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WOMAN IN SACRED HISTORY
beside the reapers, and he did reach her parched corn, and she
did eat and was sufficed.”
There is a delicacy in the feeling inspired by the timid,
modest stranger, which is expressed in the orders given by
Boaz to the young men. “And it came to pass when she rose to
glean, that Boaz commanded his young men, saying: Let her
glean even among the sheaves, and reproach her not; and let
fall also some handfuls of purpose for her, that she may glean
them, and rebuke her not.”
Gleaning, by the institutes of Moses, was one of the allotted privileges of the poor. It was a beautiful feature of that
system that consideration for the poor was interwoven with
all the acts of common life. The language of the laws of Moses
reminded the rich that they were of one family with the poor.
“Thou shalt not harden thy heart nor shut thy hand from
thy poor brother. Thou shalt surely give to him, and thy heart
shall not be grieved when thou givest, because for this the Lord
thy God shall bless thee.” “And when ye reap the harvest of
your land thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of the field,
neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest; and
thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather
every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor
and the stranger. I am the Lord.” This provision for the unfortunate operated both ways. It taught consideration and
thoughtfulness to the rich, and industry and self-respect to
the poor. They were not humbled as paupers. They were not to
be beggars, but gleaners, and a fair field for self-respecting labor was opened to them. In the spirit of these generous laws
the rich proprietor veils his patronage of the humble maid.
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HARRIET BEECHER STOWE
Ruth was to be abundantly helped, as it were, by a series of
fortunate accidents.
We see in the character of Boaz the high-minded, chivalrous gentleman, devout in his religion Godward, and considerately thoughtful of his neighbor; especially mindful of
the weak and helpless and unprotected. It was the working
out, in one happy instance, of the ideal of manhood the system of Moses was designed to create.
And now the little romance goes on to a happy termination. The fair gleaner returns home artlessly triumphant with
the avails of her day’s toil, and tells her mother of the kind
patronage she has received. At once, on hearing the name,
the prudent mother recognizes the near kinsman of the family,
bound, by the law of Moses and the custom of the land, to become the husband and protector of her daughter. In the eye of
Jewish law and Jewish custom Ruth already belonged to Boaz,
and had a right to claim the position and protection of a wife.
The system of Moses solved the problem of woman by allotting to every woman a man as a protector. A widow had her
son to stand for her; but if a widow were left without a son, then
the nearest kinsman of the former husband was bound to take
her to wife. The manner in which Naomi directs the simpleminded and obedient daughter to throw herself on the protection of her rich kinsman is so far removed from all our modern ideas of propriety that it cannot be judged by them.She is
directed to seek the threshing-floor at night, to lie down at
his feet, and draw over her his mantle; thus, in the symbolic
language of the times, asserting her humble right to the protection of a wife. Ruth is shown to us as one of those artless,
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confiding natures that see no evil in what is purely and rightly
intended. It is enough for her, a stranger, to understand that
her mother, an honored Judæan matron, would command
nothing which was not considered decorous and proper among
her people.She obeys without a question. In the same spirit of
sacred simplicity in which the action was performed it was received. There is a tender dignity and a chivalrous delicacy in
the manner in which the bold yet humble advance is accepted.
“And Boaz awoke, and, behold, a woman lay at his feet. And
he said, Who art thou? And she said, I am Ruth, thy handmaid.
Spread thy skirt over me, for thou art my near kinsman. And
he said, Blessed art thou of the Lord, my daughter, for thou
hast shown more kindness at the end than in the beginning,
inasmuch as thou followedst not the young men, poor or rich.
And now, my daughter, fear not; I will do for thee all that thou
requirest, for all the city of my people doth know that thou art
a virtuous woman.”
