THE BOOK OF RUTH. THE book of Ruth, like the four last chapters of Judges, is properly an appendix to that book, being a narrative of circumstances that occurred in the days when the Judges ruled.' The ancient Hebrew canon accordingly makes it part of the book of Judges, but the modern Jews make it one of the five Megilloth, or volumes, which consist of the Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther; and of which Ruth is sometimes placed the first in order, sometimes the second, and sometimes the last. We know, fróm i. 1, that the circumstances which this beautiful narrative records occurred in the time of the Judges; but opinions differ exceedingly as to the precise date. The facts, that Ruth was the mother of Obed, the father of Jesse, David's father; and that Jesse was an old man when David was still but a youth, afford the only data on which an estimate may be formed. Josephus places the events in the time of Eli; but this is unquestionably too late. Others carry it so far back as the time when Israel was subject to the Moabites under Eglon, or when Ehud or Shamgar ruled. This is the opinion of several Jewish doctors, and also of Lightfoot, who places the history between the third and fourth chapters of Judges. Other writers have placed it at almost every intermediate period between the time of the Moabitish servitude and that of Eli. The prevailing opinion of the Jews themselves is, that the date should be placed in the time of Ibzan, who succeeded Jephthah, or was perhaps contemporary with him on the other side of the Jordan. They indeed think that Boaz himself was the same as Ibzan; for which we know no other reason than that they were both Bethlemites, coupled with the desire to make the ancestor of David a person of unusual distinction. We apprehend that the opinion which now most prevails is that of Archbishop Usher, which takes the mean between the extreme opinions, and places these events in the time of Gideon. This idea is also supposed to be corroborated by the fact that the only scarcity noticed in the book of Judges, to which that mentioned in this book can be referred, is the one caused by the oppression of the Midianites, from which Gideon was instrumental in delivering his people. About the authorship of the book there are also different opinions; but the most general is that which attributes it to Samuel. That it could not have been brought into its present form earlier than his time, appears from the genealogy with which the book concludes, and which traces the lineal posterity of Boaz and Ruth down to David; and that the book was composed at a period considerably later than the circumstances it relates, is clear from iv. 7, which explains a custom referred to as having been the manner in former time' in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing. The expression moreover in i. 1, 'when the Judges ruled,' marking the period of the occurrence of the events, must doubtless be regarded as indicating that in the days of the writer kings had already begun to reign. The canonical authority of the book of Ruth has never been questioned; and is, in all essential points, abundantly confirmed by the fact that the name of Ruth the Moabitess is inserted by Matthew in his genealogy of our Saviour. The scope or object of the book has been differently understood by different writers. There are some who suppose it composed chiefly in honour of David, by exhibiting the piety and faithfulness. of his ancestors; and this opinion seems to us as probable as any which has been suggested. Bertholdt and other neological writers are disposed to treat the narrative as a pure fiction or parable, intended to inculcate a man's duty of marrying his kinswoman. Higher ground is taken by Umbreit, who advances the opinion that it was written with the specific moral design of showing how even a stranger, and that one of the hated Moabitish stock, might, by placing her reliance on the God of Israel, become by that faith so ennobled, as to be deemed worthy of becoming a mother of the great King David. The most recent writer on the subject, Professor Bush, considers that the object is CHAP. I.] RUTH. [B.C. 1322-1312. spiritual and typical, being intended to pre-intimate, by the recorded adoption of a Gentile woman into the family from which Christ was to derive his origin, the final reception of the Gentile nations into the true Church, as fellow-heirs of the salvation of the Gospel. The most valuable part of the literature of this book is embraced in the general introductions and commentaries, to which the following may be added, not to speak of the numerous tales and poems which have been founded upon it, or written to illustrate it :-Fuller, Commentary on the Book of Ruth, 1654; Carpzov, Collegium Rabbinico-Biblicum in Libellum Ruth, 1763; Lawson, Lectures on the Book of Ruth, 1802; Riegler, Das Buch Ruth, mit Einleitung, etc., 1812; Engelberth, Das Buch Ruth, mit ein krit. Einleitung, etc.; Umbreit, Ueber Geist und Zweck des Buches Ruth, 1834. [See Introduction to Judges, at the end.] CHAPTER I. 1 Elimelech driven by famine into Moab, dieth there. 4 Mahlon and Chilion, having married wives of Moab, die also. 6 Naomi returning homeward, 8 dissuadeth her two daughters in law from going with her. 14 Orpah leaveth her, but Ruth with great constancy accompanieth her. 19 They two come to Beth-lehem, where they are gladly received. OW it came to pass in the days when the judges 'ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons. 2 And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Beth-lehem-judah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there. 