Then she arose with her daughters-in-law, that she might return from the country of Moab; for she had heard in the country of Moab how Yahweh had visited his people in giving them bread.
Parallel Translations
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Then she arose with her daughters-in-law, that she might return from the country of Moab; for she had heard in the country of Moab how Yahweh had visited his people in giving them bread.
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Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the LORD had visited his people in giving them bread.
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Then she arose with her daughters-in-law, that she might return from the field of Moab; for she had heard in the field of Moab how that the LORD had remembered His people in giving them bread.
Cross-references (23)
Passages linked to Ruth 1:6 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 132:15 I will abundantly bless her provision. I will satisfy her poor with bread.
- Psalms 111:5 He has given food to those who fear him. He always remembers his covenant.
- Exodus 3:16 Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and tell them, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt.
- Exodus 4:31 The people believed, and when they heard that Yahweh had visited the children of Israel, and that he had seen their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped.
- Exodus 16:4-6 Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from the sky for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. It shall come to pass on the sixth day, that they shall prepare that which they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.” Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, “At evening, you shall know that Yahweh has brought you out from the land of Egypt.
- 1 Samuel 2:21 Yahweh visited Hannah, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. The child Samuel grew before Yahweh.
- Isaiah 55:10 For as the rain comes down and the snow from the sky, and doesn’t return there, but waters the earth, and makes it grow and bud, and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
- Jeremiah 29:10 For Yahweh says, “After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.
- Matthew 6:11 Give us today our daily bread.
- Luke 1:68 “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people;
- Luke 19:44 and will dash you and your children within you to the ground. They will not leave in you one stone on another, because you didn’t know the time of your visitation.”
- Genesis 21:1 Yahweh visited Sarah as he had said, and Yahweh did to Sarah as he had spoken.
- Genesis 28:20 Jacob vowed a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and clothing to put on,
- Genesis 48:15 He blessed Joseph, and said, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day,
- Genesis 50:25 Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.”
- Psalms 104:14-15 He causes the grass to grow for the livestock, and plants for man to cultivate, that he may produce food out of the earth: wine that makes the heart of man glad, oil to make his face to shine, and bread that strengthens man’s heart.
- Psalms 145:15 The eyes of all wait for you. You give them their food in due season.
- Psalms 146:7 who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. Yahweh frees the prisoners.
- Zephaniah 2:7 The coast will be for the remnant of the house of Judah. They will find pasture. In the houses of Ashkelon, they will lie down in the evening, for Yahweh, their God, will visit them, and restore them.
- Psalms 147:14 He makes peace in your borders. He fills you with the finest of the wheat.
- 1 Timothy 6:8 But having food and clothing, we will be content with that.
- 1 Peter 2:12 having good behavior among the nations, so in that of which they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they see, glorify God in the day of visitation.
- Proverbs 30:8 Remove far from me falsehood and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is needful for me,
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (17 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain By sending them plenty again.
By sending them plenty again.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Rth 1:6 Then she arose with her daughters in…
Rth 1:6 Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the LORD had visited his people in giving them bread.
Ver. 6. Then she arose with her daughters-in-law.] Now she "heard the rod, and who had appointed it," {Mic 6:9} saying, "He, he, come forth," Arise and he gone; "this is not your rest, for it is polluted." God’s corrections are vocal and disciplinary. Her daughters-in-law, moved by her virtues, arise to go with her. If moral virtue could be seen with mortal eyes, it would attract all hearts to itself, saith Plato. How much more then would true grace, {Son 6:1} which is such an elixir, as by contaction, if there be any disposition of goodness in the same metal, it will render it of the property!
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That she might return from the country of Moab.] Where, although she had been courteously used, yet her heart hankereth homewards, So should ours heavenwards, though we might live here in the height of the world’s blandishments, quae non sunt tantum fallacia quia dubia, sed etiam insidiosa, guia dulcia, which are not only deceitful because doubtful, but also dangerous because delicious, saith a father. {a}
For she had heard in the country of Moab.] This "good news from a far country was as cold water to her thirsty soul"; {Pro 25:25} this cheered up her good heart, when almost dead within her. God reserveth his hand for a dead lift.
{a} Lactant.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain i.e. Food; so she staid no longer than necessity…
i.e. Food; so she staid no longer than necessity forced her.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain See here, I. The good affection Naomi bore to…
See here, I. The good affection Naomi bore to the land of Israel, Rut 1:6. Though she could not stay in it while the famine lasted, she would not stay out of it when the famine ceased. Though the country of Moab had afforded her shelter and supply in a time of need, yet she did not intend it should be her rest for ever; no land should be that but the holy land, in which the sanctuary of God was, of which he had said, This is my rest for ever. Observe,
1. God, at last, returned in mercy to his people; for, though he contend long, he will not contend always. As the judgment of oppression, under which they often groaned in the time of the judges, still came to an end, after a while, when God had raised them up a deliverer, so here the judgment of famine: At length God graciously visited his people in giving them bread. Plenty is God's gift, and it is his visitation which by bread, the staff of life, holds our souls in life. Though this mercy be the more striking when it comes after famine, yet if we have constantly enjoyed it, and never knew what famine meant, we are not to think it the less valuable.
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2. Naomi then returned, in duty to her people. She had often enquired of their state, what harvests they had and how the markets went, and still the tidings were discouraging; but like the prophet's servant, who, having looked seven times and seen no sign of rain, at length discerned a cloud no bigger than a man's hand, which soon overspread the heavens, so Naomi at last has good news brought her of plenty in Bethlehem, and then she can think of no other than returning thither again. Hew new alliances in the country of Moab could not make her forget her relation to the land of Israel. Note, Though there be a reason for our being in bad places, yet, when the reason ceases, we must by no means continue in them. Forced absence from God's ordinances, and forced presence with wicked people, are great afflictions; but when the force ceases, and such a situation is continued of choice, then it becomes a great sin. It should seem she began to think of returning immediately upon the death of her two sons, (1.) Because she looked upon that affliction to be a judgment upon her family for lingering in the country of Moab; and hearing this to be the voice of the rod, and of him that appointed it, she obeys and returns. Had she returned upon the death of her husband, perhaps she might have saved the life of her sons; but, when God judgeth he will overcome, and, if one affliction prevail not to awaken us to a sight and sense of sin and duty, another shall. When death comes into a family it ought to be improved for the reforming of what is amiss in the family: when relations are taken away from us we are put upon enquiry whether, in some instance or other, we are not out of the way of our duty, that we may return to it. God calls our sins to remembrance, when he slays a son, Kg1 17:18. And, if he thus hedge up our way with thorns, it is that he may oblige us to say, We will go and return to our first husband, as Naomi here to her country, Hos 2:7. (2.) Because the land of Moab had now become a melancholy place to her. It is with little pleasure that she can breathe in that air in which her husband and sons had expired, or go on that ground in which they lay buried out of her sight, but not out of her thoughts; now she will go to Canaan again. Thus God takes away from us the comforts we stay ourselves too much upon and solace ourselves too much in, here in the land of our sojourning, that we may think more of our home in the other world, and by faith and hope may hasten towards it. Earth is embittered to us, that heaven may be endeared.
II. The good affection which her daughters-in-law, and one of them especially, bore to her, and her generous return of their good affection.
1. They were both so kind as to accompany her, some part of the way at least, when she returned towards the land of Judah. Her two daughters-in-law did not go about to persuade her to continue in the land of Moab, but, if she was resolved to go home, would pay her all possible civility and respect at parting; and this was one instance of it: they would bring her on her way, at least to the utmost limits of their country, and help her to carry her luggage as far as they went, for it does not appear that she had any servant to attend her, Rut 1:7. By this we see both that Naomi, as became an Israelite, had been very kind and obliging to them and had won their love, in which she is an example to all mothers-in-law, and that Orpah and Ruth had a just sense of her kindness, for they were willing to return it thus far. It was a sign they had dwelt together in unity, though those were dead by whom the relation between them came. Though they retained an affection for the gods of Moab (Rut 1:15), and Naomi was still faithful to the God of Israel, yet that was no hindrance to either side from love and kindness, and all the good offices that the relation required. Mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law are too often at variance (Mat 10:35), and therefore it is the more commendable if they live in love; let all who sustain this relation aim at the praise of doing so.
