Verse 20
20. Blessed be… the Lord That was a joyful evening both to Naomi and Ruth, and the Israelitish mother’s heart was filled with thanksgiving towards Jehovah.
Kindness to the living and to the dead By the living she means herself and Ruth; by the dead her deceased husband and sons. He who provides for the widow and the fatherless does at the same time a kindness to those dead ones who can provide for them no more. In these words we may also recognise the true Israelites’ consciousness of immortality. To Naomi the beloved dead are not annihilated, and Jehovah’s kindness towards them has not ceased with their departure from gifts world. Jehovah is still the God of Elimelech and his departed sons, just as He declared himself to be “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Exodus 3:6. He lovingly preserves them in conscious existence and blessedness though they die. From this lofty point of view Jesus urged his mighty argument against the Sadducees, “God is not the God of the dead, (the annihilated,) but of the living.” Matthew 22:32.
One of our next kinsmen One whose right and duty it is to redeem the name and inheritance of a deceased blood relative. Naomi had doubtless before this instructed her Moabitish daughter in law on the nature and requirements of the levirate among the Israelites. See note at the beginning of chap. 3.
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