Difference between revisions of "Writings on Bible Books"

Revision as of 00:31, 6 September 2011

In this part you will find the commentaries of Hamilton Smith on 24 Books of the Bible.

Welcome to the Collected Writings of Hamilton Smith

The Book of Ruth

The Book of Nehemiah
1, 2 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

The Book of Psalms
PSALM 2, PSALM 3, PSALM 4, PSALM 5, PSALM 6, PSALM 7, PSALM 8, PSALM 9, PSALM 10, PSALM 11, PSALM 12, PSALM 13, PSALM 14, PSALM 15, PSALM 16, PSALM 17, PSALM 18, PSALM 19, PSALM 20, PSALM 21, PSALM 22, PSALM 23, PSALM 24, PSALM 25, PSALM 26, PSALM 27, PSALM 28, PSALM 29, PSALM 30, PSALM 31, PSALM 32, PSALM 33, PSALM 34, PSALM 35, PSALM 36, PSALM 37, PSALM 38, PSALM 39, PSALM 40, PSALM 41, PSALM 42, PSALM 43, PSALM 44, PSALM 45, PSALM 46, PSALM 47, PSALM 48, PSALM 49, PSALM 50, PSALM 51, PSALM 52, PSALM 53, PSALM 54, PSALM 55, PSALM 56, PSALM 57, PSALM 58, PSALM 59, PSALM 60, PSALM 61, PSALM 62, PSALM 63, PSALM 64, PSALM 65, PSALM 66, PSALM 67, PSALM 68, PSALM 69, PSALM 70, PSALM 71, PSALM 72, PSALM 73, PSALM 74, PSALM 75, PSALM 76, PSALM 77, PSALM 78, PSALM 79, PSALM 80, PSALM 81, PSALM 82, PSALM 83, PSALM 84, PSALM 85, PSALM 86, PSALM 87, PSALM 88, PSALM 89, PSALM 90, PSALM 91, PSALM 92, PSALM 93, PSALM 94, PSALM 95, PSALM 96, PSALM 97, PSALM 98, PSALM 99, PSALM 100, PSALM 101, PSALM 102, PSALM 103, PSALM 104, PSALM 105, PSALM 106, PSALM 107, PSALM 108, PSALM 109, PSALM 110, PSALM 111, PSALM 112, PSALM 113, PSALM 114, PSALM 115, PSALM 116, PSALM 117, PSALM 118, PSALM 119, PSALM 120, PSALM 121, PSALM 122, PSALM 123, PSALM 124, PSALM 125, PSALM 126, PSALM 127, PSALM 128, PSALM 129, PSALM 130, PSALM 131, PSALM 132, PSALM 133, PSALM 134, PSALM 135, PSALM 136, PSALM 137, PSALM 138, PSALM 139, PSALM 140, PSALM 141, PSALM 142, PSALM 143, PSALM 144, PSALM 145, PSALM 146, PSALM 147, PSALM 148, PSALM 149, PSALM 150,

The Song of Songs

The Book of Daniel

The Book of Habakkuk

The Book of Haggai

The Gospel of Mark

The First Epistle to the Corinthians

The Epistle to the Galatians

The Epistle to the Ephesians

The Epistle to the Philippians

First Epistle to the Thessalonians

The First Epistle to Timothy

The Second Epistle to Timothy

The Epistle to the Hebrews

The Epistle of James

The First Epistle of Peter

The Second Epistle of Peter

The Epistles of John

The 2nd Epistles of John

The 3rd Epistles of John

The Epistle of Jude

The Book of Revelation

INTRODUCTION

A peculiar charm attaches to the story of Ruth making this short Book of the Bible especially attractive to the most casual reader. It is a love story of other days in which sorrow and joy, failure and devotedness, life and death, are intermingled, all leading at last to the day of the marriage and the birth of the heir. The very setting of the story is restful to the spirit; for we are carried into pastoral scenes to find ourselves in company with harvesters and gleaners.

For the Christian, however, reading the sacred page with Christ before his soul, the story of Ruth has a deeper interest, and a richer meaning, for therein he discerns, as "in all the Scriptures," "the things concerning Himself."

Historically the Book of Ruth presents important links in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus after the flesh. The Book closes with a short genealogy of ten names ending with David the King. In the opening chapter of the New Testament these ten names have an honoured place in the genealogy of the King of kings, but with this difference that the Spirit of God has introduced, in connection with these names, four women — one of them being Ruth the Moabitess. It is significant that with each of these women there is connected a story of failure and shame, only making manifest that "where sin abounded grace did much more abound. So that historically the Book of Ruth is the record of the grace of God that, thirteen centuries before the King came, was securing the line by which He was to come, and, in so doing, triumphing over all the failure of the people, and magnifying grace, by bringing a Moabitish stranger into the line of the King.

It was a day of failure and weakness among the people of God and yet it becomes clear that, undeterred by all failure, God was pursuing His way and carrying out His purpose to establish His King. Yea more. God was using the circumstances of the day, and the very failure of the people, to bring these purposes to pass. Who would have thought that a famine in Bethlehem would have any connection with the birth of the King in Bethlehem thirteen centuries later? Yet so it was, for the famine was one link in the chain of circumstances that brought Ruth the Moabitess into the line of the King.

For ourselves, living as we do in days of yet greater failure and weakness among the people of God, it is comforting to the heart, and calming to the spirit, to realise that underneath all the failure of man in responsibility throughout all the ages, God is, and ever has been, carrying out His purposes in Christ for the glory of Christ and the blessing of His people, whether earthly or heavenly. Moreover no power of the enemy, no opposition of the world, no failure of His people, can hinder God from bringing His purposes of blessing to their glorious fulfilment. As in the story of Ruth all leads to the day of the marriage, so in Israel all is leading to the establishment of their relationship with Christ, and so too, the Church is moving on to the great day of the marriage of the Lamb.

Typically the Book of Ruth sets forth the fulfilment of all the promises of God in connection with Israel on the ground of sovereign grace, after the nation had lost every claim to blessing on the ground of their responsibility. It thus presents a striking contrast to the preceding Book. The Book of Judges sets forth the ever increasing failure of man, in spite of the intervention and help of God, ending in scenes of darkest gloom and moral degradation. The Book of Ruth presents the activities of the grace of God, in spite of the failure of man, ending in a scene of joy and blessing.

Apart, however, from its historical and typical import, the story of Ruth is rich with moral and spiritual instruction in which we learn something of the faithful and gracious ways of God in the history of our souls, whether in bringing us out of nature's darkness into the light of His purpose for us in Christ, or whether it be His ways of restoring grace when we have wandered far from Him. It is mainly in view of the moral instruction that we would for a while meditate upon this touching story.