2. When they had gone a little way with her Naomi, with a great deal of affection, urged them to go back (Rut 1:8, Rut 1:9): Return each to her mother's house. When they were dislodged by a sad providence from the house of their husbands it was a mercy to them that they had their parents yet living, that they had their houses to go to, where they might be welcome and easy, and were not turned out to the wide world. Naomi suggests that their own mothers would be more agreeable to them than a mother-in-law, especially when their own mothers had houses and their mother-in-law was not sure she had a place to lay her head in which she could call her own. She dismisses them,
(1.) With commendation. This is a debt owing to those who have conducted themselves well in any relation, they ought to have the praise of it: You have dealt kindly with the dead and with me, that is, "You were good wives to your husbands that are gone, and have been good daughters to me, and not wanting to your duty in either relation." Note, When we and our relations are parting, by death or otherwise, it is very comfortable if we have both their testimony and the testimony of our own consciences for us that while we were together we carefully endeavoured to do our duty in the relation. This will help to allay the bitterness of parting; and, while we are together, we should labour so to conduct ourselves as that when we part we may not have cause to reflect with regret upon our miscarriages in the relation.
(2.) With prayer. It is very proper for friends, when they part, to part with prayer. She sends them home with her blessing; and the blessing of a mother-in-law is not to be slighted. In this blessing she twice mentions the name Jehovah, Israel's God, and the only true God, that she might direct her daughters to look up to him as the only fountain of all good. To him she prays in general that he would recompense to them the kindness they had shown to her and hers. It may be expected and prayed for in faith that God will deal kindly with those that have dealt kindly with their relations. He that watereth shall be watered also himself. And, in particular, that they might be happy in marrying again: The Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Note, [1.] It is very fit that, according to the apostle's direction (Ti1 5:14), the younger women, and he speaks there of young widows, should marry, bear children, and guide the house. And it is a pity that those who have approved themselves good wives should not again be blessed with good husbands, especially those that, like these widows, have no children. [2.] The married state is a state of rest, such rest as this world affords, rest in the house of a husband, more than can be expected in the house of a mother or a mother-in-law. [3.] This rest is God's gift. If any content and satisfaction be found in our outward condition, God must be acknowledged in it. There are those that are unequally yoked, that find little rest even in the house of a husband. Their affliction ought to make those the more thankful to whom the relation is comfortable. Yet let God be the rest of the soul, and no perfect rest thought of on this side heaven.
(3.) She dismissed them with great affection: She kissed them, wished she had somewhat better to give them, but silver and gold she had none. However, this parting kiss shall be the seal of such a true friendship as (though she never see them more) she will, while she lives, retain the pleasing remembrance of. If relations must part, let them thus part in love, that they may (if they never meet again in this world) meet in the world of everlasting love.
3. The two young widows could not think of parting with their good mother-in-law, so much had the good conversation of that pious Israelite won upon them. They not only lifted up their voice and wept, as loth to part, but they professed a resolution to adhere to her (Rut 1:10): "Surely we will return with thee unto thy people, and take our lot with thee." It is a rare instance of affection to a mother-in-law and an evidence that they had, for her sake, conceived a good opinion of the people of Israel. Even Orpah, who afterwards went back to her gods, now seemed resolved to go forward with Naomi. The sad ceremony of parting, and the tears shed on that occasion, drew from her this protestation, but it did not hold. Strong passions, without a settled judgment, commonly produce weak resolutions.
4. Naomi sets herself to dissuade them from going along with her, Rut 1:11-13.
(1.) Naomi urges her afflicted condition. If she had had any sons in Canaan, or any near kinsmen, whom she could have expected to marry the widows, to raise up seed to those that were gone, and to redeem the mortgaged estate of the family, it might have been some encouragement to them to hope for a comfortable settlement at Bethlehem. But she had no sons, nor could she think of any near kinsman likely to do the kinsman's part, and therefore argues that she was never likely to have any sons to be husbands for them, for she was too old to have a husband; it became here age to think of dying and going out of the world, not of marrying and beginning the world again. Or, if she had a husband, she could not expect to have children, nor, if she had sons, could she think that these young widows would stay unmarried till her sons that should yet be born would grow up to be marriageable. Yet this was not all: she could not only not propose to herself to marry them like themselves, but she knew not how to maintain them like themselves. The greatest grievance of that poor condition to which she was reduced was that she was not in a capacity to do for them as she would: It grieveth me more for your sakes than for my own that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me. Observe, [1.] She judges herself chiefly aimed at in the affliction, that God's quarrel was principally with her: "The hand of the Lord has gone out against me. I am the sinner; it is with me that God has a controversy; it is with me that he is contending; I take it to myself." This well becomes us when we are under affliction; though many others share in the trouble, yet we must hear the voice of the rod as if it spoke only against us and to us, not billeting the rebukes of it at other people's houses, but taking them to ourselves. [2.] She laments most the trouble that redounded to them from it. She was the sinner, but they were the sufferers: It grieveth me much for your sakes. A gracious generous spirit can better bear its own burden than it can bear to see it a grievance to others, or others in any way drawn into trouble by it. Naomi could more easily want herself than see her daughters want. "Therefore turn again, my daughters, for, alas! I am in no capacity to do you any kindness." But,
(2.) Did Naomi do well thus to discourage her daughters from going with her, when, by taking them with her, she might save them from the idolatry of Moab and bring them to the faith and worship of the God of Israel? Naomi, no doubt, desired to do so. But, [1.] If they did come with her, she would not have them to come upon her account. Those that take upon them a profession of religion only in complaisance to their relations, to oblige their friends, or for the sake of company, will be converts of small value and of short continuance. [2.] If they did come with her, she would have them to make it their deliberate choice, and to sit down first and count the cost, as it concerns those to do that may take up a profession of religion. It is good for us to be told the worst. Our Saviour took this course with him who, in the heat of zeal, spoke that bold word, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. "Come, come," says Christ, "canst thou fare as I fare? The Son of man has not where to lay his head; know this, and then consider whether thou canst find in thy heart to take thy lot with him," Mat 8:19, Mat 8:20. Thus Naomi deals with her daughters-in-law. Thoughts ripened into resolves by serious consideration are likely to be kept always in the imagination of the heart, whereas what is soon ripe is soon rotten.
5. Orpah was easily persuaded to yield to her own corrupt inclination, and to go back to her country, her kindred, and her father's house, now when she stood fair for an effectual call from it. They both lifted up their voice and wept again (Rut 1:14), being much affected with the tender things that Naomi had said. But it had a different effect upon them: to Orpah it was a savour of death unto death; the representation Naomi had made of the inconveniences they must count upon if they went forward to Canaan sent her back to the country of Moab, and served her as an excuse for her apostasy; but, on the contrary, it strengthened Ruth's resolution, and her good affection to Naomi, with whose wisdom and goodness she was never so charmed as she was upon this occasion; thus to her it was a savour of life unto life. (1.) Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, that is, took an affectionate leave of her, bade her farewell for ever, without any purpose to follow her hereafter, as he that said he would follow Christ when he had buried his father or bidden those farewell that were at home. Orpah's kiss showed she had an affection for Naomi and was loth to part from her; yet she did not love her well enough to leave her country for her sake. Thus many have a value and affection for Christ, and yet come short of salvation by him, because they cannot find in their hearts to forsake other things for him. They love him and yet leave him, because they do not love him enough, but love other things better. Thus the young man that went away from Christ went away sorrowful, Mat 19:22. But, (2.) Ruth clave unto her. Whether, when she came from home, she was resolved to go forward with her or no does not appear; perhaps she was before determined what to do, out of a sincere affection for the God of Israel and to his law, of which, by the good instructions of Naomi, she had some knowledge.
