18 Howbeit we may not give them wives of our daughters: for the children of Israel have sworn, saying, Cursed be he that giveth a wife to Benjamin. 19 Then they said, Behold, there is a feast of the LORD in Shiloh yearly in a place which is on the north side of Beth-el, 'on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Beth-el to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah. 20 Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards; 21 And see, and, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then come ye out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. 22 And it shall be, when their fathers or Heb. from year to year. 7 Or, towards the sun-rising. 8 Or, on. their brethren come unto us to complain, that we will say unto them, "Be favourable unto them for our sakes: because we reserved not to each man his wife in the war: for ye did not give unto them at this time, that ye should be guilty. 23 And the children of Benjamin did so, and took them wives, according to their number, of them that danced, whom they caught: and they went and returned unto their inheritance, and repaired the cities, and dwelt in them. 24 And the children of Israel departed thence at that time, every man to his tribe and to his family, and they went out from thence every man to his inheritance. 25 1oIn those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes. 9 Or, Gratify us in them. 10 Chap. 17. 6, and 18. 1, and 19. 1. Verse 19. "Behold, there is a feast to the Lord in Shiloh yearly." - This was doubtless one of the three annual feasts held at the seat of the sanctuary, which at this time was at Shiloh; and it is generally considered to have been the feast of tabernacles, which was celebrated with more festivity than any of the others. "On the east side of the highway that goeth up from Beth-el." -This is a particular indication of the situation, not of Shiloh, but of the place in the neighbourhood where the young women were likely to come to dance. It is probably thus precisely described, that the Benjamites might not mistake the place. It was not certain that the young women would come there (see verse 21), but it was probable, the custom being common. The Orientals generally have no places in their towns where assemblies may be held for festivity and dancing. It is therefore customary to hold such assemblies in some pleasant places in the neighbourhood, in the gardens and plantations, or in small valleys, if there be any. This is a favourite plan of the women when they desire to enjoy themselves. There are certain occasions of annual recurrence (as the religious festival of Bairam among the Moslems) in which the women are allowed this indulgence in the fullest extent, and thus they form large parties which go out to amuse themselves with music, dancing, and such other recreations as are common among females. The approaches of the place where they assemble are now usually guarded by eunuchs to prevent intrusion. The different sexes never participate in each other's amusements: and this was the case in the times of the Bible; for we never read of any amusement or festivity in which they mingled: and if men had in this instance been present with the daughters of Shiloh, the Benjamites would not so easily have secured their prey. The Oriental women have a great passion for suburban festivities, and have many contrivances for securing its enjoyment. It is the custom at Aleppo to send the women out into the neighbouring gardens and plantations when an earthquake is apprehended, on which occasions they enjoy themselves to the utmost. Not long since, in order to secure this indulgence, the women conspired together, and raised money to hire an astrologer to go to the pasha and foretell an earthquake. He was believed; and the women were sent out of town, and passed two or three days in all sorts of festivity. But as the earthquake did not happen, and the contrivance transpired through the exultation of the ladies at the success of their plan, they were recalled, and the subservient astrologer lost his head. In the island of Malta, the women indicate their Oriental descent by the same attachment to rural festivity in the open air. On the feast of St. Paul, in particular, they resort from all parts of the island to the pleasant valley of Boschetto, and spend the day in feasting, dancing, and music. It is true that some of the males of the respective families are now usually present; but it is properly the women's festival; and so bent are they on securing its enjoyment, that it is one of the strictest stipulations which they make before marriage, that they shall be allowed to spend St. Paul's day, every year, in the valley of Boschetto. We the rather allude to this custom, because it is the celebration of a religious festival, as was that at which the daughters of Shiloh danced their dances; and because it is the relic of a more ancient religious celebration in honour of Melcrat (the Tyrian Hercules) which the Phoenician colonists, who settled in Malta, brought with them from Tyre. Indeed there are circumstances which approximate it to the feast of tabernacles, at which the present transaction is supposed to have taken place; for on this occasion it is usual for the people, on their return to Boschetto, to cover the vehicles in which they are conveyed with branches of trees-chiefly of poplar, which was also used in the more ancient festival, that tree having been sacred to the ancient Melcrat of Tyre. 21. "The daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances." The preceding note may be taken to illustrate the custom for the women to go out of the towns to hold the