The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 1:11

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

And Naomi said, Turn back, my daughters. To what purpose should you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb, that might be husbands to you? According to the old Levirate law—a survival of rude and barbarous times—Orpah and Ruth, having had husbands who died without issue, would have been entitled to claim marriage with their husbands' brothers, if such surviving brothers there had been (see Deuteronomy 25:5-9; Matthew 22:24-28).

And if the surviving brothers were too young to be married, the widows, if they chose, might wait on till they reached maturity (see Genesis 38:1-30.). It is in the light of these customs that we are to read Naomi's remonstrance's.

The phraseology in the second interrogation is very primitive, and primitively ' agglutinative.' "Are there yet to be sons in my womb, and they shall be to you for husbands?" (see on verse 1).

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commentaryMatthew Henry on Ruth 1:6-14Naomi began to think of returning, after the death of her two sons. When death comes into a family, it ought to reform what is amiss there. Earth is made bitter to us, that heaven may be made dear. Naomi seems to have b…Matthew Henry commentaryNaomi Returns to Canaan; Naomi and Her Daughters-in-Law; Ruth's Constancy to Naomi. (b. c. 1312.)NAOMI RETURNS TO CANAAN; NAOMI AND HER DAUGHTERS-IN-LAW; RUTH'S CONSTANCY TO NAOMI. (B. C. 1312.) See here, I. The good affection Naomi bore to the land of Israel, Ruth 1:6. Though she could not stay in it while the fam…Matthew Henry commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 1:6-14Longing for the old home. Brings to view I. NAOMI'S RESOLUTION. No wonder that she formed it; for— 1. The ties that bound her to the land of Moab had been snapped by the hand of death. In the death of her husband there…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 1:6-14EXPOSITIONJoseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 1:10-14Separation. These three women were bound together by the memory of common happiness, by the memory of common sorrows. The proposal that they should part, however reasonable and just, could not but reopen the flood-gates…Joseph S. Exell and contributors