The Pulpit Commentary — Ruth — Section 26

fn the mythology, or primitive theology, of extent of dimly admitting that the true wor- Moo.b, wo rorul both of Baal-Peor and of ship of the heart could reach the true Gori, Chemosl.t. As to the former, see Num. xxv. even when offensive names, and forms, anrl 3, 5 ; Dout. iv. 3; Ps. cvi. 28 ; Hosea ix. symbolisms were present in the outer courts 10. As to the latter, see Judges xi. 24; of the creed. Nevertheless, when she sairl to 1 Kings xi. 7, 33; Jer. xlviii. 7, 13. In Ruth, "Return thou after thy sister-in-law," Numbers, moreover, xxi 29, and in Jore- she no doubt was rather putting her daughter- mio.h xlviii. 46, the Moo.bites are called the in-law to a final test, and leading her to people of Chemosh, and frequently is their thorough self-sifting, than encouraging her nationnl god called Chemosh in tho inscrip- to go back to her ancestral forms of worship. tion of King Mesha on the Moabiti,sh Stone, "God," says Fuller, "wrestled with Jacob so recently discovered and deciphered. It with desire to be conquered ; so Naomi no is supposed, not without reason, that the doubt opposed Ruth, hoping and wishing two names belonged to one deity, Chemosh that she herself might be foiled." being the old native name. Nevertheless, Ver. 16.-And Ruth said, Insist not on the translation "to her god" is an interpret- me forsaking thee: for whither thou goest, ation, not e. literal rendering, and, on the I will go. Ruth's mind was made up, Her other hand, the translation " to her gods " heart wonld not be wrenched away from her wonld, on the hypothesis of the monotheism mother-in-law. The length of the journey, of the Moo.bites, be unidiomatic. The ori- its dangers, and the inevitable fatigue accom- ginal expression, " to her Elohi.m," does not panying it, moved not, by so much as a jot, tell anythinfS, n.nd was not intended by her resolution. Ha.cl not her mother-in-law Naomi to tell anything, or to hint any- the same distance to travel, the same fatigue thing, of e. numerical character concerning to endure, the same perils to encounter 1 the object or objects of the Moabitish wor- Might not the aged traveller, moreover, ship. It was an e:cpression equally appro- derive some assistance and cheer from the priate whether there was, or was not, a company of a young, ready-handed, and plurality ofobjects worshipped. It might be willing-hearted companion 1 She was re- liberally rendered, and to her own forms of solved. Nothing on earth would separate religious worship. The word elohim was a them. Wheresoever thou lodgest, I will survival of ancient polytheistic theology and lodge. A better version than Luther's, worship, when a plurality of powers were " Where thou stayest, I will stay" (wo du held in awe. "For," says Fuller, "the bleibest, da bleibe ich auch ). The reference heathen, supposing that the whole world, is not to the nltima.te destination, but to the with all the creatures therein, was too great 11 diocese to be de.ily visited by one and the nightly halts. l~~ is the verb employed ; same deity, they therefore assigned sundry and it is rendered "to tarry all night" in gods to several creatures." The time arrived, Gen. xxiv. 54; xxviii 11; xxxi. 54; Judges however, when the great idea. flashed into xix. 6, &c. It is the Latin pernoctare and the Hebrew mind, The Powers are One I the German iibernachten, the former being and hence the plural noun, with its sub- the rendering of the Vulgate, and the latter tended conception of unity, became con- the translation in the Berlenburge-r Bibel. strued with verbs and adjectives in the Thy people (is) my people, and thy God my singular number. It was so construed when God. There being no verb in the original, applied to the one living God ; but it readily it is well to supply the simplest copula.. retained its origine.l applicability to a plur- Ruth claims, as it were, Naomi's people nlity of deities, and hence, in such a passage and Naomi's God as her own already. DB the one before us, where there is neither Ver. 17.-Where thou diest, will I die, adjective nor verb to indicate the number, and there will I be buried. She wished to the word is quite incapable of exact render- be naturalised for life in Naomi's fatherland. ing into English. Orpah had returned to Nor did she wish her remains to be con- her people and her Elohim. Return thou veyed back for burial to the land of her after thy sister-in-law. Are we then to nativity. So may Yahveh do to me, ud suppose that Naomi desired Ruth to return still more, but death only shall part me to her Moa.bitish faith Y Is it with n. slight and thee. She appeals to the God of the degree of criticism that she referred to Israelites, the one universal God. She puts Orpah's palinode l Would she desire thnt herself on oath, and invokes his severest penal Ruth shonld, in this matter, follow in her displeasure if she should suffer anything sister-in-lo.w's wo.ke T We touch on tender less uncontrollable than death to pa.rt her topics. Not unlikely she had all along from her mother-in-law. "So may Yahveh susnected or seen the.t Orpah would not do to me." It was thus that the Hebrews have insupemble religious scruples. And ma.de their most awful appee.ls to Yahveh. not unlikely, too, she would herself be free They si~ified their willingness to suffer some from narrow religious bigotry, at least to the dire calo.mity if they should either uo the C 2  2G THE BOOK OF RUTH. rerr. 1. 