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they do not divert Him. That is a beautiful point about Ruth, as

I said, that when the first man turned away and said, ‘No, I

cannot take her on; I cannot mar mine own inheritance’. Boaz

steps forward and says, ‘I will take it on’. It is the grace of the

Lord Jesus Christ; that is the Corinthians—“For ye know the

grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sakes”—not ‘our

sakes’. Paul does not include himself in that statement to the

Corinthians—“for your sakes he, being rich, became poor, in

order that ye by his poverty might be enriched” (2 Corinthians

8: 9), that is—be comely.

It is a wonderful happening as to Ruth. It is typical. She and

the woman in Luke 7 are like one another and the same thing

happens to them; they come into line, so to speak, with Christ.

I mean to say the “she” of Luke 7, the substantiality, is entirely

suitable to be allied with Christ, to be in union with Christ;

there is not anything hindering; that is the idea. It is not a

technical thing, the bond between Christ and the church, it is

not that

at all, there is the suitability and comeliness that is necessary

on the part of the assembly to be united with Christ. That is the

great point of Genesis 24. I did not mean to speak about this,

but when the servant left Abraham’s house Abraham insisted

that the wife of Isaac was to be of Isaac’s own lineage. He

insisted on that; he did not make any other stipulation or

condition than that. But when the servant came down there by

the well he did not bring that forward in his prayer; what he

prayed for was a young woman who would answer to Isaac

characteristically. That is what he says to her when she comes

forward, “Give me, I pray thee, a little water out of thy pitcher

to drink” (Genesis 24: 43). That is all he says, but he fully

expects her to say, “Drink, and I will give thy camels drink

also”. He did not mention the camels, but expected her to say,

‘I will draw for your camels also’. He waits to see what would

happen. The servant makes a point that she must be

characteristically like Isaac, constitutionally and

characteristically like Isaac. Then, when he is putting the ring