^ Here we have the resolution of Ruth portrayed in lively Colours ; so that if we consider her Sex, a Woman ; her Nation, a Moabite; one may boldly pronounce of her what our Saviour did of the Centurion, " Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." ^
^ Love is the thoughtful outgoing of one's whole nature to another. It is really an act of the will, though most times unconsciously so. It belongs distinctly to the realm of choice. It is not essentially an emotion merely, though it sweeps all the emotional power of a man as the whirlwind sweeps down the valley. It is not of the heart primarily, though it absolutely controls the heart. It is wholly in itself a matter of choice. The will gathers up all the information at hand, and displays it skilfully before the heart until it is enraptured and completely swept along as the will meant it should be.
When a soul, by choice and conscience, doth Throw out her full force on another soul. The conscience and the concentration both Make mere life, Love. For Life in perfect whole And aim consummated, is Love in sooth, As nature's magnet-heat rounds pole with pole.
It was not an easy choice. If we would understand the scene, especially the stress laid on these young widows finding new husbands, we must remember that in the East of antiquity, as in many Eastern lands to this day, the position of an unmarried woman, whether maid or widow, was a very unhappy and perilous one. Only in the house of a husband could a woman be sure of respect and protection. Hence the Hebrews spoke of the husband's house as a woman's menuchah, or " rest " — her secure
» Thomas Fuller.
RUTH I. i6, 17 225
and liappy asylum from servitude, neglect, licence. It was such an "asylum" of honour and freedom that Naomi desired for Orpah and Euth. But, as she had to explain to them, such an " asylum," while it might be open to them in Moab, would be fast closed against them in Judah. In marrying them her sons had sinned against the Hebrew law. That sin was not likely to be repeated by Israelites living in their own land. Yet how is Naomi to tell them of this fatal separation between the two races ? How is she to make these loving women aware that, if they carry out their resolve to go with her, they must resign all hope of honour and regard ?
Three things were involved in the act of will by which Euth made her choice. We may call them docility, detachment, and determination.
(1) Docility. — Docility is a desire and readiness to learn. The first words of Saul of Tarsus after his vision exactly express this frame of mind: "What shall I do, Lord?" (Acts xxii. 10). Certainly this feature was present also in the case of Euth ; this readiness to learn from others, and to give due place to the effect of the influence under which she had been brought. She, who had learnt so much from Naomi, felt that she could not cut herself off from the opportunity of learning more. And this is so important for us all. Though it is hard, though it humbles us and makes us feel our ignorance ; yet it is all bound up with a converted heart. " Except ye be converted, and become as little children." We must be teachable — ready to learn — and this in many different ways — e.g., under the hand of God, recognizing (what we are so apt to miss) the true meaning of things in our own life, when seen in their relation to His providence. Or, again, under the influence of others with whom we have to do ; not, of course, in a sense which would be weakness, surrendering ourselves to every influence in turn, or easily led by any one who may seek to gain a hold upon us, but a readiness to be taught by others, as against an obstinate persistence in thinking that we always know best, and have nothing left to learn. And, once more, under the voice of conscience, learning to recognize the harm which we do to ourselves by all our little resistances to its voice, and the risk which we run thereby of silencing it altogether.
DEUT.-ESTH. — 1 5
226 A WOMAN'S CHOICE
(2) Detachment. — What a tremendous strain this crisis put on her ! Her home, with all its associations ; her religion, which had been no heathenism to her, but rather her idea of truth; and then Orpah, the one person whose experiences had been most like her own, to whom, therefore, she must have been bound by ties of the closest sympathy — she had to detach herself from all these in her great act of choice; and this may well come home, in its degree, to us. How strong are the ties of old associations, old ideas, old sympathies, and friendships ! And yet at times we may find that it is just these things which may be holding us back from making a right choice, in simple faithful- ness to our conscience and to God. Then we shall learn the cost of true conversion, and the need that we have of that detachment from all else but Him which enables us to say, " Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest" (Matt, viii, 19).