The Spirit of God does not detain us with many details as to Orpah, but devotes the book to the history of her sister-in-law. Yet, as we may be sure, no injustice is done. Naomi's good account of her is recorded. She fully and gratefully owns her kindness to the dead and the living. As a wife and as a daughter-in-law, in marriage and in widowhood, Orpah had conducted herself womanly and well. This was her due, and it is a right thing in the sight of God to appreciate and to acknowledge what is loveable in any. What an example of this we have in our blessed Lord Himself (Mark 10:2121Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. (Mark 10:21))! But natural amiability, however sincere, has never brought the will into subjection to God. The flesh is always opposed to the Spirit. Naomi's affliction had quickened her desires after something better than Moab, and she would retrace her steps, and return to the Lord, Who, in His unchanging love, had again given His people bread. This tested Orpah. Her heart was in Moab, and she could go along with Naomi there; but let Naomi's heart be set on God, His people, and His dwelling-place, and her real condition is disclosed. She broke the link with all she seemed to love, and went back to her people and her gods; yet, kind as ever, with the tenderest expressions of affection at parting. Self, however unsuspected, gained the victory. It was thus with the rich ruler, though he sorrowed over it; for the people of the world, however amiable, never rise above the principles of the world, though the people of God may sink woefully below the principles of God.
This was true of Naomi at first. She was, as we know, full of complaint as to her lot, and tried to dissuade her daughters-in-law from sharing it. They would have better prospects, she urged, in Moab than with her. In Canaan, and among her people, they would be but strangers, and she had no more sons to restore the link which death had broken. Why should they go?
Dangerous doctrine, perilous ministry this! In it the soul is made of no account, eternity is forgotten, and God, His goodness and His grace, are wholly left out. Alas! it suited Orpah well, but was it not her ruin? How many a conviction of sin has been stifled, how often has an awakened conscience been overcome; how many a young heart has been deceived and turned aside by Christian parents through the hope of some worldly advantage for their children; “Putting their sons and even their daughters into the lion's mouth,” as William Jay (of Bath) said, “yet praying God that he may not devour them.”
Ruth, with singular firmness and decision, refused her mother's counsel. She looked not on her destitution, but on the Lord and His people to whom she was going. Her heart's desires were there, and her lips confessed in beautiful terms her resolve (Ruth 1:16-1716And Ruth said, Entreat 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: 17Where 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. (Ruth 1:16‑17)). It was the happy decision of faith, and God blessed her. He led her on, and finally revealed His purposes of grace in the unlooked-for blessings of redemption, made hers, though a Moabitess, by His will and by the faithfulness and love of Boaz.
And here we may be permitted to call attention to a way in which the word redemption is used in scripture, that we may the better understand the practical teaching of this book. In Isa. 29:2222Therefore thus saith the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale. (Isaiah 29:22) we read: “Thus saith the Lord Who redeemed Abraham.” The undoubted meaning here is, “Who separated Abraham.” The context and Gen. 12:11Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee: (Genesis 12:1) prove it, and so the Septuagint translates it. Again, when the Lord God would in a public way own His people in Egypt, before they were delivered from it, He said to Pharaoh, “I will put a redemption [translated “a division “] between My people and thy people” —and this He in grace did (read Ex. 8:22, 2322And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there; to the end thou mayest know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth. 23And I will put a division between my people and thy people: to morrow shall this sign be. (Exodus 8:22‑23), margin). This primary meaning it is important to seize; for, since the entrance of sin into the world there is no return to God save on the ground of redemption, and it is a return. This is seen from Abel onward. Of course, separation is not the only or the chief meaning of the word. Its more frequent use is to express rescue, or deliverance, because of a price paid in satisfaction—the ransom.
This digression, though unnecessary perhaps for most, will not be without profit if it recall this practical truth, that, while unspeakable blessings flow from redemption, the separation or division that God puts between the redeemed and the world is all important. In the case of Christians, the prayer of the Lord Jesus in John 17 should be decisive as to this.
Ruth thus had a right judgment of Moab from the first. There was no thought in her mind of making the best of both worlds. She chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, and manifested, not only the firmness but the patience of faith, in toiling as a gleaner for daily support. It is here she meets with Boaz; and from that moment the whole interest of the story turns upon him. But he is only a typical person. We must study the four Gospels to learn the surpassing grace and glory of the great Antitype. This narrative testifies of Him (John 5:3939Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. (John 5:39)).