3 And Elimelech Naomi's husband died; and she was left, and her two sons. 4 And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years. 5 And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband. 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. 7 Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was, and her two daughters in law with her; and they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah. 8 And Naomi said unto her two daughters in law, Go, return each to her mother's house the LORD deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me. 9 The LORD grant you that ye may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them; and they lifted up their voice, and wept. 10 And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people. 11 And Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters: why will ye go with me? are there yet any more sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? 12 Turn again, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have an husband. If I should say, I have hope, if I should have an husband also to night, and should also bear sons; 13 Would ye 'tarry for them till they were grown? would ye stay for them from having husbands? nay, my daughters; for it grieveth me much for your sakes, that the hand of the LORD is gone out against me. 14 And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother in law; but Ruth clave unto her. 15 And she said, Behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods return thou after thy sister in law. 16 And Ruth said, "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: 17 Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me. 18 When she saw that she was stedfastly minded to go with her, then she left speaking unto her. 3 Or, if I were with an husband. 6 Or, Be not against me. 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 they 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 the LORD hath That is, pleasant. brought me home again empty: why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the LORD hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me? 22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter in law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab : and they came to Beth-lehem in the beginning of barley harvest. That is, bitter. Verse 11. Are there yet any more sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?'-It is impossible to understand this without supposing it to refer to the custom, which prevailed among the Hebrews and other nations, for the living brother to marry the widow of one deceased, in order to perpetuate that brother's family and inheritance. To this it has been objected by Aben Ezra and others, that the law did not make such a marriage obligatory on any but brothers by the father's side, and not by the mother's only; and that brothers unborn when the elder brother died, are not included in its operation. The fact is, that the law says nothing in either case; and we think that the expressions of Naomi sufficiently shew that the practices indicated did prevail, whether the law intended to sanction them or not. We perceive no reason why we may not in this, as in other instances, admit that the law did not take cognisance of every usage connected with the particular subjects on which it legislated, but only to those usages in such subjects which required particular direc. tion or restriction. Some statements connected with this law will be found under chap. iv. 16. Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.'-This appears to have been a form of compact and union, as we may infer from Zoheir's speech to Antar (vol. iii. 98): If you engage, we will engage; if you fight, we will fight; if you die, we will die; yours is our property, and yours is all we possess.' 20. Call me not Naomi, call me Mara.'-These names are explained in the margin. In the note to Gen. xvii. 5, there are some remarks on the changes of names which sometimes take place in the East and elsewhere. CHAPTER II. 1 Ruth gleaneth in the fields of Boaz. 4 Boaz taking knowledge of her, 8 sheweth her great favour. 18 That which she got, she carrieth to Naomi. AND Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz. 2 And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said unto her, Go, my daughter. 3 And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her 'hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech. 4 ¶ And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, The LORD be with you. And they answered him, The LORD bless thee. 5 Then said Boaz unto his servant that was set over the reapers, Whose damsel is this? 6 And the servant that was set over the reapers answered and said, It is the Moabitish damsel that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab: 1 Heb. hap, happened. 7 And she said, I pray you, let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves: so she came, and hath continued even from the morning until now, that she tarried a little in the house. 8 Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens: 9 Let thine eyes be on the field that they do reap, and go thou after them have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee? and when thou art athirst, go unto the vessels, and drink of that which the young men have drawn. 