Ruth 1:10

Rth 1:10 And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people.

Ver. 10. Surely we will return with thee.] So they both said, and said as they thought: but Orpah, upon second thoughts, did otherwise. Saul in a passion promised fair, {1Sa 24:16-17; 1Sa 26:21} but David knew there was no trusting to either his tears or his talk.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rth_1:10

Surely we will return with thee.

Promises and purposes

I. Promises of speech and purposes of heart, whether to God, to His church, or to individuals, ought to go hand in hand. If a mans word does not express his meaning and bind him, nothing can.

II. Promises and purposes often proceed from passion instead of principle.

III. Promises and purposes proceeding merely from passion soon fall to the ground. I go, sir, one said in the Gospels, and went not. Some persons melting under the ministry of the Word as a summer brook (Job_6:15-20). A changed heart necessary to perseverance. Saul may have religious fits, and Jehu much zeal; for want of a regenerated nature both come to nothing. (John Macgowan.)

Promise and purpose to be allied

1. Promises of speech and purposes of spirit should walk hand in hand together. None ought to promise with their mouths what they do not purpose with their hearts; this is to be fraudulent and deceitful, which is destructive to human society. Gods children are all such as will not lie (Isa_63:8), to say and unsay, or to say one thing and think another, to blow hot and cold with one blast. Ye that have promised to give up yourselves to Christ, and to go with Him in ways of holiness, it must be your purpose to depart from iniquity (2Ti_2:19; Rev_14:4; Hos_2:7).

2. Promises of the mouth, yea, and purposes of the mind, do oft proceed from passion, and not from principle. So did Orpahs here; it was only a pang of passion which the discreet matron prudently distrusts, and therefore tries them both with powerful dissuasives. Thus Saul in a passion promised fairly to David (1Sa_24:16-17; 1Sa_26:21), and David discovered all those fair promises to proceed more from sudden passion than from fixed principles; therefore did he distrust both his talk and his tears. Hereupon David gets him up into the hold, well knowing there was little hold to be taken at such passionate promises and protestations (1Sa_24:22). Yea, and out of the land too, as not daring to trust his reconciliation in passion and strong conviction without any true conversion (1Sa_26:25; 1Sa_27:1-2; 1Sa_27:4), otherwise his malice had been restless and he faithless.

3. Purposes and promises that proceed from passion, and not from principle, do soon dwindle away into nothing. Thus did Orpahs (Rth_1:14), who said with that son in the parable (Mat_21:30), I go, sir; yea, but when, sir? So here, it is certain we will return with thee, was enough uncertain. It is a maxim, second thoughts are better than first, but Orpahs first were better than her second; her purposes and promises do dwindle away and vanish into smoke. (C. Ness.)

The failure of good impulses

The bright morning does not always shine into the perfect day; the sweetest spring-bud of promise does not always ripen into precious fruit. The seed that was cast on stony ground grew rapidly up, but withered in a moment. Orpahs decision was the decision of impulsive feeling, of filial affection; it was strong suddenly, it grew up in an instant, and in an instant it perished; and she resolved to forsake Ruth and Naomi, and return to her gods, her people, and her country. (J. Cumming.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And they said unto her,.... When they had eased themselves in cries and tears, and had recovered their speech:

surely we will return with thee unto thy people; to be proselyted, as the Targum; not only to dwell with them, but to worship with them.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people. So King James"s version. The expression in the original is broken at the commencement: "And they said to her, For with thee we shall return to thy people." It is as if they had said, "Do not insist on our return to our mothers" homes, for with thee we shall return to thy people." Note the expression, "we shall return, instead of we shall go with thee in thy return to thy people." For the moment they identify themselves with their mother-in-law, as if they had come with her from Judah.

Vers. 10-14. Separation.

These three women were bound together by the memory of common happiness, by the memory of common sorrows. The proposal that they should part, however reasonable and just, could not but reopen the floodgates of their grief. Orpah found her consolation in her home in Moab, and Ruth found hers in Naomi"s life-long society and affection. But as the three stand before us on the borders of the land, as Naomi begs her daughters-in-law to return, the sorrow and the sanctity of human separations are suggested to our minds.

I SEPARATIONS BETWEEN LOVING FRIENDS ARE OFTEN EXPEDIENT AND NECESSARY.

II SEPARATIONS ARE SOMETIMES THE OCCASION OF ALMOST THE BITTEREST SORROWS OF HUMAN LIFE.

III SEPARATIONS MAY, BY GOD"S GRACE, BE MADE A DISCIPLINE OF THE SOUL"S HEALTH AND WELFARE.

IV SEPARATIONS MAY BE OVERRULED, BY GOD"S PROVIDENCE, FOR THE REAL GOOD, PROSPERITY, AND HAPPINESS OF THOSE WHO ARE PUT APART.

V SEPARATIONS REMIND US OF HIM WHO HAS SAID, "I WILL NEVER LEAVE THEE; I WILL NEVER FORSAKE THEE T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.