In the whole gallery of Scripture portraits there arc few which are more familiar to us, or more attractive, than the sweet figure of " Ruth standing amid the alien corn." Nor is it the least of her attractions to the Christian heart that the blood of Ruth ran in the veins of Jesus of Nazareth. In his genealogy of our Lord, St. Matthew inscribes the names of only four women,—Thamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba; and among these four, Ruth easily holds the preeminence. Thamar, Rahab, and Bathsheba were all women of dubious virtue even when judged by the standards of antiquity; but, judged by the moral standard of any age, Ruth is not only pure and sweet as the fields in which she gleaned, she rises to an heroic pitch of unselfish devotion and love. Strength veiled in gentleness, heroism enhanced yet also concealed by humility, is as truly the characteristic of Ruth as it is of the Son of Man. We may find her aptest emblem in those exquisite wild flowers which hide their perfect blooms under their broad green leaves, and only reveal their presence by the subtle fragrance they shed upon the air. Ruth is a true lily of the valley. It is not improbable, indeed, that her very name may be that of a flower, though not of the flower just mentioned. The common and accepted derivation of the Hebrew word ruth is "a friend;" and truly Ruth's face is as the face of a friend to us: but a learned and ingenious scholar has conjectured, with much probability, that ruth is an ancient Hebrew form of the Greek ῥόδον, the Latin rosa, the English rose, a word which denotes the redness of the flower; and, to say the least of it, it is very pleasant to think of Ruth as "the Rose of Moab."

At what period the events narrated in this Book occurred we are not expressly told. All we are told is that it was "in the days when the Judges judged" (Chap. i. ver. 1). But as Israel was under the Judges for nearly five centuries—as long, let us say, as from the accession of the Plantagenet Henry V. to the present day—the phrase does not go far toward dating the Book. But another phrase in it (Chap. iv. vers. 21, 22), from which we learn that Boaz was the great grandfather of David, makes it pretty certain that the Judge; in whose days Ruth the alien was admitted to the Commonwealth of Israel, was the venerable but most unhappy Eli. Ruth's son was Jesse's father; Jesse was the father of David. It is very probable, therefore, that, when he was a child, Ruth may have fondled Jesse in her arms. "The Rose of Moab" is closely connected with . "the Darling of Israel."

We may be reasonably sure that the story of this Book was enacted while Eli was Judge in Israel; but when was it written? The question is not in itself of grave importance, perhaps; but to find the answer to it is a good and wholesome exercise for younger students of Scripture. For all the materials of the answer are contained in the Book itself; they need no scholarship to discover them: they reaccessible to all. If, then, we read the Book of Ruth carefully, and with the purpose of fixing its date in our minds, surely the very opening words of the Story must arrest our attention: ''Now it came to pass, in the day!' when the Judges judged, that there was a famine in the land." Is that the tone of a man who is writing of the present, or of a past age? Obviously it is the tone of one who speaks of the past. The Judges are no longer judging: the whole form of civil government has changed in. the interval between the events narrated and the time at which the narrator writes. He is as. evidently looking back as we should be were we to commence a story with the words, " Now it came to pass in the days when the Lord Protector sat on the throne of England."

This is our first " note of time,'' the first hint we get that a considerable interval must have elapsed between the time in which Ruth lived and the time in which the story of her life was told. As. we read on we come on two other hints which confirm our conclusion. In Chap. iv. vers. 6-8 we are told of a curious legal custom. The next of kin to Naomi, when he refused to redeem her inheritance and to take Ruth to wife, drew off his shoe and gave it to Boaz, so transferring the right of redemption to him. And the historian pauses to explain that this was "formerly" the legal mode in Israel "concerning redeeming, and concerning exchanging." But why should he stay to explain the custom if it had not fallen into disuse,—if it had not been so long disused that his readers had clean forgotten it? Yet old legal customs are very tenacious. They do not soon, or suddenly, become obsolete even with us, and, much less, in the unchanging East. And, therefore, we may infer that the story of Ruth was written, not only after her death, but long after it.

