48 And the men of Israel turned again upon the children of Benjamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword, as well the men of every city, as the beast, and all that came to hand also they set on fire all the cities that they came to. CHAPTER XXI. The ruins of the tribe of Benjamin we read of in the foregoing chapter; now here we have, I. The lamentation which Israel made over these ruins, v. 1-4, 6, 15. It. The provision they made for the repair of them out of the six hundred men that escaped, for whom they procured wives, 1. Of the virgins of Jabes gilead, when they destroyed that city for not sending to the general rendezvous, v. 5, 7-14. 2. Of the daughters of Shiloh, v. 16-25. And so this melancholy story concludes. NOW TOW the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpeh, saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife. 2 And the people came to the house of God, and abode there till even before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept sore; 3 And said, O LORD God of Israel, why is this come to pass in Israel, that there should be to-day one tribe lacking in Israel? 4 And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. 5 And the children of Israel said, Who is there among all the tribes of Israel that came not up with the congregation unto the LORD? for they had made a great oath concerning him that came not up to the LORD to Mizpeh, saying, He shall surely be put to death. 6 And the children of Israel 'repented them for Benjamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day": 7 How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing we have sworn by the LORD, that we will not give them of our daughters to wives? 8 And they said, What one is there of the tribes of Israel that came not up to Mizpeh to the LORD? And, behold, there came none to the camp from Jabesh-gilead to the assembly. 9 For the people were numbered, and, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabesli-gilead there. 10 And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the valiantest, and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the children. 11 And this is the thing that ye shall do, Ye shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that *hath lain by man. ⚫ was found. t were found. a c. 20. 1, 10.1 Sam. 14. 28, 29. Rom. 10. 2. f c. 11. 35. g 1 Sam. 11. 1. 31. 11. c. 5. 23, ver. 5. 1 Sam. 11. 7. Num. 31. ec. 20. 18, 26. d Gen. 27. 38. 1 Sam. 30. 4. e 2 Sam. 24. 25. 17. geance. act. knoweth the lying with man. actors and abettors of this villany, in all respects as they treated the devoted nations of Canaan, whom they were not only obliged to destroy, but with whom they were forbidden to marry; and because, in particular, they judged them unworthy to match with a daughter of Israel, that had been so very barbarous and abusive to one of the tender sex, than which nothing could be done more base and villanous, nor a more certain indication of a mind perfectly lost to all honour and virtue. We may suppose that the Levite's sending the mangled pieces of his wife's body to the several tribes, helped very much to inspire them with all this fury, and much more than a bare narrative of the fact, though ever so well attested, would have done. So much does the eye affect the heart. Evil pursues sinners, and it will overtake them. 4. Even they that tarried at home were involved in the ruin. They let their sword devour for ever, not considering that it would be bitterness in the latter end, as Abner pleads long after, when he was at the head of an army of Benjamites, probably, with an eye to this very story, 2 Sam. 2. 25, 26. They put to the sword all that breathed, and set fire to all the cities, v. 48. So that of all the tribe of Benjamin, for aught that appears, there remained none alive but six hundred men that took shelter in the rock Rimmon, and lay close there four months, v. 47. Now, (1.) It is hard to justify this severity, as it was Israel's The whole tribe of Benjamin was culpable; but must they therefore be used as devoted Canaanites? That it was done in the heat of war-That this was the way of prosecuting victories, which the sword of Israel had been accustomed toThat the Israelites were extremely exasperated against the Benjamites for the slaughter they had made among them in the two former engagements-will go but a little way to excuse the cruelty of this execution. It is true, they had sworn that whosoever did not come up to Mizpeh, should be put to death, (ch. 21. 5:) but that, if it was a justifiable oath, yet extended only to the men of war; the rest were not expected to come. Yet, (2.) It is easy to justify the hand of God in it; Benjamin had sinned against him, and God had threatened, that if they forgot him, they should perish as the nations that were before them perished, (Deut. 8. 