But Ruth replied: "Do not urge me to leave you or to turn from following you. For wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you live, I will live; your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Sermons I. THERE WERE INFLUENCES OPPOSED TO RUTH'S CONSTANCY. 1. Early associations and friendships would have tied her to Moab. 2. The entreaty of Naomi that she would return set her perfectly free to do so, if she had been disposed. 3. The example of her sister-in-law, Orpah, could not but have some weight. Orpah had been, like Ruth, kind alike to the living and the dead, yet she wept, kissed her mother-in-law, and returned. 4. The religion of her childhood could scarcely have been without attractions for her. Could she leave the temples, the deities, the observances of her earliest days behind? II. THERE WERE MANIFESTATIONS OF PIOUS CONSTANCY IN RUTH'S RESOLVES. 1. She would go with Naomi, though by an unknown route. 2. She would dwell with Naomi, though in an unknown home. 3. She would die with Naomi, though to be buried in an unknown grave. III. THERE WAS A RELIGIOUS FOUNDATION FOR RUTH'S CONSTANCY. 1. Apparent from the resolution - "Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God." 2. Apparent from the adjuration she employed - "The Lord do so," etc. IV. THE TRIUMPH AND RECOMPENSE OF RUTH'S CONSTANCY. 1. Her fidelity and devotion were reciprocated by Naomi. 2. In the providence of God Ruth was rewarded by an honorable position and a happy life. - T.
Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return. Sermons by the Monday Club. I. EVERY PERSON IS TESTED. Sooner or later, but certainly. The tests will vary in severity with the cases. In every case they will be conclusive, determining the genuineness of the life professed. They cannot be evaded. If one is for Christ, he will continue with Him. The test of God cannot be too severe. The true follower cannot be driven away. To the strongest appeals he replies: "Lord, to whom shall I go?"II. WHEN TESTED, AN ORPAH WILL GO BACK. Why should she leave so much for so little? Naomi was only her mother-in-law. There was her own mother standing and beckoning in the doorway of the old home. She was not only leaving home and country, she was leaving her God. With much depth of feeling, there was not depth enough to bind her heart. III. A RUTH, WHEN TESTED, GOES ON. What is the difference between her and Orpah, leading to this different conduct? 1. Her devotion to Naomi. She was less impulsive, perhaps, than her sister, but hers was a love which bore testing. The Greeks and Latins, among their fine discriminations, distinguished between the emotional love of feeling and the intelligent love of choice. Orpah's love was the former; that of Ruth was the love of choice. It grew out of careful reflection. It was a deep, undying attachment. 2. The religious foundation of her conduct. This is a trait, if not wholly wanting in her sister, too weak for any mention — a trait beside which Ruth's exceeding love is wholly secondary. Ruth had chosen her mother's God. 3. Her resolute exercise of will. She was moved by Naomi's appeals. She thought anew of what she was leaving. She heard tender voices calling her, of the living, of the dead: "Come back, come back." Her heart began to yield. When Orpah returned, she could scarcely resist the impulse to go with her. Then "she strengthened herself." She summoned her soul. She put forth a supreme exercise of will. IV. RUTH RECEIVED HER REWARD. She became an ancestress of the world's Redeemer. (Sermons by the Monday Club.) 1. It involves the surrender of a false belief. This quiet scene may be placed beside that on Carmel. Ruth's decision is mightier in its gentleness than Israel's in its terror. In manner the two are as unlike as the dawn to the earthquake; in results as the clear ray of a planet to the flash of a meteor. In essence they are the same. Our false god has no repulsive name, such as Baal or Chemosh; its real title is self, its worship sin, its wages death. It must be surrendered. 2. True choice of God involves sacrifice. To start out with Naomi meant not pleasantness, but bitterness. Ruth followed, as she thought, to loneliness, homelessness, perpetual widowhood; against the desire of those she left, without the wish of those to whom she was going; ready to work, to beg, to die if need be, for the one who stood to her as representing God. To-day, Canaan in the Church welcomes even Moab to its circle. Earthly advantages are largely on its side. But a cross seems to wait somewhere in the way, if only that sore surrender of pride and pleasure and will which prompt the soul's real refusal. 