10 Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger? 11 And Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath fully been shewed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother in law since the death of thine husband: and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore. 12 The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God 2 Called, Matth. 1. 5, Booz. of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust. 13 Then she said, 'Let me find favour in thy sight, my lord; for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken 'friendly unto thine handmaid, though I be not like unto one of thine handmaidens. 14 And Boaz said unto her, At mealtime come thou hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers: and he reached her parched corn, and she did eat, and was sufficed, and left. 15 And when she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and "reproach her not: 16 And let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them, that she may glean them, and rebuke her not. 17 So she gleaned in the field until even, and beat out that she had gleaned and it was about an ephah of barley. 18 ¶ And she took it up, and went into the city and her mother in law saw what she had gleaned and she brought forth, and : gave to her that she had reserved after she was sufficed. 19 And her mother in law said unto her, Where hast thou gleaned to day? and where wroughtest thou? blessed be he that did take knowledge of thee. And she shewed her mother in law with whom she had wrought, and said, The man's name with whom I wrought to day is Boaz. 20 And Naomi said unto her daughter in law, Blessed be he of the LORD, who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said unto her, The man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen. 21 And Ruth the Moabitess said, He said unto me also, Thou shalt keep fast by my young men, until they have ended all my harvest. 22 And Naomi said unto Ruth her daughter in law, It is good, my daughter, that thou go out with his maidens, that they meet thee not in any other field. 23 So she kept fast by the maidens of Boaz to glean unto the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest; and dwelt with her mother in law. Chap. ii. Among the admirable pictures of ancient manners which Homer's description of the several scenes represented on the famous shield of Achilles furnishes, there is one-that of the harvest scene-which offers so many interesting coincidences with the Hebrew harvest usages, described in the present chapter, that we cannot do better than use it as an introduction to the remarks we have to offer, affording the reader an opportunity of tracing the striking and beautiful analogies which occur between the description of the old Greek poet and the indications of this chapter. There too he form'd the likeness of a field In frequent handfuls, there they bind the sheaves. COWPER. Verse 3. Gleaned in the field after the reapers.'-The law of Moses directed very liberal treatment of the poor at the seasons of harvest and ingathering. The corners of the field were not to be reaped-the owner was not to glean his own field; and a sheaf accidentally left behind in the field, was not to be fetched away, but left for the poor. There are equally liberal regulations respecting vineyards and olive yards. (See the laws in Levit. xix. 9, 10, and Deut. xxiv. 19-21.) From the present text, as compared with v. 7, we see that the privilege of gleaning after the reapers that is, of following the reapers while still at work -was also conceded to the poor, not as a matter of right, but as a favour, granted to particular persons whom the owner wished to befriend. It did not, however, require any special interest to obtain this favour, else Naomi would scarcely have suggested it in the first instance, and Ruth might have hesitated to apply for it to a stranger, the servant that was set over the reapers.' The general right of gleaning, we may suppose, did not operate till after the reapers had left the ground. In most countries, a farmer would render himself an object of popular odium who should glean his own fields; but usages differ as to the time when gleaners shall be admitted. According to the Law Dictionary, Art. GLEANING, the practice of gleaning after the reapers was formerly a general custom in England and Ireland; the poor went into the fields and collected the straggling ears of corn after the reapers; and it was long supposed that this was their right, and that the law recognized it; but although it had been an old custom, it is now settled by a solemn judgment of the Court of Common Pleas, that a right to glean in the harvest-field cannot be claimed by any person at common law. -A part of the field belonging unto Boaz.'-The cultivated land not being enclosed in the East, the expression denotes that part which belonged to Boaz of the large extent of unenclosed ground under cultivation. See the note on Deut. xix. 14. 