he redeemed the property with it; and,
with Ruth's own free consent, took her to be his wife. Her individual
concurrence is apparent throughout the whole transaction. No one had any
right to sell at all, or otherwise to dispose of her, except by her own
wish.

The rape of the Benjamites is sometimes referred to in terms expressive
of the desire to cast opprobium upon the teachings of the Bible.
Unfortunate as was the condition of the Benjamites on this occasion,
they had no more sanction for what they did from the law of Moses, than
had Ahab for destroying the prophets of the Lord. Neither was the order
of the Jewish elders for the massacre of men and elderly women, and the
saving of the four hundred young women to make up the deficiency of
wives still existing in this tribe, in any sense chargeable to the
Divine law.

We might with as much propriety hold the Gospel responsible for the
Massacre of St. Bartholomew, as to hold the law of Moses responsible for
the acts of the Israelites. The Mosaic precepts concerning adultery and
divorce might at first sight appear to give more latitude to men than to
women, and therefore to be partial; but when we accept the
interpretation given by our Lord, the apparent partiality vanishes. The
Savior's testimony on the subject is very explicit. Matthew xix, 3-10,
we read: "The Pharisees also came to him, tempting him, and saying unto
him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? And
he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made
them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this
cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife:
and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but
one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put
asunder. They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing
of divorcement, and to put her away? He saith unto them, Moses because
of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but
from the beginning it was not so. And I say unto you, Whosoever shall
put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry
another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away
doth commit adultery."

That in this matter of divorce Christ recognized the right of women to
be equal to that of men, is apparent from Mark x, 2-12, the eleventh
and twelfth verses of which we here quote:

"And he saith u