Ruths Recompense, Commentary on Ruth · Chapter 3 · Verse 9
Verſe 9. And he ſaid, Who art thou? And ſhee anſwered, I am Ruth thine handmaid; ſpread therefore thy skirt ouer thine handmaid, for thou art a neere kinſman.
THis is Boaz his queſtioning with Ruth, her anſwer, with a requeſt to him, and the reaſon thereof.
And he ſaid, Who art thou?] Boaz comming to himſelfe, moderateth his feare, and containeth himſelf from vnchaſte touching, and demandeth what ſhe was. Wee may note, firſt, that though feare poſſeſſe wiſe and godly men vponupon a ſudden, yet they moderate it, and are not wholly ouer come therewith: for Boaz heere cryeth not out to ſeruants for helpe, neither ſpeaketh to her, as one amazed, neither falleth he into a rage with her, that ſhee ſhould be occaſion of ſuch feare: for howſoeuer the feare ſuddenly ſeazed vponupon him being faſt in ſleepe before, yet was it not childiſh, nor womaniſh, he ſoone ſhooke it off, as a man of courage, hauing confidence in God. He maſtered his naturall feare: and ſo ſhould wee, and not bee ouerſwayed therewith, as women and children be. Secondly, That raging luſt ſhould not ſeaze ſuddenly vponupon honeſt hearts, and ſuch as feare God. Boaz was with her alone, yet doth he not in a filthy affection ſeeke to diſhoneſt her, as Iudah did Thamar, being inflamed with luſt at the ſight of her; he did it on the day time, he asked not what ſhee was, as Boaz doth here, luſt would not affoord him that leaſure. This continencie is praiſe worthyGen. 19. in old Boaz, as it was before in young Ioſeph: a vertue as in theſe commended, ſo commanded by God, and much praiſed in ſome Heathen, who may riſe vp in iudgement againſt our wanton Youth, and ſome lecherous old men, whom God doth hate.
And ſhe anſwered, I am Ruth thine handmaid.] Thus Ruth calleth her ſelfe ſhewing her humility, as before in chap. 2. 13. and here, by profeſſing what a one ſhee would be vntounto him, humble and ſeruiceable, as an handmaiden, if ſhee might obtaine her ſute. So ſaid Abigail, when Dauid ſent2. Sam. 25. 41. to her, to take her to wife; and ſo humble and ſeruiceable was Sarah: for ſhee called Abraham Gen. 18. 6.Lord, and in what he commanded, ſhe readily obeyed. And ſo ſhould good and vertuous wiues doe ſtill, when husbands command but what is honeſt and iuſt: not that wiues ſhould be counted in condition as ſeruants: for as that is more then they will grant, ſo is it more then husbands of right ought to expect from them that be their yoke-fellowes: but what maid-ſeruants and handmaidens doe of feare, and ſeruile dutie, wiues ſhould do of louelove with chearefulnes ſuch offices, as they ought to performe vntounto their husbands, who hauehave authoritie to command. Therefore let wiues learne to obey, as God commandeth themEpheſ. 5. 22, 33 to doe in all things, and that with reuerence, as vntounto the Lord, and as it is ſit in the Lord, as theCol. 3. 18. Apoſtle teacheth. And doubtleſſe there would be more ſuch, then we find in theſe dayes, if they might hauehave Abrahams to their husbands, louing, wiſe in inſtructing them, and giuing them honour as the weaker veſſels. Note farther, how this worthy woman doth humble and debaſe her ſelfe: for the Godly think lowly and meanely of themſelues; 1. Sam. 24. 14.as did Abigail, alſo Dauid, that worthy Centurion, who ſaid, That hee was not worthy that Chriſt ſhould come vnderunder his roofe. Abraham likewiſe did call himſelfe duſt and aſhes;Gen. 18. Saint Paul did greatly humble and vilifie himſelfe:1. Tim. …. 13. 1. Cor. 15. 9. for the godly are not ſelfe-louing, they ſee and know what they be by nature; they are not like the Angel of the Church of Laodicea, which thought highly of himſelfe, and that he wantedReuel. 3. nothing, when yet he was poore, and blind, and naked, and miſerable. They know, if they hauehave any thing, that the ſame is from God, that the more they hauehave, whether gifts of body, or mind, or of the world, or the graces of the ſoule ſpirituall and heauenly, the more they be indebted, and the more they are to anſwer for. Theſe things conſidered, make them lowly in their owne eies, and to behaue themſelues ſo vntounto others, as all that feare God ought to doe, and ſhould goe one before another in giuing of honour; and not in taking it, as the world now doth.
Spread therefore thy skirt ouer thine handmaid.] In this phraſe of ſpeech ſhee modeſtly claimeth marriage of him: for ſome do write, that it was a cuſtom when they were contracted, that the man did throw ouer the woman, the lap or wing of his garment, in token that he took her into his protection. The word is taken from Fowles, which couer vnderunder their wings their yong from danger. By which, husbands are to learne, that they either are, or ſhould be a protection to their wiues; for the womanGen. 20. 16. beſtoweth her ſelfe vponupon the man, forſaking for his louelove, father and mother, to bee vnderunder his couert as his wife; ſhe is then as himſelfe, and he is to louelove her as being become one fleſh; and as the head, he is to care for her aſwell as to rule and gouerne her. And therefore let husbands ſhew themſelues to be ſuch: & this ſhal they do, if they doe giuegive their wiues countenance, and do grace them with all their credit; if they vponupon all iuſt occaſions ſtand for them, defend their perſons, honeſtie and credit againſt others; if they louelove, cheriſh, and nouriſh them, as their owne bodies, affoording them all honeſt contentment, then are they good protectors. And if husbands be the wiues protection, and that they looke to hauehave them ſo, let them depend vponupon their huſbands, let them keepe cloſe to them, and by a louing obedience procure protection thus from them: from which ſome husbands are ſo farre, as ſome wiſh them dead, and ſo in heart are murtherers, ſome expoſe them to all miſerie by their vnthriftineſſe; ſome runne from them, and leaue them to the wide world; ſome offer them, or at leaſt bawd-like, are willing to hauehave them giuegive their bodies vntounto the luſts of others, that they may liue thereby; others there bee which murther them, to bee rid of them. All theſe are falſe and faithleſſe husbands, breaking promiſe to their wiues made to them before God and his Church, curſed caitifes, running headlong to deſtruction, without honeſty, louelove, or naturall kindneſſe to their owne poſteritie.
For thou art a neere kinſman.] Here is the reaſon of her requeſt grounded vponupon Gods Law, asDeut. 25. ſhe had learned by her mother in law. This is her onelyonly reaſon which ſhe vſeth to Boaz, for that he was a good and a godly man, with whom the ſtrongeſt argument to preuaile, is the Word of God: for the Word hath authoritie in godly mens hearts; it bindeth their conſciences, and forceth them to yeeld, it commandeth them more, then all other reaſons beſides. And therefore in hauing to doe with ſuch, gather arguments ſoundly from the Word of God; for theſe will worke vponupon good mens hearts, and in vſing ſuch reaſons aright, the Lord, and not man, may bee ſaid to ſpeake vntounto them: which courſe, though worldlings mocke at, yet ſuch as feare the Lord, will weigh and conſider of, for that they doe deſire to ſquare and frame their whole life after the Word and Law of God.