20 And she saith unto them, `Call me not Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly to me,
For arrows of the Mighty `are' with me, Whose poison is drinking up my spirit. Terrors of God array themselves `for' me!
I `am' the man `who' hath seen affliction By the rod of His wrath. Me He hath led, and causeth to go `in' darkness, and without light. Surely against me He turneth back, He turneth His hand all the day. He hath worn out my flesh and my skin. He hath broken my bones. He hath built up against me, And setteth round poverty and weariness. In dark places He hath caused me to dwell, As the dead of old. He hath hedged me about, and I go not out, He hath made heavy my fetter. Also when I call and cry out, He hath shut out my prayer. He hath hedged my ways with hewn work, My paths He hath made crooked. A bear lying in wait He `is' to me, A lion in secret hiding-places. My ways He is turning aside, and He pulleth me in pieces, He hath made me a desolation. He hath trodden His bow, And setteth me up as a mark for an arrow. He hath caused to enter into my reins The sons of His quiver. I have been a derision to all my people, Their song all the day. He hath filled me with bitter things, He hath filled me `with' wormwood. And He breaketh with gravel my teeth, He hath covered me with ashes. And Thou castest off from peace my soul, I have forgotten prosperity. And I say, Perished hath my strength and my hope from Jehovah. Remember my affliction and my mourning, Wormwood and gall! Remember well, and bow down doth my soul in me.
and God Almighty give to you mercies before the man, so that he hath sent to you your other brother and Benjamin; and I, when I am bereaved -- I am bereaved.'
and I appear unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, as God Almighty; as to My name Jehovah, I have not been known to them;
By searching dost thou find out God? Unto perfection find out the Mighty One?
Know now, that God turned me upside down, And His net against me hath set round,
I `am' afflicted, and expiring from youth, I have borne Thy terrors -- I pine away.
I have set `Him' till morning as a lion, So doth He break all my bones, From day unto night Thou dost end me.
`I am the Alpha and the Omega, beginning and end, saith the Lord, who is, and who was, and who is coming -- the Almighty.'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Ruth 1
Commentary on Ruth 1 Matthew Henry Commentary
An Exposition, With Practical Observations, of
The Book of Ruth
Chapter 1
In this chapter we have Naomi's afflictions.
All these things were melancholy and seemed against her, and yet all were working for good.
Rth 1:1-5
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 have been towards 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, Judges 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,
Rth 1:6-18
See here,
The Chaldee paraphrase thus relates the debate between Naomi and Ruth:-Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, for I will be a proselyte. Naomi said, We are commanded to keep sabbaths and good days, on which we may not travel above 2000 cubits-a sabbath-day's journey. Well, said Ruth, whither thou goest I will go. Naomi said, We are commanded not to tarry all night with Gentiles. Well, said Ruth, where thou lodgest I will lodge. Naomi said, We are commanded to keep 613 precepts. Well, said Ruth, whatever thy people keep I will keep, for they shall be my people. Naomi said, We are forbidden to worship any strange god. Well, said Ruth, thy God shall be my God. Naomi said, We have four sorts of deaths for malefactors, stoning, burning, strangling, and slaying with the sword. Well, said Ruth, where thou diest I will die. We have, said Naomi, houses of sepulchre. And there, said Ruth, will I be buried.
Rth 1:19-22
Naomi and Ruth, after many a weary step (the fatigue of the journey, we may suppose, being somewhat relieved by the good instructions Naomi gave to her proselyte and the good discourse they had together), came at last to Bethlehem. And they came very seasonably, in the beginning of the barley-harvest, which was the first of their harvests, that of wheat following after. Now Naomi's own eyes might convince her of the truth of what she had heard in the country of Moab, that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread, and Ruth might see this good land in its best state; and now they had opportunity to provide for winter. Our times are in God's hand, both the events and the time of them. Notice is here taken,