blessing; and the
blessing of a mother-in-law is not to be slighted. In this blessing she
twice mentions the name Jehovah, Israel’s God, and the only true
God, that she might direct her daughters to look up to him as the only
fountain of all good. To him she prays in general that he would
recompense to them the kindness they had shown to her and hers. It may
be expected and prayed for in faith that God will deal kindly with
those that have dealt kindly with their relations. He that watereth
shall be watered also himself. And, in particular, that they might
be happy in marrying again: The Lord grant that you may find rest,
each of you in the house of her husband. Note,
[1.] It is very fit that, according to the apostle’s direction
(1 Tim. v. 14),
the younger women, and he speaks there of young widows, should
marry, bear children, and guide the house. And it is a
pity that those who have approved themselves good wives should not
again be blessed with good husbands, especially those that, like these
widows, have no children.
[2.] The married state is a state of rest, such rest as this world
affords, rest in the house of a husband, more than can be expected in
the house of a mother or a mother-in-law.
[3.] This rest is God’s gift. If any content and satisfaction be found
in our outward condition, God must be acknowledged in it. There are
those that are unequally yoked, that find little rest even in the
house of a husband. Their affliction ought to make those the more
thankful to whom the relation is comfortable. Yet let God be the rest
of the soul, and no perfect rest thought of on this side heaven.
(3.) She dismissed them with great affection: She kissed them,
wished she had somewhat better to give them, but silver and gold she
had none. However, this parting kiss shall be the seal of such a true
friendship as (though she never see them more) she will, while she
lives, retain the pleasing remembrance of. If relations must part, let
them thus part in love, that they may (if they never meet again in this
world) meet in the world of everlasting love.
3. The two young widows could not think of parting with their good
mother-in-law, so much had the good conversation of that pious
Israelite won upon them. They not only lifted up their voice and wept,
as loth to part, but they professed a resolution to adhere to her
(v. 10):
“Surely we will return with thee unto thy people, and take our
lot with thee.” It is a rare instance of affection to a mother-in-law
and an evidence that they had, for her sake, conceived a good opinion
of the people of Israel. Even Orpah, who afterwards went back to her
gods, now seemed resolved to go forward with Naomi. The sad ceremony
of parting, and the tears shed on that occasion, drew from her this
protestation, but it did not hold. Strong passions, without a settled
judgment, commonly produce weak resolutions.
4. Naomi sets herself to dissuade them from going along with her,
(1.) Naomi urges her afflicted condition. If she had had any sons in
Canaan, or any near kinsmen, whom she could have expected to marry the
widows, to raise up seed to those that were gone, and to redeem
the mortgaged estate of the family, it might have been some
encouragement to them to hope for a comfortable settlement at
Bethlehem. But she had no sons, nor could she think of any near kinsman
likely to do the kinsman’s part, and therefore argues that she was
never likely to have any sons to be husbands for them, for she was too
old to have a husband; it became here age to think of dying and going
out of the world, not of marrying and beginning the world again. Or, if
she had a husband, she could not expect to have children, nor, if she
had sons, could she think that these young widows would stay unmarried
till her sons that should yet be born would grow up to be marriageable.
Yet this was not all: she could not only not propose to herself to
marry them like themselves, but she knew not how to maintain them like
themselves. The greatest grievance of that poor condition to which she
was reduced was that she was not in a capacity to do for them as she
would: It grieveth me more for your sakes than for my own
that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me. Observe,
[1.] She judges herself chiefly aimed at in the affliction, that God’s
quarrel was principally with her: “The hand of the Lord has gone
out against me. I am the sinner; it is with me that God has a
controversy; it is with me that he is contending; I take it to
myself.” This well becomes us when we are under affliction; though
many others share in the trouble, yet we must hear the voice of the
rod as if it spoke only against us and to us, not billeting the
rebukes of it at other people’s houses, but taking them to ourselves.