festivities in the open air. It will be recollected that the women of Israel were not required, like the men, to attend at the place of the tabernacle during the three annual festivals; whence it is that "the daughters of Shiloh" only are mentioned in the present text. We also intimated in the former note that the ancient religious festivals were often celebrated with dances-not always so much as a religious act in itself, as an amusement in a season of general festivity; and such, perhaps, were the dances of the daughters of Shiloh. We must not always conclude an act to have a religious intention because it takes place in the season of a religious festival, any more than the festal observances of Easter and Christmas may be considered to form any essential part of the celebration. A festival occurs; and after attending to its prescribed observances, people fall upon their customary recreations, particularly when the festal season is of several days' duration. Dancing seems to have been a very general recreation among the Jews-the sexes dancing apart-both in their ordinary entertainments and greater festival occasions. Dances were also sometimes performed more distinctly on a religious account, than seems to 667 4Q2 have been the case in the instance before us. Thus Miriam and the women of Israel celebrated with music, songs, and dancing, the overthrow of the Egyptians (Exod. xv. 20, 21); and thus David, "danced before the ark with all his might," when it was conveyed to Jerusalem in triumph from the house of Obed-edom (2 Sam. vi. 14). Dancing accompanied with music was, in fact, among the Jews and other ancient nations, a general mode of expressing joy and exultation, whether religious, secular, or domestic: but among some other nations it was more formally and distinctly associated with religious worship than among the Jews, whose dances did not form any part of their worship, but was an act of joy on particular occasions, some of which were religious. The distinction is important. We shall have occasion for some further remarks on the dancing of the Hebrews. We do not know of any authority which Bishop Patrick has for saying, that the Hebrew virgins only danced at the feast of tabernacles; and we have no doubt of its being a mistake. Perhaps it arose from the fact that there was, in later times, more dancing at this than at any other feast; perhaps because it included the harvest-home and vintage festival. In the time of cur Saviour, all the elders, the members of the sanhedrin, the rulers of the synagogues, and the doctors of the schools, and other persons deemed venerable for their age and piety, danced together in the court of the Temple, to the sound of the Temple music, every evening while this feast lasted. The balconies around the court were crowded with women, and the ground with men, as spectators. This, however, conveys no intimation of earlier usage, as the ceremony was professedly in imitation of David's dancing before the ark. They had perhaps better have left the matter as it originally stood. Dr. Jennings, who evidently does not much admire it, says, "All the sport was to see these venerable fathers of the nation skip and dance, clap their hands and sing; and they who played the fool most egregiously, acquitted themselves with the most honour." ("Jewish Antiquities,' B. iii. c. 6.) CHAPTER 1. OF RUT. Н. 2 And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Beth-lehem-judah. And they came into the country of Moab, and *continued there. 3 And Elimelech Naomi's husband died; and she was left, and her two sons. 4 And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years. 5 And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband. 6 Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread. 7 Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was, and her two daughters in law with her; and they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah. 8 And Naomi said unto her two daughters in law, Go, return each to her mother's house: the LORD deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me. 9 The Lord grant you that ye may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them; and they lifted up their voice, and wept. 10 And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people. are 11 And Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters: why will ye go with me? there yet any more sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? 12 Turn again, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have an husband. If I should say, I have hope, if I should have an husband also to night, and should also bear sons; 13 Would ye 'tarry for them till they were grown? would ye stay for them from having husbands? nay, my daughters; for it grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the LORD is gone out against me. 14 And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother in law; but Ruth clave unto her. 15 And she said, Behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister in law. 16 And Ruth said, 'Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: 17 Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me. 18 When she saw that she was stedfastly 1 Heb. judged, Heb, were. Or, if I were with an husband. Or, Be not against ma RUTH. This book, like the four last chapters of Judges, is properly an appendix to that book, being a narrative of circumstances that occurred "in the days when the Judges ruled." The ancient Hebrew canon accordingly makes it part of the book of Judges; but the modern Jews make it one of the five Megilloth, or volumes, which consist of the Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther; and