The Hope of Glory

by E. C. Dargan - 1919

An Idyl Of Faithfulness And Love

IN the life and growth of a people into a nation, struggle and strife are always in evidence. The times that try men’s souls must often recur in the onward progress of a people toward settled government. The history of all nations that have made any history at all affords frequent and sometimes very important instances of this law. Seasons of confusion, unsettled conditions and states of society almost approaching anarchy, present themselves to the student in the progress of all peoples. Often it happens that in the midst of these times of turmoil and distress, like a sheltered flower amid the storm, some incident concerning places or persons occurs to remind us of the more beautiful and peaceful elements which enter into the life of a community.

In the wonderful story of Israel such a period of disturbance and confusion was that long and ill-defined age which followed upon the settlement of the tribes in the ”Land of Promise.” The wilderness wandering was over. The consolidated monarchy had not yet been established. Dissensions within and oppressions from without were sad tokens and experiences of the hard struggle toward realizing the national ideal. Now and then some mighty man, and in one case a great woman, would be called by some crisis to rise and encourage the distressed and loosely connected tribes to something like a united effort of patriotism and valor to rescue the imperiled state. It was during this wild tumultuous period of Israel’s life that our story, like a calm eddy in a torrent, arrests the sweeping progress of things to fix attention upon the serener and sweeter forces which must ever mingle with the sterner ones in the ongoing of a nation’s life.

A family dwelt near the border of the land. Father and mother and two sons lived the simple life of rural people, gathered, as the custom was, into villages or towns for mutual protection and social mingling. They were devout. God-fearing people, as most of their kindred and neighbors were. Untouched, perhaps by the political and military storms of the time, they suffered under a calamity as great as these. Famine smote the land. The country was not infrequently the subject of these visitations. The crops failed; the flocks and herds were diminished; distress, even unto starvation, menaced the families. So this man, taking his wife and two sons, crossed over into the country of the East, where food was more abundant. Misfortune, however, befell the exiles. The husband and father died. The widow, left with her two sons, seems to have remained a good while. The natural result of social contact with the alien people, among whom they dwelt, followed, and the two young men took them wives of the daughters of the land. Still misfortune followed, and soon the two young men also passed away, thus leaving three widows in one home. Bye and bye tidings came of improved conditions in the homeland. In God’s good providence the rains were sent again to the parched earth, and the land was blessed with fruitage and harvests. The good news traveled over the border, and came to the lonely widow’s ears. Bereft of husband and sons, a stranger in a strange land, it was natural that she should turn back to the home of her happier days. Among her own kindred she would go to spend her last years. She would seek to recover, under the laws so wisely provided, the little inheritance, which would care for her the remainder of her life. Nothing held her away, but everything called her home. Leaving the ashes of her dead in a foreign soil, with sad heart she craves the company at least a part of the way of those two young women who had been true and loving daughters to her in her exile. It is a gentle picture, sad, and yet not devoid of tenderness and hope, which these three present. Walking slowly across the fields and along the roadways, the three come on to the border which divides their native lands. Here they must part. Good sense and proper feeling shine out in the good woman’s dealing with the younger two. It was not fair to ask them to leave their kindred and their memories to go with her to what would be a strange land to them and a strange people, and with no prospect of good support or of new ties of marriage and of home. Wisely and kindly the aging mother bids her daughters-in-law farewell, and urges them from the border to turn back to their own people. Surely it was the kind and sensible thing for her to do. Without fault or blame one of the two younger women accepts the suggestion of the elder, and bidding her goodbye goes back to her own home and kindred.

The younger of the two, however, lingers still. Affection for the dead and for the sole survivor of that pious family had got the upper hand in her heart and life of those older and less religious ties which bound her to her own people. Into her life, by contact with these strangers, a new hope had come. A clearer vision of God, a holier prospect of life, new ideals of living, mingled with the gentle memories of romance, and with her abiding affection for one so true and good as this elder woman had shown herself to be. Loyal to the new faith and the better love she gently but firmly refuses to leave the lone but beloved one who had proved a mother indeed to her. And so, in language which has become immortal, she put aside the suggestion of return, and said, ’’ Entreat 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: where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me.’’ This beautiful saying was more than the firm declaration of an earnest soul of affection and friendship. It was a decisive acceptance of God, of the true God, of whom she had learned. It is confirmed by a form of oath most solemn and strong, that God would punish her to the uttermost if she failed or faltered in her choice. This was the high point in the life of this lovely young woman - the hour of decision for the earthly life and for the life in God. The human affection mingled so sweetly with the spiritual consecration that they became one in her thought and purposes, deciding her destiny for all time. God smiled upon her choice, and held in his gracious hand the coming reward of service and love and renown which should be always her own.

Toward that coming realization the events of the story naturally unfold. The two women, footsore and weary, both sad, and yet with a secret joy in their souls, the elder comforted by the younger’s faithfulness, and the younger happy in her fixed purpose and glowing hopes, came at last to the old neighborhood; old it was to the mother, strange to the daughter. Old friends saluted her and greeted her on her return, calling her by her sweet name, which meant in the language of the time, ”pleasantness.” ”No,” said she, ”Call me a name that means bitterness instead. For I went out full, and I have returned empty. Fleeing from famine I went with husband and young sons. Coming back to earthly plenty I came bereft of these, but comforted by the clinging fondness of this dear child, who has left her home to come with me.” Recovering her home, or finding a lodging in some friendly house, the elderly widow must seek some means of support from the now rich harvests of the once smitten land. Custom that followed the law of kindness imposed in the law itself, made it honest and expected that the poor should follow the harvesters and glean what was left in the fields of the rich. These, divinely taught to use their wealth for other’s good, refrained from making a clean sweep of their fields, willingly left corners and skipped places that gleaners might find. How different this from the grasping selfishness that too often marks the ways of mankind. Across that fair landscape the light of this kindness shines where the rich purposely made it possible for the poor to live. Nearby, the broad fields of a wealthy kinsman lay, rich with their harvest of grain. The reaping was now on. The wise mother had told the younger of this custom, and so the younger woman proposed to go forth and find what she might for the food of their little household. And thus she came into the fields of that wealthy kinsman, not knowing what was there in store for her. There is a sweet and gentle picture that would attract the genius of an artist and the verbal skill of a poet. Out from the village near-by, the wealthy man comes to look after the reaping of his fields. ”With a kind religious salutation he greets the reapers. Not with the rough word of command, but with the blessings of God, and they answer him in kind.

