Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1895-10-17
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON 10, FOURTH QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, OCT. 20.

NATIONAL SERIES, OCT 90
Text or the Lesson, Ruth /. I4-a2-Mem-
ory Verses, 16. 17-GoIden Text, Ruth 1
1e-Commentary BY the Rev. ID. M.
stearns.
IA. "And they lifted up their voice and
wept again, and Orpah kissed her mother
in-law, but Ruth clave unto her" The
fact that the Holy Spirit has mentioned
the name Of Ruth Id the opening verses Of
the New Testament (Math. /, 81 should
lead W to a Drayerful study of the book
and thoughtful consideration of her who.
though gentle, is honored with a place
in the ancestry Of Christ The flight of
Elimelech and his family to Moab because
Of the famine in Israel would seem from
Deut. xiii 3, to have been a wrong move
on his part and a lack Of faith in God. but
yet overruled by God for the working out
Of His purposes a. we see Naomi return
ing without either husband or sons verses
8, 81 after her ten years s0journ in Moab
IL looks still clearer that they did not well
to 60 to Moab. 1t makes Us think Of Abra-
hams going to Egypt because Of a famine,
his trouble there and the absence IL an al-
tar unto the Lord until be returned to
Bethel (Gen- xii, 10, to xiii, Al.
l5- And she said, Behold thy sister
in-law is gone back unto her people and
unto her gods. Return thou after thy sis
ter-in-law." Naomi knew of the true and
living God, the God Of Israel while the
Moabites We're idolaters- and to see her
trying to turn her daughters-in-l law back
to their idols is truly pitiful sight. The
same thing il seen today when Christians
enter into fellowship with the world either
for pleasure or profit, and thus virtually
urge the worlds people to stay by their
idols because there IL nothing satisfying
in the Lord Jesus Christ. What slander
upon the Lord and dish0nOr to His holy
namel See Jer. xxxiv, Is, Is, and Eek.
xiii, 8, and let US aim to honor His wor-
thy dame GAS ii, z; Pet ii, %.
16- And Ruth said, Entreat me not to
leave thee or to return from following aft
er thee, for whittier thou goest I will ro,
and where thou lodgest I will lodge; thy
people shall be my people, and thy God my
God May we not hope that Naomi had
lived godly life even in Moab, and that
it was God in her who led Ruth to take
this noble stand? Then we could put this
construction upon her words To Orpah and
Ruth, II am going back to IsraeI's land
and to Israel's God, but have nothing to
offer you except His promises, and if these
seem sufficient then you had better stay
with your friends and their idols
H. where thou diest will I die. and
there Will be buried; the Lord do so to
me and more also, if aught but death Dart
thee and me. Noble woman, By the
grace Of God. Such cleaving to the Lord
l. sure to be rewarded Compare the same
purpose Of heart il Ittai the Gittite as he
clave to David (II Sam. XIV, 2I), with pur-
pose Of heart Let u cleave unto the Lord
(Acts xi, 23). For the eyes Of the Lord run
to and fro throughout the whole earth to
shew Himself strong Oh behalf VI those
whose hearts are perfect or whole toward
Him Oil ChrOn- xvi. 3D..
1s- when she saw that she was stead
fastly minded to go with her, then she
left speaking unto her" The command
TO us il to BE stcadfast, unmoyabIe." 4"
The secret Of being thus established is
found i'm Iii Chrun- Xxx. 20. TO look around
us will bring only dismay lisa XII, 10. r.
W, but to consider Him who endured
such contradiction Of sinners against Him
self will keep Us from being weary or faint
in our minds Heb. XII, 3. We think of Him
when the time was come that He should
be received up, how He steadfastly set His
face to go to Jerusalem (Luke TX, 81:
also Of Stephen, full Of the Holy Spirit, as
he looked up steadfastly unto heaven and
saw the glory Of God and the Son Of Man
standing on the right hand Of God
10. $50 they two went until they came
to Bethlehem We may imagine that
they had much talk along the way con
cerning the God Of Israel and His wonder
full dealings with the nation They were
journeying To the house 0f bread and praise
(Bethlehem-J Judah), and they might well
talk OF Him who alone is worthy to be
praised, and who had fed Israel with bread
from heaven for 40 long years in the wild
er ness. We think Of the words concerning
Elijah and Elisha, "They two went on.
They two stood, y "They two went over"
(1 Kings ii, 8, 7, 81, and we remember the
Lord oft repeated word II am with yuu. n
so that we two, He and l, may daily 20
on together.
20. And she said unto them, CaH me
not Naomi, call me Mara She felt that
mara (bitter) expressed the Lords deal
ings with her better than Naomi fpIeas-
anti, but she does not seem to have con
sidered that all the bitterness was proba-
bly, due to the wandering away from God
Of herself and her husband. We are apt to
think hardly of God when we ourselves
are the cause Of the trouble. She uses the
name Almighty, " not knowing. perhaps.
that the All Sufficient One' was seeking
to lead her to know Him ~ such Nv Hi
dealings with her.
21. III went out full, and the Lord hath
brought me home again empty The
name Almighty is found more often in
the book Of Job than ia all the rest Of the
Bible taken together, and it il there that
we see a full man thoroughly emptied in
order that be may know the "An Suffi-
cient One" the Almighty. Then We see
him filed as never before. Until we are
willing to De emptied Of all that il Of Us
we cannot know the fullness of God. Christ
Jesus emptied Himself taking the form
Of a servant, wherefore God hath highly
exalted Him (Phil ii, 10y. Contrast Mao
mis- complaint with 1 sam iii, Is, and
Job j, 21-
%. And they came to Bethlehem In the
Of barley harvest Then fol-
lows the story Of 1.-THE mighty man of
wealth, Y the kinslnan redeemed, in whose
fields Ruth went to glesn, and from whom
she received much kindness, who after
ward became her husband and the fRther
of Obed, Of whom came Jesse, the father
of David (chapter IN, 2l, 23l Henry Moor
house, in his book on Ruth, entities the
four ehapters-Ruth deciding, Ruth CLEAN
ing, Ruth resting, Ruth rewarded Among
the refreshing things of chapter ii notice
the greetings Of Buaz and his reapers
(verse Al, the beautiful words of BOaz to
Ruth (verscs II, l2) the handfuls 1T fall
Of purpose (yersc l6. , and Naomi's greet
ingHvhen she brought home her gleaninRs
that first day. Let chapter Ill Is, suggest
Ps. cxxxviii S, and let Us CLEAN diligently
in the field ~ our kinsman Redeemer, the
Mighty Man OF Wealth (the field Is the
world. for we shall find many handfuls
dropped on purpose and Id the morning
we shall be married to the owner Of the
field All will then Do ours and we shall
reign with Him forever Then VIC shall
see the reward of forsaking father and
mother and friends for His sake Marx X
Do, SOD, and we shall Dc exceeding glad