The Pulpit Commentary — Ruth — Section 55

HOMILETICS. Ch. iii:-Nao~'s ma_ternal sol~e. This is one of those paragraphs of Scrip• ture w~1ch require delicate handlmg, but which, for that very reason, are full of sugg~stiveness that comes home to the_ bosom. Under strange, old-fashioned forms of thmgs there was often much real virtue and true nobility of character. 1. It may be_ reg_arded as certai:1 that while the harvest lasted Boaz and Ruth would be coming da1\y m_to contact with each other. 2. It may likewise be assumed as certain that the1_r i:nmds :would froi_n day to day grow into one another, in interest and esteem, As mt1macy mcreased, 1t would reveal, on either side, points of character that were fitted to evoke admiration and sincere respect. 3. It is reasonable to suppose that Naomi's bumble home in Bethlehem would be again and again visited by Boaz. There would be various attractions. Naomi herself, as an old and now a far-travelled friend, would be able to tell much that would be interesting to the kinsman of Elimelech. 4. The Palestinian harvest season would that year, as well as on other years, be a lively time. The harvest-home, in particular, would be a joy and a rural triumph. I~ may well be so in all countries. The golden grain is more precious by far than grams of gold. It is emphatically the "staff" on which terrestrial life has to lean. One of the chief uses of gold is to buy from the agriculturist, directly or circuitously, for the use of those who live in towns and cities, the superfluity of cereals raised in the harvest-fields. Harvesting operations are thus always interest- ing and stirring. Ruth would feel an interest; and, in consequence of the hearty sympathy and favour of Boaz, her whole nature would be stirred. 5. But it is far from being improbable that when the gleaning season was ended, so that Ruth had to exchange out-of-door for indoor activities, she may have acquired, to the eye of her solicitous mother-in-law, an unusually pensive appearance. 6. Naomi would no doubt make Ruth a constant study. Every mother, every father, should make every individual child in the family circle an individual study. It is not every child, it is not every young man, or young woman, whose whole heart can be read off at a sitting. Many a mind is many-volumed. Naomi did her best day by day to under- stand her devoted and deeply affectionate daughter-in-law, and seems to have felt increasingly solicitous as she noticed her unwonted thoughtfulness and reticence. 7. Then we must bear in mind that in such a state of ,society as then prevailed in Bethlehem and Judah, there must have been extremely little scope for female energy and industry in business directions. Happily in our time there is, so far as Great Britain is concerned, considerable interest taken by philanthropic minds in the subject of female education, literary and technical. There are, moreover, even already many spheres in which females, not otherwise provided for, can find, in affairs con- genial to their tastes and idiosyncrasies, remuneration and employment. In many government offices, and in other spheres of activity, females now occupy important positions. Not only do they excel in works of taste: whatever requires careful attention, combined with delicate manipulation, can be intrusted to their hands, There is still, it is true, much to be done to promote the employment and independ- ence of single females ; but a beginning has been made, o.nd a point or two beyond that beginning have been reached. In the time and sphere of Naomi, however, there were no open doors of this kind. And hence, when she was looking out for the l!ettlement of her daughter-in-law, she naturally thou&'ht only of a I rest' for her in a home of her own. In reference to such a 'rest,' it 1s the duty of all mothers and mothers-in-law to be solicitous, though never obtrusive, in behalf of their children, Advice may be tendered, caution may be suggested; but there must be true sympathy on the one hand, and true delicacy of feeling on the other. To tllrn now more particularly to Boaz-1. It is reasonable to suppose that Naomi on. m. 1-18.) THE BOOK OF RUTn. 53