By Donald S. Fortner
Evangelical Press. 139 pages.
ISBN 0 85234 435 X
Spurgeon said of Hawker (the author of 'The Poor Man's Commentary'): 'He sees Jesus, and that is a sacred gift which is most precious whether the owner be a critic or not. It is to be confessed that he occasionally sees Jesus where Jesus is not legitimately to be seen . . . There is always such a savour of the Lord Jesus Christ in Dr. Hawker that you cannot read him without profit.'
Something of this sort might be said of Pastor Fortner's little work on Ruth. The chief question in the mind of a modern interpreter of the Bible is: 'What did the original author intend his audience to understand?' This author constantly makes leaps of connection from the text of Ruth to the person and work of Christ. Not everyone will think these connections valid.
