ABRAHAM, stranger-like, goes here and there. He pitches his tent and builds an altar. It is all he has in the land. Happy and quiet, he rests in the promise of God, and this is also what we ourselves have to do. Perhaps it will happen to us as to Abraham to buy a sepulcher (ch. 23), and that is all.
Boaz (“in him is strength”), upon whom the Remnant had no direct claim, and who typifies Christ risen, in whom are the sure mercies of David, undertakes to raise up the name of the dead, and to re-establish the heritage of Israel. Acting in grace and in kindness, and encouraging the patient, humble faith of the Remnant, the meek of the earth, He shows himself faithful to fulfill the purposes and will of God, with respect to Naomi’s poor, desolate family.
CYRUS, king of Persia, commands the people to return to Jerusalem and to rebuild the temple. A type himself, in some respects, of a far more glorious Deliverer, he confesses Jehovah, the God of Israel, to be the true God. He is “the righteous man raised up from the east, who treads down the princes like mortar.” Called of the Lord by name for this purpose, he favors Israel, and honors the Lord. Distinguished and blessed by the favor of the mighty God, his conduct was certainly under divine guidance. His personal character did not interfere with its being the times of the Gentiles, notwithstanding that God had put it into the heart of one of these Gentiles to favor His people.
DAVID and Abigail walked in the world which was faith’s world, when they met in the wilderness of Paran. The kingdom, in spirit, was entered. The wilderness of Paran was the kingdom, in the communion of the saints. The solitary place was glad for them. The needy, hunted, persecuted fugitive was, in his own eyes, and in the eyes of Abigail, the lord of the coming kingdom, and the anointed of the God of Israel. Abigail bowed ‘before him as her king, and he, in the grace of a king, accepted her person. The provisions she brought in her hand―the bread and the wine, the clusters of raisins, and the cakes of figs―were not her bountifulness to the needy David, but faith’s tribute to the royal David. Faith has indeed a world of its own.
ELIEZER thinks always about Abram, who had entrusted everything to him. His thoughts are upon this as he sets forth before Rebekah the privileges and the good tidings of his master’s house. If our hearts are filled with the Holy Spirit, it will be the same with us. It is very important for us to bear in mind that God has confided to us the glory of Jesus. It is He who works in us, and-we have but to let Him act. It is His will to be glorified in us by the presence of the Holy Ghost.
(To be continued.)