20,) who were all in this manner cut off. It is easy likewise to improve it for warning against the beginnings of sin, they are like the letting forth of water, therefore Leave it off before it be meddled with, for we know not what will be in the end thereof. The eternal ruin of souls will be worse, and more fearful, than all these desolations of a tribe. This affair of Gibeah is twice spoken of by the prophet Hosea, as the beginning of the corruption of Israel, and a pattern to all that followed, ch. 9. 9, They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah, and, ch. 10. 9, Thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah, and it is added, that the battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not, that is, did not at first, overtakeries ought to be celebrated with triumphs, because, whichsothem. NOTES TO CHAPTER XXI. V. 1-15. We may observe, in these verses, I. The ardent zeal which the Israelites had expressed against the wickedness of the men of Gibeah, as it was countenanced by the tribe of Benjamin. Occasion is here given to mention two instances of their zeal on this occasion, which we did not meet with before. 1. While the general convention of the states was gathering together, and was waiting for a full house before they would proceed, they bound themselves with the great execration, which they called the Cherum, utterly to destroy all those cities that should not send in their representatives and their quota of men upon this occasion; or, had sentenced them to that curse, who should thus refuse, (v. 5;) for they would look upon such refusers, as having no indignation at the crime committed, no concern for the securing of the nation from God's judgments by the administration of justice, nor any regard to the authority of a common consent, by which they were summoned to meet, 2. When they were met, and had heard the cause, they made another solemn oath, that none of all the thousands of Israel, then present, nor any of those whom they represented, (not intending to bind their posterity,) should, if they could help it, marry a daughter to a Benjamíte, v. 1. This was made an article of the war, not with any design to extirpate the tribe, but because in general they would treat them who were then II. The deep concern which the Israelites did express for the destruction of the tribe of Benjamin when it was accomplished. The tide of their anger at Benjamin's crime did not run so high and so strong before, but the tide of their grief for Benjamin's destruction ran as high and as strong after. They repented for Benjamin their brother, v. 6, 15. They did not repent of their zeal against the sin; there is a holy indignation against sin, the fruit of godly sorrow, which is to salvation, not to be repented of, 2 Cor. 7. 10, 11. But they repented of the sad consequences of what they had done, that they had carried the matter further than was either just or necessary; it had been enough to destroy all they found in arms, they needed not to have cut off the husbandmen and shepherds, the women and children. Note, 1. There may be over-doing in well-doing. Great care must be taken in the government of our zeal, lest that which seemed supernatural in its causes, prove unnatural in its effects. That is no good divinity, which swallows up humanity. Many a war is ill ended which was well begun. 2. Even necessary justice is to be done with compassion. God does not punish with delight, nor should men. 3. Strong passions make work for repentance. What we say and do in a heat, our calmer thoughts commonly wish undone again. 4. In a civil war, (according to the usage of the Romans,) no victo ever side gets, the community loses, as here there is a tribe cut off from Israel. What the better is the body for one member's crushing another? Now, how did they express their concern? There (1.) By their grief for the breach that was made; they came to the house of God, for thither they brought all their doubts, all their counsels, all their cares, and all their sorrows. was to be heard on this occasion, not the voice of joy and praise, but only that of lamentation, and mourning, and wo. They lifted up their voices and wept sore, (v. 2,) not so much for the forty thousand which they had lost, (those would not be so much missed out of eleven tribes,) but for the entire destruction of one whole tribe; for this was the complaint they poured out before God, (v. 3,) There is one tribe lacking. God had taken care of every tribe; their number twelve was that which they were known by; every tribe had his station appointed in the camp, and his stone in the high priest's breastplate; every tribe had his blessing, both from Jacob and Moses; and it would be an intolerable reproach to them, if they should drop any out of