4. The Lord be with thee... The Lord bless thee.'This interchange of devout salutation between the mighty man of wealth and his labourers, is very impressive, and strikes us the more from the partial disuse of our own old analogous greeting of God bless you.' The verbal salutations of the East continue to be generally more impressive and more devout than our own. It strikes a traveller in the East to hear constantly such pious salutations interchanged by those who pass by. It is one of the circumstances which appear to remove the East out of the range of every-day associations of business and profession, and to carry back the mind into the sanctified and patriarchal past. The Rev. J. Hartley (Researches in Greece) observes- Say to a Turk, according to custom, "May your morning be propitious!" he replies, "May you be the pledge of God!" Ask a Turk, Is your health good?" he answers, "Glory be to God!" Salute him, as you pass him rapidly in travelling, he exclaims, "To God I commend you!" and is answered, "May God be with you!"' We shall notice this subject further under Ps. cxxix. 8, from which passage we learn, that such as the present were common forms of salutation, and not, as some conjecture, forms of devout acknowledgment at the commencement of harvest. We may be sure, however, that the devout Israelites were not wanting in their acknowledgments of the Divine favour, and in their prayer for its continuance, of which even the ancient heathens were not unmindful. 5. His servant that was set over the reapers.'-A confidential servant, or slave, appointed to see things done in an orderly manner, that the work was properly executed, that the labourers were supplied with provisions, and to pay them their wages in the evening-exercising a ge neral superintendence and control. This officer was well known in the ancient harvest. In the Egyptian sculptures he is often seen, as in the above-cited description of Homer, leaning upon his staff, and Enjoying mute the order of the field.' 7. After the reapers among the sheaves.'-Different modes of reaping are indicated in Scripture, and most of those so mentioned are strikingly illustrated by the Egyptian monuments. In the most ancient times the corn was plucked up by the roots, which continued to be the practice with particular kinds of grain after the sickle was known. In Egypt, at this day, barley and dourra are pulled up by the roots. The choice between these modes of operation was probably determined in Palestine by the consideration pointed out by Russel (Natural History of Aleppo, i. 74), who states that wheat, as well as barley in general, does not grow half as high as in Britain; and is therefore, like other grain, not reaped with the sickle, but plucked up by the roots with the hand. In other parts of the country, where the corn grows ranker, the sickle is much employed; the wheat was either cropped off under the ear, or cut close to the ground. In the former case, the straw was afterwards plucked up for use; in the latter, the stubble was left and burnt on the ground for manure. As the Egyptians needed not such manure, and were economical of straw, they generally followed the former method; while the Israelites, whose lands derived benefit from the burnt stubble, used the latter; although the practice of cutting off the ears was also known to them (Job xxiv. 24). Cropping the ears short, the Egyptians did not generally bind them into sheaves, but removed them in baskets. Sometimes, however, they bound them into double sheaves; and such as they plucked up were bound into single long sheaves. The Israelites appear generally to have made up their corn into sheaves (Gen. xxxvii. 7; Lev. xxiii. 10-15; Ruth ii. 7, 15; Job xxiv. 10; Jer. ix. 22; Micah iv. 12), which were collected into a heap, or removed in a cart (Amos ii. 13) to the threshing-floor. The carts were probably similar to those which are still employed for the same purpose. -In the house.-This means the tent which was pitched, or the shed which was erected, temporarily, upon the ground, for the occasional accommodation and refreshment of the persons engaged in getting in the harvest, and of those who attended upon their wants. Here they enjoyed an interval of rest, under shade, in the heat of the day, partaking of such refreshments as were provided. After this they resumed their labour, and continued it until towards evening, as we see in the sequel. 9. 'Go unto the vessels and drink of that which the young men have drawn.'-From this it appears that water was (and from v. 14, that other refreshments were) provided for the reapers, of which the gleaners were sometimes allowed to partake. So in the Egyptian harvest scenes we perceive a provision of water, in skins hung upon trees, or in jars upon stands, with reapers drinking, and gleaners applying to share the draught. 14. Eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar.'-This would be but poor entertainment if it were all according to our notions; but in the East, where the labouring poor fare much more humbly than with us, it would form a grateful and reviving refection. The refreshing qualities of vinegar are well known, which is probably the reason why it was provided on this occasion for the reapers heated with their sultry labour; for we do not learn that vinegar was thus ordinarily used, any more than it is now in the East. Probably the vinegar was mingled with a little olive oil, if we may take an illustration from the fare which was supplied to Joseph Pitts and his companions when slaves of the Algerines. The food we had to sustain nature was answerable to the rest of their kindness: and this indeed, generally, was only a little vinegar (about five or six spoonfuls), half a spoonful of oil, and a few olives, with a small quantity of black biscuit, and a |