Moab, for she had heard that Jehovah had remembered his people and given
them food. As they were setting out on the journey to Judah, Naomi said
to her daughters-in-law, "Go, return each of you to the home of your
mother. May Jehovah be kind to you, as you have been kind to the dead
and to me. Jehovah grant that each of you may find peace and happiness
in the house of a new husband."
Then she kissed them; but they began to weep aloud and said to her, "No,
we will return with you to your people." But Naomi said, "Go back, my
daughters; why should you go with me? Can I still have sons who might
become your husbands? Go back, my daughters, go your own way, for I am
too old to have a husband. Even if I should say, 'I have hope,' even if
I should have a husband to-night and should have sons, would you wait
for them until they were grown up? Would you remain single for them? No,
my daughters! I am sorry for you, for Jehovah has afflicted me." Then
they again wept aloud, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-by, but
Ruth stayed with her.
Naomi said, "See, your sister-in-law is going back to her own people and
to her own gods; go along with her!" But Ruth answered, "Do not urge me
to leave you or to go back, for wherever you go I will go, and wherever
you stay I will stay; your people shall be my people, and your God my
God; I will die where you die and be buried there. May Jehovah bring a
curse upon me, if anything but death separate you and me." When Naomi
saw that Ruth had made up her mind to go with her, she ceased urging her
to return.
So they travelled on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived
there, the whole town was interested, and the women said, "Is this
Naomi?" But she said to them, "Do not call me Naomi which means
Sweetness: call me Mara which means Bitterness, for the Almighty has
given me a bitter lot. I had plenty when I left, but Jehovah has brought
me back empty-handed. Why should you call me Naomi, now that Jehovah has
turned against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?" So Naomi and Ruth
returned from Moab; and they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the
barley harvest.
Now Naomi was related through her husband to Boaz, a very wealthy man of
the family of Elimelech. Ruth, the Moabitess, said to Naomi, "Let me now
go into the fields and pick up the scattered heads of grain after him
whose favor I should win." Naomi said to her, "Go, my daughter."
So she went to pick up grain in the field after the reapers; and it was
her good fortune to pick up grain in that part of the field which
belonged to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech. When Boaz come
from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, "Jehovah be with you," they
answered him, "May Jehovah bless you." Then Boaz said to his servant who
had charge of the reapers, "Whose maiden is this?" The servant replied,
"It is the Moabite maiden who came back with Naomi from the land of
Moab; and she said, 'Let me pick up the scattered grain and gather
sheaves after the reapers.' So she came and has worked all the time
until now, and she has not rested a moment in the field."
Then Boaz said to Ruth, "Listen, my daughter. Do not go to pick up grain
in another field nor leave this place, but stay here with my maidens. I
have told the young men not to trouble you. When you are thirsty, go to
the jars and drink of that which the young men have drawn."
Then she bowed low and said to him, "Why are you so kind to me, to take
interest in me who am from another land?" Boaz replied, "I have heard
what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your
husband, and how you left your father and mother and your native land to
come to a people that you did not know before. May Jehovah repay you for
what you have done, and may you be fully rewarded by the God of Israel,
under whose wings you have come to take refuge." Then she said, "I trust
I may please you, my lord, for you have comforted me and spoken kindly
to your servant, although I am not really equal to one of your own
servants."
At noonday Boaz said to her, "Come here and eat some of the food and dip
your piece of bread in the wine." So she sat beside the reapers; and he
passed her the roasted grain, and she ate until she had had enough and
had some left. When she rose to gather grain, Boaz gave this order to
his young men: "Let her gather grain even among the sheaves and do not
disturb her. Also pull out some for her from the bundles and leave it
for her to gather and do not find fault with her."
So she gathered grain in the field until evening, then beat out that
which she had gathered; and it was about a bushel of barley. Then she
took it up and went into the city and showed her mother-in-law what she
had gathered. She also brought out and gave her that which she had left
from her meal after she had had enough.
