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them, had drawn Ruth from the frivolities of Moab. It is Naomi not Ruth, whom, "the women, her neighbours," congratulate on the birth of Ruth's son. In him they see Naomi's goel-Ruth a'ready had hers in Boaz; and they pray that, as he grows up, he may restore her to her former happiness, and be the stay and gladness of her old age. But though they speak to Naomi, and pray for her, they do not utterly forget the singular virtue of Ruth. In the words, "Thy daughter-in-law, who loveth thee, who is better to thee than seven sons," they pronounce on her an eulogy such as few "strange" women could have heard from Hebrew lips. It is because the boy is Ruth's son, that he is Naomi's goel; for how can he fail to love and cherish the woman whom his mother has loved with a love even passing the love of women."-Cox.

"Naomi is everywhere an image of the Church of Christ, which wins, confesses, and fosters through love. Men whose natural hearts are hostile to her, become her obedient children. When there is apostacy and misery

in the Church it is for priests and preachers to
repent, as Naomi did, and not to excuse them-
selves.
And how greatly she sins,
when she does not rightly foster, those who
do come; exhibiting neither love, nor wisdom,
nor faith in her treatment of them-that too
will one day be made manifest. Impatience
is not in love; and a little money does not
make amends for the coldness of consummate
self-righteousness."- Lange.

"Of Boaz himself no warrior deeds are known, and yet the greatest of Israel's heroes, the conqueror of Goliath [There is a tradition that Goliath descended from Orpah, as David from Ruth] sprang from him. He conquered himself, and on that account became the ancestor of Him who triumphed over sin and death. Similarly, Ruth had nothing but a heart full of love, and yet to her, once a daughter of Moab, there was given what neither Deborah nor Jael obtained, to become the Mother of Him by whom all the nations are redeemed."-Ibid.

"How vain are all hereditary honours,

Those poor possessions from another's deeds,
Unless our own just virtues form our title,
And give a sanction to our fond assumption."-Shirley.

And they called his name Obed, etc. Now these are the generations, etc. Not a dry list of names merely useless and cumbersome as the stones of the desert. These men lived, thought, played their part in life as we do now. Think of it. Then again the names themselves, not given haphazard, but from reasons, and with a motive. Obed, for instance, means a servant, and doubtless he was called so because of the part he was to play towards Naomi and towards God.

Suggests I. The interest men take generally in genealogy. (1) Natural. Few men insensible or careless with regard to their ancestry, especially if it has been one which has played a noble and dignified part. (2) Allowed and encouraged by Scripture. The lineage of Israel for many reasons of especial and world-wide importance. (3) May be useful as a stimulus and inspiration.

II. The interest men take in this particular record. (1) Because of the men themselves. They were men of fame. Nahshon a prince in Israel; David the king, etc. (2) Because they are links in the genealogy of Christ. It is interesting to notice the variety of rank and condition in the ancestry of the Saviour. Rahab the harlot. Ruth the gleaner. Boaz, possibly the judge. David the king. "He who was bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh," touches our race at every point, and claims kindred with it all. (A. Thomson). Note. How this illustrates the spiritual relationship to which Christ invites us. (3) Because they are helps in the study, and attestation of prophecy and of character. How much history is condensed in such a list! Expand it, and what lessons are to be enforced! Here, for instance, Obed is called the son of Boaz after all, and not the son of Mahlon as might have been expected. Note. Laws and customs are often borne down by the force of circumstances and of public opinion. Is not this the reward of Boaz-the reward of faith [cf. on IV. 6]. His name stands here contrary to the usual custom, stands as it ought to do among the ancestors of Christ himself. [See also Introduction pp. 4, 5; and on I. 2, pp. 14, 15.] E. Price on this :

Theme. HERALDRY.

What a vanity these genealogies really are, although called a science, forsooth ! "The pride of life" is never more exemplified than when a bad man is seen poring over the long catalogue of, it may be, worthless predecessors. A relief, then, to study one, drawn out by God Himself, and suggesting the fondest hopes of men!

From Pharez to David-what does the genealogical "tree" really suggest to us?

Why! 1. Our descent is only valuable as it stands related to God's purpose in Christ Jesus. What would be the real worth of David's name, if taken away from that of his great successor ?

2. That Providence marvellously works up our little lives into the grand whole of His "Counsel." Some of these names may in themselves be worthless, yet can they not break away from God's overruling purpose!

And 3. Regarding the descent of David and of Christ the Lord as historical facts, the scheme of the Jewish "Herald" continually reminds us of our relation to, and gratitude for, the great and glorious Redeemer of men-Himself the son of Adam!

Names go for something, when multiplied into that of Him, who is the Alpha and the Omega of all human events!

"Obed a servant. It may be a remembrancer of duty. Just as the motto of the Prince of Wales is 'Ich Dien,' I serve. Any way it is beautiful never to despise service. A Christian is to be meet for the Master's use.' How many there are who are of no use in the world ! Some dislike all service, and prefer the dainty hand that is never soiled, and the life that is never separated from selfishness."-Statham.

"Orpah, the child of sense, dismayed by the difficulties presented, goes back again; Ruth, the child of the Spirit, 'persuaded' of better things, presses through all obstacles onward to join the Israel of God, and to find rest at last where rest at first had seemed impossible. So the 'anonymous kinsman,' fearing lest his name should be blotted out from Israel, his inheritance marred, his children called after another, misses the one opportunity of life and goes down to a nameless oblivion. Boaz, the man of nobler spirit, and larger faith, and keener insight. is deterred by no fear, held back by no difficulty; and, contrary to custom, we find his name here as the father of Obed, in the genealogy of David and of Christ. Is it hard to read the moral of such a story ?

the moral which works itself out everywhere in the pages of Inspiration, and repeats itself today in the history of a thousand lives; that sense deceives and sight fails, and cunning defeats itself; that the law is fallible and the letter kills, while faith endures and love conquers: and that only in obeying those instincts which are of God, and which spring up in hearts open to His influence, is the safety and solution of human life. This is the victory of faith, which overcomes the world and finds its name written at last in the Lamb's Book of Life for evermore."-B.

"O, Moab! out of thee shall come forth the unspotted Lamb which bears the sins of the world, and rules over the whole earth! From the rock of the wilderness, i.e., from Ruth, widowed by the death of her husband, Boaz derived Obed. and from David came Christ." Jerome.

"Much of Scripture, and still more of that which is written about Scripture, is but like the valley of dry bones to eyes of sense and sin. But if the Spirit, without whom there is no true understanding breathe upon it, whatever men say, it may live again, and that to the praise and glory of God." В.