(16) “And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, and 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; (17) where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: Jehovah do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me. (18) And when she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, she left off speaking unto her.
(19) “So they two went until they came to Beth-lehem. And it came to pass, when they were come to Beth-lehem, that all the city was moved about them, and the women said, Is this Naomi? (20) And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara; for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. (21) I went out full, and Jehovah hath brought me home again empty; why call ye me Naomi, seeing Jehovah hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me? (22) So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Beth-lehem in the beginning of barley harvest.”
Golden Text.—“Be kindly affectioned one to another.” Rom. 12:10.
SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.
(1) What circumstances led up to the subject of this lesson? Note 1. (2) When Naomi advised her daughters-in-law to remain in Moab, what was Ruth’s reply? Verse 16. Note 2. (3) How long did she propose to remain constant? How did she emphasize her determination? Verse 17. Note 3. (4) On hearing this earnest expression of fidelity, what did Naomi do? Verse 18. (5) To what place did the two women then journey? How were the people of the city affected by the arrival and appearance of Naomi? How did they express their surprise? Verse 19. Note 4. (6) How did Naomi express her grief? Verse 20. Note 5. (7) What did she say of her changed circumstances? What of the providence of God? Verse 21. Note 6. (8) What time of year did they arrive in Beth-lehem? What is revealed by the rest of the story of Ruth? Verse 22. Note 7.
NOTES.
1. About ten years previous, owing to a famine in the land of Israel, a Bethlehemite family left their home and went into the land of Moab to live. The man’s name was Elimelech, his wife’s name was Naomi, and their two sons were named Mahlon and Chilion. The young men married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. When her husband and two sons died, Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem, for she heard that everything was prosperous there. The daughters-in-law started with her, but Naomi told them they would better remain with their own people, for she had no more sons, and was too old to marry again. She said, “It grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord is gone out against me.” The student should study all the chapter.
2. Altho Naomi had lost her husband and sons, as well as losing financially, her life among the heathen had won the affection of her Moabite daughters-in-law, and Ruth had been won to her religion.
3. A sense of duty so impressed Ruth that she called dire punishment upon herself in case she should prove untrue.
4. “Is this Naomi?” The friends and former acquaintances were evidently surprised to see Naomi coming home in poverty and bereft of her husband and sons. It was indeed a sad ending to what the family had deemed a prosperous outlook. Their strange move and its results have had many counterparts.
5. Naomi’s arrival in such a plight, and amid the scenes of happier days, evidently brought to her mind a keener sense of her poverty and bereavement. The very name she asked to be called, Mara (bitter), seemed to her the true expression of her condition.
6. The expression “I went out full” indicates that altho there was a severe drought, or “hard times” from some cause, Naomi’s family were not obliged to move to Moab. They were evidently well-to-do, and could have remained in Bethlehem as well as others. Naomi acknowledged that the Lord had not approved of the move, yet He overruled it for good in the conversion of Ruth. Elimelech had disobeyed God in going away to live among the heathen for mere mercenary purposes, and his sons had also disobeyed in marrying Moabite women.
7. The two women came to Bethlehem at an opportune time, the beginning of barley harvest—in the spring of the year. The rest of the story of Ruth reveals her fidelity, faithfulness, and virtue, and how the Lord rewarded her by bringing her into the royal line, from which came the Messiah. Her son Obed was the grandfather of David.
