02 Return and Reception (Ruth 1:6-22)

CHAPTER II RETURN AND RECEPTION

Ruth 1:6-22 The essence of home is in persons, not in locality. When, therefore, you have the presence and fellowship of those who are nearest and dearest to you, it is easy to be at home anywhere. But when the loved ones are gone, the fairest surroundings will not fill the void made by their absence. The heart then longs for that which strangers cannot give, and the old memories create a yearning for the old home of early days. It was natural, therefore, that Naomi, after the death of her husband and her sons, should be drawn again towards Bethlehem, so strongly that she determined to return thither. Forlorn, widowed, desolate, and destitute, she craved for that which Moab could not supply. A famine in the fields of Bethlehem took her to Moab; but now a famine in the heart made her hunger after Bethlehem; and having heard that "the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread," she arose to set out for her native place. But her daughters-in-law would not let her go alone. Apparently she did not request them to accompany her, but of their own accord they chose to make the journey with her. This was equally honorable to her and them. Her life with them had been one of harmony and love. They had grown into her affection, and she had become dear to them. In the delicate relationship which subsisted between them, she had so conducted herself towards them, with reticence, with wisdom, and with kindness; and they had so borne themselves towards her, with deference, with reverence, and with affection, that they could not think of parting with her. So they insisted upon going with her, and for a time she permitted them to be her companions. But it was above all things necessary, in her judgment, that she should be honest with them, and therefore she determined to put fully before them the real state of the case.

They knew little or nothing of the laws and customs of the Jews, and thought, perhaps, that it might be as easy for them to get on in Bethlehem as it had been for her to get on in Moab. It was only just, therefore, that she should set before them as delicately and as clearly as possible the privations which they would have to face. Possibly there was an ordinance in Moab similar to the Levirate law which existed among the Israelites, in accordance with which when a man died without leaving a son, his brother, or, if he had no brother, his nearest male kinsman was under obligation to marry the widow, and the first-born son of such a marriage was to be reckoned the son of the deceased, that his name and lineage might be preserved. Now Naomi gives her daughters-in-law to understand that there was no hope of their obtaining husbands in that way, and her statement implies, though it does not express, that, since that was impossible, there would be for them no possibility of marrying at all. In these modern times, when there are so many avenues open for a woman’s working for her own support, though there is need even of more than are at present in existence, that would not be reckoned by many in Ruth’s and Orpah’s circumstances as a hardship. But in those early days it was quite different, for then, as Dr. Cassell tells us, "the position of a single woman was an unhappy one. It was altogether customary for youthful widows to marry again. Only a husband’s house was the true asylum for a woman."(Lange, in loco)