this illustrious jury, and lose one out of twelve; especially Benjamin, the youngest, who was particularly dear to Jacob their common ancestor, and whom all the rest ought to have been in a particular manner tender of. Benjamin is not; what then will become of Jacob? Benjamin become a Benoni; the son of the right hand, a son of sorrow! In this trouble they built an altar, not in competition, but in communion, with the appointed altar at the door of the tabernacle, which was not 12 And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins, that had known no man by lying with any male; and they brought them unto the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan. 13 And the whole congregation sent some to speak to the children of Benjamin that were in the rock Rimmon, and to feall peaceably unto them. 14 And Benjamin came again at that time; and they gave them wives which they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh-gilead: and yet so they sufficed them not. 15 And the people repented them for Benjamin, because that the LORD had made a breach "in the tribes of Israel. 16 Then the elders of the congregation said, How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing the women are destroyed out of Benjamin? 17 And they said, There must be an inheritance for them that be escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe be not destroyed out of Israel. 18 Howbeit we may not give them wives of our daughters for the children of Israel have sworn, saying, Cursed be he that giveth a wife to Benjamin. women virgine. k Josh. 18. 1. t and spake and called. I c. 20.47. or, proclaim peace. m ver. 6. n 1 Chr. 13. 11. 15. 13. Is. 30. 13. 58. 12. O ver. 1. large enough to contain all the sacrifices they designed; for they offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, to give thanks for their victory, and also to atone for their own folly in the pursuit of it, and to implore the divine favour in their present strait. Every thing that grieves us, should bring us to God. (2.) By their amicable treaty with the poor distressed refugees that were hidden in the rock Rimmon, to whom they sent an act of indemnity, assuring them, upon the public faith, that they would now no longer treat them as enemies, but receive them as brethren, v. 13. The falling out of friends should thus be the renewing of friendship. Even those that have sinned, if at length they repent, must be forgiven and comforted, 2 Cor. 2. 7. (3.) By the care they took to provide wives for them, that their tribe might be built up again, and the ruins of it repaired. Had the men of Israel sought themselves, they would have been secretly pleased with the extinguishing of the families of Benjamin, because then the land allotted to them would escheat to the rest of the tribes, ob defectum sanguinis—for want of heirs, and be easily seized for want of occupants; but those have not the spirit of Israelites, who aim to raise themselves upon the ruins of their neighbours. They were so far from any design of this kind, that all heads are at work to find out ways and means for the rebuilding of this tribe. All the women and children of Benjamin were slain: they had sworn not to marry their daughters to any of them; it was against the divine law that they should match with the Canaanites; to oblige them to that, would be, in effect, to bid them go serve other gods. What must they do then for wives for them? While the poor distressed Benjamites that were hidden in the rock feared their brethren were contriving to ruin them, they were at the same time upon a project to prefer them; and it was this: [1] There was a piece of necessary justice to be done upon the city of Jabesh-Gilead, which belonged to the tribe of Gad, on the other side Jordan. It was found, upon looking over the muster-roll, (which was taken, ch. 20. 2,) that none appeared, from that city, upon the general summons, (v. 8, 9,) and it was then resolved, before it appeared who were absent, that whatever city of Israel should be guilty of such a contempt of the public authority and interest, that city should be an anathema; Jabesh-Gilead lies under that severe sentence, which might by no means be dispensed with. They that had spared the Canaanites in many places, who were devoted to destruction by the divine command, could not find in their hearts to spare their brethren that were devoted by their own curse. Why did they not now send men to root the Jebusites out of Jerusalem, to avoid whom the poor Levite had been forced to go to Gibeah? ch. 19. 11, 12. Men are commonly more zealous to support their own authority than God's. A detachment is therefore sent of twelve thousand men, to execute the sentence upon Jabesh-Gilead. Having found, that when the whole body of the army went against Gibeah, the people were thought too many for God to deliver them into their hands, on this expedition they sent but a few, v. 10. Their commission is, to put all to the sword, men, women, and children, (v. 11,) according to that law, (Lev. 27. 