Choice Notes On Joshua Through 2 Kings
by F B Meyer
Introduction
Ruth 1 The Return From Moab
Ruth 2 Ruth The Gleaner
Ruth 3 A Near Kinsman
Ruth 4 The Bride Of Boaz
Introduction
This brief history forms an appendix to the Book of Judges with which it is obviously connected by the Hebrew word
translated "Now:' The object of the writer is to sketch the descent of David; and the narrative was probably
written after his accession to the kingship, when a public interest in his ancestry was aroused. It supplies the
genealogy of David which is not given in the Books of Samuel, and is thought by many to have been written by Samuel;
if so, it was in his later years, as internal evidences in the narrative (obsolete Chaldaisms in the speech of
characters introduced, and a similarity of expression with parts of Samuel) tend to show that the narrator adopted
existing records in writing his own. There is also the ceremony of "casting the shoe" (Ruth 4:7), which
is described as being the "custom (R.V.) in former times:'
The events recorded in this Book cover a period of about ten years, which would most probably commence during the
seven years of the Midianite oppression recorded in Jdg 6:1, so that the interval between the events and this record
of them appears to have been about a century and a half.
The personal history of the central character in the Book is a very attractive one. Here we have established the
fact of a heathen woman being counted woRuthy of becoming an ancestress of the great Messiah; and taken in connection
with the history of Pharez (Ruth 4:18, and Genesis 38) this narrative foreshadows the world-wide character of Christ's
work for us, and how the purposes of God reach over the limits of the chosen people to bless and enrich all individual
souls that truly love and seek Him. Throughout the Bible there are traces that God's heart went out after the other
sheep that were not of the Israelitish fold, and in this exquisite story we catch a glimpse of the weaving through
faith into the spiritual family of Abraham those who naturally had neither part nor lot with him. There is also
interesting dispensational truth in these chapters, showing how the Gentile Church may enter into that union with
the true Bridegroom of souls.
This Book forms a pleasant contrast to the more stormy and terrible episodes which marked the national condition
between the days of Joshua and those of Samuel. It is like a smiling dale enclosed in gaunt and forbidding hills;
or an idyll amid the storm of a tragedy. And in those stirring times of foreign inroads and domestic struggles
of famine, and deeds of violence and crime which caused Elimelech to leave his village, it is evident that there
were many devout souls like Boaz, who, with greater faith in God, maintained the loftiest conditions of patriarchal
piety; and many homes hidden in the valleys where humility, endurance, industry, and love dwelt in exquisite and
pure beauty.us must stand in our behalf, fulfill the law, and secure its fulfillment in our hearts.
RUTH 1
THE RETURN FROM MOAB
In this chapter the names tell a story: Elimelech, my God is King; Naomi, pleasant or comely. They tell of a religious
life, and of the beauty of the young bride led to her new village home. Mahlon, great infirmity; Chilion, wasting
away. They attest the inroad of want and famine, with the natural result of weak constitutions and broken health.
Ruth 1:1-5 The emigration. -- Surely this was through want of faith. Elimelech denied his name. When parents move
into worldly circles, away from the ordinances of God's house, with an eye to worldly gain, they must not be surprised
if their children make worldly alliances. The expedition ended in disaster, and the death from which they fled
overtook them in the land of their adoption.
Too often when famine lies hard upon us, we attempt to help ourselves by desperate expedients which exclude God.
We leave the land of promise for Moab, but there we meet the fate we thought to avert. Children of the world are
at liberty to do things which the child of God cannot indulge in without peril and loss, and yet the results of
our mistakes and sins are often so transformed by the touch of God's hand as to yield the richest fruits of life.
Mahlon and Chilion are buried in Moab, but from Moab Ruth arises to be better than seven sons.
Ruth 1:6-10 The return. -- Naomi's sorrows had broken the ties which held her to Moab. Such is the explanation
of many of those calamities which happen to the children of God. They are away from home, and must be driven back.
Ruth 1:11-18 The separation. -- Born in the same village, possibly betrothed and married on the same day, bound
up in the same family life, companions on the road to Bethlehem; there their fellowship ceased. The one went back
to her gods and obscurity; the other forward to Jehovah's worship and an honorable connection with Jewish story
(Luk 17:33).
