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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Ruth 1:19 - 1:19
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So they two went until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived, the whole town was in commotion on their account (תֵּהֹם, imperf. Niph. of הוּם, as in 1Sa 4:5; 1Ki 1:45). They said, “Is this Naomi?” The subject to תֹּאמַרְנָה is the inhabitants of the town, but chiefly the female portion of the inhabitants, who were the most excited at Naomi's return. This is the simplest way of explaining the use of the feminine in the verbs תֹּאמַרְנָה and תִּקְרֶאנָה. In these words there was an expression of amazement, not so much at the fact that Naomi was still alive, and had come back again, as at her returning in so mournful a condition, as a solitary widow, without either husband or sons; for she replied (Rth 1:20), “Call me not Naomi (i.e., gracious), but Marah” (the bitter one), i.e., one who has experienced bitterness, “for the Almighty has made it very bitter to me. I, I went away full, and Jehovah has made me come back again empty. Why do ye call me Naomi, since Jehovah testifies against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me? “Full,” i.e., rich, not in money and property, but in the possession of a husband and two sons; a rich mother, but now deprived of all that makes a mother's heart rich, bereft of both husband and sons. “Testified against me,” by word and deed (as in Exo 20:16; 2Sa 1:16). The rendering “He hath humbled me” (lxx, Vulg., Bertheau, etc.) is incorrect, as עָנָה with בְּ and the construct state simply means to trouble one's self with anything (Ecc 1:13), which is altogether unsuitable here. - With Rth 1:22 the account of the return of Naomi and her daughter-in-law is brought to a close, and the statement that “they came to Bethlehem in the time of the barley harvest” opens at the same time the way for the further course of the history. הַשָּׁבָה is pointed as a third pers. perf. with the article in a relative sense, as in Rth 2:6 and Rth 4:3. Here and at Rth 2:6 it applies to Ruth; but in Rth 4:3 to Naomi. הֵמָּה, the masculine, is used here, as it frequently is, for the feminine הֵנָּה, as being the more common gender. The harvest, as a whole, commenced with the barley harvest (see at Lev 23:10-11).