Ruth 3:10

Benediction.

A blessing comes appropriately from a senior; a father blesses his son, a venerable patriarch his youthful colleague. Boaz was an elderly man, and it seems appropriate that, addressing Ruth, the young widow of his kinsman, he should use language of benediction: "Blessed be thou of the Lord, my daughter!"

I. BENEDICTION PROCEEDS FROM A BENEVOLENT DISPOSITION . It is the opposite of cursing. Sometimes language of benediction is used when there is no spiritual reality behind it. In such cases it is a mockery, a counterfeit of benevolence and piety.

II. BENEDICTION IMPLIES PIETY . Belief in God, and in God's willingness to bless. There is a looking up to God on behalf of him who is to be blessed. Without this the language of blessing is meaningless.

III. BENEDICTION IS THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT THAT FROM GOD ALL GOOD MUST COME , COMBINED WITH THE DESIRE AND PRAYER THAT HE WILL BE GRACIOUS . It is the hallowing of our best affections; it is the making real and personal of our most solemn religious beliefs.

IV. BENEDICTION , IF HARMONIOUS WITH GOD 'S WILL , SECURES GOD 'S FAVOR . It is a wish, but a wish realized; a prayer, but a prayer heard and answered in heaven.—T.