Verses 17, 21, and 22 of the same Chapter point to the same conclusion. For here we are told that Ruth had a son named Obed, Obed a son named Jesse, and Jesse a son named David. But how should David's name have been written before he was born? The Story—unless at least we have recourse to the clumsy expedient of supposing additions made to the. original Scripture by a later hand—must have been composed, at the very earliest, after that great Prince was born: i. e., it must have been written at least four generations—Say, from a hundred and twenty to a hundred and fifty years—after the events it records.

To this extent, then, the Book dates itself. That it could not have been written before the time of David may be inferred from the fact that David's name is twice mentioned in it. That it was written in his time will become evident, I think, when we have caught the tone and purport of the Story.

Briefly told, that Story runs thus:—Under the pressure of a great famine, an ancient and honourable Hebrew family were threatened with want and misery. All that we are told of them indicates that they were Israelites indeed, devoutly attached to the land and worship of their fathers. We may be sure, therefore, that it cost them many a pang to resolve to abandon their inheritance in the promised land and to seek bread among the idolators of Moab. They went farther than their neighbours, who were exposed to the same pressure, only to fare worse. In seeking a livelihood, they lost life. Three out of the four, Elimelech and his two sons, found a grave in the land in which they sought bread. Naomi is left alone, a childless widow. To all human appearance the family is blotted out from among the tribes of Israel. True, Naomi has her two daughters-in-law left; but these also are childless: and, moreover, they are strangers and aliens from the Hebrew Commonwealth, and of a race which had long been reckoned among the foes of the elect people. Naomi cannot endure to remain in the land which has proved so fatal to her affections and hopes. She: returns to Bethlehem, but she returns " empty and afflicted," in great bitterness of soul, because the: Lord has dealt very bitterly with her. Destitute. and hopeless, she has but one comfort. Ruth remains with her, and will not be persuaded to leave her. She forsakes all—her country, her friends, her. gods—that she may be true to her love for Naomi. But, like Naomi, she too comes to Bethlehem in poverty and sadness of heart.

When they arrive, although "the whole city is moved about them," no one offers them either succour or sympathy. Even the wealthy kinsmen of Elimelech,—one of whom, as we happen to know, was of a very noble and generous temper,—either because they are unaware of the calamities that had overtaken Naomi, or because they had disapproved of Elimelech's sojourn among the heathen, stand aloof from her. Ruth is her sole stay. But Ruth is willing to work, and even to beg, for her. At the time of harvest she goes into the fields to glean after the reapers. A kindly providence leads her to the fields of Boaz, the wealthiest, though not the nearest, kinsman of Elimelech. Here her virtue and piety become known. Boaz honours her both for her unselfish devotion to Naomi, and because she, a heathen, has come " to trust herself under the wings of the God of Israel." For Ruth's sake, Naomi is restored to the goodwill of her kinsmen. By her modesty, her unselfishness, her pious reverence for Jehovah, the Moabitish woman conquers the Hebrew prejudice against the alien and the strangers By these same virtues she wins the heart of Boaz and the rights of a wife and a mother in Israel. At every turn of the Story we are made to feel that the Gentile Ruth is its heroine, and that she is its heroine simply because, in virtue and in piety, .she excels even the Hebrew women. Yet. she is no " saint," no devotee, no prophetess, but a very woman, and a woman

"Not too bright and good
For human nature's daily food."

Wide as is the gulf of time and social habit by which we are separated from her, nevertheless we feel that she is such a woman as would even now be the crown and charm of any household.

And it surely speaks well for those ancient Jews of whom we are apt to think, not altogether without reason, as the most jealous and exclusive of men, .that .. they should have so frankly recognized the worth and charm of a daughter of Moab; that they should not only have preserved the tradition of her extraordinary sweetness and nobility, but should also have written it down and have included the writing in their most sacred Scriptures.