6. Naomi persuades Ruth to go back, urging, as a further inducement, her sister's example (Rut 1:15): Thy sister-in-law has gone back to her people, and therefore of course gone back to her gods; for, whatever she might do while she lived with her mother-in-law, it would be next to impossible for her to show any respect to the God of Israel when she went to live among the worshippers of Chemosh. Those that forsake the communion of saints, and return to the people of Moab, will certainly break off their communion with God, and embrace the idols of Moab. Now, return thou after thy sister, that is, "If ever thou wilt return, return now. This is the greatest trial of thy constancy; stand this trial, and thou art mine for ever." Such offences as that of Orpah's revolt must needs come, that those who are perfect and sincere may be made manifest, as Ruth was upon this occasion.
7. Ruth puts an end to the debate by a most solemn profession of her immovable resolution never to forsake her, nor to return to her own country and her old relations again, Rut 1:16, Rut 1:17.
(1.) Nothing could be said more fine, more brave, than this. She seems to have had another spirit, and another speech, now that her sister had gone, and it is an instance of the grace of God inclining the soul to the resolute choice of the better part. Draw me thus, and we will run after thee. Her mother's dissuasions made her the more resolute; as when Joshua said to the people, You cannot serve the Lord, they said it with the more vehemence, Nay, but we will. [1.] She begs of her mother-in-law to say no more against her going: "Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee; for all thy entreaties now cannot shake that resolution which thy instructions formerly have wrought in me, and therefore let me hear no more of them." Note, It is a great vexation and uneasiness to those that are resolved for God and religion to be tempted and solicited to alter their resolution. Those that would not think of it would not hear of it. Entreat me not. The margin reads it, Be not against me. Note, We are to reckon those against us, and really our enemies, that would hinder us in our way to the heavenly Canaan. Our relations they may be, but they cannot be our friends, that would dissuade us from and discourage us in the service of God and the work of religion. [2.] She is very particular in her resolution to cleave to her and never to forsake her; and she speaks the language of one resolved for God and heaven. She is so in love, not with her mother's beauty, or riches, or gaiety (all these were withered and gone), but with her wisdom, and virtue, and grace, which remained with her, even in her present poor and melancholy condition, that she resolves to cleave to her. First, She will travel with her: Whither thou goest I will go, though to a country I never saw and in a low and ill opinion of which I have been trained up; though far from my own country, yet with thee every road shall be pleasant. Secondly, She will dwell with her: "Where thou lodgest I will lodge, though it be in a cottage, nay, though it be no better a lodging than Jacob had when he had the stones for his pillow. Where thou settest up thy staff I will set up mine, be it where it may." Thirdly, She will twist interest with her: Thy people shall be my people. From Naomi's character she concludes certainly that the great nation was a wise and an understanding people. She judges of them all by her good mother, who, wherever she went, was a credit to her country (as all those should study to be who profess relation to the better country, that is, the heavenly), and therefore she will think herself happy if she may be reckoned one of them. "Thy people shall be mine to associate with, to be conformable to, and to be concerned for." Fourthly, She will join in religion with her. Thus she determined to be hers usque ad aras - to the very altars: "Thy God shall be my God, and farewell to all the gods of Moab, which are vanity and a lie. I will adore the God of Israel, the only living and true God, trust in him alone, serve him, and in every thing be ruled by him;" this is to take the Lord for our God. Fifthly, She will gladly die in the same bed: Where thou diest will I die. She takes it for granted they must both die, and that in all probability Naomi, as the elder, would die first, and resolves to continue in the same house, if it might be, till her days also were fulfilled, intimating likewise a desire to partake of her happiness in death; she wishes to die in the same place, in token of her dying after the same manner. "Let me die the death of righteous Naomi, and let my last end be like hers." Sixthly, She will desire to be buried in the same grave, and to lay her bones by hers: There will I be buried, not desiring to have so much as her dead body carried back to the country of Moab, in token of any remaining kindness for it; but, Naomi and she having joined souls, she desires they may mingle dust, in hopes of rising together, and being together for ever in the other world. [3.] She backs her resolution to adhere to Naomi with a solemn oath: The Lord do so to me, and more also (which was an ancient form of imprecation), if aught but death part thee and me. An oath for confirmation was an end of this strife, and would leave a lasting obligation upon her never to forsake that good way she was now making choice of. First, It is implied that death would separate between them for a time. She could promise to die and be buried in the same place, but not at the same time; it might so happen that she might die first, and this would part them. Note, Death parts those whom nothing else will part. A dying hour is a parting hour, and should be so thought of by us and prepared for. Secondly, It is resolved that nothing else should part them; not any kindness from her own family and people, nor any hope of preferment among them, not any unkindness from Israel, nor the fear of poverty and disgrace among them. "No, I will never leave thee." Now,
(2.) This is a pattern of a resolute convert to God and religion. Thus must we be at a point. [1.] We must take the Lord for our God. "This God is my God for ever and ever; I have avouched him for mine." [2.] When we take God for our God we must take his people for our people in all conditions; though they be a poor despised people, yet, if they be his, they must be ours. [3.] Having cast in our lot among them, we must be willing to take our lot with them and to fare as they fare. We must submit to the same yoke and draw in it faithfully, take up the same cross and carry it cheerfully, go where God will have us to go, though it should be into banishment, and lodge where he will have us to lodge, though it be in a prison, die where he will have us die, and lay our bones in the graves of the upright, who enter into peace and rest in their beds, though they be but the graves of the common people. [4.] We must resolve to continue and persevere, and herein our adherence to Christ must be closer than that of Ruth to Naomi. She resolved that nothing but death should separate them; but we must resolve that death itself shall not separate us from our duty to Christ, and then we may be sure that death itself shall not separate us from our happiness in Christ. [5.] We must bind our souls with a bond never to break these pious resolutions, and swear unto the Lord that we will cleave to him. Fast bind, fast find. He that means honestly does not startle at assurances.
8. Naomi is hereby silenced (Rut 1:18): When she saw that Ruth was stedfastly minded to go with her (which was the very thing she aimed at in all that she had said, to make her of a stedfast mind in going with her), when she saw that she had gained her point, she was well satisfied, and left off speaking to her. She could desire no more than that solemn protestation which Ruth had just now made. See the power of resolution, how it puts temptation to silence. Those that are unresolved, and go in religious ways without a stedfast mind, tempt the tempter, and stand like a door half open, which invites a thief; but resolution shuts and bolts the door, resists the devil, and forces him to flee.
The Chaldee paraphrase thus relates the debate between Naomi and Ruth: - Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, for I will be a proselyte. Naomi said, We are commanded to keep sabbaths and good days, on which we may not travel above 2000 cubits - a sabbath-day's journey. Well, said Ruth, whither thou goest I will go. Naomi said, We are commanded not to tarry all night with Gentiles. Well, said Ruth, where thou lodgest I will lodge. Naomi said, We are commanded to keep 613 precepts. Well, said Ruth, whatever thy people keep I will keep, for they shall be my people. Naomi said, We are forbidden to worship any strange god. Well, said Ruth, thy God shall be my God. Naomi said, We have four sorts of deaths for malefactors, stoning, burning, strangling, and slaying with the sword. Well, said Ruth, where thou diest I will die. We have, said Naomi, houses of sepulchre. And there, said Ruth, will I be buried.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Then she arose with her daughters in law, that…
Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab,.... After the death of her two sons, and having heard of the ceasing of the famine in Israel, she had a desire to go into her own country, where she would have better opportunities of serving the Lord; and having no heart to stay in Moab, an idolatrous country, where she had lost her husband, and her two sons; and therefore prepared for her journey, and set forward, and her two daughters-in-law with her, to accompany her some part of the way; for it does not appear to be their intention, at least at first setting out, to go with her into the land of Canaan; and therefore it is only said, that they arose
that she might return, &c.
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for she had heard in the country of Moab: which was near the land of Israel, the borders of it reaching to the salt sea; the Targum says she heard it by the mouth of an angel, but it is highly probable it was by common fame:
that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread; that he had been kind and gracious to the people of Israel, by granting them plenty of provisions; which might be their happy case after Gideon had vanquished the Midianites, who came yearly, and destroyed and carried off the fruits of the earth, which had caused a famine; see Jdg 6:3. It seems as if the famine had continued ten years, see Rut 1:4 nor need this be thought incredible, since there was a famine in Lydia, which lasted eighteen years (b).
