UT 1{" Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land " (ver. 1). These words indicate the special circumstances of the scene. We are in the days of the judges, in the land of Israel, but there is a famine, a time when the providential ways of God are exercised in judgment against His people. " And a certain man of Bethlehem Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons." Bethlehem-the town which was to be the birth place of the Messiah (Mic. 5:2), and was to have the privilege of seeing shine forth, at its rising, the Star waited for by Israel -in the days of Naomi looked only upon utter human desEtution and catastrophe. The hand which had often sustained the people was withdrawn, and everything failed them. This truth, developed in the book of Judges, that of Ruth only confirms, but adds thereto certain important facts in vs. 2-5.
During these days of ruin, and under the dealings of God in chastisement-Elimelech (a characteristic name signifying " God is king ") expatriated himself with Naomi (" My pleasantness ") and his children. Under the divine government they seek a refuge among the Gentiles. In the midst of this desolation, Naomi is still, in spite of everything, linked up with her husband and her children. Her name is not changed and she still bears it in spite of the ruin. But Elimelech. (" God is king ") dies and Naomi is left a widow. ' By joining in affinity with the idolatrous nation of Moab, her sons profane themselves and die. To all appearance the race of Elimelech is extinct without hope of posterity; and " My pleasantness," in mourning and henceforth barren, is plunged into bitterness.
" And Naomi 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 Jehovah had visited His people in giving them bread. 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 " (vs. 6, 7). At the news that Jehovah was showing grace to His people, Naomi arises and starts to return to her country. The state of Israel had not changed, but God Himself had put an end to those. days of providential judgment that had fallen on the nation, and this poor widow, boxed down under the weight of affliction, could hope for better days. Grace is then, as we have said, the first and dominant note in the book of Ruth. All the blessings which it contains are dependent on the fact that " Jehovah had visited His people in giving them bread." By this well known expression, the Old Testament characterizes the blessings brought to Israel by the Messiah. " I will abundantly bless her provision; I will satisfy her poor with bread " (Psa. 32 Is). Ah! if the nation had been willing, these benefits would have been their permanent portion when Christ was come into their midst multiplying the loaves for the 5000 and for the 4000!
The daughters in law of Naomi accompany her, prompted by the thought of going with her to her people (ver. 10). But this good intention is not enough, for to be found in connection with grace nothing less than faith will do. The behavior of Orpah and of Ruth illustrates this principle. Outwardly, there was no difference between them. Both start and go with Naomi, proving thus their attachment to her. The affection of Orpah is not at all wanting in reality: she weeps at the very thought of leaving her mother in law; full of sympathy, she' again sheds tears abundantly when leaving her. Orpah, the Moabitess, also loved the people of Naomi: " They said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people." But it is quite possible to have a very amiable character without faith. It is faith that creates a gulph between these two women so alike in so many points. The natural heart, struggling with impossibilities, draws back, whilst faith is developed thereby and its strength augmented therein. Orpah relinquishes the path of uncertainty. What could Naomi offer her? Ruined, stricken of God and full of bitterness, had she yet any more sons in her womb to give as husbands to her daughters in law? Orpah kisses her mother in law and returns unto her people and unto her gods (ver. is). There at last is the secret of the natural heart exposed. It can cling to the people of God without belonging to Him. A woman like Naomi is well deserving of sympathy, but there is no indication of faith there. Faith separates us from idols from the very first, causing us to abandon our gods, and it turns us to the true God. Such was the first step of the Thessalonians in the path of faith (1 Thess. 1:9). Orpah, on the contrary, turns away from Naomi and from the God of Israel, to turn back unto her people and unto her go Is. Struggling with the difficulty she shows herself incapable of bearing the strain. She goes away weeping, but she goes away, like that amiable young man who departed very sorrowful, not being able to make up his mind to part with his possessions to follow a Master that was poor and despised.