Her mother-in-law said to her, "Where did you gather grain to-day and
where did you work? A blessing on him who took interest in you!" Then
she told her mother-in-law where she had worked, and said, "The name of
the man with whom I worked to-day is Boaz." Naomi said to her
daughter-in-law, "May the blessing of Jehovah rest upon him who has not
ceased to show his love to the living and to the dead." Naomi also said
to her, "The man is a near relative of ours." Ruth the Moabitess added,
"He said to me, 'You must keep near my young men until they have
completed all my harvest.'" Naomi said to Ruth, "It is best, my
daughter, that you should go out with his maidens and that no one should
find you in another field." So she gathered grain with the maidens of
Boaz until the end of the barley and wheat harvest; but she lived with
her mother-in-law.
[Illustration: (C) _Photographische Gesellschaft, Berlin_
_Ruth_
Painted by Henry Ryland]
Then Naomi said to her, "My daughter, shall I not try to find a home for
you where you will be happy and contented? Is not Boaz, with whose
maidens you have been, a relative of ours? This very night he is going
to winnow barley on the threshing-floor. So bathe and anoint yourself
and put on your best clothes and go down to the threshing-floor; but do
not make yourself known to the man until he is through eating and
drinking. Then when he lies down, you mark the place where he lies. Go
in, uncover his feet, lie down, and then he will tell you what to
do." Ruth said to her, "I will do as you say."
So she went down to the threshing-floor and did just as her
mother-in-law told her. When Boaz was through eating and drinking and
was in a happy mood, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of
grain. Then Ruth came softly and uncovered his feet and lay down. At
midnight the man was startled and turned over, and there was a woman
lying at his feet. He said, "Who are you?" She answered, "I am Ruth your
servant; spread therefore your skirt over your servant, for you are a
near relative." He said, "May you be blest by Jehovah, my daughter; for
you have shown me greater favor now than at first, for you have not
followed young men, whether poor or rich. My daughter, have no fear; I
will do for you all that you ask; for all my townsmen know that you are
a good woman. Now it is true that I am a near relative; yet there is one
nearer than I. Stay here to-night, and then in the morning, if he will
marry you, well, let him do it. But if he, being your nearest relative,
will not marry you, then as surely as Jehovah lives, I will do so. Lie
down until morning."
So she lay at his feet until morning, but rose before any one could tell
who she was, for Boaz said, "Let it not be known that a woman came to
the threshing-floor." He also said, "Bring the cloak which you have on
and hold it." So she held it while he poured into it six measures of
barley and laid it on her shoulders. Then he went into the city.
When Ruth came to her mother-in-law, Naomi said, "Is it you, my
daughter?" Then Ruth told Naomi all that the man had done for her. She
said, "He gave me these six measures of barley; for he said, 'Do not go
to your mother-in-law empty-handed.'" Naomi said, "Wait quietly, my
daughter, until you know how this will turn out, for the man will not
rest unless he settles it all to-day."
Then Boaz went up to the gate and sat down. Just then the near relative
of whom Boaz had spoken came along. To him Boaz said, "Ho!" calling him
by name, "come here and sit down." So he stopped and sat down. Boaz also
took ten of the town elders and said, "Sit down here." So they sat down.
Then he said to the near relative, "Naomi, who has come back from the
country of Moab, is offering for sale the piece of land which belonged
to our relative Elimelech, and I thought that I would lay the matter
before you, and ask you to buy it in the presence of these men who sit
here and of the elders of my people. If you will buy it and so keep it
in the family, do so; but if not, then tell me, that I may know; for no
one but you has the right to buy it, and I am next to you." He said, "I
will buy it."
Then Boaz said, "On the day you buy the field from Naomi, you must also
marry Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Mahlon, that a son may be born to
bear his name and to receive this field." The near relative said, "I
cannot buy it for myself, for fear I should lose what already belongs to
me. You take my right of buying it as a relative, for I cannot do so."
Now in those days this was the custom in Israel: to make an agreement
between two men the one drew off his shoe and gave it to the other. So
when the near relative said to Boaz, "Buy it for yourself," Boaz drew
off the man's shoe.
Then Boaz said to the elders and to all the people, "You are witnesses
at this time that I have bought all that was Elimelech's and all that
was Chilion's and Mahlon's from Naomi. Moreover, I have secured Ruth,
the Moabitess, the widow of Mahlon, to be my wife so that she may have a
son who will receive this land and carry on Mahlon's name. You are
witnesses this day."
Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, "We are
witnesses. May Jehovah make the woman who is coming into your house like
Rachel and Leah, and make you also famous in Bethlehem."