29,) Whatsoever is devoted of men, by those that have power to do it, shall surely be put to death. [2] An expedient is from hence formed for providing the Benjamites with wives. When Moses sent the same number of men to avenge the Lord of Midian, the same orders were given, as here, that all married women should be slain with their husbands, as one with them, but that the virgins should be saved alive, Num. 31. 17, 18. That precedent was sufficient to support the distinction here made between a wife and a virgin, v. 11, 12. Four hundred virgins, that were marriageable, were found in Jabesh-Gilead, and these were married to so many of the surviving Benjamites, v. 14. Their fathers were not pre 19 Then they said, Behold, there is a feast of the LORD in Shiloh syearly, in a place which is on the north side of Beth-el, "on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Beth-el to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah. 20 'Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards; 21 And see, and, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance Pin dances, then come ye out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. 22 And it shall be, when their fathers or their brethren come unto us to complain, that we will say unto them, **Be favourable unto them for our sakes: because we reserved not to each man his wife in the war: for ye did not give unto them at this time, that ye should be guilty. 23 And the children of Benjamin did so, and took them wives according to their number, of them that danced, whom they caught: and they went and returned unto their inheritance, and repaired the cities, and dwelt in them. 24 And the children of Israel departed thence at from year to year. Ior, toward the sunrising. ¶ or, on. pc. 11. 34. Ec. 3. 4. .. or, gratify us in them. g 1 Cor. 7. 2. c. 20. 48. sent when the vow was made, not to marry with Benjamites, so that they were not under any colour of obligation by it; and besides, being a prey taken in war, they were at the disposal of the conquerors. Perhaps the alliance now contracted between Benjamin and Jabesh-Gilead, made Saul, who was a Benjamite, the more concerned for that place, (1 Sam. 11. 4,) though then inhabited by new families. V. 16-25. We have here the method that was taken to provide the two hundred Benjamites that remained, with wives. And though the tribe was reduced to a small number, they were only in care to provide each man with one wife, not with more, under pretence of multiplying them the faster. They may not bestow their daughters upon them, but, to save their oath, and yet marry some of their daughters to them, they put them into a way of taking them by surprise, and marrying them, which should be ratified by their parents' consent, ex post facto-afterward. The less consideration is used before the making of a vow, the more, commonly, there is need of after, for the keeping of it. I. That which gave an opportunity for the doing of this, was a public ball at Shiloh, in the fields, at which all the young ladies of that city and the parts adjacent, that were so disposed, met to dance, in honour of a feast of the Lord then observed; probably the feast of tabernacles, (v. 19,) for that feast (Bishop Patrick says) was the only season wherein the Jewish virgins were allowed to dance; and that, not so much for their recreation, as to express their holy joy, as David, when he danced before the ark; otherwise, the present melancholy posture of public affairs would have made dancing unseasonable, as Is. 22. 12, 13. The dancing was very modest and chaste, it was not mixed dancing; no men danced with these daughters of Shiloh, nor did any married women so far forget their gravity as to join with them. However, their dancing thus in public made them an easy prey to those that had a design upon them. Whence Bishop Hall observes, that the ambushes of evil spirits carry away many souls from dancing to a fearful desolation. II. The elders of Israel gave authority to the Benjamites to do this, to lie in wait in the vineyards which surrounded the green they used to dance on, and, when they were in the midst of their sport, to come upon them, and catch every man a wife for himself, and carry them straight away to their own country, v. 20, 21. They knew that none of their own daughters would be there, so that they could not be said to give them, for they knew nothing of the matter. A sorry salvo is better than none, to save the breaking of an oath: it were much better to be cautious in making vows, that there be not occasion afterward, as there was