(b) Herodot Clio, sive, l. 1. c. 94.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Bread - That is, food; so she staid no…
Bread - That is, food; so she staid no longer there than necessity forced her.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 6. She had heard] By the mouth of…
Verse 6. She had heard] By the mouth of an angel, says the Targum.
The Lord had visited his people] "Because of the righteousness of Ibzan the judge, and because of the supplications of pious Boaz." - Targum.
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It is imagined, and not without probability, that Mahlon and Chilion are the same with Joash and Saraph, mentioned 1Ch 4:22, where the Hebrew should be thus translated, and Joash and Saraph, who married in Moab, and dwelt in Lehem. See the Hebrew.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain NAOMI RETURNING HOME, RUTH ACCOMPANIES HER. (Rut 1:6-18)
NAOMI RETURNING HOME, RUTH ACCOMPANIES HER. (Rut 1:6-18)
Then she arose with her daughters-in-law, that she might return from the country of Moab--The aged widow, longing to enjoy the privileges of Israel, resolved to return to her native land as soon as she was assured that the famine had ceased, and made the necessary arrangements with her daughters-in-law.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain NAOMI’S RETURN WITH RUTH TO BETHLEHEM, Rth_1:6-22.
NAOMI’S RETURN WITH RUTH TO BETHLEHEM, Rth_1:6-22.
Bereft of her husband and her sons, the desolate Naomi turns her heart towards the land of her people. To her Moab has been a land of sorrows, and though the graves of her beloved dead are there, they are so full of bitter recollections that she wishes not to linger near them. The ten years of her sojourn in these sunny, fertile fields of abundance have been to her worse than years of famine.
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6. She arose with her daughters in law — She made known to them her intention to return on foot and alone to the land of Israel; and when the time of her departure came, Orpah and Ruth arose and went forth with her to bear her company a little way on her journey, perhaps undecided whether to go all the way with her or not.
She had heard — Probably by some traveller that had recently passed through the land of Judea. But the tidings may not have reached her until several years after the famine had ceased, for sometimes intelligence travels with wonderful slowness in the East, and particularly in that age, when there was probably very little intercourse between Israel and the surrounding nations.
The Lord had visited his people in giving them bread — By raising up Gideon to end the oppression of the Midianites, who for seven years had consumed the produce of their fields, and by now causing the fields to yield unwonted abundance. The sacred historian sees in all this the hand of Jehovah.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 6. the Lord had visited his people] i. e.…
6. the Lord had visited his people] i. e. shewn a practical interest in; cf. Gen_1:24 f E, Exo_3:16; Exo_4:31 J; St Luk_1:68; Luk_7:16. Apparently the famine lasted ten years, Rth_1:4. With giving them bread cf. Psa_132:15.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (6) That she might return.—Literally, and she returned. Clearly,…
(6) That she might return.—Literally, and she returned. Clearly, therefore, the three women actually began the journey; and when the start has been made. Naomi urges her companions to return. Then, as with Pliable in the Pilgrim’s Progress, so with Orpah: the dangers and difficulties of the way were too much for her affection.
The Lord had visited His people.—The famine had ceased, and Naomi’s heart yearns for the old home. Perhaps, too, the scenes where everything reminded her of her husband and sons, filled her with sadness (for it would appear that she set out immediately after her sons’ death), and perhaps, too, her conscience smote her for distrusting the mercies of the God of Israel.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Then the conjunction in Hebrew is the common generic…
Then the conjunction in Hebrew is the common generic copulative and she arose. She had been sitting, as it were, where her husband had settled, and she now rose up to depart (see ver. 4). She, and her daughters-in, law. The word for "her daughters-in-law hytLK is literally "her brides," that is, the brides of her sons. That she might return an admirable rendering into English idiom. The phrase in the original is simply "and she returned," that is, "and she began to return.
From the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread. Or, more literally, for she heard in the country of Moab that Jehovah or, rather, "Yahveh," or, as Epiphanius gives it, Iabehad visited his people to give them bread." There is no warrant, however, and no need, to add, with the Chaldee Targumist, that the news was conveyed by the mouth of an angel . And the representation is not that Yahveh, in giving, bread to his people, had thereby visited them; it is that he hid visited them" to give them bread. The word dqp, rendered visited, is quite peculiar, with no analogue in English, German, Greek, or Latin. Yahveh had directed his attention to his people, and had, so to speak, made inquisition into their state, and had hence taken steps to give them bread. (see Exo_3:16 Exo_4:31) They had already got it, or, as the Septuagint translates, they had got loaves (artouv ). The Vulgate translates it meats (eseas). It is assumed in the tidings that the seasons and their products, and all beneficent influences in nature, belong to Yahveh. It is likewise assumed that the Hebrews were his people, albeit not in such a sense as to secure for them more "bread" and "milk and honey" than other peoples enjoyed. Their chief prerogatives were spiritual and moral. They were his Messianic people. That is the key to unlock the secret of the whole Old Testament Scriptures.
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Vers. 6-14. Longing for the old home.
Brings to view
(1) Naomi"s resolution to return to the land of Judah, and then it records
(2) a touching scene that occurred at her departure.
I NAOMI"S RESOLUTION. No wonder that she formed it; for
1. 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 house-band. In the deaths of her two sons who had become husbands, 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 a melancholy place to her. It is with little pleasure that she can breathe in that air in which her husband and sons had expired; or go on that ground in which they lay buried out of her sight, but not 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 bad dawned on the land 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 and 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 dealt kindly with her. What was to become of them?
2. They convoyed Naomi for some distance, and then, as they all halted, she reminded them that every step in advance took them further from their mothers" homes, and she insisted on their returning. Not for her own sake, however, but for theirs. In their own land their prospects would be brighter than in Judaea. Their mothers were still living, and would no doubt be motherly. Their other relatives would be at hand. They themselves might each be the means of brightening some solitary home. She prayed that they might have "rest." This word, so sweet to the weary and the distracted, reveals one element that is essential 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 accompany 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 Baca. 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 checkered scene of arrivals and departures. Looming in the near or more remote future, there is one departure which must be made "in solemn loneliness." Whither? With what convoy?
HOMILIES BY W.M. STATHAM Vers. 6, 7. Home returning.
"Then she arose with her daughters-in-law, that she might return. And they went on their way to return." Home again! The first step is everything! "She arose." It was all well with the prodigal when he did that. Not simply when he said, "I will arise;" but when be arose and went to his father. Directly the eye and the heart and the step agree, then the whole is settled. We read nothing of the preliminaries of departure. Who does not know the power of the loadstone when it first begins to act? When the breeze swells the sail from the foreign port, the sailor sees not the intervening waters, but the home cottage under the familiar cliffs. There are many beautiful home returnings in the Bible, but the best of all is the son seeking the father"s house.
I HEARTS ARE UNITED BY COMMON EXPERIENCES. These daughters-in-law were not of her land, nor of her religion; they were not Hebrews; but they were widows! A common sorrow is a welding power, uniting hearts more closely than before. It is said that a babe in a house is a new clasp of affection between husband and wife. True; but an empty cradle has done more than a living child. During the time of these ten years these two wives remained still heathen. We do not know what family they sprang from, or if they were sisters. We do know that Naomi exercised no control or domination over their religious principles. She respects their personal liberty and responsibility; she even urges Ruth not to let natural affection for her override her religious convictions, but to go back to "her gods," as Orpah did. "Behold, thy sister-in-law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister-in-law." What a sorrow it must have been to her that her sons had married heathen women. We can respect that sorrow. And we can see that Naomi did not slight her own religion when she said these words, but used them as a test of the sincerity of Ruth. A common sorrow had brought them all very close together. For," as Bailey says in Festus, "the world is one, and hath one great heart.