[2.] She laments most the trouble that redounded to them from it. She
was the sinner, but they were the sufferers: It grieveth me much
for your sakes. A gracious generous spirit can better bear its own
burden than it can bear to see it a grievance to others, or others in
any way drawn into trouble by it. Naomi could more easily want herself
than see her daughters want. “Therefore turn again, my
daughters, for, alas! I am in no capacity to do you any
kindness.” But,
(2.) Did Naomi do well thus to discourage her daughters from going with
her, when, by taking them with her, she might save them from the
idolatry of Moab and bring them to the faith and worship of the God of
Israel? Naomi, no doubt, desired to do so. But,
[1.] If they did come with her, she would not have them to come upon
her account. Those that take upon them a profession of religion only
in complaisance to their relations, to oblige their friends, or for
the sake of company, will be converts of small value and of short
continuance.
[2.] If they did come with her, she would have them to make it their
deliberate choice, and to sit down first and count the cost, as it
concerns those to do that may take up a profession of religion. It is
good for us to be told the worst. Our Saviour took this course with
him who, in the heat of zeal, spoke that bold word, Master, I will
follow thee whithersoever thou goest. “Come, come,” says Christ,
“canst thou fare as I fare? The Son of man has not where to lay
his head; know this, and then consider whether thou canst find in
thy heart to take thy lot with him,”
Thus Naomi deals with her daughters-in-law. Thoughts ripened into
resolves by serious consideration are likely to be kept always in the
imagination of the heart, whereas what is soon ripe is soon
rotten.
5. Orpah was easily persuaded to yield to her own corrupt inclination,
and to go back to her country, her kindred, and her father’s house, now
when she stood fair for an effectual call from it. They both lifted
up their voice and wept again
(v. 14),
being much affected with the tender things that Naomi had said. But it
had a different effect upon them: to Orpah it was a savour of death
unto death; the representation Naomi had made of the inconveniences
they must count upon if they went forward to Canaan sent her back to
the country of Moab, and served her as an excuse for her apostasy;
but, on the contrary, it strengthened Ruth’s resolution, and her good
affection to Naomi, with whose wisdom and goodness she was never so
charmed as she was upon this occasion; thus to her it was a savour of
life unto life.
(1.) Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, that is, took an
affectionate leave of her, bade her farewell for ever, without any
purpose to follow her hereafter, as he that said he would follow Christ
when he had buried his father or bidden those farewell that were at
home. Orpah’s kiss showed she had an affection for Naomi and was loth
to part from her; yet she did not love her well enough to leave her
country for her sake. Thus many have a value and affection for Christ,
and yet come short of salvation by him, because they cannot find in
their hearts to forsake other things for him. They love him and yet
leave him, because they do not love him enough, but love other things
better. Thus the young man that went away from Christ went away
sorrowful,
But,
(2.) Ruth clave unto her. Whether, when she came from home, she
was resolved to go forward with her or no does not appear; perhaps she
was before determined what to do, out of a sincere affection for the
God of Israel and to his law, of which, by the good instructions of
Naomi, she had some knowledge.
6. Naomi persuades Ruth to go back, urging, as a further inducement,
her sister’s example
(v. 15):
Thy sister-in-law has gone back to her people, and therefore of
course gone back to her gods; for, whatever she might do while
she lived with her mother-in-law, it would be next to impossible for
her to show any respect to the God of Israel when she went to live
among the worshippers of Chemosh. Those that forsake the communion of
saints, and return to the people of Moab, will certainly break off
their communion with God, and embrace the idols of Moab. Now,
return thou after thy sister, that is, “If ever thou wilt
return, return now. This is the greatest trial of thy constancy; stand
this trial, and thou art mine for ever.” Such offences as that of
Orpah’s revolt must needs come, that those who are perfect and sincere
may be made manifest, as Ruth was upon this occasion.
7. Ruth puts an end to the debate by a most solemn profession of her
immovable resolution never to forsake her, nor to return to her own
country and her old relations again,
(1.) Nothing could be said more fine, more brave, than this. She seems
to have had another spirit, and another speech, now that her sister had
gone, and it is an instance of the grace of God inclining the soul to
the resolute choice of the better part. Draw me thus, and we
will run after thee. Her mother’s dissuasions made her the more
resolute; as when Joshua said to the people, You cannot serve the
Lord, they said it with the more vehemence, Nay, but we
will.