Now Naomi informs her daughters-in-law that in Israel it would be impossible for them to get such a settlement. But she does it with the utmost tact and gentleness. First of all she bears unqualified testimony to their unfeigned kindness to their husbands and to herself, and that she may do it the more unreservedly and the more impressively, she turns it into a prayer, "Jehovah deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me." Then she entreats them to return, each to the house of her own mother until, if Jehovah pleased, each should find rest in the house of her husband. And when, after she had kissed them, they still refused to comply with her request, saying, "Nay, but we will return with thee unto thy people," she let them see how hopeless it was that they should be provided for through the Levirate law, and by her silence regarding any other plan, she said more expressively than she could have done by words, that there was no prospect of any such permanent home for them in Israel as either of them might easily find in Moab. All the while the tears fell fast from all their eyes, and most of all from hers who had seen the greatest sorrow, for she virtually says, It is far more bitter for me than for you, for the hand of the Lord hath gone out against me. Not, therefore, because she did not enjoy their fellowship, and did not desire their company, was she thus persistent. It was harder for her to part with them than it would be for them to part with her. If they went, never again would there be one beside her to call her mother, and she should go into the dreariest of solitude’s, while they would be each in her mother’s house, and might look forward to finding rest beneath a husband’s roof. Hers would be the greater sacrifice if they went; but she could not be so selfish as to allow them, simply on her account, to bring upon themselves the privations that were inevitably before them. The effect of this representation was so great on Orpah that, with whatever reluctance, she said farewell, and went back to her kindred. But Ruth, true to the meaning of her name, would not be thus dismissed. She was determined not to be outdone in sacrifice even by Naomi, and therefore she clave unto her mother-in-law. But not yet had Naomi told all that would be required if she went with her to Bethlehem. There was one other subject that must be spoken about; and see with what adroitness of in directness she suggested it to her daughter-in-law. She said, "Behold, thy sister-in-law is gone back unto her people and her gods; return after thy sister-in-law." Thus she reminded Ruth that if she went with her she would be leaving her gods. It was criminal to worship Chemosh in Judah, and she must well consider whether she could take a step that involved the sacrifice of her religion. She had come to a crossing in her life, where she must part either with Naomi or with the idolatry of Moab, and she must not make such a decision blindly, inconsiderately, and without counting the cost. But it did not take Ruth long to determine even that. Not for nothing had she lived beside Naomi, during her happy days of wifehood. She had seen in the Hebrew matron much that she had never witnessed in the homes of Moab. There were a purity, a meekness, an affection, and a thoughtfulness for others about her, which made her feel that the religion which had brought out such qualities in her could not be bad; and so her confidence in and admiration of Naomi made her willing to venture herself with Naomi’s Jehovah. It was not a very intelligent faith, indeed, but it was a real faith, like that which a child has in the Savior of whom his mother tells. He loves the Savior for his mother’s sake, until at length he gets to love his mother for the Savior’s sake. It was said of Thomas Arnold, the great English educator, that he first gained the boys’ confidence in himself, and then on the strength of that led them to confidence in Christ. So here Naomi had, unconsciously, by the silent eloquence of her character, led Ruth to confide in her; and then at the critical moment Ruth, through that confidence, was brought to decide for Jehovah, without faltering and without reserve. Nay, so strong was her determination, and so fervent the love out of which it sprung, that it expressed itself in words which no poetry has out-rivaled and no pathos has exceeded, and which have come down through the centuries with a music that will not let them be forgotten. "Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest! will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried: Jehovah do so to me and more also, if aught but death part thee and me." What could be more unqualified than that? She will share her journey and her lodging, her home and her heritage, her experiences in life and her grave at death. Nor was this all; for not to be outdone by Naomi’s delicacy, she will show that even already she was willing to forswear Chemosh, and therefore she takes an oath by Jehovah that nothing but death will ever part her from her fellowship. It was nobly promised, and it was as nobly performed; for the love that inspired the words was not like a thorn blaze which, bright for a moment, dies down into darkness, but rather like the glow of the sunshine, which lasts through all the day. There was no resisting an appeal of such a sort as that, and so Naomi, all the happier because Ruth, while fully understanding all that her decision involved, had not followed her advice, went with her gratefully and gladly forward towards her destination. When they arrived at Bethlehem the people of the city made a great stir, and said, "Is this Naomi?" They recognized her as their old neighbor; and yet they saw that she was greatly changed--so greatly that they could hardly believe that it was she after all. Then on Naomi’s side, also, there must have been some misgivings about those who thronged around her. They saw the alterations in her, but they were all unconscious of those in themselves. Ten years make deep marks in those over whom they pass, especially if they have reached the midtime of their lives; and they who say, "How changed you are," to those who revisit home after a long absence, might well enough use the first personal pronoun and include themselves in the ejaculation. But the external alterations are of small account. The more important changes are those which are not seen all at once; and perhaps when we compare ourselves with what we were, in character and experience long ago, we might each see reason to exclaim, "Is this really myself!" You may remember that very striking poem of Miss Procter’s in which she represents one in mature life looking at a portrait of herself that had been taken long years before, and moralizing over the contrast between then and now in a strain that concludes with these two lines:

"And I marvel to see the stranger Who is living in me to-day." And so I think each of us may do. So at least Naomi did. As her old neighbors called her by the old name in the old street, and said, "Is this Naomi?" She might have said, "Yes, I am changed, I know it; but the deepest change is one you do not see, for my heart is heavy. Call me no more Naomi (’ sweet ’), for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty: why call ye me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me?"

