BY THE AUTHOR OF “THE STORY OF GIDEON.”
WHEN the kinsman said he would redeem the land, as we explained in our last paper, Boaz told him that when he bought the field at the hand of Naomi, he must also buy it of Ruth, the Moabitess, the wife of the dead: and the kinsman said, “I cannot redeem it for myself,” and he asked Boaz if he would redeem it. And the ten elders heard and saw, and were witnesses that the business was settled, and that Boaz had bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s of the hand of Naomi, and that Boaz took Ruth to be his wife. And all the people that were at the gate, and the elders, said, “We are witnesses.”
Afterwards, when Ruth was the wife of Boaz, and became the mother of a son, there was much joy, not only for the babe’s parents, but for his grandmother Naomi: doubtless she loved him very much, for it is said: “Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became nurse unto it.” This little child received the name of Obed, and when he grew up and married, he had a son of his own called Jesse: then in after years Jesse himself became the father of a large family, of whom the youngest was David. David, a shepherd-boy in childhood, became a king, from which royal line the Lord Jesus Christ was born. How much there is in Scripture of that which happened at Bethlehem, of the history of Ruth in the Old Testament, and in the New, as to the wonderful birth in “the City of David,” of Him Who was, and Who is, “Christ the Lord.” (Matthew 2, and Luke 2).
The very mention of the word redeemer makes our thoughts fly to Him Who was the one only Redeemer of our souls, even the Lord Jesus, Who gave up his precious life to buy us back from the grasp of our great enemy the devil, the enemy of God and man. Let us always remember that God cares for His own people in a special way: He makes the sun rise, and the rain fall for the benefit of everybody, but He causes all things to work together for good to them who love Him, who are His children by faith in Christ Jesus.
Our Editor kindly offers to give three prizes for the three best answers to the following questions. Please mention your age at the bottom of your paper and address it to “Ruth,” care of the Publisher of “THE SPRINGING WELL,” 14, Paternoster Row, London, on or before January 31St, 1903.