Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - Ruth 3:1 - 3:1

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Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - Ruth 3:1 - 3:1


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

Rth 3:1-2

As Naomi conjectured, from the favour which Boaz had shown to Ruth, that he might not be disinclined to marry her as goël, she said to her daughter-in-law, “My daughter, I must seek rest for thee, that it may be well with thee.” In the question אֲבַקֶּשׁ הֲלֹא, the word הֲלֹא is here, as usual, an expression of general admission or of undoubted certainty, in the sense of “Is it not true, I seek for thee? it is my duty to seek for thee.” מָנֹוחַ = מְנוּחָה (Rth 1:9) signifies the condition of a peaceful life, a peaceful and well-secured condition, “a secure life under the guardian care of a husband” (Rosenmüller). “And now is not Boaz our relation, with whose maidens thou wast? Behold, he is winnowing the barley floor (barley on the threshing-floor) to-night,” i.e., till late in the night, to avail himself of the cool wind, which rises towards evening (Gen 3:8), for the purpose of cleansing the corn. The threshing-floors of the Israelites were, and are still in Palestine, made under the open heaven, and were nothing more than level places in the field stamped quite hard.

(Note: “A level spot is selected for the threshing-floors, which are then constructed near each other, of a circular form, perhaps fifty feet in diameter, merely by beating down the earth hard.” - Robinson, Pal. ii. p. 277.)

Rth 3:3-4

“Wash and anoint thyself (סַכְתְּ, from סוּךְ = נָסַךְ), and put on thy clothes (thy best clothes), and go down (from Bethlehem, which stood upon the ridge of a hill) to the threshing-floor; let not thyself be noticed by the man (Boaz) till he has finished eating and drinking. And when he lies down, mark the place where he will sleep, and go (when he has fallen asleep) and uncover the place of his feet, and lay thyself down; and he will tell thee what thou shalt do.”

Rth 3:5

Ruth promised to do this. The אֵלַי, which the Masorites have added to the text as Keri non scriptum, is quite unnecessary. From the account which follows of the carrying out of the advice given to her, we learn that Naomi had instructed Ruth to ask Boaz to marry her as her redeemer (cf. Rth 3:9).