[1.] She begs of her mother-in-law to say no more against her going:
“Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after
thee; for all thy entreaties now cannot shake that resolution
which thy instructions formerly have wrought in me, and therefore let
me hear no more of them.” Note, It is a great vexation and uneasiness
to those that are resolved for God and religion to be tempted and
solicited to alter their resolution. Those that would not think of it
would not hear of it. Entreat me not. The margin reads it,
Be not against me. Note, We are to reckon those against us, and
really our enemies, that would hinder us in our way to the heavenly
Canaan. Our relations they may be, but they cannot be our friends,
that would dissuade us from and discourage us in the service of God
and the work of religion.
[2.] She is very particular in her resolution to cleave to her and
never to forsake her; and she speaks the language of one resolved for
God and heaven. She is so in love, not with her mother’s beauty, or
riches, or gaiety (all these were withered and gone), but with her
wisdom, and virtue, and grace, which remained with her, even in her
present poor and melancholy condition, that she resolves to cleave to
her. First, She will travel with her: Whither thou goest I
will go, though to a country I never saw and in a low and ill
opinion of which I have been trained up; though far from my own
country, yet with thee every road shall be pleasant. Secondly,
She will dwell with her: “Where thou lodgest I will lodge,
though it be in a cottage, nay, though it be no better a lodging than
Jacob had when he had the stones for his pillow. Where thou settest up
thy staff I will set up mine, be it where it may.” Thirdly, She
will twist interest with her: Thy people shall be my people.
From Naomi’s character she concludes certainly that the great nation
was a wise and an understanding people. She judges of them all by her
good mother, who, wherever she went, was a credit to her country (as
all those should study to be who profess relation to the better
country, that is, the heavenly), and therefore she will think herself
happy if she may be reckoned one of them. “Thy people shall be mine to
associate with, to be conformable to, and to be concerned for.”
Fourthly, She will join in religion with her. Thus she
determined to be hers usque ad aras–to the very altars: “Thy God
shall be my God, and farewell to all the gods of Moab, which are
vanity and a lie. I will adore the God of Israel, the only living and
true God, trust in him alone, serve him, and in every thing be ruled
by him;” this is to take the Lord for our God. Fifthly, She
will gladly die in the same bed: Where thou diest will I die.
She takes it for granted they must both die, and that in all
probability Naomi, as the elder, would die first, and resolves to
continue in the same house, if it might be, till her days also were
fulfilled, intimating likewise a desire to partake of her happiness in
death; she wishes to die in the same place, in token of her dying
after the same manner. “Let me die the death of righteous Naomi, and
let my last end be like hers.” Sixthly, She will desire to be
buried in the same grave, and to lay her bones by hers: There will
I be buried, not desiring to have so much as her dead body carried
back to the country of Moab, in token of any remaining kindness for
it; but, Naomi and she having joined souls, she desires they may
mingle dust, in hopes of rising together, and being together for ever
in the other world.
[3.] She backs her resolution to adhere to Naomi with a solemn oath:
The Lord do so to me, and more also (which was an ancient form
of imprecation), if aught but death part thee and me. An oath
for confirmation was an end of this strife, and would leave a lasting
obligation upon her never to forsake that good way she was now making
choice of. First, It is implied that death would separate
between them for a time. She could promise to die and be buried in the
same place, but not at the same time; it might so happen that she
might die first, and this would part them. Note, Death parts those
whom nothing else will part. A dying hour is a parting hour, and
should be so thought of by us and prepared for. Secondly, It
is resolved that nothing else should part them; not any kindness from
her own family and people, nor any hope of preferment among them, not
any unkindness from Israel, nor the fear of poverty and disgrace among
them. “No, I will never leave thee.” Now,
(2.) This is a pattern of a resolute convert to God and religion. Thus
must we be at a point.
[1.] We must take the Lord for our God. “This God is my God for
ever and ever; I have avouched him for mine.”
[2.] When we take God for our God we must take his people for our
people in all conditions; though they be a poor despised people, yet,
if they be his, they must be ours.