here, to say before the angel, that it was an error. Here was a very preposterous way of match-making, when both the mutual affection of the young people and the consent of the parents must be presumed to come after; the case was extraordinary, and may by no means be drawn into a precedent. Over-hasty marriages often occasion a leisurely repentance; and what comfort can be expected from a match made either by force or fraud? the virgins of Jabesh-Gilead were taken out of the midst of blood and slaughter, but these of Shiloh, out of the midst of mirth and joy; the former had reason to be thankful that they had their lives for a prey, and the latter it is to be hoped, had no cause to complain, after a while, when they found themselves matched, not to men of broken and desperate fortunes, as they seemed to be, who were lately fetched out of a cave, but to men of the best and largest estates in the nation, as they must needs be, when the lot of the whole tribe of Benjamin, which consisted of forty-five thousand six hundred men, (Num. 26. 41,) came to be divided again among six hundred, who had all by survivorship. III. They undertook to pacify the fathers of these young wo men: as to the infringement of their paternal authority, they that time, every man to his tribe and to his family;| and they went out from thence every man to his inheritance. c. 17. 6. 18. 1. 19. 1. would easily forgive it, when they considered to what fair estates their daughters were matched, and what mothers in Israel they were likely to be; but the oath they were bound by, not to give their daughters to Benjamites, might perhaps stick with some of them, whose consciences were tender; yet as to that, this might satisfy them: 1. That the necessity was urgent, (v. 22,) We reserved not to each man his wife; now owning that they did ill to destroy all the women, and desiring to atone for their too rigorous construction of their vow to destroy them, by the most favourable construction of their vow not to match with them. "And therefore, for our sakes, who were too severe, let them keep what they have got." For, 2. In strictness it was not a breach of their vow; they had sworn not to give them their daughters, but they had not sworn to fetch them back if they were forcibly taken. So that if there was any fault, the elders must be responsible, not the parents. And Quod fieri non debuit, factum valet-That which ought not to have been done, is 25 In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own 'eyes. t Deut. 12.8. yet valid when it is done. The thing was done, and is ratified only by connivance, according to the law, Num. 30. 4. Lastly, In the close of all, we have, 1. The settling of the tribe of Benjamin again. The few that remained, returned to the inheritance of that tribe, v. 23. And soon after, from among them sprang Ehud, who was famous in his generation, the second judge of Israel, ch. 3. 15. 2. The disbanding and dispersing of the army of Israel, v. 24. They did not set up for a standing army, nor pretend to make any alterations or establishments in the government; but when the affair was over, for which they were called together, they quietly departed in God's peace every man to his family. Public services must not make us think ourselves above our own private affairs, and the duty of providing for our own house. 3. A repetition of the cause of these confusions, v. 25. Though God was their King, every man would be his own master, as if there was no king. Blessed be God for magistracy. AN EXPOSITION, WITH PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS, UPON THE BOOK OF RUTH. THIS short history of the domestic affairs of one particular family, fitly follows the book of Judges, (the events related here, happening in the days of the judges,) and fitly goes before the books of Samuel, because in the close it introduces David: yet the Jews, in their bibles, separate it from both, and make it one of the five Megilloth, or Volumes, which they put together toward the latter end; in this order, Solomon's Song, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther. It is probable that Samuel was the penman of it. It relates, not miracles or laws, wars or victories, or the revolutions of states, but the afflictions first, and afterward the comfort, of Naomi; the conversion first, and afterward the preferment, of Ruth. Many such events have happened, which perhaps we may think as well worthy to be recorded. But these God saw fit to transmit the knowledge of to us; and even common historians think they have liberty to choose their subject. The design of this book is, I. To lead to Providence; to show us how conversant it is about our private concerns, and to teach us in them all to have an eye to it, acknowledging God in all our ways, and in all events that concern us. See 1 Sam. 2. 