II RETURN JOURNEYS HAVE A TOUCHING ELOQUENCE IN THEIR SCENES. There were the places Naomi had traversed with her husband and her boys; places of rest under the shadow of the rocks, and of refreshment at the wells. Much must there have been, to recall conversations touched with anxiety concerning their future in the land of Moab. So would many places speak to us today. There, care gazed at us wistfully, and we remember all the thoughts it suggested. There she heard the tinkling of the bells of the camels, as the little trading cavalcade passed by her. What reminiscences! And they would all remind her of the good hand which had led her on, and never forgotten or forsaken her.
III RETURN JOURNEYS REMIND US OF LITTLE EPISODES OF LIFE THAT ARE OVER FOR EVER. We cannot in the ordinary course of an unbroken and unshifting home realize the flight of time so well as when we have marked changes, which by their very abruptness divide life into chapters, which, like volumes, have their commencement and close. A new nest has to be built, and new trees have to be sought to build it in. Thus with ordinary observation we may notice how those who have had to seek new homes find the pilgrim-nature of life more marked in their thought than those who are born and brought up and settled through the long years in one home. There is a dreamy sense of continuance unbroken in some lives! "That she might return!" But she would not, could not take all of herself with her. She would leave, as we all do, a memory of character, an influence of good or evil over those who had been associated with her in the foreign land. W.M.S.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain She arose . . . that she might return.
Rth_1:6
She arose . . . that she might return.
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Homeward longings
Observe--
1. Gods house of worldly correction is to Gods people a school of heavenly instruction. Naomis crosses and losses she met with in Moab made her soul to sit loose from that cursed country, and to long for Canaan--that blessed land of promise. Gods rod hath a voice (Mic_6:9), and now Naomis ear was open to hear the instruction of it (Job_36:8-10; Mic_2:10). It is a rich mercy when affliction brings us from worse to better, from Moab to Canaan, further off from sin and nearer to God.
2. Godly souls should lead convincing lives. Such and so amiable was the conversation of godly Naomi in the eyes of those two daughters of Moab that it convinced them both--to love her and her people, and to go along with her out of their own native country unto her land. Plato saith, If moral virtue could be beheld with mortal eyes, it would attract all hearts to be enamoured with it. How much more, then, would theological virtue or supernatural grace do so?
3. Every heart should hanker heavenward, as Naomi did homeward from Moab to Canaan. (C. Ness.)
A woman of character
I. She retained her religion--her allegiance to the one true and living God--in the midst of surrounding idolatry.
II. She Believed in God even in the midst of adversity.
III. She exercised an influence for good on others.
1. On those who had known her intimately--her own household.
2. On those who had known her long--long enough to find out her true character.
3. On those who, according to all experience, are least easily influenced by one in her position--on her daughters-in-law.
IV. She could deny herself for the good of others.
1. It would have been an advantage to her to have these two strong, active young women with her to work for her in her old age. But a settlement would be easier for them in their own land than in Judah. So she bade them return, and was willing to go home alone.
2. She rose, too, above that petty jealousy which might have been excused in one so circumstanced, and wished them that provision which was the best security for rest and honour for a woman: rest each of them in the house of her husband. Naomis religion was no mere surface thing. It had become a part of herself. It had informed her character. It saved her from the corruptions of idolatry, from despair, and it enabled her to exercise a beneficent power over those who knew her best. What imperfect religion could do for her the sublime faith of Christ can do for all. (Joseph Ogle.)
The awakening
To trace the course of the wanderer away from God is sad and painful. The result of misery and regret is always the same; whether he ever return to God or not his sorrow over the remembrance of his wandering will be equally sure. We must never hesitate, therefore, in proclaiming to all the wanderers from God, You will find no rest in Moab. But I am not now to trace this course of sin to its dreadful result. There is for some a day of awakening in the present life. And, painful as this day may be, it is still a happy day. It is the beginning of a new life, a happy life, a life of glory. It is the dawning of a light which is prepared as the morning. It is the blessed visitation of the grace and goodness of God to the lost and guilty. We must never forget that this awakening of the soul is the work of God. Idolatry and enmity to God reign throughout the land of Moab. There Naomi dwells. There, if God permitted, Naomi would die. There, if God did not arrest and arouse him, the sinner would perish. To leave him in prosperity in this condition is to leave him to hopeless destruction. God speaks unto him in his prosperity, and he says, I will not hear. This is his manner from his youth. Then God sends awakening providences. Afflictions and losses are multiplied. The nest is broken up. The soul is made sorrowful. Thus it was with Naomi. Her husband died. Her two sons are taken away. How many of His children have been saved by the bitter remedy of affliction, and have thus been taught to bless the chastenings of the Lord! But why should you make affliction necessary to your souls salvation? Let the goodness of the Lord lead you to repentance. Let His love awaken your gratitude. But whether affliction or joy be made the instrument to awaken the soul, it is equally a Divine instrument. Welcome it, do not resist it, but cultivate it as a priceless gift. Now God means to bless you indeed. Listen to His voice with gladness. In this day of awakening, Naomi found that she had gained nothing by her wandering from God. There had been a famine in Judah. But ah, she had found a far worse famine in Moab. There every comfort had failed and every hope had departed. In no single point was her condition improved by her flight from Israel. But was this peculiar to her? Can you ever gain in such a course? Are you ever the happier for transgression, or made the more contented by forgetting your Creator? Far enough from all this is your actual experience. Your awakened mind looks back upon life, to say, with distress, I have sinned, and what hath it profited me? There is not a single real pleasure, or joy, or gain in life, of which any man can truly say, This, at least, is the reward of my sin. Even if you never truly repent, your retrospect of life will be just as unsatisfying and destitute of comfort to your soul. You will despise all that you have gained. You will despise yourself for pursuing vanities so madly. And nothing will remain to you as the result but the most overwhelming despair. How much you have lost! You have thrown away the favour of God. You have sacrificed your peace of conscience. You have lost your early readiness to receive religious impressions. But good news from the Lords land comes to this awakened wanderer. Naomi heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited His people in giving them bread. What precious intelligence does the gospel bring to the guilty! It declares the pardoning love of God. It proclaims complete atonement in the blood of Jesus. It announces full salvation in His merits and death. It exhibits God reconciled to those who have rebelled against Him. The message comes to you. Receive it. Rejoice in it. It is a message from God to each of you. Then the awakened wanderer sets out at once on a return. Naomi arose, that she might return from the country of Moab; wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was, on the way to return into the land of Judah. Yes--the very first thing, when your mind is awakened, and you see and feel your guilt, is to go back. Many think they must first feel much, and mourn much, and suffer much, before they can hope to go back in peace to God. But why? Will your suffering save you? Will your multiplied tears add anything to a Saviours worth? Is your dwelling on fire? And must you wait until you are scorched with the flames before you can escape in safety? Have you mistaken your road in journeying? And can you recover your lost steps the better by delay or hesitation or fruitless grief? Nay. You want all the time for actual pursuit. You have none to waste. Turn! Turn! fly! Fly! Tis madness to defer. Naomi goes to no other part of Moab, to no other land of idolatry. She goes directly back to the land of Judah. This is a blessed example. How many go from one broken cistern to another! But all these efforts are vain. Edom or Babylon are no better than Moab. No. You must fly to Bethlehem at once. Now is the accepted time. This is the day of your salvation. (S. H. Tyng, D. D.)
How that the Lord had visited His people in giving them bread.
Gods dealings with His people
I. God seeth His people in adversity and want, and cometh in His due time to help them (Exo_3:7-8), which is from His mere mercy and the stability of His love and promise to His people.
II. God hath ever had more specially a people of His own called His people. This should make us to examine ourselves how we be Gods people, whether according to creation or after the work of regeneration.
III. Corporal food and the necessaries of this life are Gods gift (Lev_26:4-5; Deu_11:14-15; Hos_2:8-9; Joe_2:19). (R. Bernard.)
