Bible Commentaries
Ruth 3

Verse 1

Then Naomi her mother in law said unto her, My daughter, shall I not seek rest for thee, that it may be well with thee?

No JFB commentary on this verse.

Verse 2

And now is not Boaz of our kindred, with whose maidens thou wast? Behold, he winnoweth barley to night in the threshingfloor.

He winnoweth barley to-night in the threshing-floor. The winnowing process is performed by throwing up the grain, after being trodden down, against the wind with a shovel. The threshing-floor, which was commonly on the harvest-field, was carefully leveled with a large cylindric roller, and consolidated with chalk, that weeds might not spring up, and that it might not chop with drought. The farmer usually remained all night in harvest-time on the threshing-floor, not only for the protection of his valuable grain, but for the winnowing. That operation was performed in the evening, to catch the breezes which blow after the close of a hot day, and which continue for the most part of the night. This duty at so important a season the master undertakes himself: and accordingly of ancient manners, Boaz, a person of considerable wealth and high rank, laid himself down to sleep on the barn floor, at the end of the heap of barley that he had been winnowing.

Verse 3

Wash thyself therefore, and anoint thee, and put thy raiment upon thee, and get thee down to the floor: but make not thyself known unto the man, until he shall have done eating and drinking.

No JFB commentary on this verse.

Verse 4

And it shall be, when he lieth down, that thou shalt mark the place where he shall lie, and thou shalt go in, and uncover his feet, and lay thee down; and he will tell thee what thou shalt do.

Go in, and uncover his feet, and lay thee down. Singular as these directions may appear to us, there was no impropriety in them, according to the simplicity of rural manners in Beth-lehem. In ordinary circumstances these would have seemed indecorous to the world; but in the case of Ruth, it was a method doubtless conformable to prevailing usage, of reminding Boaz of the duty which devolved on him as the kinsman of her deceased husband. Boaz probably slept upon a mat or skin; Ruth lay crosswise at his feet-a position in which Eastern servants frequently sleep in the same chamber or tent with their master; and if they want a covering, custom allows them that benefit from part of the covering on their master's bed. Resting, as the Orientals do at night, in the same clothes they wear during the day, there was no indelicacy in a stranger, or even a woman, putting the extremity of this cover over her.

Verses 5-8

And she said unto her, All that thou sayest unto me I will do.

No JFB commentary on these verses.

Verse 9

And he said, Who art thou? And she answered, I am Ruth thine handmaid: spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid; for thou art a near kinsman. Spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid; because thou art a near kinsman. She had already drawn part of the mantle over her; and she asked him now to do it, that the act might become his own. To spread a skirt over one is, in the East, a symbolical action denoting protection. To this day in many parts of the East to say of any one that be put his skirt over a woman is synonymous with saying that he married her; and at all the marriages of the modern Jews and Hindus one part of the ceremony is for the bridegroom to put a silken or cotton cloak around his bride (see Roberts' 'Oriental Customs,' on this passage, where it is shown that the same practice obtains among the Hindus).

Verse 10

And he said, Blessed be thou of the LORD, my daughter: for thou hast shewed more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, inasmuch as thou followedst not young men, whether poor or rich.

Blessed be thou of the Lord, my daughter ... Continued widowhood was regarded by the Jews as an indication of more than ordinary piety.

Verses 11-14

And now, my daughter, fear not; I will do to thee all that thou requirest: for all the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman.

No JFB commentary on these verses.

Verse 15

Also he said, Bring the vail that thou hast upon thee, and hold it. And when she held it, he measured six measures of barley, and laid it on her: and she went into the city.

Bring the veil that thou hast upon thee, and hold it, [ hamiTpachat (H4304)]. Eastern veils are large sheets-those of ladies being of red silk; but the poorer or common class of women wear them of blue, or blue and white, striped linen or cotton. They are wrapped round the head, and fall down over the shoulders, enveloping the whole person (see Rogers' 'Domestic Life in Palestine,' p. 46; Graham's Jordan and Rhine, p.

195).

Verse 16

And when she came to her mother in law, she said, Who art thou, my daughter? And she told her all that the man had done to her.

No JFB commentary on this verse.

Verse 17

And she said, These six measures of barley gave he me; for he said to me, Go not empty unto thy mother in law.

Six measures of barley - Hebrew, six seahs; a scab contained about two gallons and a half, six of which must have been rather a heavy load for a woman.