The Story, moreover, is written in no hostile or grudging spirit.. The figure of the Gentile is not placed in the shade of the background, but in the centre and full light of the narrative. The Book is not called, as with some show of reason it might have been called when gathered into the Hebrew annals, " the Book of Naomi," or, "the Book of Boaz," or, "the Descent of David," but "the Book of Ruth." She is placed in the foreground, and kept in it throughout.

No doubt the Story is a love story, and is designed to set forth the power of love to overcome all the alienations, hostilities, and prejudices of nature and of that second nature which we call "habit." But it is not a story of romantic love between a young man and a young woman. It is the story of a woman's love for a woman; and, strangely as it would sound in the ears of our modern wits, it is the story of a young wife's passionate and devoted love for her mother-in-law! Ruth's tender self-sacrificing affection for Naomi is the very charm of the Story. It is in the strength of love that she abandons Moab and her father's house; it is in the strength of love that she also conquers the prejudices and jealousies of Bethlehem, and compels even Hebrews to admire her virtue and record her fame. And in that it was by her love for Naomi that Ruth was brought to know and serve the only wise and true God; we may see an illustration of the fact that men and women are often led to religion by natural affection, and rise to the love of God through their love for one another. The Story, then, is a story in praise of charity; and it shews the charity it praises. We have no reason to doubt that it was written by a Hebrew; obviously it is one of the Hebrew Scriptures: and yet it contains no touch of the common Hebrew enmity against the Gentile. It is fair, and even generous, in the tone it takes toward those who were outside the Hebrew pale. it has no word of blame for Elimelech, although he left the land of his fathers to sojourn among the heathen; nor for Orpah, although she turned back from Naomi: on the contrary, it records her kindness and self-devotion in at least intending to remain with her "mother " till Naomi herself dissuaded her; while for Ruth it has no praise too high. It bases itself on the truth, which Christ has made the common property of the race, that in every nation a pure and unselfish love is acceptable to God. So far from asserting the exclusive privilege of the chosen people, it rather invites other races to come and put their trust under the wings . of Jehovah, by shewing that, so soon as they trust in Him, the privilege and blessing of Israel become theirs.

(18.) And she took it up, and came into the city; and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned, And she brought out and gave to her that which she had left (at meal-time) after she was satisfied. (19.) And her mother-in-law said unto her, Where hast thou gleaned to-day? and where hast thou worked? Blessed be he that did take note of thee. And she shewed her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and said, The man’s name with whom I worked to-day I; 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 akin to us, one of our goelim. (21.) And Ruth the Moabitess said, Moreover he said unto me, 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, Good, my daughter; go out only with his maidens, lest in any other field thou be molested. (23.) So she kept fast by the maidens of Boaz, gleaning to the end of the barley-harvest and of the wheat-harvest,; and then she abode with her mother-in-law.

CHAPTER III. — Then Naomi, her mother-in-law, said unto her, My daughter, shall I not seek an asylum for thee, that it may be well unto thee? (2.) And, now, is not Boaz of our kindred, with whose maidens thou wast? Behold, he winnoweth barley to-night in the threshing floor. (3.) Wash thyself, therefore, and anoint thee, and put thy (best) apparel upon thee, and get thee down to the floor, but let not thyself be seen until the man have done eating and drinking. (4.) And it shall be that when he lieth down, thou shalt mark the place where he shall lie, and thou shalt go in and uncover (the place at) his feet, and lay thee down: and he will tell thee what thou shalt do. (5.) And she said unto her, All that thou sayest unto me I will do. (6.) And she went down unto the floor, and did according to all that her mother-in-law bade her.