Good news from the far country
I. God will certainly revive His people with some good news from heaven when their hearts are almost dead within them upon earth (Pro_25:25). This cheered up her drooping spirit, that was almost dead within her by her manifold afflictions. This is one of Gods methods, first to kill and then to make alive (1Sa_2:6; Psa_16:10; Psa_18:16; Psa_90:3); the good news God sent concerning the weal of Zion to His people as they sat weeping by the waters of Babylon (Psa_137:1-2) was a little reviving to them in their bondage (Ezr_9:8); and when His people were humbled He then granted them some deliverance (2Ch_12:7). Heaven is called a far country (Mat_25:14); good news from thence brought in by the Holy Spirit. Oh, how welcome should that be to us and how unspeakably comfortable! (1Pe_1:8).
II. God hath His visiting times and seasons in relation to His own people.
1. Sometimes God visits their sins (Jer_14:10), and then He fulfils His word of threatening evil against them. This is called Gods visiting in His anger (Job_35:15), but He retains not His anger for ever (Psa_57:11).
2. He sometimes also visits in mercy (2Sa_24:16). This is that visit which David begs, Oh visit me with Thy salvation (Psa_106:4).
III. Grace and bounty follow want and penury through Divine goodness to His people. After a long scarcity (of ten years) God visits them with plenty. This holds true both in the temporal and spiritual famine (Amo_8:11). (C. Ness.)
Naomis undying faith and loyalty to Israels God
During all those ten years of absence, Naomi had maintained in undiminished strength her attachment to the service and worship of the true God.Among innumerable incorrupt she stood, like Abdiel in the midst of fallen angels, or like Noah in the midst of a revolted world. There must have been root and reality about her religion to make it thus evergreen and perennial. So have we sometimes seen in the Arabian desert a solitary palm fed by a fountain, and glassing its beauty and abundance in that from which it derived all its verdure and life. How many persons are there whose religion could not endure the test of an ordeal a hundred times less severe than this! It is a thing of mere outward imitation and reflection. Withdraw them from the midst of favouring external influences, and their superficial piety will speedily vanish away like the morning dew. Like the vase that has been electrotyped so as to resemble silver, a little tear and wear brings into view the inferior metal which forms its real material. Carey used to complain bitterly, in his days, that the Christianity of many who came out of England to India did not survive a sea voyage. It was all gone before they had doubled the Cape. In like manner, the Sabbath-keeping and the church-attendance of multitudes have undergone sad decadence during a few months of residence in Berlin or Paris. And yet the degree in which our secret devotion and our Christian habits can live and flourish in the midst of unfriendly influences and when dependent on inward support alone, is the true test of the reality and strength of our religion. Naomi had nobly stood this test, and had thus proved herself to be an Israelite indeed. (A. Thomson, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Rth_1:6-7. Then [and] she arose. She arose in order…
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES.—
Rth_1:6-7. Then [and] she arose. She arose in order to return. Et surrexit ut in patriam pergeret (Vulgate). With her daughters-in-law. Both the young women set out with the intention of going to Bethlehem (Bertheau and others). That she might return. לָשׁוּב (to return) applies strictly and grammatically to Naomi only. For she had heard. By the month of an angel (Targum). The cause of her rising to return was not the death of her sons, but the message (Speaker’s Com.). That the Lord had visited, etc. Because of the righteousness of Ibzan the judge, and because of the simplicity of the pious Boaz (Targum). פקֹד occurs repeatedly for such a return of Divine remembrance (Lange). The language (comp. Luk_1:72; Luk_7:16), especially in the LXX., can hardly fail to draw the mind onward to that used in connection with the coming of Christ (Wordsworth). In giving them bread. Psa_107:35-37; Luk_1:68. From the turn of the language it may properly be inferred that the famine was not the result of war, but of drought (Lange). And they went on the way. And they already went, etc. (Lange). From this verse it appears plain that all started out for the land of Judah (Bertheau)? Until now Naomi had looked on her daughters-in-law as only bearing her company for a while (Dr. Cassel, in Lange). The journey to the borders of their own land would probably be an act of oriental courtesy, whether they intended to proceed further or not (Speaker’s Com.). The sense here demands that this should be read with the following verse: i.e., “On their way Naomi said,” etc.
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Rth_1:6
Theme—THE AWAKENING IN MOAB
“Ah, graceless heart! would that it could regain
From the dim storehouse of sensations past
The impress full of tender awe, that night
Which fell on us! It was as if the Christ
Had been drawn down from heaven to track us home.”
Jean Ingelow.
Then she arose with her daughters-in-law.
No rest, no comfort, no profit in Moab. Perhaps Naomi had said, “I shall die in my nest” (Job_29:18). Not so, the nest is broken up. Now she was ready to say, “I would rather have been a beggar in Canaan, with my husband and my sons about me, than be the possessor of everything in Moab without them” (Tyng). Note. How vain and empty the world will seem to us when the day of a similar awakening comes! (Luk_15:16-17.) Enjoyment gone, wealth vanished, hope departed, loved ones taken away, Moab begins to shew itself in its real character. Like the prodigal, Naomi “came to herself,” and remembers now that there is bread enough and to spare in the Father’s house.
We have here—
I. The result of a mind’s transition. “She arose,” a decided, and, in this case, a decisive step. The expression similar to that used in Luke 15. In all probability there would be several preliminary stages: first, the longing for home, then the resolve, then the act. Note. (a) Right purposes are good so far as they go; to be profitable they must be followed by prompt and decisive action. This is especially true in the critical moments of humanlife. Note. (b) It is time to leave the place of our abode when the godly are taken away, and none left but the wicked to converse with (Bernard).
The awakening, no doubt, was painful; but mark, it is the beginning of a new life. Naomi’s experience a very common one,—through sorrow to repentance, through bitterness to decision. Note. (c) Adversity saves multitudes whom prosperity would possibly have destroyed. The world becomes distasteful, the pleasures of Moab delight us no longer, rather they weary us. Then comes the old longing for home. Many a prodigal, many a backslider, has been brought to himself again in this way. Note. (d) Such awakenings are the work of the Holy Spirit, though brought about by natural causes. Possibly she had heard the Divine voice saying, “Arise ye, depart,” etc. (Mic_2:10, Isa_52:11) in a still more unmistakable manner. A simple word aroused Jacob, and sent him back to Bethel (Gen_35:1). The best men need such at times. (See next outline.) We have here—
II. The influence of a right and wise decision, not only upon her own course of action, but upon “her daughters-in-law.” If Elimelech’s going to Moab had been the fatal thing in connection with his sons, Naomi’s return is to be a blessing to one of the wives at least. This influence argues much in favour of Naomi’s piety (cf. Rth_1:16) and her sweetness and beauty of character. Note. The truly virtuous are of an attractive power (Bernard). Goodness, even among infidels, will make itself friends. Orpah and Ruth ready to forsake their kindred, their country, and even their own mother, for a stranger whose affinity died with her sons (Bishop Hall).
We have here—
III. The reason of this immediate and decisive step. She had heard that the Lord had visited, etc. Note (a) that God’s mercy is here as elsewhere the keynote of man’s return. The pious Hebrew saw God in all things (Cox). Second causes had not as yet hidden the Almighty. A lesson for to-day;
(1) in temporal affairs.
“Happy the man who sees a God employed
In all the good and ill that chequers life.”—Cowper.
(2) in spiritual matters. In the larger sphere of human history, the fact that God has visited His people (Luk_1:68) is the great reason for man’s return unto Him. More than this, (b) We never shall return unto Him until we have seen the hand of God in human affairs. Naomi’s faith quickened her footsteps homeward, a faith which came by hearing: “She had heard.” She believed, and a simple trust in God solved all her difficulties. Hence “she arose.” The reasons for her remaining in Moab had ceased, if they ever existed. Now it was dangerous to remain. See the hand of God in all this leading her (Isa_57:18). Recognize it even in the rumour, etc. Trifles in the moment of indecision may be angel-hands, guiding us homeward and Godward, Note (c) Not all that is in Moab can keep the godly there, when God calls them away (2Co_6:17-18).
Bernard on “How that the Lord had visited His people”:—
I. That God seeth His people in adversity and want, and cometh in His due time to help them. We are not to think ourselves forgotten in great extremities (Exo_3:7-8), but rest in the stability of His love and promises.