[3.] Having cast in our lot among them, we must be willing to take our
lot with them and to fare as they fare. We must submit to the same
yoke and draw in it faithfully, take up the same cross and carry it
cheerfully, go where God will have us to go, though it should be into
banishment, and lodge where he will have us to lodge, though it be in
a prison, die where he will have us die, and lay our bones in the
graves of the upright, who enter into peace and rest in their beds,
though they be but the graves of the common people.
[4.] We must resolve to continue and persevere, and herein our
adherence to Christ must be closer than that of Ruth to Naomi. She
resolved that nothing but death should separate them; but we must
resolve that death itself shall not separate us from our duty to
Christ, and then we may be sure that death itself shall not separate
us from our happiness in Christ.
[5.] We must bind our souls with a bond never to break these pious
resolutions, and swear unto the Lord that we will cleave to him. Fast
bind, fast find. He that means honestly does not startle at
assurances.
8. Naomi is hereby silenced
(v. 18):
When she saw that Ruth was stedfastly minded to go with her
(which was the very thing she aimed at in all that she had said, to
make her of a stedfast mind in going with her), when she saw that she
had gained her point, she was well satisfied, and left off speaking
to her. She could desire no more than that solemn protestation
which Ruth had just now made. See the power of resolution, how it puts
temptation to silence. Those that are unresolved, and go in religious
ways without a stedfast mind, tempt the tempter, and stand like a door
half open, which invites a thief; but resolution shuts and bolts the
door, resists the devil, and forces him to flee.
The Chaldee paraphrase thus relates the debate between Naomi and
Ruth:–Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, for I will be
a proselyte. Naomi said, We are commanded to keep sabbaths and
good days, on which we may not travel above 2000 cubits–a
sabbath-day’s journey. Well, said Ruth, whither thou goest I
will go. Naomi said, We are commanded not to tarry all night
with Gentiles. Well, said Ruth, where thou lodgest I will
lodge. Naomi said, We are commanded to keep 613 precepts.
Well, said Ruth, whatever thy people keep I will keep, for they
shall be my people. Naomi said, We are forbidden to worship any
strange god. Well, said Ruth, thy God shall be my God. Naomi
said, We have four sorts of deaths for malefactors, stoning,
burning, strangling, and slaying with the sword. Well, said Ruth,
where thou diest I will die. We have, said Naomi, houses of
sepulchre. And there, said Ruth, will I be buried.
| Naomi’s Reception at Bethlehem. | B. C. 1312. |
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19 So they two went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came
to pass, when they were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was
moved about them, and they said, Is this Naomi?
20 And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for
the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.
21 I went out full, and the LORD hath brought me home again
empty: why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the LORD hath
testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me?
22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter in
law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab: and
they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.
Naomi and Ruth, after many a weary step (the fatigue of the journey, we
may suppose, being somewhat relieved by the good instructions Naomi
gave to her proselyte and the good discourse they had together), came
at last to Bethlehem. And they came very seasonably, in the
beginning of the barley-harvest, which was the first of their
harvests, that of wheat following after. Now Naomi’s own eyes might
convince her of the truth of what she had heard in the country of Moab,
that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread, and
Ruth might see this good land in its best state; and now they had
opportunity to provide for winter. Our times are in God’s hand,
both the events and the time of them. Notice is here taken,
I. Of the discomposure of the neighbours upon this occasion
(v. 19):
All the city was moved about them. Her old acquaintance gathered
about her, to enquire concerning her state, and to bid her welcome to
Bethlehem again. Or perhaps they were moved about her, lest she
should be a charge to the town, she looked so bare. By this it appears
that she had formerly lived respectably, else there would not have been
so much notice taken of her. If those that have been in a high and
prosperous condition break, or fall into poverty or disgrace, their
fall is the more remarkable. And they said, Is this Naomi? The
women of the city said it, for the word is feminine. Those with
whom she had formerly been intimate were surprised to see her in this
condition; she was so much broken and altered with her afflictions that
they could scarcely believe their own eyes, nor think that this was the
same person whom they had formerly seen, so fresh, and fair, and gay:
Is this Naomi? So unlike is the rose when it is withered to what
it was when it was blooming. What a poor figure does Naomi make now,
compared with what she made in her prosperity! If any asked this
question in contempt, upbraiding her with her miseries (“is this she
that could not be content to fare as her neighbours did, but must
ramble to a strange country? see what she has got by it!”), their
temper was very base and sordid. Nothing more barbarous than to triumph
over those that are fallen. But we may suppose that the generality
asked it in compassion and commiseration: “Is this she that lived so
plentifully, and kept so good a house, and was so charitable to the
poor? How has the gold become dim!” Those that had seen the
magnificence of the first temple wept when they saw the meanness of the
second; so these here. Note, Afflictions will make great and surprising
changes in a little time. When we see how sickness and old age alter
people, change their countenance and temper, we may think of what the
Bethlehemites said: “Is this Naomi? One would not take it to be
the same person.” God, by his grace, fit us for all such changes,
especially the great change!