So Boaz married Ruth, and she became his wife; and Jehovah gave to her a
son. Then the women said to Naomi, "Blessed be Jehovah who has not left
you at this time without a near relative, and may his name be famous in
Israel. This child will bring back your strength and take care of you in
your old age; for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is worth more
to you than seven sons, has a son!"
So Naomi took the child in her arms and she became its nurse. Her
neighbors also said, "Naomi has a son!" and they named him Obed; he
became the father of Jesse, who was the father of David.
SAMUEL THE BOY PROPHET
Elkanah, a Zuphite of the hill country of Ephraim, lived at Ramah with
his two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah
had none.
This man used to go up from his village each year to worship and offer a
sacrifice to Jehovah of hosts at Shiloh. Whenever the day came for
Elkanah to offer a sacrifice he gave portions to his wife Peninnah and
to all his sons and daughters; but although he loved Hannah, he gave her
only one portion, for Jehovah had given her no children. Peninnah made
her angry by mocking her, for Jehovah had given her no children. Elkanah
did this year after year; but whenever Hannah went up to the temple of
Jehovah, Peninnah made her so angry that she wept and would not eat. So
Elkanah her husband said to her, "Hannah, why do you weep and why do you
not eat? Why are you so troubled? Am I not more to you than ten sons?"
After they had eaten in Shiloh, Hannah arose and stood before the temple
of Jehovah, while Eli the priest was sitting on his seat beside the door
posts of the temple. With a sad heart she prayed earnestly to Jehovah
and wept bitterly. She also made this sacred promise:
"O Jehovah of hosts!
If thou wilt look at my affliction,
And remember, not forgetting thy servant,
But wilt give thy servant a son,
Then I will give him to thee,
Throughout all the days of his life;
And no razor shall touch his head."
While she continued praying before Jehovah, Eli watched her mouth. She
spoke to herself; her lips moved, but her voice was not heard, so that
Eli thought that she was drunk and said to her, "How long will you act
like a drunken woman? Put away your wine and go from the presence of
Jehovah." But Hannah answered, "No, my lord, I am an unhappy woman; I
have not drunk wine nor any strong drink, but I have been pouring out my
heart before Jehovah. Do not think that your servant is a wicked woman,
for I have gone on speaking until now because my grief and vexation are
so great." Eli answered, "Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant
what you have asked of him." She said, "May your servant have your
approval!" So the woman went away and ate, and her face was no longer
sad.
Early in the morning she and her husband rose; and after they had
worshipped Jehovah, they returned to their home at Ramah. In the course
of the year Hannah had a son and named him Samuel, saying, "I asked him
of Jehovah."
Elkanah and all his household again went to offer the yearly sacrifice
to Jehovah, but Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, "When
the child is weaned, then I will take him, and he shall go to Jehovah's
temple and live there the rest of his life." Elkanah said to her, "Do
what seems best to you; wait until you have weaned him; only may Jehovah
help you to do what you have promised."
So the woman waited and nursed her son until she weaned him. Then she
took him with her, and a three-year-old ox, a bushel of flour, and a
skin of wine, and brought him to the temple of Jehovah at Shiloh. Then
they killed the ox, and Hannah brought the child to Eli and said, "Oh,
my lord, as surely as you live, I am the woman who stood near you here
praying earnestly to Jehovah. This is the boy for whom I prayed. Jehovah
has granted what I asked of him. Therefore I have given him to Jehovah;
as long as he lives he belongs to Jehovah."
Elkanah returned to his home in Ramah, but the boy stayed to serve
Jehovah under the direction of Eli the priest. So Samuel--a young boy
dressed in a linen robe--did the duties of a priest in the temple. His
mother also made him a little robe and each year brought it to him when
she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.
Eli blessed Elkanah and said, "Jehovah repay you with children from this
woman for the gift which she has given to Jehovah." Then they returned
to their home; and Hannah had three more sons and two daughters.
Meantime the boy Samuel grew up in the temple of Jehovah.
The sons of Eli were very wicked. They knew not Jehovah, and they
despised the offerings which were brought to him. Eli was very old, and
whenever he heard that his sons were doing wrong he said to them, "Why
do you do such things, for I hear of your wicked deeds from all the
people. No, my sons: it is not a good report that I hear from the people
of Jehovah." But they did not listen to the words of their father.