II. That God hath ever had more specially a people for His own, called His people, called the sons of God (Genesis 6). Not chosen out of any merit in them, but of His mere love (Deu_7:8; Eph_1:4).
III. That corporal food and the necessaries of this life are God’s gift. (Deu_11:14-15; Hos_2:8-9; Joe_2:19). He makes the earth fruitful. Man without Him can do nothing (Psa_127:2; Hag_1:6; Deu_8:18).
Fuller on this—
By bread is meant all sustenance necessary for the maintaining of our lives, whereof bread is the chiefest. As the temple of Dagon principally leaned on two pillars, and fell to the ground when Samson took them away, so the buildings of our bodies chiefly rely on bread and water for outward sustenance, which being taken away, they cannot but presently decay. Let others, therefore, wish those dishes which curiosity hath invented rather to increase than satisfy hunger, which are more delightsome to the eye than pleasing to the palate, yet more pleasing to the palate than wholesome to the stomach; let us pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.”
Bread is a dish in every course: without this can be no feast, with this can be no famine.
“In all the ways of earthly feeling which man can take in order to seek his happiness, he must sooner or later fall into a death-like absence of joy; it becoming clear to him that he has fallen into a grievous delusion.”—Lange.
“There had been a famine in Judah, but ah! she found a far worse famine in Moab.… Her poverty when she arrived back again seems to argue other troubles besides bereavement.… Far better was this beginning of a return with conscious emptiness to God than her former going out ‘full.’ ”—Tyng.
“We know not precisely how the change was effected.… Perhaps the Divine Spirit wrought by the power of memory, thawed the ice away from the frosted spirit by sunny pictures of the past—by the vision of the ancestral home.”—The Prodigal Son, Morley Punshon.
“Whilst her husband and her sons lived, I hear no motion of retiring home; now these earthly stays are removed, she thinks presently of removing to her country. Neither can we so heartily think of our home above, while we are furnished with these worldly contentments; when God strips us of them, straightway our mind is homeward.”—Bishop Hall.
“How often is it that in this way the darkest day is the beginning of the brightest life. Reverses, difficulties, trials, are often amongst God’s best blessings. From the loss of property is brought out very often the latent energies of character, a power to suffer and to act which, in the querulous being, without a wish ungratified, you would have scarcely said existed at all.”—Robertson.
“To Naomi there comes the voice, ‘Arise, this is not your rest, it is polluted.’ Like the prodigal, for the first time she felt in her heart, if she did not give utterance with her lips, ‘I will arise and go to Bethlehem, the house of bread, my Father’s house.’ ”—Dr. Cumming.
“It has been well and beautifully said that woman has no life but in her family. While her husband and sons lived, their home was hers—there was the scene of her duties, there of her affections; but now those ties were broken, she was called on to act for herself; and with energy and with dignity she did act. Israel was her proper home; and now it was seen, perhaps for the first time, that her heart was there.”—Macartney.
“All are not taken; there are left behind
Living beloveds, tender looks to bring
And make the daylight still a happy thing,
And tender voices to make soft the wind:
But if it were not so—if I could find
No love in all the world for comforting,
Nor any path but hollowly did ring
Where ‘dust to dust’ the love from life disjoined,
And if, before those sepulchres unmoving,
I stood alone (as some forsaken lamb
Goes bleating up the moors in weary dearth),
Crying, ‘Where are ye, O my loved and loving?’—
I know a voice would sound, ‘Daughter, I AM;
Can I suffice for HEAVEN, and not for earth?’ ”
Mrs. Browning.
“When Naomi, the aged widow, proposed to return to Bethlehem, the two young widows were so charmed with her faith, so struck with her meek submission beneath a load that would have crushed the strongest giant in the land of Moab, so convinced that this aged widow had some spring of consolation that the world had not, some sweet source of peace that they knew not of, that both the young widows, under impulsive attachment to a beautiful character, resolved at all hazards to go with her.”—Dr. Cumming.
“I suppose when any messenger arrived in Moab out of the land of Canaan, Naomi did presently repair unto him and load him with questions concerning the estate of her country. For nine years Naomi had no news, but of want and scarcity; yet the tenth year there came a man who brought her word that the valleys began to laugh and sing with plenty.”—Fuller.
“Let none therefore pretend in needless excuses to linger in the land of Egypt when they may return unto the honey-flowing land of Canaan. Joseph must not tarry, with his wife and son, when he is dead that sought the life of the child.”—Fuller.
Rth_1:7
Theme—THE HOMEWARD PILGRIMAGE
“What though the radiance which was once so bright
Be now for ever taken from my sight,
Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind
In the primal sympathy
Which having been ever must be,
In the soothing thoughts that spring
Out of human suffering,
In the faith that looks through death,
In years that bring the philosophic mind.”—Wordsworth.
Wherefore she went forth out of the place.
The real commencement of the narrative as it concerns the true history of Ruth. All else preparatory, explanatory, introductory. A fresh starting-point in the history of Naomi. Poor, solitary, and almost broken-hearted,—yet this is the most promising hour of her life. Her prosperity dates from it, begins to dawn when the night of affliction seems darkest. Divine wisdom has put a boundary to this deep sea of affliction, and said, “Here thy proud waves shall be stayed.” Christ suffered Peter to sink, not to perish—Jonah to be overwhelmed, not destroyed—sent Titus lest Paul should be swallowed up of sorrow (2Co_7:6). Note. No state so bad, no circumstance so desperate, as to be considered altogether hopeless. With God’s children the smoking furnace of temptation usually precedes the smiling lamp of gospel consolation.—Macgowan.
In connection with this return, notice—
I. The thought and purpose. The home ties which bound Naomi to Moab exist no longer. Her husband dead; like Israel, happy only as she realizes that her Maker is her husband (Isa_54:5), all things are ready, and now her face is set towards Bethlehem. Returns like these the human response to the Divine appeal, “I am married unto you” (Jer_3:14). When they spring up in the heart of the true Israelite, where else can they lead but to the land of the sanctuary and the promises? Necessary then and always that men should renew their spiritual youth—trace back the path until they have assurance that they are standing on holy ground. Jacob responded to a similar appeal, and went back to Bethel, the place of the covenant (Genesis 30). Note. (a) Homeward with such often, perhaps always, means Godward. Life seems to move in a circle sometimes, departing only to come back again; wandering afar to return at length, finding itself at last at the point from whence it started. Christian experience knows something of this. With many, as years advance, there is a return to the old landmarks, to the simplicity of old experiences, to the faith and theology learnt around a mother’s knee. You may picture many an experience in this way—an oasis of childhood and an oasis of old age, and between them the barren waste, scorched of passion, and laid desolate of sin, which men call life. With Naomi, and with all, the past irreparable, but the future availing. Note (b) in connection with this return, the Divine intention must have embraced two things—
(1) The renewal of a past consecration;
(2) The revival of a past spiritual life.
Notice,
II. The significant fact. Men may rise from this lowness and deadness, to this earnestness and newness of life, in a moment and with a word. Samson is caught in the Delilah spell, and bound with the Philistine bonds, but something of the old strength lingers (Jdg_16:8-15). Note. (a) A plain distinction between the true Israelite and those who know not God—enough for hope, not enough for presumption. The child carries the home instincts wherever the path may lead; the alien has never known them, though he lives in the Father’s house. Naomi an illustration of this. Life without God, a desert to which the sweet rains of heaven bring no fertility. But life with this thought of God in the heart, hidden, slumbering, like the parched and thirsty earth, which may revive again in the time of the latter rain. Naomi’s past history in Moab may have been a dead and barren one. In no single point had her condition been improved by the change. Her experience the type of a very common Christian experience. The freshness of first love—gone. The glow of zeal and the ardour of devotion—a thing of the past. The joy of believing—well-nigh forgotten. Now love has torments, and faith is full of fears, and devotion is a burden. Note. (b) For such there is a return:
(1) it may be now;
(2) it may be accepted;
(3) it may be final and for ever. We are to think of it as necessary—as not impossible—as not too late.