It was very sad. But the saddest thing was that the Bethlehemites made no response to her sorrow. Had she come back with pomp and glory and riches they would have made much of her; for the world always fawns upon prosperity, and those who need least of its attentions get the most. But Naomi’s account of her circumstances seems to have damped the ardor of the welcome given her by her old neighbors. None of them invited her home, or offered her hospitality. She was too poor now to be acknowledged in that way; and after the first expressions of surprise at her appearance, they let her severely alone. Nobody proffered her assistance. Some might even criticize and say, "She did not know when she was well. If she had only stayed among her own kindred, she might have been as full as ever. But she would go. She made her own bed and she must lie on it now, hard as it is. And whatever possessed her to bring that young Moabitish woman with her, only to add to her burden, and make her perplexity the greater?" Ah, we known all about it. The rich have many friends; but they who come home empty from afar, come home full often to coldness and averted looks. Still Naomi with all her sadness had a brave, believing heart, and as she looked down upon the ripened barley falling before the reaper in the fields beneath, she would be reminded of Him who has put for His people the rainbow of His covenant into every cloud of trial.

Now, returning over this deeply pathetic narrative, we may learn to recognize God’s hand in everything. It is noteworthy how constantly Naomi did that. Look over the verses that have to-night been before us, and you will be greatly struck with the frequency with which this feature of her piety presents itself. She had heard "that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread." She said that "the hand of the Lord had gone out against her," and again, that "the Lord had testified against her, and the Almighty had afflicted her." It is not likely that she either undervalued or overlooked secondary causes, but she believed that God was in and over all these causes, working out His own purposes through their operation. And she recognized in all that came upon her the will of God concerning her. No doubt she was wrong in supposing that Jehovah was acting bitterly towards her, but in that she erred with Jacob when he cried, "All these things are against me." On the other hand, she was not wrong in believing that the Providence of God is in and over all events, and it were well for us if we realized that truth. How this universal providence can be maintained without interfering either with the uniformity of the workings of what men call the laws of nature, or with the free agency of man, it may be impossible for us to explain; but that it is maintained I take to be established both by the testimony of history in general, and of individual experience in particular. And if we believe the words of Jesus, when He says that the hairs of our heads are numbered, and that a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without our Father, we cannot hesitate to accept the doctrine, whatever mystery there may be about the mode of the divine operation.

Now, accepting that doctrine, we have in it an antidote both to pride in the time of prosperity, and to despondency in the season of adversity. For if prosperity comes, it comes from God; and if adversity befalls us, it has been sent from God; and since He is love, and has shown that love by the sacrifice of His Son upon the Cross, we may be sure that if we are His people in Christ, He cannot mean anything but love to us, whatever He may permit to come upon us. Naomi, therefore, was not wrong in tracing all her changes in condition to God, but she erred in ascribing any bitterness to God in His treatment of her. The father loves the child as really when he administers the disagreeable medicine which is to recover him from disease as when he is dandling him upon his knees. The only difference is in the manner in which the love is shown, and that is accounted for by the differences in the circumstances of the child. In like manner adversity, how bitter soever it may be, is a manifestation of God’s love to us, designed for our ultimate and highest welfare. Now this may well reconcile us to trial. I say reconcile us to it. It will not make the trial less, but it will help us to bear it, just as the wounded man is braced for the amputation of a limb, when he is told that it is indispensable if his life is to be preserved. There is a "needs be" for every affliction, otherwise it would not come upon us under the providence of a God of love; and He sends it not in bitterness to us, but as the necessary means of "making perfect that which concerneth us."