3. God sends help to a right choice. Providences both of joy and of sorrow; attractions and repulsions of heart; subtle influences of companionship; favour and famine; marriage and mourning; our life is one long plea for Him. 4. A decision is forced. Somewhere in the way comes a test. On either side example, desire, promise; we must hold to the one and forsake the other. 5. Right decision has its great rewards. What Ruth feared proved only unsuspected blessings. Losing her life, she found it. Bishop Hall exclaims: "Oh, the sure and beautiful payment of the Almighty! Who ever forsook the Moab of this world for the true Israel, and did not at length rejoice in the change?" (Charles M. Southgate.) I. EMOTION HAS ITS LARGE APPOINTED PLACE IN LIFE. It is the colour and fragrance of the soul's world. It gives both impulse and reward to action. Emotion has great play in religion. God appeals to it. The character of God is so presented as to excite our emotions. We tremble at His awfulness, adore His greatness. The story of Christ's life and death has power to move us beyond all else. The insensible heart is usually a selfish heart. But — II. EMOTION WILL NOT TAKE THE PLACE OF CONSECRATION. Here distinguish between sensuous and spiritual impressions. There is a peace, a rapture, which the Spirit breathes into the believing soul, the promised manifestation of Christ to him "that hath My commandments and keepeth them." This is the reward of obedience, not its substitute; is not of nature, but of grace. No degree of feeling about religious things is religion. Natural fondness toward God, as toward parents, may be the mere delight of an emotional nature, a snare to the soul and an affront to Him. What joy to Christ that eyes which overflow for a novel or a play should moisten at the story of Calvary? There is need of searchings of heart and stings of conscience in unsuspected places. Orpah and Ruth feel alike, love alike, but part for ever at the test of following. III. THE TRUE OFFICE OF EMOTION IS TO DRAW TO CONSECRATION. Feeling is for the sake of following. The Church has still no realm of mightier influence than a consecrated home. The heaviest condemnation of many in the day of judgment will be that they resisted the influences and withstood the prayers of a godly home. IV. CHOOSING GOD IS PROVED BY CHOOSING, GOD'S PEOPLE. The world estimates our relation to Christ by our relation to His followers. Yet it often seems as if men must be twice converted, first to Christ, and again to His Church. Do not let this woman's devotion shame us. She gave up, literally, all her world for God. True devotion to Christ turns to His Church with Ruth's matchless consecration. (Charles M. Southgate.) 1. An impulsive religion is not always real religion; nay, is very often the reverse. Better, far better, to be quiet and undemonstrative like Ruth, and to have the root of the matter in us, than to be impulsive and demonstrative like Orpah, and in the hour of trial to fail. A straw will show in what direction the stream is flowing. Ask yourself, "How do I act in little things? Is self habitually postponed to God? And this because the Lord is my joy?"2. The importance of (nay, the necessity for) an entire surrender of ourselves to God, if we would be Christians indeed. Let us ask ourselves, "Is it thus with me and the Saviour? Have I thus taken Christ to be mine? Do I thus cleave to Him? Is He supreme in my affections?" 3. The choice which we have been considering must be made with the full determination to abide by it, come weal or come woe, for ever. (Aubrey C. Price, B. A.) It must have been a severe trial to Ruth's constancy when she beheld her sister-in-law, who had probably been the companion of her youth and the friend of her early widowhood, turning away back to Moab and its idol-gods and leaving her alone with Naomi; for we are greatly influenced for good or for evil by sympathy and numbers. And had her steadfastness now depended on her human relations and affections alone, and had her heart not stricken down and rooted itself in something that was Divine, she would in all likelihood have returned after her sister-in-law. When one flower in a garden is pulled up, it loosens the hold of all the other flowers near it, unless they are much more deeply rooted. And Naomi's words seemed to give a voice to this temptation: "Behold, thy sister-in-law has gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister-in-law." This was