sion. The Syrinc Pcshito, strange to sny, ably burdensome to the aged widow. f',,r- gives both translntions, "I feel very bitterly haps, too, she was not without fear that her for you, and to me it is more bitter than to o":'11 burden in a foreign land, amid strangers, you." might be too heavy to be borne. There is Vor. 14.-And they, the daughters-in-law, not, however, the slightest need for suppos- lifted up their voioe in unison and unity, as ing that she was, in any respect, defident in if instead of two voices there had been but attachment to her mother-in-law. But, it one. Hence the propriety of the singular is added, Ruth clave to her mother-in-law, number, as in ver. 9. And wept again. all reasonings, remonstrances, dissuasives The "again" doubles back on the statement on Naomi's part notwithstanding. Ruth in ver. 9. With uplifted voice, in shrill would not be parted from her. "Clave." It Oriental wail, and amid streams of tears, is the same word that is used in the primitive they bemoaned their hapless lot. Then, after law of marriage. "Therefore shall a man the paroxysm of grief had somewhat spent leave his father and his mother, and shall itself, Orpah yielded to her mother-in-law's cleave to hie wife, and they shall be one dissuasives, and at length imprinted on her, flesh" (Gen. ii. 24). It occurs again in Ps. reluctantly and passionately, a farewell kiss. !xiii 8 : '' My soul followeth hard after Then, not waiting to ascertain the ultimate thee ; " and. in Ps. cxix. 31 : " I have stucit decision of Ruth, or rather, perhaps, having to thy tes'.imonies." Joshua said, " Cleave now a fixed presentiment what it would be, unto thP- Lord thy God" (Josh. xxiii. 8); she moved regretfully and tearfully away. and maay have had sweet, while others have She was afraid, perhaps, that if she, as well had 1:,itter, experience of the truth that as Ruth, should insist on accompanying her " th~re is a friend that sticketh closer than mother-in-law, the two might be unreason- a brother" (Prov. xviii 24).
HOMILETICS. Vers. 6-14.-Longingfor tlie old liorne. Brings to view (1) Naomi's resolution to return to the land of Judah, and then it records (2) a touching scene that occurred e.t her departure. I. NAOMI'S RESOLUTION. No wonder that she formed it; for-I. The ties that bound her to the land of Moab had been snapped by the hand of death. In the death of her husband there was the disruption of the liouse-band. In the deaths of her two sons who had become liusbands, the only other bands or bonds that could keep together for Naomi a home in Moab were burst. Matthew Henry says, "The land of Moab was now become e. melancholy place to her. It is with little pleasure that she can breathe in that air in which her husband and sons had expir':'d; or go on that ground in which they lay buried out of her sight, but r:ot out of her thoughts." 2. Her heart had got sick for the home of her youth, that home which was now to her imagination and recollection "home, sweet home." "Heaven," she remembered, " lay around her " in her childhood. And such feelings as then thrilled within her are the stuff out of which, as years roll on, patriotism is woven. 3. She was reduced to absolute poverty. Diseases and death are costly, especially in a strange land, among strangers. And pitiable is the condition of those who, in a strange land and among strangers, are unable to "pay their way." 4. She would shrink, moreover, from the possibility of being burdensome to her daughters-in-law, who might, in consequence of their own widowhood, have difficulty in lending efficient assistance. However much she was pulled down in her circumstances, in her spirit her fine womanly independence stood erect. 5. She had learned that brighter days had dawned on the le.nd of her early love. "The Lord had visited his people to give them bread." And "bread," as Dr. Thomas Fuller remarks, "is a dish in every course. Without it can be no feast; with it can be no famine." The Lord gave it. "The miracle of the loaves was a sudden putting forth of God's bountiful hand from behind the veil of his ordinary providence ; the miracle of the harvest is the working of the same bountiful hand, only unseen, giving power to the living grains to drink the dew e.nd imbibe the sunshine, and appropriate the nourishment of the soil during the long bright days of summer. I understand the one miracle in the light of the other" (Macmillan's Bible Teachings in Nature,' p. 92). II. SCENE AT NAOMI'S DEPARTURE. 1. Her daughters-in-law, who had "dealt kindly" with their husbands, had likewise denlt kindly with her. What was to becoru6 14 THE BOOK OF RUTH. [cH. I. G-14.
of them? 2. They convoyed N e.omi for some distance, e.nd then, e.s they a.II halted EOhe reminded them that every step in advance took them further from their mothers! homes, and EOhe insisted on their returning. Not for her own sake, however but for theirs. In their own le.nd their prospects would be brighter than in Judro;, Their mothers were still living, and would no doubt be motherly. Their other relatives would be at hand. They themselves mig-ht each be the means of brightening some solitary home. She prayed that they might have "rest." This word, so sweet to tlie weary e.nd the distracted, reveals one element that is essQntial to the comfort of a home, whether that home be a cottage or a castle. 3. Naomi's words overwhelm the hearts of her daughters-in-law. They passionately express their desire to accom- pany her to her old home. But she persists firmly, though tenderly and meltingly in her dissuasives. It is a scene of weeping-a valley of Bnca. At length Orpah yields, and tears herself away. But Ruth would not yield. She "clave to her mother-in-law." The character of both the young widows is beautiful, but that of Ruth is heroic. This world is a constantly chequered scene of arrivals and de- partures. Looming in the near or more remote future, there is one departure which must be made "in solemn loneliness." Whither? With what convoy?