Then if He send prosperity, we owe that to His favor rather than to our own ability; or if in any sense we owe it to our own ability, then that ability is itself His gift. So our faith in that view of the case will keep us from self-conceit. Thus the true believer in God’s universal providence, if his faith in that doctrine be intelligent, is preserved alike from pride and haughtiness of heart in fulness, and from despair in emptiness. That doctrine is to the Christian’s heart what a compensation balance is to a chronometer, and gives him equanimity in all conditions, so that he can sing:

"Father, I know that all my life is portioned out by Thee, And the changes that are sure to come I do not fear to see. " And all his desire is so to possess his soul, that he may fall in with God’s plan, and do always the things which please Him. Naomi did not all at once attain to that spirit, but she came to it at length, and we may accept the conclusion at which she ultimately arrived, as the premises from which we ought to reason. Why should we repeat either Jacob’s unbelief or hers, when we see how kindly that was rebuked and condemned in both cases, by the result of that process the course of which so deeply distressed them? "Rest in the Lord, wait patiently for Him." Let Him finish His work in you before you presume to say that He is dealing bitterly with you or testifying against you, for this is one instance in which the otherwise most questionable doctrine is true, that "the end justifies the means," and when you get to the end, you will exclaim, "He hath done all things well." But as a second lesson from this simple story we may learn the duty of absolute frankness in our dealings with each other. Naomi could not think of taking her daughters-in-law with her without telling them what was before them. If she had not done this, and they had gone with her, then on their first experience of hardship they might have upbraided her for her selfishness and cruelty; so she put everything, delicately, indeed, yet fairly, before them. She told them the worst, so that if they went with her and had to endure that, they might never say that she had painted things all too rosily. If they were to be disappointed at all, she preferred that it should be in finding things better and not worse than she had indicated. Now, this is a matter of great importance, which is not, I fear, sufficiently considered by most people. When two parties are in negotiation, usually one of them is bent simply and only on success. He wishes, like an advocate, to gain his cause, and exaggerates all that tells for his side, keeping out of view altogether or depreciating everything against it; and the result, if he carries his point, is sure to be disappointment and estrangement. Some time ago certain parties in the old country were induced, through flattering, and, indeed, lying descriptions, to purchase some lands in Florida, and when they came out to take possession they found there nothing but bare and barren sand. Can you wonder that they exclaimed against the deceitfulness of Americans in general, and Florida land-agents in particular? But while we condemn such rascality as that, are we so sure that our own hands are clean? There is an old Roman maxim, Caveat emitar--"Let the buyer look after himself "--which has always seemed to me to have the rankest dishonesty beneath it, and which, I fear, is too often acted upon even among ourselves. Now, if we are going to sell anything, let us sell it for what it is, and not for what we know that it is not. If the buyer is mistaken, let us show him his mistake, even if we should at present lose money thereby; for if we do not, we shall not only do a dishonest act, but we shall lose him for a customer. It looks very "smart" to take advantage of the ignorance of him with whom you are dealing, but if you do, he will be "smart" enough never to give you the chance again, and if you go on in that way your business will very soon be at an end. The open, frank truthful policy, even as a policy, is always best; but it is more than a policy, it is a duty, and that cannot be evaded without sin. Nor is it only in business that we need to imitate Naomi’s frankness with her daughters-in-law. We ought to act on the same principle, also, in the church. If a congregation eagerly desires a certain man for a pastor, the members should set everything fairly before him, and he should be equally open and above-board with them. He ought not to impose on them with a few showy sermons, which he has elaborated for the captivating of the multitude, and they ought not to cover up everything that is difficult or disagreeable among them. Thus neither will be disappointed in the other. And, in general, if we see a friend bent upon a course of any sort under an entire misapprehension of what the consequence shall be, we ought, in justice to ourselves and in faithfulness to him, to put before him with all delicateness, yet with absolute truthfulness, that which he will have to face. Then if he will he will, but we, at least, have endeavored to secure that he should know what he is doing. In this connection who can forget the absolute honesty of the Lord Jesus Christ in His invitations to men to become His disciples? He promised them rest, indeed, but it was rest to their souls, and He never kept out of view the difficulties which they would have to encounter if they sought to act on His principles. Here are the terms of discipleship as laid down by Himself: "If any man be willing to come after Me, let him renounce self and take up his cross daily and follow Me ;" and, as you remember, he exhorted some who were more sentimental than serious to sit down and count the cost, lest, having put their hands to the plough, they should look back and so prove unworthy of Him. Now, that procedure of our Lord is valuable not only as teaching inquirers what they must expect if they become His disciples, but also as an example to us all to deal with absolute honesty and frankness with all with whom we have any negotiations, and sure I am that if we all did so there would be fewer criminations and recriminations between those who ought to dwell in harmony and love. It cost Naomi a good deal to say what she did to her daughters-in-law, but it would have cost her more if she had allowed Orpah to go forward blindfold to Bethlehem, for when the eye-opening came there would have been a painful rupture, followed, perhaps, by constant embitterment. But a third lesson from this narrative is the value of decision. Look at these words: "When she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, she left off speaking unto her." Ruth’s firmness put a stop to Naomi’s entreaties. And it is the same always. When Paul would go up to Jerusalem, despite the tears of his friends, they ceased their importunity and said, "The will of the Lord be done." And if a man is seen to be decided in his stand for Christ, antagonists will give over assailing him. There is nothing in the use of which men are more discriminating than entreaty, argument, or influence. So long as the object of their solicitude is wavering they will bring all their batteries to bear upon him, for there is still the hope that he will yield. But when he comes openly and determinedly out for Christ they will waste no more ammunition on him. They leave him thenceforth alone, and attack some one else. Thus decision, while it may require an effort to make it, is, after it is made, a safeguard against assault. The attack is reserved for those who are yet undecided, but the decision silences all further importunity. So long as a vessel has no flag at her mast-head, the sea-robber may think it safe to attack her; but let her hoist the flag of this nation, and that will make the assailant pause. In like manner, the hoisting over us of the banner of the Cross, being a symbol of decision, is also an assurance of protection. Up with it then, my hearer, and keep it up; for while it shows that you have decided to be His, it places you also under His divine protection, and there you are secure. Take your stand--manfully, prayerfully, and determinedly; and when others see that you have done so they will let you alone.

