And Naomi said to her two daughters in law
When they were come, as it is very probable, to the utmost limits
of the land of Moab, and to the borders of the land of Israel:
go, return each unto her mother's house:
the mother's house is mentioned, and not the father's, not
because they had no father living; for it is certain Ruth had a
father as well as a mother, ( Ruth 2:11 ) but because
mothers are most affectionate to their daughters, and they most
conversant together; and because women in those times had
apartments to themselves, and who used to take their daughters to
them when become widows; though such was the strong love of those
young widows to their mother-in-law, that they chose rather to
dwell with her, while she lived in Moab, than with their own
mothers:
the Lord deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the
dead, and with
me;
that is, with their husbands, who were dead; as the Targum is,
that they refused to marry men after their death; or rather it
respects their affectionate care of their husbands, and behaviour
towards them when living, as well as the respect they showed to
their memory, at and since their death; and also their filial
duty to her, both before and since; and particularly, as the
Targum expresses it, in that they had fed and supported her.