15-22. en! deed repudiated or fail to do the good questions started, and keenly talked about deed promised. So stands in misty indefi- a.nd discussed. Then on both the wayfarera niteness; not, 11S Fuller supposes, by way of the finger - marks of poverty, in voluntary "leaving it to the discretion of God Al- signals of distress, would be unconcealable. mighty to choose that arrow out of his Interest, sympathy, gossip would be alive quiver which he shall think it most fit t,o throughout the little town, especially o.mong 6hoot," but 11S a kind of euphemism, or the female portion of the population, e.nd cloudy veil, two-thirds concealing, and one- loud would be their exclamntions of surprise, third revealing, whatever horrid infliction The verb they said is feminine in Hebrew, could by dramatic sign be represented or 1"1flt?~l"ll, e. nicety which cannot be repro- hinted. And sti.ll 'llwre-a thoroughly duced in English without obtruding too Semitic idiom, and so may he add (to do) I prominently the sex referred to, ns in There WBS first of all a full imprecation, and Michaelis's version-" and all the women then an additional 'bitrock,' t,o lend intens- said." So the Vulgate. The verb which we ity to the asseveration. "But death only have rendered got into com'llUltion is found 6hall sever between me and thee ! " Ruth's in 1 Sam. iv. 6-" the earth rang a,gain;" language is broken. Two formulas of impre- and in 1 Kings i. 45-" the city rang a,gain." cation are flung together. One, if complete, Ver. 20.-And she se.id to them, Ce.11 me would have been t,o this effect: "So may not Ne.omi, ce.11 me Me.re.: for the Almighty Yahveh do to me, and so may he add to do, he.th dealt very bitterly with me. Salut- • if' (Cl~) aught but death sever between me ations were respectfully addressed to her as and thee!" The other, if complete, would she walked along in quest of some humble have run thus : "I swear by Yahveh •that' abode. And when thus spoken to by the ('?.) death, death only, shall part thee and sympathetic townspeople, she was called, of me!" In the original the word death has course, by her old sweet name. But as it the article, death emph,atically. It is as if fell in its own rich music on her ears, its 6he had said death, the great divwer. The original import flashed vividly upon her mind. full idea is in substance death alone.. This Her heart "filled" at the contrast which her divider alone, says Ruth, "shell sever between circumstances represented, and she said, me and thee ; " literally, "between me and " Address me not as Naomi, call not to me between thee," a Hebrew idiom, repeating ('~) Naomi: address me as Mara,"-that for emphasis' sake the two-sided relationship, is, bitter,-" for the Almighty has caused but taking the repetition in reverse order, bitterness to me exceedingly" (see on ver. 2). between me (and thee) and between thee (and me). The Almighty, or '~~' an ancient polythe- Ver. 18.-And she perceived. In our istic name that had at length-like Cl'D''-~ idiom we should have introduced the proper and ')11:( - been reclaimed in all its fuJ. name, "And Naomi perceived." That she ness 'fo;= the one living e.nd true God. It was determined to go with her. She saw had become a thorough proper name, and that Ruth was fixed in her resolution. And hence it is 1L•ed without the article. In tbe she left off spee.king to her. She "gave in." Septuagint it is some~imes !endered, as her~, Ruth, as Fuller luu; it, was "a fixed star." o ia:avoc, the Su.fficumt; m Job, where it Ver. 19. - And they two went- they frequently occurs, o 1ra11ro1<pa.rwp, the Omni- trudged along, the two of them-until they potent. But it is one of those peculiar nouns ea.me to :Bethlehem.. In the expression that never can be fully reproduced in e.ny " the two of them " the masculine pronoun Aryan le.nguage. ~aomi's theolo~, as indi- (Ci:J for n:J) occurs, e.s in verses 8 end 9. It cated in the expression, "the Al!311ght! bath mirrors in language the e.ctual facts of rela- caused bitterness to me exceedingly, .need tionship in life. The masculine is some- not be to its minutest jot endorsed. God times assumptively representative of both was not the only agent with whom she he.d itself end the feminine. And sometimes, had to do. Much of the bitterness of her even apart from the representative element, lot may have been attributable t,o her hllll• it is the overlapping and overbearing gender. band or to herself and perhaps to forefe.thers Alld it came to pe.ss, a1 they entered :Beth- and foremothers. ' It is not fe.ir to ascribe all lehem, that the whole city got into com- the embittering element of things to God. motioa concerning them, and they se.id, Is Much rather might the sweetness, which this Naomi, Naomi, though greatly altered had so often relieved the bitterness, be in e.ppearance, besides being travel-worn and traced to the hand of him who is "the weary, was recognised. But wbo was that Lord God, merciful e.nd gracious, abundant pensive and beautiful companion by her side 1 in goodnees." Where we.s Elimelech 1 Where was Mach- Ver. 21.-I went forth full, and Ye.hveh Ion and Chilion T Why are they not with he.a ce.uaecl me to return in emptinesa. Why their mother 1 Such would be some of the should you call me Naomi, e.nd Yahveh ha.a en. r. 15-22.] THE BOOK OF RUTH. 21