“In December, the days grow shorter till the twenty-first, the shortest day, when, at a precise moment, the sun pauses and begins to return towards the north.… So there is a precise moment when the soul pauses in its departure from God, and begins to return towards Him. The fruits of that return may not be at once visible; there may be long interior conflicts before the coldness and deadness of the heart is overcome; but at length the good will triumph, and instead of winter and desolation, all the Christian graces will spring up in the summer of divine love.”—Beecher.
“With fettered steps we left our pleasant land,
Envying our fathers in their peaceful grave.
The strangers’ bread with bitter tears we steep;
And when our weary eyes should sink to sleep,
‘Neath the murk midnight we steal forth to weep.…
The born in sorrow shall bring forth in joy;
Thy mercy, Lord, shall lead Thy children home,
And Canaan’s vines for us their fruits shall bear,
And Hermon’s bees their honeyed stores prepare.”
Milman.
“Like Bunyan’s pilgrim when he had slept in the bowers of ease, there is to be that humiliating journey, which is not forward, but backward, until the lost treasure has been recovered.”—B.
“The Bethlehem of the past may become the Bethlehem of the future, once again ‘a house of bread’ to God’s chosen people, if they will only turn their faces thitherward. It may seem a pilgrimage of penitence and sorrow—the path slopes backward and downward—but new consecration is new life, and this is the repentance which needs not to be repented of.”—B.
“As in music there are particular keynotes, so also in the whole wide life of the world and of man. Life has a deep keynote which answers to the note of life in its bloom. It is called return—return to God—return home—and it is accompanied with a longing after home.”—Lange.
“She arose to return, not to another idolatrous land, but ‘home.’ ”—Tyng.
“Memory is busy, and upon her painted fancy she pictures the home-scenes of the happy past.… Anxiety is busy, and she projects her wonder into the nearing future, and speculates upon the probabilities of her reception.”—Punshon.
“There is not a trouble so deep and swift-running that we may not cross safely over, if we have courage to steer, and strength to pull.”—Beecher.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain The Return of Naomi with Ruth
The Return of Naomi with Ruth
v. 6. Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab, for it was understood that the younger women were merely to accompany her for some distance, perhaps to the boundary of the country; for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited His people, in mercy, in giving them bread, in delivering them from the ravages of the famine.
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v. 7. Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was, where she had been an alien, where she had not been at home, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah, they took the road leading to Canaan.
v. 8. And Naomi said unto her daughters-in-law, after they had traversed some distance. Go, return each to her mother’s house, the usual place of refuge for young widows; the Lord deal kindly with you, in showing them merciful kindness, as ye have dealt with the dead and with me. The relation of these former heathen women, not only toward their husbands, but also toward their mother-in-law had been one of the most tender affection and service, a model, in this respect, to this very day and hour.
v. 9. The Lord grant you that ye may find rest, quiet and safe happiness, an asylum of honor and freedom, each of you in the house of her husband, in a second happy marriage. Then she kissed them, as the signal of parting; and they lifted up their voice and wept, unwilling to leave Naomi, whom they had learned to love so dearly.
v. 10. And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people. They found the parting so hard that they preferred to stay with Naomi on her solitary walk through life.
v. 11. And Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters; why will ye go with me? It was her great love for them which prompted her to deter them, if possible. Are there yet any more sons in my womb that they may be your husbands? She was not pregnant with possible sons, who would then be able to perform the duty of levirs toward Ruth and Orpah, Deu 25:5; Gen 38:8.
v. 12. Turn again, my daughters, go your way; her love was great enough to bear the sacrifice of their parting with her, since she had only their happiness in mind; for I am too old to have an husband, she was past the age when the normal consequence of marriage might be expected. If I should say, I have hope, if she should expect the apparently impossible to happen, if I should have an husband also tonight, and should also bear sons,
v. 13. would ye tarry for them, hope to be married to them, till they were grown? Would ye stay for them from having husbands? Should they let this very uncertain possibility keep them from becoming happily married in their own country? Nay, my daughters, for it grieveth me much for your sakes, that was the bitterest drop in her cup of sorrow, that the hand of the Lord is gone out against me, in taking both her husband and her sons. She did not even mention another possibility, namely, that of a marriage in the land of Judah, for her delicacy kept her from mentioning what would probably prove a disappointment, since the sentiment in Israel was strongly against marriages also with Moabites, Deu 7:3-4.
v. 14. And they lifted up their voice and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, convinced that the way pointed out by her was the best; but Ruth clave unto her, clinging to her all the more closely now that Orpah was leaving.
v. 15. And she, Naomi, said, Behold, thy sister-in-law is gone back unto her people and unto her gods, for the one implied the other; return thou after thy sister-in-law. Naomi’s love for Ruth was so great that she desired her earthly welfare even at the sacrifice of her company.
v. 16. And Ruth said, as the climax of a scene of wonderful delicacy and unequaled tenderness, in a rivalry of affection which is without a parallel in human annals, Intreat 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;
v. 17. where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried. She will not be swerved from her intention to cast her lot with that of Naomi. It was not the affection of a daughter to her natural mother nor that of a wife to the husband of her choice, but it was her love toward Naomi which had knit their hearts together. And the highest stage of the devotion which she yielded to Naomi for life was reached in the confession that she had found the God of Israel to be the true God, a fact which implied the highest unity of spirit. The Lord, Jehovah, do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me. It was an oath inviting the severest penalty on the part of Jehovah if Ruth should prove fickle in her affection and devotion.
v. 18. When she, Naomi, saw that she was steadfastly minded, that her resolution was unshakable, to go with her, then she left speaking unto her, she no longer attempted to dissuade her.
v. 19. So they two went until they came to Bethlehem, the end of their journey. And it came to pass, when they were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, there was great excitement on account of their return, and they, chiefly the women, said, Is this Naomi? It was not a cry of surprise over the fact that she was still alive, but rather an expression of sympathy that she had returned bereft of both husband and sons.
v. 20. And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi (lovely, gracious), call me Mara (bitter); for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me, He had inflicted sorrow upon her, as her obvious bereavement showed; the God of fruitfulness and life had withheld His blessings from her.
v. 21. I went out full, rich, as a wife and mother, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty, with neither husband nor sons; why, then, call ye me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified against me, had declared Himself her opponent by depriving her of her loved ones, and the Almighty hath afflicted me? God had made sorrow her portion, to teach her to trust in Him all the more implicitly.
v. 22. So Naomi returned, such was the nature of her return to the city of her fathers, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab. The curiosity of the Bethlehemites was satisfied, and their interest soon died down, since Naomi had sunk into poverty and no longer could take her place with the influential people of the town; but Ruth remained faithful, standing by her mother-in-law in her misery. And they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley-harvest, about the latter part of March or the beginning of April, fortunate for them, since they were now dependent upon the portion of the poor to get a livelihood, Lev 19:9-10; Lev 23:22. Thus Ruth, in denying herself the advantages which she might have had in her home country, became a partaker of the blessings of the true God. Whenever we are placed before a decision such as she made, the way which points to the service and worship of the true God must be our choice without hesitation, for in Him we find the eternal blessings of His mercy.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 she had heard in the region of Moab
she had heard in the region of Moab
"while Naomi was living in Moab she heard." It is implied that the news came from Israel. AT: "she heard from Israel while in the region of Moab" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
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Yahweh
This is the name of God that he revealed to his people in the Old Testament. See the translationWord page about Yahweh concerning how to translate this.
had helped his people in need
God saw their need and provided good harvests for them.
daughters-in-law
the women who married Naomi's sons
they walked down the road
"they walked along the road." To walk down a road is an expression for walking away. (See: Idiom)
translationWords
Moab
Judah
Yahweh
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 1:6 giving: This same Hebrew verb is used in…
1:6 giving: This same Hebrew verb is used in 4:13 (“enabled”). These two notices of God’s acts enclose the story between similar phrases (an inclusio, literary “bookends”). God gives good things, such as food and children, and he works providentially behind the scenes in the ordinary course of things.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.