7, 8, Ps. 113. 7-9. II. To lead to Christ, who descended from Ruth, and part of whose genealogy concludes the book, from whence it is fetched into Matt. 1. In the conversion of Ruth the Moabitess, and the bringing of her into the pedigree of the Messiah, we have a - type of the calling of the Gentiles in due time into the fellowship of Christ Jesus our Lord. The afflictions of Naomi and Ruth we have an account of, ch. 1. Instances of their industry and humility, ch. 2. The bringing of them into an alliance with Boaz, ch. 3. And their happy settlement thereby, ch. 4. And let us remember the scene is laid in Bethlehem, the city where our Redeemer was born. B. C. 1312. CHAPTER 1. Elimelech and Naomi. land. And a certain man of Beth-lehem-judah In this chapter, we have Naomi's afflictions. I. As a distressed housekeeper, forced by famine to remove into the land of Moab, v. 1, 2. II. As a mournful his wife, and his two sons. ment, to be supported by the kindness of her friends, v. 19-22. All these things V. 1-5. The first words give all the date we have of this story. It was in the days when the judges ruled, (v. 1,) not in those disorderly times when there was no king in Israel. But under which of the judges these things happened, we are not told, and the conjectures of the learned are very uncertain. It must be toward the beginning of the judges' time, for Boaz, who married Ruth, was born of Rahab, who received the spies in Joshua's time. Some think it was in the days of Ehud, others of Deborah; the learned Bishop Patrick inclines to think it was in the days of Gideon, because in his days only we read of a famine by the Midianites' invasion, Judg. 6. 3, 4. While the judges were ruling, some one city, and some another, Providence takes particular cognizance of Bethlehem, and has an eye to a King, to Messiah himself, who should descend from two Gentile mothers, Rahab and Ruth. Here is, I. A famine in the land; in the land of Canaan, that land flowing with milk and honey. This was one of the judgments which God had threatened to bring upon them for their sins, Lev. 26. 19, 20. He has many arrows in his quiver; in the days of the judges they were oppressed by their enemies; and when by that judgment they were not reformed, God tried this, for 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 Bethlehem-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. c Gen. 35, 19. † were. when he judges, he will overcome. When the land had rest, yet it had not plenty; even in Bethlehem, which signifies the house of bread, there was scarcity. A fruitful land is turned into barrenness, to correct and restrain the luxury and wantonness of them that dwell therein. II. An account of one particular family distressed in the famine; it is that of Elimelech. His name signifies my God a King; agreeable to the state of Israel when the judges ruled, for the Lord was their King; and comfortable to him and his family in their affliction, that God was theirs, and that he reigns for ever. His wife was Naomi, which signifies my amiable or pleasant one. But his sons' names were Mahlon and Chilion, sickness and consumption, perhaps because weakly children, and not likely to be long-lived. Such are the productions of our pleasant things, weak and infirm, fading and dying. III. The removal of this family from Bethlehem into the country of Moab, on the other side Jordan, for subsistence, because of the famine, v. 1, 2. It seems there was plenty in the country of Moab, when there was scarcity of bread in the land of Israel. Common gifts of providence are often bestowed in greater plenty upon those that are strangers to God, than upon those that know and worship him. Moab is at ease from his youth,while Israel is emptied from vessel to vessel, (Jer. 48. 11 ;) 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, d Gen. 50. 25. Ex. 4. 31. Luke 1.68. 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 up e Pa. 132. 15. Matt. 6. 31-34. gourds: but, behold, they wither presently; green and growing in the morning, cut down and dried up before night; buried soon after they were married, for neither of them left any children. So uncertain and transient are all our enjoyments here. It is therefore our wisdom to make sure of those comforts that will be made sure, and which death cannot rob us of. But how desolate was the condition, and how disconsolate the spirit, of poor Naomi, when the woman was left of her two sons and her come upon her in their perfection, by whom shall she be comforted? Loss of children, and widowhood! Is. 47. 9.-51. 