The exceeding tenderness and kindness of this mighty man of wealth from Bethlehem shine out in all his words and ways to the poor Moabitish woman. His whole attention is concentrated upon her, and his unqualified grace goes “to her heart”, as she says (chap. ii. 13, margin). Yet she presumes not on his goodness. There is no familiarity, no license in word or way. He has, in grace, come down to her; but this only leads her to exalt him and humble herself. She bows to the ground before him, and owns her unworthiness. She is “a, stranger and not like his handmaidens”, yet she accepts with meekness and wondering admiration all he does for her and all he bestows: a worthy sister of many in the Gospels. Has this no voice for those who make the name, the precious name of Jesus, as common as a street song? Or, still worse, dare to subject the sacred mysteries of His Person to their unhallowed scrutiny? Even in the dim light of a type they might learn to be more reverential.
But there are further discoveries to be made as to Boaz. It is clear from Ex. 17:1414And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. (Exodus 17:14), Ex. 24:3-73And Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the Lord hath said will we do. 4And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the Lord. 6And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 7And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient. (Exodus 24:3‑7) and Deut. 31:24-2624And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished, 25That Moses commanded the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying, 26Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee. (Deuteronomy 31:24‑26), that before this time the laws and ordinances of the Lord given to Moses were written by him. This we know on the infallible authority of Jesus Christ Himself. (John 5:46, 4746For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. 47But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words? (John 5:46‑47)). When Naomi was away from the debasing influences of Moab and heard of Boaz, she remembered these ordinances. Lev. 25 and Deut. 25 assured her that the Lord God, in His mercy and wisdom, has provided for their case. Boaz was the “goel”, the kinsman spoken of in those ordinances, and Naomi at once uses them to instruct Ruth to make the claim on him which the word of God gave her the warrant to make. That is (and note it well), she, a simple woman, needed nothing beyond the written word of God to put before this poor Moabitess in her distress; and that word alone gave to Ruth divine authority and sanction to do as she did—to go at once, to lie at his feet, and to claim himself as her redeemer, and with himself all the results of redeeming love and power. It was an exceedingly high and bold claim, but, by the revealed will of God, a righteous and a holy one. It is a glorious truth! There was no intermedium. She went herself. There was no roundabout way, as good John Bunyan describes in his “Pilgrim's Progress”. She went at once—and Boaz did all: she had but to “sit still”. Her conduct, of course, has been sharply criticized, as was that of the woman in Luke 7:36-5036And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee's house, and sat down to meat. 37And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, 38And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. 39Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner. 40And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on. 41There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. 42And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? 43Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. 44And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. 45Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. 46My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. 47Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. 48And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. 49And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also? 50And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace. (Luke 7:36‑50); but the Lord defended and blessed them both, as He will all who imitate their faith.
Redemption accomplished, “the deep things of God” can be disclosed. Ruth, no longer a destitute gleaner in the harvest field, no longer “the wife of the dead", but purchased by Boaz to be his wife, can survey, as her own, all that he has redeemed, yea, all his wealth; and know that her former links with Moab and with death have ceased forever. She is one with the living one in whom is strength. Introduced thus into the royal line, she becomes the mother of Obed, who in due time begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David, of whose seed, according to the flesh is Jesus, Emmanuel, Heir of all things. Thus the purposes of God are accomplished. The tiny rivulet of grace, traced in this story, opens out into this boundless ocean of eternal glory. Who but the living God could cause it to rise in such a place as Moab? Yet there His work began in this poor widow. These things may lie a little beyond the range of the thoughts of some Christians; but let them prayerfully study such scriptures as 2 Cor. 11:2; 12For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:2) Cor. 6:17; Eph. 5:23-3223For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. 24Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. 25Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. 28So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. 29For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: 30For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 31For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. 32This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. (Ephesians 5:23‑32); Rev. 19:7-97Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 8And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. 9And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. (Revelation 19:7‑9); Rev. 21:99And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. (Revelation 21:9), etc., and by God's grace their thoughts will be enlarged.
If thus far we have been enabled to trace the broad outline of the picture, there are yet many minute and delicate touches which the spiritual affections in each believer will discover. None can read the Bible for another. A great end is gained if a busy mind, calmed by the Holy Spirit, is drawn to search it, and to find in personal application how great is the reward (Psa. 19:10-1110More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. 11Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward. (Psalm 19:10‑11)). W. B.