Page images
PDF
EPUB

VII. NAOMI, RUTH, AND ORPAH.

Strictly speaking, the history of these women belongs to the period of the Judges; but as the beautiful story of the three really introduces the more prosperous period of the Kings, it is given separately.

During the lawless era of which mention has been made, a grievous famine occurred in the land of Judah. To escape this famine, a man by the name of Elimelech, with his wife, Naomi, and his two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, went into the land of Moab, in the region of the Dead Sea. In course of time Elimelech died; and soon thereafter Mahlon and Chilion married two Moabite women, the first, Ruth, the second, Orpah. Then these two men died, and the three women were left desolate.

Hearing that the famine in Judah was ended, Naomi yearned for her country and people, and determined to return thither. Accompanied by her two widowed daughters-in-law, she set out upon her journey. But remembering, no doubt, how difficult it would be for two Moabite women, and widows at that, to procure husbands among the Jews, unless there were brothers of their de

ceased husbands to marry them, Naomi told them to return to their own people, and there marry. It will be remembered that according to the Levirate Law it was expected that a widow would be married by her deceased husband's brother, with the understanding that all children born of the union. should belong to the first husband. Naomi had no other sons (Ruth 1: 11-13), and she knew it would be unlikely that any other relative would marry the widows, they being of another people. Hence her anxiety that they should return to their own land.

Orpah felt the force of the argument, and, weeping, kissed her mother-in-law and went back. Not so Ruth. She clung to Naomi with the devotion born of sincere affection, and uttered the words which for beauty of expression and depth of sentiment are unexcelled in the language: "Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I 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: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me.”

Touched to the heart by this beautiful devotion, Naomi ceased soliciting Ruth to return to Moab, and the two women went on their way to Bethlehem. "But in the young woman before us, what is the deep and mysterious love that binds her soul to that of her husband's mother? He is

[ocr errors][ocr errors]

She is without a roof above cold in the grave. her, a poor, aged waif, borne from her faminestricken country by the wave of ill-fortune, and stranded, all helpless and forlorn, on this distant shore. Every affection or hope that holds the human heart fast to home and kindred and country, should keep Ruth in the land of Moab: in Israel she will be an alien, if not in religion, at least in blood; for irreconcilable enmities and antipathies must ever prevent the race of Moab and Ammon from being looked upon with any other feeling than aversion or horror in the land of Israel. All this Ruth knows, and still she She is by the side of her motherhesitates not. in-law, her true and only parent henceforth.” Their arrival at Bethlehem created a great commotion, as Naomi was of the higher class But there of people-a woman of influence.

is something very pathetic in her answer to their Said surprised exclamation, "Is this Naomi?” she, "Call me not Naomi [pleasant]; call me Mara [bitter]: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me."

Naomi and Ruth reached Bethlehem at the time of barley harvest; and the younger woman went out to glean in the field. The laws of the Israelites in reference to gleaning were very humane. "When ye reap the harvest of your land thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleanings of thy harvest; thou shalt

leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger. When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it; it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow."

The field in which Ruth gleaned belonged to Boaz, a near relative of her deceased husband. As he came into the field he asked the reapers who she was. Upon being informed, he went to her and bade her welcome, promising her protection against insults at the hands of the young men. He went so far as to do much more than fulfil the law respecting gleaning. He even instructed his harvesters to allow her to glean among the sheaves, and to let fall some handfuls in her way. Moreover, he invited her to partake of food with him and his servants at the noon-tide. From all of which we are led to think that Boaz had fallen an instant victim to her charms.

When Ruth reported to her mother-in-law the result of the first day's gleaning, Naomi was greatly pleased. Then she began to exercise her skill as a match-maker; and to me she appears to have possessed a great deal of ability in that direction. She told Ruth that Boaz was a near relative, and advised her to continue gleaning in his field and enjoying his assistance and protection. The advice was followed, and thus the barley and wheat harvest passed.

Naomi saw that more direct measures must be taken to secure the active favor of Boaz toward

Ruth; and she seemed willing to go to any reasonable length to gain that favor. Her next expedient seemed a rather hazardous one, but the outcome She told Ruth to go was as she desired it to be. at night to the threshing-floor, where Boaz slept, doubtless to protect his newly-gathered harvest from the robbers who infested the land in those violent times. She was to watch him as he ate and drank; and to mark the place where he lay down to sleep. When he had fallen asleep she crept to his rude couch and lay at his feet, using as a covering the mantle which he had thrown over himself. At midnight he discerned that someone . Her was lying there, and asked who it was. answer implied a request that he act the part of a kinsman to her, by redeeming her husband's land, This he promised to do, if and marrying her. another kinsman, nearer than he, failed to take advantage of the opportunity.

At daybreak he filled her vail, or apron, with barley, and bade her depart; giving her the assurance that the matter would be settled before the close of the day. Naomi was highly delighted at the report Ruth brought to her. She rightly judged that Boaz would be impatient to have the "Sit still, my daughaffair attended to at once. ter," said she, "until thou know how the matter will fall; for the man will not be in rest until he have finished the thing this day.

The remainder of the story gives us the most striking illustration of the working of the Levirate

« PreviousContinue »