(7.) And when Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was cheerful, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of corn, and she came softly, and uncovered (the place at) his feet, and laid her down. (8.) And it came to pass, at midnight, that the man was startled, and bent himself over; and, behold, a woman lay at his feet. (9.) And he said, Who art thou? And she answered, I am Ruth, thine handmaid: spread therefore thy wings over thine handmaid; for thou art a goel. (10.) And he said, Blessed be thou of. the Lord, my daughter: for thy latter kindness is better than thy former, inasmuch as thou didst not go after young men, whether poor or rich. (11.) And, now, my daughter, fear not; I will do for thee all that thou askest: for all the gate of my people doth know that thou art a brave woman.⁹ (12.) And, now, truly indeed I am a goel; howdeit there is a goel nearer than I. (13.) Tarry here tonight, and it shall be, in the morning, that if he will redeem thee, well; let him redeem: but if he well not redeem thee, then, as the Lord liveth, I will redeem thee. Lie down until the morning. (14.) And she lay at his feet till the morning: and she rose up before a man could recognize his friend. for he said, Let it not be known that the woman came into the floor. (15.) Also he said, Bring hither thy shawl that thou hast upon thee, and hold it out. And when she held it out, he measured six measures of barley, and laid it on her. And she went into the city.

(16.) And when she came to her mother-in-law, she (Naomi) said, How comest thou, my daughter? And she told her all that the man had done unto her. (17.) And she said, These six measures of barley gave he me, for he said to me, Go not empty to thy mother-in-law. (18.) And she (Naomi) said, Stay at home, my daughter, until thou knowest how the matter will go; for the man will not rest until he have finished it this day.

CHAPTER IV.—And Boaz went up to the gate, and sat him down there: and, behold, the goel of whom Boaz spake passed by; unto whom he said, Ho, So-and-So, turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside, and sat down, (2.) And he (Boaz) took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit ye down here. And they sat down, (3.) And he said unto the goel: Naomi, who is come again out of the Field of Moab, sold the parcel of land which was our brother Elimelech's; (4.) and I determined to advertise thee of it, and say, Acquire it before those who sit (in the gate) and before the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it; but if thou wilt not redeem it, tell me, that I may know: for there is none to redeem it but thou, and I, who am next to thee. And he said, I will redeem it, (5.) Then said Boaz, What day thou acquirest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou acquirest it also of Ruth the Moatitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, (6.) And the goel said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance; redeem thou for thyself that which it is mine to redeem, for I cannot redeem it. (7.) Now this was the custom formerly in Israel in cases of redeeming and in cases of exchanging, in order that at all points they might be confirmed: A man, plucked off his shoe and gave it to his neighbour: and this was attestation¹⁰  in Israel, (8.) When, then, the goel said unto Boaz, Do thou acquire it, he drew off his shoe. (9.) And Boaz said unto the elders and all the people, Ye are witnesses this day that I have acquired all that was Elimelech's, and all that was Chilion's and Mahton’s, of the hand of Naomi, (10.) Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahion, have f acquired to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place. We are witnesses this day. (11) And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said, We are witnesses. The Lord make the woman that cometh unto thy house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel; and mayest thou grow strong in Ephrathah and win a name in Bethlehem: (12.) and may thy house, be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bore unto Judah, of the seed which the Lord shall give thee of this young woman,

(13.) So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife; and he went in unto her, and the Lord gave her conception, and she bare a san. (14.) And the women said unto Naomi, Blessed be the Lord, who hath not left thee this day without a goel, and may his name be famous in Israel; (15.) and may he be a restorer of thy soul, and the stay of thine old age; for thy daughter-in-law, who loveth thee, who is better to thee than seven sons, hath borne him. (16.) And Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became nurse unto it. (17.) And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

(18.) Now these are the generations of Pharez: Pharez begat Hezron, (19.) and Hezron begat Ram, and Ram begat Aminadab, (20.) and Aminadab begat Nahshon, and Nahshon beget Salmon, (21.) and Salmon begat Boaz, and Boaz begat Obed, (22.) and Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David.