The greetings of the day over, the wealthy man sees, following the reapers, the graceful form of this, as yet, stranger. Inquiring who she was he receives the answer that it is the girl who had come back with her mother-in-law from the strange country, and had come into these fields to find food for the two. The man had heard of the return of his kinswoman, and of the beautiful, self sacrificing spirit in which the stranger had come to help make a home again for the lonely exile. Kindly speaking to the girl, the excellent gentleman, for that he was indeed, encouraged her to remain in his own fields and glean all that she could; to come at the luncheon hour and share the bountiful provision made for the workers. He strictly charged the young men not to be rude to the modest stranger, and promised she should not need to go to other fields as long as the harvest was going on. It was a bright scene, and a beautiful day in her life. The kindness, the protection and encouragement that came from this prince among men are what should ever be the characteristic of the wealthy and well-disposed in the land. Unknown to both, God was weaving the strands of their lives together, and out of mutual respect and kindness it was easy for other things to come. Back to the little home at eventide the beautiful gleaner comes with her apron filled with the results of her day’s work, and a portion also of her dainty mid-day meal, reserved for her mother. On inquiry it appeared that she had gleaned in the fields of a kinsman and not of a stranger. Joy filled the heart of the lonely woman when she recognized in this event the good providence of God. So the invitation was accepted, and she gleaned throughout the harvest of barley and of wheat in the fields of this kind and pious man.

Led by the providential circumstances, and understanding the custom and law of her people, the older woman takes counsel as to what should be done. She knew, according to the strange teachings among her people, that it would be the right thing, and perhaps the duty, of this kinsman to claim the widow of his dead cousin as his own, that so the inheritance of the two branches of the family might not be sundered, but welded together, and the name and inheritance of her own son should not pass away from among his people. Meditating upon these things, and assured in her own mind that her proceeding was accordant with the teachings of her religion and the customs of her race, she counsels the naturally shrinking, and yet docile and obedient younger woman to claim her rights.

To us, with our different views of social proprieties, there might seem something immodest both in the assertion of the claim and in the method whereby it was made known, but we must be sure that no one of the three parties to the strange event which followed would act out of the range of perfect propriety. So, as instructed by her mother-in-law, the gentle young woman makes known in the customary way her claim upon a kinsman’s respect for law. In this trying interview the character of the man shines out with that beauty which marks it all the way through. Perfect respect for the young woman herself, sympathy for her reluctance and modesty, and yet realization of the rights of one who stood nearer than himself to her all appear in his conduct. But his heart had been won by the beauty, the fidelity, the diligence, the modesty of this gracious young woman. Readily he will claim his rights provided the prior claim of the other kinsman can be satisfied. This, in accordance with established custom, he promptly proceeds to do, and in full publicity he states the case for the young widow and the inheritance of the departed kinsman. The other kinsman, however, unwilling to complicate the inheritance in his own family, declines, and relinquishes his rights in favor of his friend. So in the providence of God these two admirable characters are brought into that sacred relation of tenderness and romance and affection, upon which the blessing of God rests in all time. Happy at last in the renewed peace of a reestablished home, she, who had been once the lonely widowed exile, looks with satisfaction and joy upon the wholesome and happy domestic life of which she becomes a part. From this loving and congenial union comes one who was to found in future times the kingdom of Israel. The shepherd and psalmist and king who was hereafter to reign over a great and strong nation was to derive his ancestry from this devout and loving couple. And farther still down the long vista of time, from the mother’s side one was to come who should be ”A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of the people of Israel.’’

It is no mistake to call this gem of narrative literature, this faultless story of Euth, the Moabitess, ”An idyl of faithfulness and love.” In all literature there is nothing that surpasses it. The simplicity and charm with which the story is told, the perfect naturalness, the high and fine instincts of Boaz and Euth, the human wisdom and feeling of Naomi, the glimpse of their characters and of interesting social customs, all conspire to make of this story of the time of the Judges one of the best loved tales of gentle romance. But after all, to get the real meaning of the story, we must look not at its end, but turn back to its beginning, in that critical moment when Euth decides her destiny by accepting the God of Naomi. The turning point in her life was there. She had learned of the true God and of the promises made by him to the people of Israel. Resolutely and nobly she gives her life, in perfect faith and courage, to this God, and follows whither he leads. The incidental and human elements cluster about this center. All of her life, with its griefs and its joys, its loves and its cares, center about that decisive moment when her soul gives itself up to God. So in our life of today, whatever God’s providence may have in store for us, the critical moment is that when we give ourselves in sweet surrender and firm resolve to Jesus Christ, our Saviour and our Lord. Have we made that decision? If so, it has come to be the center of all our life’s experiences, sweet or bitter, wretched or joyful. If we have not made it, now is the hour and the time when, like the heroine of our story, we should yield ourselves to God, and cast our lot among his people who strive, amid the turmoil and the trials of this earth, to live the Christian life and uphold and spread the Christian faith.

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