19. It is God alone who has wherewithal to comfort those that are cast down. V. 6-18. See here, I. The good affection Naomi bore to the land of Israel, v. 6. Though she could not stay in it while the famine lasted, she would not stay out of it when the famine ceased; though the country of Moab had afforded her shelter and supply in a time of need, yet she did not intend it should be her rest for ever, no land should be that but the holy land, in which the sanctuary of God was, of which he had said, This is my rest for ever. Observe, 1. God, at last, returned in mercy to his people; for though he contend long, he will not contend always. As the judgment of oppression, under which they often groaned in the time of the judges, still came to an end, after a while, when God had raised them up a deliverer; so here, the judgment of famine : at length God graciously visited his people in giving them bread. Plenty is God's gift, and it is his visitation, which, by bread, the staff of life, holds our souls in life. Though this mercy be the more striking when it comes after famine, yet if we have constantly enjoyed it, and never knew what famine meant, we are not to think it the less valuable. not because God loves Moabites better, but because they have their portion in this life. Thither Elimelech goes, not to settle for ever, but to sojourn for a time, during the dearth, as Abraham, on the like occasion, went into Egypt, and Isaac into the land of the Philistines. Now here, 1. Elimelech's care to provide for his family, and his taking his wife and children with him, were, without doubt, commendable. If any provide not for his own, he hath denied the faith, 1 Tim. 5. 8. When he was in his straits, he did not forsake his house, go seek his for-husband! When these two things come upon her in a moment, tune himself, and leave his wife and children to shift for their own maintenance, but, as became a tender husband and a loving father, where he went, he took them with him, not as the ostrich, Job 39. 16. But, 2. I see not how his removal into the country of Moab, upon this occasion, could be justified. Abraham and Isaac were only sojourners in Canaan, and it was agreeable to their condition to remove; but the seed of Israel were now fixed, and ought not to remove into the territories of the heathen. What reason had Elimelech to go, more than any of his neighbours? If by any ill husbandry he had wasted his patrimony, and sold his land, or mortgaged it, (as it should seem, ch. 4. 3, 4,) which brought him into a more necessitous condition than others, the law of God had obliged his neighbours to relieve him, (Lev. 25. 35 ;) but that was not his case, for he went out full, v. 21. By those who tarried at home, it appears that the famine was not so extreme, but that there was sufficient to keep life and soul together; and his charge was but small, only two sons. But if he could not be content with the short allowance that his neighbours took up with, and in the day of famine could not be satisfied, unless he kept as plentiful a table as he had done formerly; if he could not live in hope that there would come years of plenty again in due time, or could not with patience wait for these years, it was his fault, and he did by it dishonour God, and the good land he had given them, weaken the hands of his brethren, with whom he should have been willing to take his lot, and set an ill example to others. If all should do as he did, Canaan would be dispeopled. Note, It is an evidence of a discontented, distrustful, unstable spirit, to be weary of the place in which God hath set us, and to be for leaving it immediately, whenever we meet with any uneasiness or inconvenience in it. It is folly to think of escaping that cross which, being laid in our way, we ought to take up. It is our wisdom to make the best of that which is, for it is seldom that changing our place is mending it. Or if he would remove, why to the country of Moab? If he had made inquiry, it is probable he would have found plenty in some of the tribes of Israel, those, for instance, on the other side Jordan, that bordered on the land of Moab; if he had that zeal for God and his worship, and that affection for his brethren, which became an Israelite, he would not have persuaded himself so easily to go to sojourn among Moabites. IV. The marriage of his two sons to two of the daughters of Moab after his death, v. 4. All agree that this was ill done; the Chaldee says, They transgressed the decree of the word of the Lord in taking strange wives. If they would not stay unmarried till their return to the land of Israel, they were not so far off but that they might have fetched them wives from thence. Little did Elimelech think, when he went to sojourn in Moab, that ever his sons should thus join in affinity with Moabites. But those that bring young people into bad acquaintance, and take them out of the way of public ordinances, though they may think them well-principled, and armed against temptation, know not what they do, nor what