Ruth 1:14 And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother in law; but Ruth joined to her. The others did not greatly blame her, and we, for our part, may not reproach her. It is unnecessary to suppose that in returning to her kinsfolk and settling down to the tasks that offered in her mother's house she was guilty of despising truth and love and renouncing the best. We may reasonably imagine her henceforth bearing witness for a higher morality, and affirming the goodness of the Hebrew religion among her friends and acquaintances. Ruth goes where affection and duty lead her; but for Orpah too it may be claimed that in love and duty she goes back. She is not one who says, "Moab has done nothing for me; Moab has no claim upon me; I am free to leave my country; I am under no debt to my people." We shall not take her as a type of selfishness, worldliness, or backsliding, this Moabite woman. Let us rather believe that she knew of those at home who needed the help she could give, and that with the thought of least hazard to herself mingled one of the duty she owed to others. (R. A. Watson, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother in law; but Ruth clave unto her. |
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