like giving an increased momentum to the stroke, or feathering the arrow and driving it to its mark. But let us not misunderstand the venerable woman in her yearning interest and disguised love. There was a hidden harmony between her treatment of Ruth and the rule to deal gently with young converts as you would do with the early spring blossom or with the new-born child. But she dreaded a choice made from mere temporary impulse or secondary motives. The cable that is to connect the ship with the anchor needs to be tested in every strand or link. One weak point makes all weak, and may be the occasion of death to thousands. Suppose Ruth to go on to Bethlehem-judah, to be brought face to face with the stern realities of penury, and then to regret her choice and to steal away back to Moab, would not the most sacred interests suffer the most? Here, then, was her "valley of decision." Naomi had anticipated the maxim, "Try before you trust"; but she was equally ready to obey the other part of it, "Trust after you have tried."(A. Thomson, D. D.) Whither thou goest, I will go;... thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. Homilist. 1. That private families are as much under the providence of God as the houses of kings.2. That whilst religion does not secure from the ordinary trials of life, it does secure their being overruled for good. 3. That a devout committal of our being to God in His providence will never fail of its reward. In the text we have — I. A DELIBERATE RESOLUTION FOR THE TRUE. 1. The true in society. 2. The true in worship. II. A SOCIAL INFLUENCE FOR THE TRUE. 1. Naomi represented her country, and her people, and her God, to Ruth. 2. The representation which Naomi gave was most attractive. (1) (2) (3) III. AN INVINCIBLE ENERGY FOR THE TIME. 1. This force triumphed over all old associations. 2. This force overcame all the pleadings of Naomi. 3. This force changed her social condition and her destiny.Away with the dogma that man is the creature of circumstances! The soul is a mariner that can so pilot her barque as to make the most hostile winds waft her to the shores on which her heart is set. She is an eagle that can rise above the darkest thundercloud of circumstances, and bask in sunlight, whilst that cloud spends itself in wild tempests beneath her buoyant wing. (Homilist.) II. THE EXTENT OF HER DECISION. It comprehends the sum of all her actions, and reaches to the utmost limit of her existence. Profession without principle is nothing. III. THE FELICITY OF HER DECISION. There is no substantial happiness apart from real religion. Application: 1. Are we Christians? Then we have each a soul to save — a God to serve. 2. Are we yet undecided? Ruth is our pattern. 3. Are we indifferent? Then we resemble Orpah, Ruth's sister-in-law. (F. Ellaby, B. A.) 2. It was an affectionate choice. Her heart is with Naomi. Her desires all reach forward to the land to which Naomi journeys, and thither, on whatever terms, she must and she will go. It is just such a choice to which the Saviour would lead you all." My daughter, give Me thy heart," is His tender appeal to you. And our youthful, spiritual traveller freely and affectionately responds, "I give my heart to Thee; Thy face will I seek; hide not Thy face from me." Her choice is of the Saviour, because she really loves Him. Infinite attractions are gathered around Him. His service seems to her all that she can desire. 3. Ruth's choice was an entire one. There was no hesitation in her mind about the decision she should make. She manifested no remaining love for Moab, and no lingering desire to carry something of Moab with her. And it was this entire choice which made the happiness of her future course. She made the exchange, the transfer of herself, freely, completely, and without reserve. And there was nothing left to turn her back to Moab in her possible experience hereafter. When the choice of a Saviour is thus entire, how completely it opens the way for future duty! How it settles all future discussions and difficulties with a single decision! The secret of happiness in religion is just here. Making it the entire, single choice of the heart. The troubles and difficulties in the Saviour's service habitually arise from the vain attempt to serve two masters. 