Very different is Ruth's case. Precious faith, full of assurance, determination and decision I How clearly she sees her way! Nothing seems to move her. She listens to Naomi, but her conviction is settled, for she knows of only one path, which, for her, is the necessary one. What becomes of the impossibilities of nature, before the necessities of faith? Ruth does not allow herself to be stopped by the impossibility of getting a husband, nor even by the fact that the hand of Jehovah was gone out against her mother in law, and only sees in the accumulated obstacles fresh reasons for not forsaking her object. Naomi is everything for Ruth, and Ruth slave unto Naomi. " Intreat me not to leave 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. Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried. Jehovah do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me " (vs. 16, 17). To accompany Naomi, to journey, to dwell, to die with this one who, for Ruth, is the only possible link with God and His people-such, is the desire of this woman of faith. But her intentions go further than mere companionship; she identifies herself with the people, whatever their state may be, to belong thus to the God of Israel, the true God who changes not " Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God." Having turned her back on Moab and its idols,, she belongs henceforth to new objects. Without possibility of separation she identifies herself with. them; let death come in, it is powerless to break such links. This is the meeting place between God and faith, the place of agreement and of identification. How this narrative makes us thoroughly understand that faith is the only means of putting man-the sinner-in connection' with God! Like as Ruth slave to Naomi so does faith cleave to the Mediator, object of the counsels of God, who only can give a sure connection with the true God, an immovable position before Him.
Precious touching journey is this of these two afflicted women going up again to Bethlehem! Naomi went away rich and full, and was coming' back empty. Had there been any desolation comparable to hers? Deprived of her husband and her two sons, too old to have a husband, without human hope of an heir,-a true picture of Israel-all was over for her as far as nature and the law were concerned. Far more than that, the hand of Jehovah was stretched out against her, and the Almighty Himself, whom she might expect to be the sustainer of her faith, had filled her with bitterness under the weight of His chastisement. She had changed her name " My pleasantness " for that of " Mara " (Bitter), because the God of Israel (Jehovah) had testified against her and the God of Abraham (The Almighty) had afflicted her. Ruth, her companion-also a widow and without children (but who had never had any), being more over a stranger and daughter of an accursed race -had never known the blessings that had passed away from Israel, and had no claim whatever to their promises. They go together, the one acknowledging fully her state and the hand that was heavy upon her, the other having no other links with God than her faith and Naomi. Their road is strewed with difficulties, but they see shining brightly a star which guides them. Thanks be to Him; Jehovah has visited His people in giving them bread. They come to Bethlehem together in the beginning of barley harvest, thus arriving at the place of blessing at the very moment w hen it is dispensed. It is there that they are about to meet with Boaz!
The reader, even slightly acquainted with prophecy, cannot fail to see in all this scene a picture of the past history of Israel and of the future ways of Jehovah with them. Although they have been banished among the Gentiles for their unfaithfulness, certain links may still exist between the people and God. Has not Jehovah spoken by their prophet: " Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come" (Ezek. 11:16)? But their Elimelech is dead; the sole head of the family of Israel, Christ-the Messiah—has been cut off; then the nation has become as a widow stript of her children and barren in the midst of the Gentiles. But when they acknowledge and accept the judgment of God on them and drink, in humiliation, this cup of bitterness, then there will be the dawn of a new day for this poor people. The old Israel of God, object, in its hoary old age, of the ways of Jehovah to the stranger, will set forth in bitterness of soul to recover the blessings of grace. With it arises a new Israel, a Lo-ammi which was " not His people" but which finding a germ in Ruth, returns, a poor remnant from the fields of Moab to become again the " people of God." It is shown us under the figure of a stranger, because on the footing of the law there was no claim to the promises, and that it is the new principles of grace and faith that places them in connection with Jehovah. On this latter footing God acknowledges them as His people and gives them a higher place of supreme honor, associating them with the glory of David and of the Messiah. Out of barren ground issues a refreshing spring which only waits the moment when all human hope is lost, to show itself. This fountain becomes a running stream, a large deep river, the river of divine grace, which carries Israel along to the ocean of Messianic and millennial blessings!
(To be continued, D. V.)