(3) Determination. — "Naomi saw that Euth was stedfastly minded." And it was no less than the plain truth, as her whole after-life declared. Euth went as far as she knew how when she said : " The Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me." St. Paul lifts our assurance to a higher point: "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord " (Eom. viii. 38, 39).
All heaven is blazing yet
With the meridian sun: Make haste, unshadowing sun, make haste to set;
0 lifeless life, have done. •I choose what once I chose;
What once I willed, I will; Only the heart its own bereavement knows;
0 clamorous heart, lie still.
That which I chose, I choose;
That which I willed, I will; That which I once refused, I still refuse:
O hope deferred, be still. That which I chose and choose
And will is Jesus' Will:
RUTH I. i6, 17 227
He hath not lost his life who seems to lose: O hope deferred, hope still.^
II.
What the Choice was.
Euth herself tells us what her choice was. The way which Naomi went was to be her way ; and Naomi's abode her abode ; Naomi's people were to be her people ; and Naomi's God her God ; where Naomi died she would die, and there would she be buried. The enumeration may not be complete ; it may not name all that the Christian choice involves ; but it is full of instruction.
1. " Whither thou goest, I will go." It was a brave thing to say. She had never been in the land of Israel : she knew nothing of its nature. For aught she could tell, it might be such a change, after the land of Moab, that it would be hard to live there. " Whither thou goest, I will go. I care not whether thou turnest to the north or to the south, to the east or to the west. All points of the compass are alike to me, for the loadstone of grace has touched my heart ; and, so long as I go where the Lord and His people are, it matters little to me whether I turn to the right hand or to the left." The soul that really makes a true profession of Christ will know how to keep by the footsteps of the flock.
^ These two widowed women travelled across Moab to Israel — two lonely women who were all in all to each other. " Who is this that goeth up through the wilderness, leaning upon the arm of her beloved?" What a picture of Christ and His people — Naomi and Euth travelling together from Moab to Bethlehem in the Land of Promise. So with us. Since we have seen Christ the world has changed to us, and, thank God, we do not care for it. Since we have seen Christ, and have become enamoured of Him, we can let the world go by, for —
Ah, the Master is so fair !
His smile so sweet on banished men, That they who meet Him unaware,
Can never rest on earth again. 1 0. 6. Rossetti,
228 A WOMAN'S CHOICE
And they who see Him risen afar,
On God's right hand, to welcome them,
Forgetful stand of home and land, Desiring fair Jerusalem.
2. "Where thou lodgest, I will lodge." She made no con- ditions. She did not say, " Where thou lodgest, I will lodge, if it is a nice large house. Where thou lodgest I will lodge, if there is luxurious accommodation." Euth's soul despised fencing her resolve with mean conditions. " Where thou lodgest I will lodge, whether it be in a barn, in a shed, in a cottage, in a palace, or in the open air."
^ A good Companion, saith the Latine Proverb, is pro viatico ; I may adde also pro diversorio : Euth, so be it she may enjoy Naomies gracious companie, will be content with any Lodging, though happily it may be no better than Jacob had. Gen. xxviii. 11. And yet we see how some have been discouraged even from the company of our Saviour, for feare of hard lodging ; witnesse the Scribe, to whom when our Saviour said, " The foxes have their holes, and the Fowles of the ayre have nests, but the Sonne of man hath not where to lay his head " : This cold comfort perfectly quencht his forward zeale, and he never appeared after- ward ; whereas he ought to have said to our Saviour as Euth to Naomi, " Where thou lodgest will I lodge." ^
3. " Thy people shall by my people." " Thy people ! " they were the very people she had been taught from her infancy to despise and hate. Euth had learned to curse them. Likely enough, either her brothers or her cousins had gone to war with Israel; for we know that Moab dreadfully tried and perplexed the people of Israel. And yet here is Euth throwing in her lot with a people that hitherto she had looked down upon, and whom, up to the present, her family had opposed. There are closer ties than the ties of nationality, or even of blood.