will be the end thereof. It does not appear that the women they married were proselyted to the Jewish religion, for Orpah is said to return to her gods, (v. 15,) the gods of Moab were hers still. It is a groundless tradition of the Jews, that Ruth was the daughter of Eglon king of Moab, yet the Chaldee paraphrast inserts it; but this and their other tradition, which he inserts likewise, cannot agree, that Boaz who married Ruth, was the same with Ibzan who judged Israel two hundred years after Eglon's death, Judg. 12. V. The death of Elimelech and his two sons, and the disconsolate condition Naomi was thereby reduced to. Her husband died, (v. 3,) and her two sons, (v. 5,) soon after their marriage; and the Chaldee says, Their days were shortened, because they transgressed the law in marrying strange wives. See here, 1. That wherever we go, we cannot outrun death, whose fatal arrows fly in all places. 2. That we cannot expect to prosper when we go out of the way of our duty. He that will save his life by any indirect courses, shall lose it. 3. That death, when it comes into a family, often makes breach upon breach. One is taken away, to prepare another to follow soon after; one is taken away, and that affliction is not duly improved, and therefore God sends another of the same kind. When Naomi had lost her husband, she took so much the more complacency, and put so much the more confidence in her sons: under the shadow of those surviving comforts, she thinks she shall live among the heathen; and exceedingly glad she was of these VOL. I.-80 2. Naomi then returned, in duty to her people. She had often inquired of their state, what harvests they had, and how the markets went, and still the tidings were discouraging; but like the prophet's servant, who, having looked seven times and seen no sign of rain, at length discerned a cloud, no bigger than a man's hand, which soon overspread the heavens; so Naomi, at last, has good news brought her of plenty in Bethlehem, and then she can think of no other than returning thither again. Her new alliances in the country of Moab, could not make her forget her relation to the land of Israel. Note, Though there be a reason for our being in bad places, yet when the reason ceases, we must by no means continue in them. Forced absence from God's ordinances, and forced presence with wicked people, are great afflictions, but when the force ceases, and it is continued of choice, then it becomes a great sin. It should seem, she began to think of returning immediately upon the death of her two sons: (1.) Because she looked upon that affliction to be a judgment upon her family for lingering in the country of Moab; and hearing this to be the voice of the rod, and of him that appointed it, she obeys and returns. Had she returned upon the death of her husband, perhaps she might have saved the life of her sons; but when God judgeth, he will overcome, and if one affliction prevail not to awaken us to a sight and sense of sin and duty, another shall. When death comes into a family, it ought to be improved for the reforming of what is amiss in the family; when relations are taken away from us, we are put upon inquiry, whether, in some instance or other, we are not out of the way of our duty, that we may return to it. God calls our sins to remembrance when he slays a son, 1 Kings 17. 18. And if he thus hedge up our way with thorns, it is that he may oblige us to say, We will go and return to our first Husband, as Naomi here to her country, Hos. 2.7. (2.) Because the land of Moab was now become a melancholy place to her. It is with little pleasure that she can breathe in that air in which her husband and sons had expired; or go on that ground in which they lay buried out of her sight, but not out of her thoughts; now she will go to Canaan again. Thus God takes away from us the comforts we stay ourselves too much upon, and solace ourselves too much in, here in the land of our sojourning, that we may think more of our home in the other world, and by faith and hope may hasten towards it. Earth is imbittered to us, that heaven may be endeared. II. The good affection which her daughters-in-law, and one of them especially, bore to her, and her generous return of their good affection. 1. They were both so kind as to accompany her, some part of the way at least, when she returned toward the land of Judah. Her two daughters-in-law did not go about to persuade her to continue in the land of Moab, but if she was resolved to go home, would pay her all possible civility and respect at parting; and this was one instance of it, they would bring her on her way, at least, to the utmost limits of their country, and help to carry her luggage as far as they went, for it does not appear she had any servant to attend her, v. 7. By this we see ( 633 ) |