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The Pulpit Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 3:1
There is something radically wrong in every home which is not a "rest" to its inmates; and life without a home is emphatically a life of unrest.
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 3:1-18
Naomi's maternal solicitude. This is one of those paragraphs of Scripture which require delicate handling, but which, for that very reason, are full of suggestiveness that comes home to the bosom. Under strange, old-fas…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 3:1
And Naomi, her mother-in-law, said to her, My daughter, shall not I seek out for thee a rest, that it may be well with thee? When Ruth had nothing more to do on the harvest-fields, where Boaz appeared daily, and was unr…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 3:1
Thoughtful love. "Shall not I seek rest for thee?" How natural. We cannot ever be with those we love. Marriage is God's own ideal, and it is the happiest estate if his fear dwells in our hearts. I. THERE IS NO EARTHLY R…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 3:1
Marriage, a woman's rest. If Ruth was unselfish, so also was Naomi. The mother-in-law acted towards the young Moabitess as if she had been her own daughter. In seeking a husband for her daughter-in-law Naomi followed th…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 3:1-18
EXPOSITION
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 3:2-4
Naomi's solicitude for her devoted daughter-in-law is beautiful and motherly. But the form into which it ran and took shape can never recur in the midst of the culture and customs of European society. Even the method of…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 3:2
And now is not Boaz, with whose young women thou wast, our relatives. Naomi opens her case. She had been studying Boaz all through the harvest season. She had been studying Ruth too. She saw unmistakable evidence of mut…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 3:2
Diligence in business. Boaz is an example of a thorough man of business. He was wont himself to see to it that the land was well tilled and well reaped. He was personally acquainted with the laborers. He even noticed th…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 3:2
The work of winnowing. "Behold, he winnoweth barley tonight." A world-old process this, the winnowing of the chaff from the wheat. Customs change, and commercial life increases and creates ever new demands; but the agri…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 3:3
So then wash thyself, and anoint thyself, and dress thyself? This latter phrase is in the original, "and put thy garments on thee." The verb וְשַׂמְתְּי with its final yod, was the archaic form of the second person femi…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 3:4
And let it be, when he lies down, that thou take note of the place where he lies; and go, and uncover the parts about his feet, and lay thee down; and he shall declare to thee what thou shalt do. The denominative word מ…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 3:5
And she said, All that thou sayest I will do. There is no need for adopting into the text the K'ri "to me," after the expression, All that thou sayest." It is a mere "tittle," indeed, whether we omit or insert the prono…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 3:5
Ruth's confidence in Naomi's kindness and wisdom is noteworthy. It was no upstart prepossession and blindfold feeling. Naomi had earned it by a long-continued course of prudence and sympathy. Boaz too had earned a corre…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 3:7
The joy of harvest. There is brightness and pleasantness in the view this passage gives us of a harvest-time in the vale of Bethlehem. Poets and painters have interpreted the heart of humanity in the pictures and the so…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 3:8
And it came to pass at midnight that the man started in a fright; and he bent himself over, and lo, a woman was lying at his feet. He had awaked, and, feeling something soft and warm at his feet, he was startled and aff…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 3:8
When it is said that "the man was afraid, and turned himself," the meaning of the latter clause, as it stands in King James's version, would require some modification. The idea is not that Boaz turned from one side to a…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 3:9
His touch had satisfied him that it was a woman who was at his feet. Who was she? Ruth at once declared herself, no doubt in accents of sweet modesty. The statement with which she follows up the declaration of herself i…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 3:9
And he said, Who art thou? And she said, I am Ruth, thy handmaid; and thou hast spread thy wings over thy handmaid, for thou art kinsman. The Syriac translator spoils the question of Boaz by metamorphosing it from "Who…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 3:10
And he said, Blessed be thou of Yahveh, my daughter; thou hast made thy latter kindness better than the former, in not going after any young man, whether poor or rich. This verse is full of satisfactory evidence that Na…
The Pulpit Commentary on 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…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 3:11
And now, my daughter, fear not: all that thou sayest I shall do to thee, for it is on all hands known in the gate of my people that thou art a truly capable woman. The word חָיִל in the expression אֵשֶׁת חֱיִל is of man…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 3:11
Above rubies. "A virtuous woman." Here is the crown of all beauty. What a renown is this of Ruth's. No jeweled necklet, no Eastern retinue, can give such attraction as this. We may have women of genius, and we admire ge…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 3:11
A virtuous woman. The circumstances of the narrative read strangely to us. But one nation and one age cannot fairly apply its standards to another. Nothing is more certain than that the conduct of Naomi, of Ruth, and of…