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The Pulpit Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 1:8
Benedictions. The Hebrews were fond of benedictions. "The Lord bless thee and keep thee," "And Jacob blessed Joseph, and said, The God which fed me all my life long unto this day, the angel which redeemed me from all ev…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 1:8
"As you have dealt with the dead and me." This beautiful analogy, which has its root idea in love and home, is very suggestive. I. THE LORD KNOWS BEST WHAT OTHERS HAVE BEEN TO US. "As you have dealt with the dead and me…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 1:9
May Yahveh grant to you that ye may find rest, each in the house of her husband. Naomi again, when the current of her tenderest feelings was running full and strong, lifts up her longing heart toward her own Yahveh. He…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 1:10
And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people. So King James's version. The expression in the original is broken at the commencement: "And they said to her, For with thee we shall return to thy…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 1:10-14
Separation. These three women were bound together by the memory of common happiness, by the memory of common sorrows. The proposal that they should part, however reasonable and just, could not but reopen the flood-gates…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 1:11
And Naomi said, Turn back, my daughters. To what purpose should you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb, that might be husbands to you? According to the old Levirate law—a survival of rude and barbarous times—Orpah a…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 1:12
Turn back, my daughters, go; for I am too old to have a husband. But even if I could say, I have hope; yea, even if I had a husband this very night; yea, even if I had already given birth to sons; (Ruth 1:13) would ye t…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 1:14
And they, the daughters-in-law, lifted up their voice in unison and unity, as if instead of two voices there had been but one. Hence the propriety of the singular number, as in Ruth 1:9. And wept again. The "again" doub…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 1:15-22
Devoted attachment. I. Ruth was fixed in her desire and determination to CAST IS HER LOT WITH HER DESOLATE AND DESTITUTE MOTHER-IN-LAW. The absolute unselfishness of this determination is noteworthy, for— 1. Be it noted…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 1:15-22
EXPOSITION
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 1:15
And she said, Behold, thy sister-in-law is gone back to her people, and to her gods: return thou after thy sister-in-law. The expression that stands in King James's version thus, "and to her gods," is rendered by Dr. Ca…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 1:16
And Ruth said, Insist not on me forsaking thee: for whither thou goest, I will go. Ruth's mind was made up. Her heart would not be wrenched away from her mother-in-law. The length of the journey, its dangers, and the in…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 1:16-18
Constancy. For simple pathos and unstudied eloquence, this language is unsurpassed. "One touch of nature makes the whole world kin." Here is the fervent outpouring of a true heart. Love and resolution are at their heigh…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 1:17
Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried. She wished to be naturalized for life in Naomi's fatherland. Nor did she wish her remains to be conveyed back for burial to the land of her nativity. So may Yahv…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 1:18
And she perceived. In our idiom we should have introduced the proper name, "And Naomi perceived." That she was determined to go with her. She saw that Ruth was fixed in her resolution. And she left off speaking to her.…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 1:18
Moral steadfastness. "When she saw that she was steadfastly minded." "Then she left speaking." The test had done a true work, and we see the heroine who could stand fast. Yes; "having done all, to stand," is something i…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 1:19
"So they two went till they came to Bethlehem." "They two!" Sometimes it is husband and wife. Sometimes it is two sisters commencing life together in the great city where they have to earn their bread. Sometimes it is t…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 1:19
Never seemed there a sadder contrast. Naomi left Bethlehem in the full bloom of womanhood, with a husband and two sons. Elimelech, her husband, died, we read, "and she was left and her two sons." They took them wives, a…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 1:19
And they two went—they trudged along, the two of them—until they came to Bethlehem. In the expression "the two of them" the masculine pronoun ( הֶם for הֶן) occurs, as in Ruth 1:8 and Ruth 1:9. It mirrors in language th…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 1:19-21
Heart wounds reopened. Return after long absence to scenes of youth always affecting; he who returns is changed; they who receive him are changed too. Observe the reception which Naomi met from her former neighbors at B…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 1:20
And she said to them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. Salutations were respectfully addressed to her as she walked along in quest of some humble abode. And when thus s…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 1:21
I went forth full, and Yahveh has caused me to return in emptiness. Why should you call me Naomi, and Yahveh has testified against me, and the Almighty has brought evil upon me? She went forth "full," with husband and s…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 1:21
"I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty." It seemed, indeed, a via dolorosa, this path homeward. How expressive the words. I. LOVE MAKES LIFE FULL. Why, I thought they went out poor? Yes. Seeking…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 1:22
So Naomi returned. The narrator pauses to recapitulate his narrative of the return, and hence the recapitulatory so is, in English, very much to be preferred to the merely additive and of the original. And Ruth the Moab…