There are crises in all lives like that on the high pass that led from Moab to Canaan, where one soul cannot resist
the fascinations of people and gods, lying far down the valley, while the other, thrilled with heroic purpose and
faith, chooses the unseen and unknown. Although Ruth was, as far as we can discover, moved by no other considerations
than affection for Naomi, and a desire to become a worshipper with her of the true God, yet she was unconsciously
moving forward to her great destiny -- an ancestress of Messiah. "Verily there is a reward for the righteous:'
Ruth 1:19-22 The welcome back. -- Naomi's deep sorrow moved the city. The "pleasantness" had been turned
into "bitterness" in her absence; but the welcome back was sincere on the part of the villagers. Nothing
can so support us in sorrow as human love and sympathy, and the consciousness that under all secondary causes there
is the purpose and hand of the Almighty Himself, dealing with us. Thus the Marah springs of our bereavements are
staunched and transformed. The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? (Joh 18:11).
The time of the return to Bethlehem (the beginning of barley-harvest) was probably in the month of April.
RUTH 2
RUTH, THE GLEANER
Our first experiences when we have chosen Christ are not always sunny ones. We have to glean in the fields of strangers.
Testing times like these develop our nobler qualities, and make it clear that we have chosen God for Himself, and
not for the wages that He pays.
Ruth 2:1-3 Ruth, the gleaner. -- The noblest natures are noble in the simplest of things. Those who are faithful
in least, approve themselves woRuthy of being promoted to be faithful in much. Imitate Ruth, by doing the thing
that lies next to your hand, and you will be probably promoted to a wider sphere. We must die in little acts of
self-denial before we can bring foRuth much fruit. It is not in seeking great things for ourselves, but in doing
little acts of service for those near to us, that we commend ourselves for usefulness and blessedness.
Those who glean in the fields of the Land of Promise will have enough and to spare, will meet their great Kinsman,
and will become prepared to enter upon the higher experience of that union with Him, of which marriage is a shadow.
Glean on, oh my soul! and gather after the reapers among the sheaves! Beat out what you glean with patient care!
Do not hesitate to bring foRuth and give to those who need to abide at home! The time will come when those fair
fields of Bible truth shall become your own, by union with their owner.
Ruth 2:4-17 Boaz, the master. -- Would that language like this was more frequently heard in harvest fields and
factories! The speech of the employed is generally an echo of that of the employer (4). We should beware, however,
of degenerating into a formality which speaks God's name thoughtlessly. How much good might we do if we were more
careful to notice those who serve us, and speak kindly to servant-girls. Little acts and words of kindness do not
cost much, but they mean much to a lonely soul (Mat 25:40). Note the significant synonym for trust (Ruth 2:12;
Psa 63:7; Mat 23:37).
Boaz (strength) the near kinsman, is a glimpse of Him who, centuries later, was born in this same Bethlehem, and
who appeals to each who does the will of His Father, as brother, sister, or mother. He takes knowledge of strangers;
He is quick to see every trait of natural grace, and all kindly actions done to the least that belong to Him; He
provides bread and wine; He causes handfuls to be dropped on purpose; He screens from annoyance and harm; He comforts
and speaks to the heart; He blesses, and the humble, stooping spirit is blessed forever.
Ruth 2:18-23 Naomi, the anxious mother. -- How gladdened were those aged eyes with ephah (between three and four
pecks) of barley, and with the reserves from the mid-day meal. We ought to bring home from every service the reserves
of what we have heard (Ruth 2:18). Man's kindness will sometimes soften a hard and weary heart, and enable it again
to believe in the love of God (Ruth 2:20). An over-ruling Providence had guided the young stranger to the field
of a kinsman, though she knew it not (Ruth 2:19). God remembers the prayers of the dead long after they have been
offered, and answers them by mysterious providences, which show the eternal permanence and steadfastness of His
love (Isa 54:8-10; Rom 8:28).
RUTH 3
A NEAR KINSMAN
Home ought always to mean Rest (Ruth 3:1; and Ruth 1:9). We need rest, and there is no such home wherein to find
it, as the heart of our Maker, who is also our Husband! True wedded love is Rest, and the heart which has learned
its true relationship to the great Kinsman, Christ, is at rest, no toilsome work in barley fields; all He has is
ours.