The very crucial test of gentlemanly delicacy and honor is
the manner in which it knows how to receive an ingenuous
and simple-hearted act of confidence. As in the fields Boaz did
not ostentatiously urge alms upon the timid maiden, but suffered her to have the pleasure of gleaning for herself, so now
he treats this act by which she throws herself upon his protection as an honor done to him, for which he is bound to be
grateful. He hastens to assure her that he is her debtor for
the preference she shows him. That courtesy and chivalric
feeling for woman which was so strong a feature in the character of Moses, and which is embodied in so many of his laws
and institutes, comes out in this fine Hebrew gentleman as
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HARRIET BEECHER STOWE
perfectly, but with more simplicity, than in the Sir Charles
Grandison of the eighteenth century. And so, at last, the lovely stranger, Ruth the Moabitess, becomes the wife of the rich
landed proprietor, with the universal consent of all the people. “And all the people that were in the gates and the elders
said, We are witnesses. The Lord make this woman that is come
into thy house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build
the house of Israel.”
From this marriage of the chivalrous, pious old man with
the devoted and loving Ruth the Moabitess, sprang an auspicious lineage. The house of David, the holy maiden of Judæa
and her son, whom all nations call blessed, were the illustrious
seed of this wedding. In the scene at the birth of the first son of
Ruth, we have a fine picture of the manners of those days. “And
the women said unto Naomi, Blessed be the Lord which hath
not left thee this day without a kinsman, that his name may be
famous in Israel. And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy
life and a nourisher of thy old age: for thy daughter-in-law,
which loveth thee, and is better to thee than seven sons, hath
borne him. And Naomi took the child and laid it in her bosom,
and became nurse unto it. And the women her neighbors gave
it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi, and they called
his name Obed; he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.”
In all this we see how strong is the impression which the lov-
ing nature of Ruth makes in the narrative. From the union of
this woman so tender and true, and this man so gracious and
noble and chivalric, comes the great heart-poet of the world.
No other songs have been so dear to mankind, so cherished in
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the heart of high and low, rich and poor, in every nation and
language, as these Psalms of David.
“It is that music to whose tone
The common pulse of man keeps time,
In cot or castle’s mirth or moan,
In cold or fervid clime.”
In the tender friendship of David for Jonathan, we see again
the loving constancy of Ruth in a manly form, — the love between soul and soul, which was “wonderful, passing the love of
women.” In the ideal which we form of Mary, the mother of
Jesus, lowly, modest, pious, constant, rich in the power of love
and in a simple, trustful faith, we see the transmission of family traits through generations. Dante, in his “Paradise,” places
Ruth among the holy women who sit at the feet of the glorified
Madonna. The Providence that called a Moabitish ancestress
into that golden line whence should spring the Messiah was
a sort of morning star of intimation that He should be of no
limited nationality; that he was to be the Son of Man, the Lord
and brother of all mankind.
THE WITCH OF ENDOR
What was a witch, according to the law of Moses, and why
was witchcraft a capital offense? A witch was the dark shadow of a prophetess.
A prophetess was a holy woman drawing near to the spiritual world by means of faith and prayer, and thus inspired by
God with a knowledge beyond the ordinary power of mortals.
Her prophecies and her guidance were all from the only true
source of knowledge; the spirits that attended her were true
and heavenly spirits, and she became a medium by whom
the will of God and the perplexed path of duty were made
plain to others. A witch, on the contrary, was one who sought
knowledge of the future, not from the one supreme God, but
through all those magical charms, incantations, and ceremonies by which the spirits of the dead were sought for interference in the affairs of men. The guilt and the folly of seeking
these consisted in the fact that there was another and a legitimate supply for that craving of the human heart.
Man is consciously weak, helpless, burdened with desires
and fears which he knows not how to supply or allay. Moses
distinctly stated to the Jews that their G
them for ALL they should call upon him for.” The examples of
OD was “nigh unto
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holy men and women in sacred history show that, even for private and personal griefs, and intimate sorrows and perplexities, there was immediate access to the gracious Jehovah, there
were direct answers to prayer. Had Hannah, in her childless
longings and misery, sought a woman who had a familiar spirit, she would have broken the law of the land, and committed
an act of rebellion against her King and Father. But she went
directly to God, and became a joyful mother.
Besides the personal access of the individual by prayer,
there were always holy mediums raised up from time to
time in the nation, who were lawful and appointed sources of
counsel and aid. There were always the prophet and prophetess, through whom there was even nearer access to the guardian God, and we repeatedly read of application made to these
sources in case of sickness or sorrow or perplexity. The highpriest, by virtue of his office, was held to possess this power.