4. Ruth's choice was a determined choice. Lovely and gentle as she appears, and humbly and affectionately as she pleads, there was amazing dignity and firmness in her stand. Some of the most triumphant and remarkable deaths in the history of early martyrdom for Christ are of young and tender virgins who calmly and boldly endured every conceivable torture without a moment's faltering. "I am a Christian," was their gentle but firm reply to every solicitation to recant, until, worn out with suffering, they departed to be with Christ. You may never be called to the same sorrows. But you will be always summoned to the same decision. Jesus will always require from you the same unshrinking, determined choice. 5. Ruth's choice was an instant choice. She asked no time for consideration. Her mind was made up. Her decision was settled. She staggered not in unbelief, nor wavered amidst conflicting motives. Why should we ever hesitate a moment in our acceptance of the Saviour's offers? Surely when the Lord sets before us life and death, a blessing and a curse, and bids us choose for ourselves which we will have, we require no time for consideration. It has become a mere question of personal voluntary choice. This can never be settled but by our own personal decision and act. If it is to be settled, it must be finally, in a single moment of time. Why should that moment be delayed? Why should that frank and affectionate choice be postponed? Make an instant choice. Say, "When Thou sayest, Seek ye My face, my heart replies, Thy face, Lord, will I seek." Why should any of you hesitate? All the arguments of truth, of interest, of duty, of happiness, are on one side. (S. H. Tyng, D. D.) 1. In the first place, if we want to become Christians, we must, like Ruth in the text, choose the Christian's God — a loving God; a sympathetic God; a great hearted God; an all-encompassing God; a God who flings Himself on this world in a very abandonment of everlasting affection. 2. Again, if we want to be Christians, like Ruth in the text we must take the Christian's path. "Where thou goest, I will go," cried out the beautiful Moabitess to Naomi. Dangerous promise that. There were deserts to be crossed. There were jackals that came down through the wilderness. There were bandits. There was the Dead Sea. Naomi says "Ruth, you must go back. You are too delicate to take this journey. You will give out in the first five miles. You have not the physical stamina, or the moral courage, to go with me." Ruth responds: "Mother, I am going, anyhow. If I stay in this land I will be overborne of the idolaters; if I go along with you I shall serve God. Give me that bundle. Let me carry it. I am going with you, mother, anyhow." 3. Again, if we want to become Christians, like Ruth in the text we must choose the Christian's habitation. "Where thou lodgest, will I lodge," cried Ruth to Naomi. She knew that wherever Naomi stopped, whether it were hovel or mansion, there would be a Christian home; and she wanted to be in it. 4. If we want to become Christians, like Ruth in the text we must choose Christian associations. "Thy people shall be my people!" cried out Ruth to Naomi. Oh, ye unconverted people, I know not how you can stand it down in that moping, saturnine worldly association. Come up into the sunlight of Christian society — those people for whom all things are working right now, and will work right for ever. I tell you that the sweetest japonicas grow in the Lord's garden; that the largest grapes are from the vineyards of Canaan; that the most sparkling floods break forth from the "Rock of Ages." Do not too much pity this Ruth of my text; for she is going to become joint-owner of the great harvest-fields of Boaz. 5. Once more, if we want to become Christians, we must, like Ruth in the text, choose the Christian's death and burial. She exclaimed: "Where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried." I think we all, when leaving this world, would like to be surrounded by Christian influences. You would not like to have your dying pillow surrounded by caricaturists, and punsters, and wine-bibbers. How would you like to have John Leech come with his London pictorials, and Christopher North with his loose fun, and Tom Hood with his rhyming jokes, when you are dying? No, no! What we want is radiation in the last moment. Yes; Christian people on either side the bed, and Christian people at the foot of the bed, and Christian people to close my eyes, and Christian people to carry me out, and Christian people to look after those whom I leave behind, and Christian people to remember me a little while after I am gone. (T. De Witt Talmage.) II. But, having thus vindicated human nature as to the fact of true-heartedness, let us proceed to consider ITS TESTS. By what signs or expressions may we be assured of its presence? I reply that the very words of the text, the very ideas to which Ruth referred, afford a sufficient indication of these tests. For consider what these ideas, expressed in the language of Ruth, really are. They are the ideas of home, country, God, and the end of our mortal life. And are there any ideas more vital than these? Surely, if one cherishes any sacred and true thoughts at all, they must cluster around these things. 