Ruth 3:13
Read Ruth 3:13 Using Other Translations
What does Ruth 3:13 mean?
Tarry this day
Or lodge here tonight, where she was; this he said not from any
design upon her, but for her own safety and honour, that she
might not be exposed to danger or disgrace, by returning home at
such an unseasonable time of night. The first letter in the word
for "tarry" is larger than usual in the Hebrew text; which may be
done to raise the attention of the reader, to observe it as a
thing very singular, that a widow should lodge with a man without
any diminution of her chastity; so Buxtorf F24 says,
that hereby attention is noted, even the honesty of Boaz ordering
Ruth to lodge without a man, and wait until a nearer kinsman,
according to the law, should come, and promising that on failure
thereof he would be the lawful redeemer; but Dr. Lightfoot
F25 observes, that as there is a
special mark over a word in the story of Lot's eldest daughter
lying with her father, ( Genesis
19:34 ) and a special mark on this word here, in the story of
Ruth going to Boaz his bed, seems to relate one to the other, and
both together to point at the great providence of God in bringing
light out of darkness, Ruth, a mother of Christ, out of the
incest of Lot:
and it shall be, in the morning, that if he will perform
unto thee the
part of a kinsman, well, let him do the kinsman's
part;
by marrying Ruth, and redeeming her husband's estate, which if he
did, it would be all very well, and right according to law; and
it would be very well for Ruth, as Aben Ezra and Abendana
interpret it; seeing, as they observe, that kinsman was a very
respectable man, a man of great esteem and worth, a man of wealth
and authority, and she would be well matched to him. Some think,
as the same writers observe, that the word "Tob", translated
"well", is the name of the kinsman, the same with Tobias; so R.
Joshuah says F26, that Salmon (who was the father of
Boaz), and Elimelech (the father of Ruth's husband), and Tob
(this near kinsman), were brethren:
but if he will not do the part of a kinsman to thee, then
will I do the
part of a kinsman to thee, as the Lord liveth:
that is, he swore he would marry her, and redeem the inheritance,
if the other would not; for the phrase, "as the Lord liveth", is
the form of an oath, it is swearing by the living God; so the
Targum,
``I say with an oath before the Lord, that as I have spoken unto thee, so will I do:''lie down until the morning;
and take some sleep and rest, and be at ease in mind, depending upon the performance of what I have promised.
F24 Tiberias, c. 14. p. 38.
F25 Works, vol. 1. p. 48.
F26 In Midrash Ruth, ut supra. (fol. 31. 4. & 34. 2.)
