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 near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen.
How very sweet and interesting is this even as an history, considered in' the way of God's providence. There was but one man in Israel by right of inheritance, as the Goel-kinsman of the decayed house of Elimelech, that could repair their broken circumstances, and redeem their mortgaged land. And the Lord in his providence sends Ruth, wino was altogether unconscious of all this, into the very path by which this blessing might be accomplished. But how infinitely more precious And interesting is the subject, when viewed spiritually, and in a way of grace. There is but one man under heaven which can repair our desolate ruined state of nature, by redemption of our long-forfeited inheritance, and he is indeed our next kinsman, for Ire hath married our nature for this very purpose. Precious Jesus! am I indeed conic, unconscious as I was at the time of my ruined state by nature, out of the country of Moab, a poor awakened Gentile, to glean in thy fields? Hast thou eyed me and took pity on me in my lost estate, for thy mercy endureth forever? Hast thou commanded thy servants, the ministers of thy gospel, to suffer me to glean in thy fields of truth and to rebuke me not; and even to let fail handfuls of the bread of life on purpose for me? Have I indeed wrought under thy eye, and in thy favour, and found an ephah? Is this the man, even the Lord of the country, the God-man Christ Jesus; unto whose cornfields I am come? O blessed be Jesus JEHOVAH! who hath not left off his kindness to dead sinners, whom he hath quickened, nor to the living, whom when quickening he hath called!