1. Home, that has sheltered and nourished you, that encloses your most secret life, that claims the first flow of your affections and their last throb. 2. Country, that organism which links your individual being to a public interest, that gives you a share in history, a pride in great names, an influence in world-wide issues, and, as a second home, inspires you with a more comprehensive loyalty. 3. The grave, which bounds all earthly action, and limits every earthly condition, that realm where distinctions of home and country melt away, the bed where all must lie, "the relentless crucible" in which rags and splendour alike dissolve, the gateway to a stupendous mystery. 4. And God, the Infinite Being to whom the instincts of our souls respond, to whom in our highest consciousness we aspire, the Source and the Interpretation of all existence, the Light that comprehends our darkness, the Strength that sustains our weakness, the Presence to which in our guilt and our adoration we lift our cry, the Nature in which we live and move and have our being — these are great realities; and it appears to me that the words of Ruth are so eloquent, and her devotion seems so great, because of the greatness of the things she spoke of. Indeed, does not this ground of thought and action constitute a grand distinction of our humanity? If in many points man is closely linked to the brute, is he not largely separated by his thoughts concerning these things, and by his action upon them? Ascribe to the animal such affections, such faculties, such power of reasoning, as we may and as we must, surely no one will claim for him such conceptions as man entertains concerning home and country and God and the limitations of his earthly lot. These are manifestations of human nature which project beyond the sphere of mere animal life, and indicate a larger scope of being. They are marks of immortality. Start with any one of these ideas, and see to what it leads. For instance, the relationships of home — is there not an argument for immortality in these? Or start from the idea of country, and is not the same conclusion unfolded? The duties, the achievements, the historical problems, that pertain to nationality, do not they suggest it? And he upon whose mind dawns some apprehension of the Infinite, he who feels assured that he holds communion with the Eternal Spirit, and presses forward towards that perfect excellence, never completely to attain, but always capable of larger attainment — surely in essence he must be imperishable. And the grave itself, dark and silent as it is, to such a conscious soul cannot seem the final barrier of existence, but only the suggestive portal of new achievements. If, then, these great realities, of which Ruth spoke, are associated with all that is deepest and noblest in our humanity, he who proves faithful to even one of these ideas, who holds it as a sacred conviction, and cherishes it with a pure love, has in him the core of true-heartedness, the ground of a principle, and a possibility in which we may trust. And permit me to add that these tests are personal and practical, tests by which we may try not so much the trueheartedness of others, for which we may have very little function, but by which each may try his own. A man can hardly ask himself a more practical question than this: "What are my thoughts, and what is my conduct, respecting home, country, God, and the limitations of my mortal life?" III. I remark, finally, that these four ideas are not only the tests of personal true-heartedness — they also reveal THE GREAT BOND OF OUR COMMON HUMANITY. That which is common to men abides in the hearts of men, is linked with the great facts expressed in the text. They thus indicate the natural ground of human unity. And upon these ideas it is the tendency of Christianity to develop a still nobler unity. (E. H. Chapin, D. D.) 1. It is a narrow way. 2. It sometimes proves a way of affliction. 3. It is nevertheless a very pleasant way. II. A RESOLUTION TO BE SATISFIED WITH SPIRITUAL ENTERTAINMENTS. 