II. Of the composure of Naomi’s spirit. If some upbraided her with her
poverty, she was not moved against them, as she would have been if she
had been poor and proud; but, with a great deal of pious patience, bore
that and all the other melancholy effects of her affliction
(v. 20, 21):
Call me not Naomi, call me Mara, &c. “Naomi signifies
pleasant or amiable; but all my pleasant things are laid
waste; call me Mara, bitter or bitterness, for I am now
a woman of a sorrowful spirit.” Thus does she bring her mind to her
condition, which we all ought to do when our condition is not in every
thing to our mind. Observe,
1. The change of her state, and how it is described, with a pious
regard to the divine providence, and without any passionate murmurings
or complaints.
(1.) It was a very sad and melancholy change. She went out
full; so she thought herself when she had her husband with her and
two sons. Much of the fulness of our comfort in this world arises from
agreeable relations. But she now came home again empty, a widow
and childless, and probably had sold her goods, and of all the effects
she took with her brought home no more than the clothes on her back.
So uncertain is all that which we call fulness in the creature,
Even in the fulness of that sufficiency we may be in straits. But
there is a fulness, a spiritual and divine fulness, which we can never
be emptied of, a good part which shall not be taken from those that
have it.
(2.) She acknowledges the hand of God, his mighty hand, in the
affliction. “It is the Lord that has brought me home again
empty; it is the Almighty that has afflicted me.” Note, Nothing
conduces more to satisfy a gracious soul under an affliction than the
consideration of the hand of God in it. It is the Lord,
1 Sam. iii. 18; Job i. 21.
Especially to consider that he who afflicts us is Shaddai, the
Almighty, with whom it is folly to contend and to whom it is
our duty and interest to submit. It is that name of God by which he
enters into covenant with his people: I am God Almighty, God
All-sufficient,
Gen. xvii. 1.
He afflicts as a God in covenant, and his all-sufficiency may be our
support and supply under all our afflictions. He that empties us of
the creature knows how to fill us with himself.
(3.) She speaks very feelingly of the impression which the affliction
had made upon her: He has dealt very bitterly with me. The cup
of affliction is a bitter cup, and even that which afterwards
yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness, yet, for the
present, is not joyous, but grievous,
Heb. xii. 11.
Job complains, Thou writest bitter things against me,
Job xiii. 26.
(4.) She owns the affliction to come from God as a controversy: The
Lord hath testified against me. Note, When God corrects us he
testifies against us and contends with us
(Job x. 17),
intimating that he is displeased with us. Every rod has a voice, the
voice of a witness.
2. The compliance of her spirit with this change: “Call me not
Naomi, for I am no more pleasant, either to myself or to my
friends; but call me Mara, a name more agreeable to my present
state.” Many that are debased and impoverished yet affect to be called
by the empty names and titles of honour they have formerly enjoyed.
Naomi did not so. Her humility regards not a glorious name in a
dejected state. If God deal bitterly with her, she will accommodate
herself to the dispensation, and is willing to be called Mara,
bitter. Note, It well becomes us to have our hearts humbled under
humbling providences. When our condition is brought down our spirits
should be brought down with it. And then our troubles are sanctified to
us when we thus comport with them; for it is not an affliction itself,
but an affliction rightly borne, that does us good. Perdidisti tot
mala, si nondum misera esse didicisti–So many calamities have been lost
upon you if you have not yet learned how to suffer. Sen. ad Helv.
Tribulation works patience.
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