Finally. This story shows us the difference between mere amiability and devotion. Orpah was a good, kindly-disposition woman, thoroughly amiable, very friendly to Naomi, but not willing to make the greatest sacrifice for her. When it came to the point where she had to choose between the utter sacrifice of herself for Naomi and the return to her mother’s house, then, amiable as she was, she went back to Moab. But Ruth’s devotion was self-for-getting, and, at whatever sacrifice, she would go with Naomi to Bethlehem. Now, without pronouncing any condemnation on Orpah, I may take these two widowed sisters as types of two classes in their relation to Christ. On the one hand there are some who allege that they are not opposed to the gospel. On the whole they rather think well of it. They attend its ordinances. Up to a certain point they are its friends. But after a time they come to a fork in the road, where they must either part with Christ and His salvation or give up some heart-idolatry which they have long cherished; and there they halt. They are not willing to give that up even for Him. They have amiability, but not devotion-their center is self, not Christ. But there are others who will follow the Lord no matter at what cost or sacrifice; for it is the Lord they are thinking of and devoted to, not self. Now to which of these two classes do you belong? Are you unwilling to renounce self for Christ? Then let the words of Ruth determine you. Cleave fast to Christ. He is going to a glorious land--the home of joy and love. His lodging is a chamber whose window openeth towards the sunrising, the name of which is Peace. His people are a happy people; His God is a faithful God; His death is a victorious death; His burial is a hopeful burial, to be followed by a glorious resurrection. There is not another of whom these things can be said with truth--therefore cleave to Him through good report and through evil report, and He will give you an abundant entrance into His Father’s house on high.