Exactly what the Urim and Thummim were, the learned do
not seem to agree; it is sufficient to know that they were in
some way the instruments of a lawful mode appointed by God,
through which questions asked of the high-priest might be answered, and guidance given in perplexing cases.
And now, on the other hand, as to the witch, and how her
unlawful processes were carried on, we get more help from one
vivid, graphic picture than by all the researches of archæologists. We therefore give entire the singular and poetic story in
the First Book of Samuel.
“Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him,
and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. And Saul had
put away those that had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of
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the land. And the Philistines gathered themselves together,
and came and pitched in Shunem: and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they pitched in Gilboa. And when Saul saw
the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled. And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord
answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by
prophets. Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman
that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and inquire of
her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman
that hath a familiar spirit at Endor. And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and he went, and two men
with him, and they came to the woman by night: and he said,
I pray thee, divine unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring me
him up whom I shall name unto thee. And the woman said
unto him, Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done, how
he hath cut off those that have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land: wherefore then layest thou a snare for
my life, to cause me to die? And Saul sware to her by the Lord,
saying, As the Lord liveth, there shall no punishment happen to thee for this thing. Then said the woman, Whom shall
I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel. And
when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice: and
the woman spake to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me?
for thou art Saul. And the king said unto her, Be not afraid; for
what sawest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods
ascending out of the earth. And he said unto her, What form is
he of? And she said, An old man cometh up; and he is covered
with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he
stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself. And
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Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring
me up? And Saul answered, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and
answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams:
therefore I have called thee, that thou mayest make known
unto me what I shall do. Then said Samuel, Wherefore then
dost thou ask of me, seeing the Lord is departed from thee,
and is become thine enemy? And the Lord hath done to him,
as he spake by me: for the Lord hath rent the kingdom out of
thine hand, and given it to thy neighbor, even to David: Because thou obeyedst not the voice of the Lord, nor executedst
his fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore hath the Lord done
this thing unto thee this day. Moreover the Lord will also
deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines: and
to-morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me: the Lord also
shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.
Then Saul fell straightway all along on the earth, and was
sore afraid, because of the words of Samuel: and there was no
strength in him; for he had eaten no bread all the day, nor all
the night. And the woman came unto Saul, and saw that he
was sore troubled, and said unto him, Behold, thine handmaid
hath obeyed thy voice, and I have put my life in my hand, and
have hearkened unto thy words which thou spakest unto me:
now therefore, I pray thee, hearken thou also unto the voice of
thine handmaid, and let me set a morsel of bread before thee;
and eat, that thou mayest have strength, when thou goest on
thy way. But he refused, and said, I will not eat. But his servants, together with the woman, compelled him, and he hearkened unto their voice. So he arose from the earth, and sat
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upon the bed. And the woman had a fat calf in the house, and
she hasted, and killed it, and took flour, and kneaded it, and
did bake unleavened bread thereof. And she brought it before
Saul, and before his servants; and they did eat. Then they rose
up, and went away that night.”
We do not need to inquire what a witch was, or why she
was forbidden, further than this story shows.She is placed here
as exactly the contrary alternative to God, in the wants and
sorrows of life. The whole tenor of instruction to the Jews was,
that there was no Divine anger that might not be appeased
and turned away by deep, heartfelt repentance and amendment. In the GREAT NAME revealed to Moses, the Jehovah
declares himself “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, of great
kindness, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin,” — there
is but a single clause added on the side of admonitory terror, — “who will by no means clear the guilty.” A favorite
mode in which the guardian God is represented as speaking is
that he “repenteth of the evil” he thought to do, in response to
penitent prayer.
Saul had broken with his God on the score of an intense
self-will, and he did not repent. The prophet Samuel had announced wrath, and threatened final rejection, but no humiliation and no penitence followed. In this mood of mind, when
his fear came as desolation, all the avenues of knowledge or
aid which belonged to God’s children were closed upon him,
and he voluntarily put himself in the hands of those powers
which were his declared enemies.
The scene as given is so exactly like what is occurring in our
day, like incidents that so many among us have the best reason
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