Ruth 3:2-6 Naomi's proposals. -- To our notions of propriety they seem rather extraordinary. But we must remember
that Ruth had a legal claim on Boaz, to be taken as his wife, on supposition that he was the nearest kinsman (Deu
25:5-10). There is a sense in which a defenseless soul has a claim on the Lord Jesus Christ; nor is there any posture
for us better than to lie at his feet, waiting for Him to tell us what to do (Ruth 3:4).
Ruth 3:6-15 The chivalry of Boaz. -- He would not take advantage of the poor Gentile girl who appealed to him;
and until his rights were clearly established, the question of their marriage union must needs wait; in the meanwhile
he took the greatest care of her character (Ruth 3:14). Nor did he leave her to plead her own case with the other
kinsman, of whose existence Naomi seems to have been unaware, but undertook to ascertain his position for them.
There seems a slight touch of pleased vanity in his allusion to Ruth's preference for himself over the younger
men (Ruth 3:10), which is very natural and lifelike.
Ruth 3:16-18 Waiting. -- And so the two women sat still. It was a good attitude, and one which well befits us all,
when we have done all we can, and must leave the issue (Psa 62:1). It was a grand character for faithfulness that
Naomi gave Boaz (Ruth 3:18). But how similarly it befits our blessed Lord, our Kinsman indeed. Put all into His
strong hands, and then sit still.
When once we have put our matters into the hands of Christ, we have no fuRuther need for worry or fear, but may
sit still in assured trust. We may rest, because He will not rest till He has finished that with which we have
entrusted Him, and has fulfilled the word on which He has caused us to hope (Isa 52:1; 2Ti 1:12).
RUTH 4
THE BRIDE OF BOAZ
It was probably early morning (Ruth 4:3-13) when Boaz "went up to the gate" -- the customary place of
Eastern legal transactions; and there he waited till the other and nearer kinsman came. And in that total disregard
of time and absence of hurry, which are so characteristic of Oriental life, they sat down to discuss their matter
in public, before ten elders, or, as we might call them, magistrates or judges.
Ruth 4:3-11 A law court. -- The kinsman was willing to acquire the land (Ruth 4:4), which, perhaps, had been mortgaged,
in payment of debt; but he was not willing to marry Ruth, because a son, born of the union, might divert the succession
of his own lands from his family (Ruth 4:6); so he renounced his right of claim, and confirmed the act by the Jewish
custom, in which, by the transference of his shoe, he transferred his proprietorship (Deu 25:8-9).
Our Boaz pleads our cause in the gate, and what the law could not do, in that it was unable to redeem, our great
Kinsman has done. And as the transference of the shoe indicated the transference of authority and poverty, so has
all right and power over us passed into the hands of Jesus, who alone has a supreme claim over us. We are His.
His because of His near kinship; His because He has fulfilled the law and possessed Himself of all legal right
to us; His because He has redeemed us.
Ruth 4:11-13 A wedding, It was a rare lot for the Gentile maiden to have her case taken in hand by Boaz, the wealthy
landowner of Bethlehem. To be his wife, and to realize that his inheritance was hers -- this must have sent a thrill
of bliss through her heart. Now the gleaner need not wearily follow the reapers' footsteps; all these broad fields
were hers, because she had become one with their owner. So, when we are married to that other, Christ, we no longer
toilsomely work for redemption, but, being redeemed, we bring foRuth fruit unto God (Rom 7:4). Redeemed, wedded,
fruitful.
But, after all, this raising up of the poor out of the dust to sit with princes is not to be named in comparison
with the still more surprising fact in which each believer who reads these lines has a share. That we, who were
not a people, should become the people of the living God, is much; but that is not all. We have become the Bride
of Christ, and are joint-heirs with Him of His unsearchable riches.
Ruth 4:14-16 A nursery. -- What ecstasy filled that aged heart! God will not ever be threshing us, but will give
joy where He caused sorrow (Luk 1:45). And so, if we will wait for the end of the Lord, we shall always find that
He justifies His dealings with His people. At first His hand seems against us. But it is only on account of our
unbelief and disobedience. When we return to Him, He begins to work our help and cure.
Ruth 4:17-22 A genealogy. -- Of this line came David; and also on these same fields angels chanted the biRuth of
another greater than all, who had sprung from this Gentile girl. Race cannot exclude from the line of blessing.
In Christ we all are one (Col 3:11).