20 And Naomi saith to her daughter-in-law, `Blessed `is' he of Jehovah who hath not forsaken His kindness with the living and with the dead;' and Naomi saith to her, `The man is a relation of ours; he `is' of our redeemers.'
And he saith, `Who `art' thou?' and she saith, `I `am' Ruth thy handmaid, and thou hast spread thy skirt over thy handmaid, for thou `art' a redeemer.' And he saith, `Blessed `art' thou of Jehovah, my daughter; thou hast dealt more kindly at the latter end than at the beginning -- not to go after the young men, either poor or rich.
And David sendeth messengers unto the men of Jabesh-Gilead, and saith unto them, `Blessed `are' ye of Jehovah, in that ye have done this kindness with your lord, with Saul, that ye bury him.
`When brethren dwell together, and one of them hath died, and hath no son, the wife of the dead is not without to a strange man; her husband's brother doth go in unto her, and hath taken her to him for a wife, and doth perform the duty of her husband's brother; and it hath been, the first-born which she beareth doth rise for the name of his dead brother, and his name is not wiped away out of Israel. `And if the man doth not delight to take his brother's wife, then hath his brother's wife gone up to the gate, unto the elders, and said, My husband's brother is refusing to raise up to his brother a name in Israel; he hath not been willing to perform the duty of my husband's brother;
At all times is the friend loving, And a brother for adversity is born.
And the women say unto Naomi, `Blessed `is' Jehovah who hath not let a redeemer cease to thee to-day, and his name is proclaimed in Israel,
And David saith, `Is there yet any left to the house of Saul, and I do with him kindness because of Jonathan?'
For I deliver the afflicted who is crying, And the fatherless who hath no helper. The blessing of the perishing cometh on me, And the heart of the widow I cause to sing.
And I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at length ye flourished again in caring for me, for which also ye were caring, and lacked opportunity;
may the Lord give kindness to the house of Onesiphorus, because many times he did refresh me, and of my chain was not ashamed, but being in Rome, very diligently he sought me, and found; may the Lord give to him to find kindness from the Lord in that day; and how many things in Ephesus he did minister thou dost very well know.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Ruth 2
Commentary on Ruth 2 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 2
There is scarcely any chapter in all the sacred history that stoops so low as this to take cognizance of so mean a person as Ruth, a poor Moabitish widow, so mean an action as her gleaning corn in a neighbour's field, and the minute circumstances thereof. But all this was in order to her being grafted into the line of Christ and taken in among his ancestors, that she might be a figure of the espousals of the Gentile church to Christ, Isa. 54:1. This makes the story remarkable; and many of the passages of it are instructive and very improvable. Here we have,
Rth 2:1-3
Naomi had now gained a settlement in Bethlehem among her old friends; and here we have an account,
Rth 2:4-16
Now Boaz himself appears, and a great deal of decency there appears in his carriage both towards his own servants and towards this poor stranger.
Rth 2:17-23
Here,