1. The Christian finds a sweet entertainment in communion with his God — in praising Him, which is one of the most delightful exercises of the mind; and in prayer, which is so necessary for the renewing of his spiritual strength. 2. In the Word of God he finds a delightful repast. He is made wise unto salvation. 3. In the conversation of his fellow Christians, the believer finds delightful refreshing. 4. The believer finds also times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord when he takes up his abode in the house of God. He experiences the truth of the promise," they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength." III. A RESOLUTION TO CAST IN THE LOT WITH THE PEOPLE OF GOD. Before you make a resolution so to do, count the cost, and consider the nature of the step which you propose to take. 1. The people of God have generally been a persecuted people. 2. The people of God are an afflicted people. 3. The people of God are a holy people. 4. We have said that the people of God are a persecuted and an afflicted people, but they are nevertheless a people of the best prospects, so that they are truly wise, and consult their own best interests, who cast in their lot among them. IV. A RESOLUTION TO CHOOSE THE SERVICE OF GOD. When a sinner is truly converted from his sin he cleaves unto the Lord with purpose of heart. "Thy God shall be my God," is the resolution which he expresses to the Church of Christ; and in doing so — 1. He resolves to cast away his idols. 2. He who makes this resolution receives God in Christ as his God — God in the person of the Mediator. 3. He who chooses God for his God resolves to devote himself to the active service of God. V. A RESOLUTION TO BE FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH. What is necessary to faithfulness unto death? 1. Begin aright. 2. Persevere as you begin, for Christ is not only the Door but the Way.Often repair to the fountain of His blood for peace; constantly resort to His throne of grace for spiritual strength; often sit at the feet of Jesus to learn the mysteries of the kingdom of God. To conclude — 1. We admire the constancy and perseverance of Ruth. 2. We learn from this passage of Scripture that we ought to be faithful to those who are inquiring the way to Zion with their faces thitherward. 3. The inquiring and anxious sinner should persevere whatever difficulties may present themselves. If the difficulties and trials of the way were tenfold, it would still be his interest as well as his duty to endure unto the end. (Essex Remembrancer.) (C. H. Payne, D. D.) (S.H.Tyng, D. D.) 1. There is the influence of companionship. 2. The influence of admiration. Let us therefore copy the saints. 3. The influence of instruction. When we learn from a teacher we are affected by him in many ways. Instruction is a kind of formation. 4. The influence of reverence. Those who are older, wiser, and better than we are create in us a profound respect, and lead us to follow their example. 5. The influence of desire to cheer them. 6. The influence of fear of separation. It will be an awful thing to be eternally divided from the dear ones who seek our salvation. II. RESOLVES TO GODLINESS WILL BE TESTED. 1. By the poverty of the godly and their other trials. 2. By counting the cost. 3. By the drawing back of others. 4. By the duties involved in religion. Ruth must work in the fields. Some proud people will not submit to the rules of Christ's house, nor to the regulations which govern the daily lives of believers. 5. By the apparent coldness of believers. Naomi does not persuade her to keep with her, but the reverse. She was a prudent woman, and did not wish Ruth to come with her by persuasion, but by conviction. 6. By the silent sorrow of some Christians. Naomi said, "Call me not Naomi, but call me Bitterness." Persons of a sorrowful spirit there always will be; but this must not hinder us from following the Lord. III. SUCH GODLINESS MUST MAINLY LIE IN THE CHOICE OF GOD. 1. This is the believer's distinguishing possession: "Thy God shall be my God." 2. His great article of belief: "I believe in God." 3. His ruler and lawgiver: "Make me to go in the path of Thy commandments" (Psalm 119:38). 4. His instructor: "Teach me Thy way, O Lord" (Psalm 28:2). 5. His trust and stay (see Ruth 2:12): "This God is our God for ever and ever, He will be our guide even unto death" (Psalm 48:14). IV. BUT IT SHOULD INVOLVE THE CHOICE OF HIS PEOPLE: "Thy people shall be my people." They are ill spoken of by the other kingdom. Not all we could wish them to be. Not a people out of whom much is to be gained. But Jehovah is their God, and they are His people. Our eternal inheritance is part and parcel of theirs. Let us make deliberate, humble, firm, joyful, immediate choice for God and His saints; accepting their lodging in this world, and going with them whither they are going. ( C. H. Spurgeon.) (S. Cooke, D. D.) (A. Thomson, D. D.) I. SOME OF THE LINES ALONG WHICH HER INFLUENCE WAS TRANSMITTED. 