of which Ruth is sometimes placed the first in order, sometimes the second, and sometimes the last. We know from verse 1, that the circumstances which this beautiful narrative records, occurred in the time of the Judges; but opinions differ exceedingly as to the precise date. The facts that Ruth was the mother of Obed the father of Jesse, David's father; and that Jesse was an old man when David was still but a youth, afford the only data on which an estimate may be formed. Josephus places the events in the time of Eli; but this is unquestionably too late. Others carry it so far back as the time when Israel was subject to the Moabites under Eglon, or when Ehud or Shamgar ruled. This is the opinion of several Jewish doctors, and also of Lightfoot, who places the history between the third and fourth chapters of Judges. Other writers have placed it at almost every intermediate period between the time of the Moabitish servitude and that of Eli. The prevailing opinion of the Jews themselves is, that the date should be placed in the time of Ibzan, who succeeded Jephthah, or was perhaps contemporary with him on the other side of the river. They indeed think that Boaz himself was the same as Ibzan; for which we know no other reason than that they were both Bethlehemites, coupled with the desire to make the ancestor of David a person of unusual distinction. We believe the opinion which now most prevails is that of Archbishop Usher, which takes the mean between the extreme opinions, and places these events in the time of Gideon. This idea is also thought to be corroborated by the fact that the only scarcity mentioned in the book of Judges, to which that mentioned in this book can be referred, is that caused by the oppression of the Midianites, from which Gideon was instrumental in delivering his people. About the authorship of the book there are also different opinions; but the most general is that which attributes it to Samuel. That it could not have been brought into its present form earlier than his time, appears from the genealogy with which the book concludes, and which traces the lineal posterity of Boaz and Ruth down to David. 11. "Are there yet any more sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?"- It is impossible to understand this without supposing it to refer to the custom, which prevailed among the Hebrews and other nations, for the living brother to marry the widow of one deceased, in order to perpetuate that brother's family and inheritance. To this it has been objected by Aben-Ezra and others, that the law did not make such a marriage obligatory on any but brothers by the father's side, and not by the mother's only; and that brothers unborn when the elder brother died, are not included in its operation. The fact is, that the law says nothing in either case; and we think that the expressions of Naomi sufficiently show that the practices indicated did prevail, whether the law intended to sanction them or not. We see no reason why we may not in this, as in other instances, admit that the law did not take cognizance of every usage connected with the particular subjects on which it legislated, but only of those usages, in such subjects, which required particular direction or restriction. Some statements connected with this law will be found under chap. iv. 20. "Call me not Naomi, call me Mara."-These names are explained in the margin. In the note to Gen. xvii, 5 there are some remarks on the changes of name which sometimes take place in the East and elsewhere. CHAPTER II. 1 Ruth gleaneth in the fields of Boaz. 4 Boaz even from the morning until now, that she tarried a little in the house. 8 Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest taking knowledge of her, 8 sheweth her great thou not, my daughter? Go not to glean favour. 18 That which she got, she carrieth to Naomi. AND Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz. 2 And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said unto her, Go, my daughter. 3 And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her 'hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto "Boaz, who was of the kindred of Eli melech. 4 And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, The LORD be with you. And they answered him, The LORD bless thee. 5 Then said Boaz unto his servant that was set over the reapers, Whose damsel is this? 6 And the servant that was set over the reapers answered and said, It is the Moabitish damsel that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab: 7 And she said, I pray you, let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves: so she came, and hath continued in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens: 9 Let thine eyes be on the field that they do reap, and go thou after them: have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee? and when thou art athirst, go unto the vessels, and drink of that which the young men have drawn. 10 Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger? 11 And Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath fully been shewed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother in law since the death of thine husband: and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore. 12 The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust. 13 Then she said, "Let me find favour in thy sight, my lord; for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken 'friendly unto thine handmaid, though I be not like unto one of thine handmaidens. 14 And Boaz said unto her, At mealtime 1 Heb. hap happened. Called, Matth. 1. 5, Booz. 3 Or, I find favour. 4 Heb. to the heart. |