The boy Samuel grew and won the favor both of Jehovah and of men. He
continued to serve Jehovah under the direction of Eli; but in those days
not many messages came from Jehovah.
One day Eli was lying in his room. His eyes had begun to grow dim so
that he could not see. While the lamp of God was still burning, and
Samuel was lying in the temple of Jehovah where the ark of God was,
Jehovah called, "Samuel! Samuel!" He answered, "Here am I." Then he ran
to Eli and said, "Here am I, for you called me." But Eli said, "I did
not call, lie down again." So he went and lay down. Then Jehovah called
again, "Samuel! Samuel!" Samuel rose and went to Eli and said, "Here am
I, for you called me." But Eli answered, "I did not call, my son; lie
down again."
Now Samuel did not yet know Jehovah nor had a message from Jehovah been
given to him. So when Jehovah called Samuel again the third time, he
rose and went to Eli and said, "Here am I, for you called me!" Then Eli
knew that Jehovah was calling the boy. So he said to Samuel, "Go, lie
down, and if you are called, say, 'Speak, Jehovah, for thy servant is
listening.'" So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
Then Jehovah came and called as at other times, "Samuel! Samuel!" And
Samuel answered, "Speak, for thy servant is listening." Jehovah said to
Samuel, "See, I am about to do a thing in Israel that will make the ears
of every one who hears it tingle. On that day I will do to Eli all that
I have said that I would do to his family from the first to the last.
For I have told him that I will punish his family forever for the crime
of which he knew his sons were guilty, for they did not do what God
commanded and he did not stop them."
Samuel lay until morning, and then he opened the doors of the temple of
Jehovah. He was afraid to tell the vision to Eli. But when Eli called
him and said, "Samuel, my son," he said, "Here am I." Eli asked, "What
is the thing that Jehovah said to you? Keep nothing from me; may God do
to you whatever he will, if you keep from me a word of all that he said
to you." So Samuel told him everything, and kept nothing from him. And
Eli said, "It is Jehovah; let him do what seems good to him."
THE ARK AMONG THE PHILISTINES
In those days the Israelites went out to meet the Philistines, and in a
hard-fought battle the Israelites were defeated by the Philistines.
When the people returned to the camp, the leaders of Israel said, "Why
has Jehovah let us be beaten to-day by the Philistines? Let us bring the
ark of our God from Shiloh. He may then go out with us and deliver us
from our enemies."
So the people sent to Shiloh and took from there the ark of Jehovah of
hosts. When it came to the camp, all the Israelites shouted so loud that
the earth resounded.
The Philistines heard the sound of the shouting and said, "What does
this sound of great shouting in the camp of the Hebrews mean?" When they
knew that the ark of Jehovah had come to the camp, they were afraid, for
they said, "Their god has come to their camp. Woe to us! for it has
never been so before; but be strong and act like men." So the
Philistines fought, and the Israelites were defeated and each fled to
his tent.
The same day a Benjamite from the ranks ran to Shiloh with his clothes
torn and with earth on his head. As he came, Eli was sitting on his seat
by the gate watching the road, for his heart was trembling for the ark
of God.
When the man came and told the people of the city, they all cried out.
Eli heard the sound of crying and said, "What is this uproar?" So the
man came quickly and told Eli, "I am the man who came from the battle,
for I fled from the ranks." Eli said, "How did it go, my son?" The
messenger answered, "Israel fled from the Philistines, and many people
were killed, and your two sons are dead, and the ark of God has been
captured." When he spoke of the ark of God, Eli fell off his seat
backward beside the gate, and his neck was broken, for he was old and
heavy, and he died.
The Philistines took the ark of God and brought it to the temple of
Dagon in Ashdod and set it up by the side of Dagon. When the people of
Ashdod rose early the next day and came to the temple of Dagon, there
was Dagon on the ground flat on his face before the ark of Jehovah. Then
they raised up Dagon and set him in his place again. But when they rose
early on the following morning, there was Dagon on the ground flat on
his face before the ark of Jehovah. The head of Dagon and both his hands
were broken off on the door sill, and only his body was left.