1. There was relation ship. Naomi was mother-in-law to Ruth. This link was sanctified to the salvation of Ruth. Relationship is to-day one of the most powerful aids to moral influence. See it in the Gospels: Andrew first finds his own brother Simon; Philip findeth Nathanael. Most children are open to maternal influences. Native missionaries are the best. Influence follows love. 2. There was sorrow. These women had shared a common grief: they had watched at the same bed of death; participated in the same hopes and fears. Naomi would comfort Ruth with her Jewish hope and consolation. Sorrow fits for influence. The heart is plastic. The wax is melted and receives the impress of the seal. The mind is filled for the teaching. Such opportunities for transmission of holy influence are constantly occurring. 3. There was humanity. Relationship and sorrow are accidental; humanity is the essential fact, and binds the world together. Angelic influence is impeded by difference in nature. Our hands fit into each other's palm, our faces reflect similar features. We have common wants and ways. Influence runs along the lines of our human brotherhood. II. SOME OF THE IMPEDIMENTS THAT MIGHT HAVE INTERRUPTED HER INFLUENCE. There were considerations adverse to her influence. 1. Nationality. Ruth was a Moabitess. Israel and Moab were ancient enemies. The Turk will not readily yield to the English influence. Yet so great is the power of moral influence that it overcame this barrier. 2. Education. Ruth had grown up to womanhood before she came under the influence of Naomi; her habits were formed. She was a devout idolatress. Here was a strong impediment for moral influence to overcome. Virgin soil may be easily cultivated as we wish; not so the land long covered with weeds. When the whole man is overrun with noxious principles it is not easy to exterminate and implant new ideas and habits. This the good life of Naomi accomplished in Ruth. 3. Adverse example. Orpah went back to Moab. The good influence may fail even where its power has been felt strongly. Who can estimate the power of adverse example to-day! How many are turned by it from the ways of religion! Naomi may be counteracted by Orpah. III. THE SUCCESS OF THE GOOD INFLUENCE. The success was not absolute. Orpah returned, Ruth continued. See her wisdom. She in her turn becomes influential and useful — a help to Naomi. She becomes a permanent factor in the redemptive history. See the wisdom of yielding to high moral influences. (E. Biscombe.) 2. All persons and people should so live as those that do expect that they and their relations may die. So Ruth did here expect it, both for her mother and for herself. "Alas, I never thought of his death." So there be others that live so licentiously as if they should never die, never come to judgment, as if they were to have an eternity of pleasure of sin in this world (as Psalm 49:10-13). 3. As burial is one of the dues of the dead, so dear friends desire to be buried together. Ruth desires to be buried with her godly mother. It is very observable that the first purchase of possession mentioned in Scripture history was a place to bury in, not to build in (Genesis 23. 9). 4. Death is the final dissolution of all bonds of duty, whether natural, civil, or religious. The wife is no longer bound to her husband (Romans 7:1-4), children to parents, subjects to princes, and people to pastors. (C. Ness.) 5895 intimacy 8410 decision-making, examples 5424 nationalism 5117 Ruth The Worst Things Work for Good to the Godly Bands of Love What is Thy Beloved, More than Another Beloved, O Thou Fairest among Women! what is Thy Beloved, More than Another Beloved, that Thou Dost So Charge Us? Whether the Old Law Set Forth Suitable Precepts About the Members of the Household? Epistle xxxii. To Narses the Patrician. Epistle cxxi. To Leander, Bishop of Hispalis (Seville). Man. Epistle vi. To Narses, Patrician . A Cloud of Witnesses. Departure from Ireland. Death and Burial at Clairvaux. Place of Jesus in the History of the World. Christ the Mediator of the Covenant Appendix xii. The Baptism of Proselytes Meditations of the Blessed State of a Regenerate Man in Heaven. Ruth |
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