Jehovah severely punished the people of Ashdod, for he punished them
with boils. When the men of Ashdod saw this, they said, "The ark of the
god of Israel shall not stay with us, for he is severely punishing us
and Dagon our god." So they sent for all the rulers of the Philistines
and asked, "What shall we do with the ark of the god of Israel?" They
answered, "Let it be carried around to Gath."
So they carried the ark of the God of Israel around to Gath. Then
Jehovah punished the men of that city, both young and old, with boils.
Therefore they sent the ark of the God of Israel to Ekron; but when it
came to Ekron, the Ekronites cried out, "They have brought around the
ark of the god of Israel to kill us and our people!" They sent,
therefore, and gathered all the rulers of the Philistines and said,
"Send the ark of the god of Israel back to its own place, so that it
will not kill us and our people!"
Then the Philistines called the priests and diviners and asked, "What
shall we do with the ark of Jehovah? Tell us with what we shall send it
to its place." They said, "If you send back the ark of the god of
Israel, you must not send it away empty, but must return to him an
offering to repay him for all that you have done to the ark. Then you
shall be healed, and you shall know why he has continued to punish you."
They said, "What offering shall we send back in order to repay him?"
They said, "Five golden boils and five golden mice, the same number as
the rulers of the Philistines; for one plague was upon you as well as
upon your rulers. Now therefore prepare a new cart and two milch cows
that have never worn a yoke, and fasten the cows to the cart, but leave
their calves behind them at home. Then take the ark of Jehovah and place
it upon the cart and put in a box at its side the golden objects which
you are sending to them as an offering to repay him. Then send it away.
If it goes on the way to its own border, to Bethshemesh, then it is
Jehovah who has done us this great harm; but if not, then we shall know
that it is not he who has punished us; it was only an accident."
The men did so, and the cows took a straight course along the
Bethshemesh road. They went along the highway, lowing as they went, and
did not turn aside to the right nor to the left. The rulers of the
Philistines also went after them as far as Bethshemesh.
The inhabitants of Bethshemesh were harvesting their wheat in the
valley, and when they looked up and saw the ark, they rejoiced at the
sight. When the ark came into the field of Joshua, the Bethshemeshite,
it stood still there. And a great stone was there; so they split up the
wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt-offering to Jehovah.
When the five rulers of the Philistines saw it, they returned to Ekron
the same day.
HOW SAMUEL FOUND A LEADER
There was a rich Benjamite named Kish, who lived at Gibeah. He had a son
named Saul, a man full grown and handsome; no one among the Israelites
was more handsome than he. From his shoulders and upward he was taller
than any of the people.
Now the asses of Kish, Saul's father, were lost. So Kish said to Saul,
"Take one of the servants with you and go, look for the asses." They
went through the highlands of Ephraim and the land of Shalishah, but did
not find them. Then they crossed into the land of Shaalim, but the asses
were not there. They also went through the land of Benjamin, but did not
find them.
They had come into the land of Zuph when Saul said to his servant who
was with him, "Come, let us go back, that my father may not stop
thinking of the asses and be anxious about us." The servant answered
him, "There is a man of God in this town who is held in honor; all that
he says is sure to come true. Now let us go there; perhaps he can tell
us the way we should go."
Saul said to his servant, "But, suppose we go, what shall we take to the
man, for the bread is gone from our sacks, and there is no present to
take to the man of God? What have we?" The servant answered Saul again
and said, "See, I have with me a quarter of a silver shekel. Give it to
the man of God that he may tell us our way." Then Saul said to his
servant, "Your advice is good; come, let us go." So they went to the
town where the man of God was.
As they were going up to the town, they met young women going out to
draw water and said to them, "Is the seer here?" They answered them, "He
is there; he is before you. Make haste, for he has just come into the
town, for the people have a sacrificial feast to-day at the sacred place
on the hilltop. As soon as you come to the town, you will find him
before he goes up to the high place to eat, for the people will not eat
until he comes, for he blesses the sacrifice, and then the guests eat.
Therefore go up now, for at this time you will find him."
So they went up to the town, and when they came inside the gate, Samuel
was just coming out toward them to go up to the high place. Now Jehovah
had told Samuel the day before Saul came, "About this time to-morrow I
will send you a man out of the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint
him to be a prince over my people Israel. He shall deliver my people
from the power of the Philistines; for I have seen the suffering of my
people, because their cry has come to me."