Ruth 3:11

Rth 3:11 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.

Ver. 11. And now, my daughter, fear not.] That I will either reproach thee, or reject thee; mine affection is no whit alienated from thee by thy present practice; which though it hath a show of evil, yet I know that it proceedeth not from lightness or lust.

I will do to thee all that thou requirest.] The desires of the righteous shall be satisfied. {Pro 10:24} Let men bring but lawful requests and honest hearts, and they may have anything. Here Boaz betrotheth Ruth conditionally.

For all the city of my people know.] Heb., All the gate. Her works had praised her in the gates: {Pro 31:31} she was eminently and eximiously virtuous.

That thou art a virtuous woman.] Praised by all, and therefore prized by me "above rubies." But now-a-days, Virtus post nummos. In suits both of law and love: money carrieth it.

“ Haud facile invenias multis e millibus unum,

Virtutem precium qui putat esse sui. ”

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rth 3:11-13. And now, my daughter, fear not — No words can more evidently express any thing than this and the following verse do, that Ruth did nothing immodest. Howbeit, there is a kinsman nearer than I — He does not absolutely refuse to grant her petition, but, influenced by a strict regard to the law of Moses, informs her that as there was a person nearer to her than himself, he could not properly take her to wife till that person had been consulted. If he will perform unto thee the kinsman’s part, &c. — Will take thee to wife to raise up seed to his brother. Bishop Hall thus sums up this matter in his Contemplations: — “Boaz, instead of touching her as a wanton, blesseth her as a father, encourages her as a friend, promises her as a kinsman, rewards her as a patron, and sends her away laden with hopes and gifts, no less chaste, but more happy, than she came. O admirable temperance, worthy the progenitor of Him in whose lips and heart there was no guile!”

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3:11 what is necessary (literally what you are asking): Boaz agreed to act on Ruth’s behalf. Some interpreters understand Boaz’s statement as an unconditional agreement to marry Ruth (see also study note on 4:5); most take it to mean that Boaz would act to provide for Ruth and Naomi by presenting to the nearer kinsman the opportunity to act as family redeemer before taking the opportunity himself (4:1-12). By voluntarily taking on the role of the family redeemer for Ruth and Naomi, Boaz became a forerunner of Jesus.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(11) City.—Literally, gate: the constant meeting-place of persons going in and out. (See Gen_19:1; Gen_34:20; Gen_34:24; Deu_16:18; Deu_21:19, &c.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11. I will do to thee all that thou sayest] Note Rth_3:4 ‘he will tell thee what thou shalt do’; but Ruth herself suggested what Boaz was to tell. The coincidence was guided by Jehovah’s good providence.

all the city, lit. gate] In ancient times the gate was a place of resort for conversation and business and the administration of justice; cf. Rth_4:1; Rth_4:11, Gen_23:10; Gen_34:20, Job_29:7, Pro_31:23.

a virtuous woman] See Rth_2:1 n. and Pro_31:10. There was no unbecoming forwardness in Ruth’s conduct; it is to be judged in accordance with the customs of the time.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And now, my daughter, fear not,.... Either of being forced and defiled, to which he had exposed herself by lying down at a man's feet, or of being reproached as an immodest woman for so doing, or of being despised as a poor woman, and of not succeeding in her suit and enterprise:

and I will do to thee all that thou requirest; which could be done according to the law of God, and without injury to another person after mentioned:

for all the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman; or righteous, as the Targum; a good woman, possessed of grace and virtue, having every agreeable qualification to recommend to the marriage state; and therefore, should they come to the knowledge of the step taken to obtain it, will never reproach thee for it, nor blame me for marrying a person, though poor, of such an excellent character, which, by her conduct and behaviour, was universally established. It is in the original text, "all the gate of my people" (u); meaning either all the people that pass through the gate of the city, that is, all the inhabitants of it, or the whole court of judicature, the elders of the city, that sit in judgment there, as was usual in gates of cities, see Rut 4:1. So the Targum,"it is manifest before all that sit in the gate of the great sanhedrim of my people that thou art a righteous woman''

(u) "tota porta populi mei", Montanus; so Vatablus, Tigurine version.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Woman. Virtuous here may denote, "strong, generous," &c., Proverbs xxxi. 10. (Calmet) --- But it includes the assemblage of all virtues. (Haydock).

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Fear not; think not that I despise and reject thee, because I do not immediately comply with thy desire.

I will do to thee all that thou requirest, i.e. marry thee, upon the condition here following.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

11. A virtuous woman — Literally, a woman of strength. It corresponds with the common expression, man of valour. Ruth was strong in all that constitutes female excellence and worth. She was not merely virtuous, in the sense of chaste, but she was full of virtues. “Boaz, no doubt, knew her general character, and knew also that in the present instance she acted in accordance with the advice of her mother in law, who had taught her that she not only had a right to claim Boaz for her husband, but that she was precluded by the law of God from forming any other reputable connexion. Boaz also remembered that he was old, and she young and attractive; and, though from the heathen Moabites, yet she preferred to walk in the sober path of honest married life rather than to associate with the young and the gay, by whom, it is intimated, she had been tempted. He was therefore fully justified in ascribing to this very act an honourable and virtuous principle, notwithstanding the apparent violation of modesty and propriety; and in this he judged correctly, for such was the fact.” — Thomson.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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 lyij in the expression lyij tvae is of many-sided import, and has no synonym in English, German, Latin, or Greek. But every side of its import brings into view one or other or more of such affiliated ideas as strength, force, forces, capability whether mental and moral only, or also financial; competency, substantiality, ability, bravery. All who had taken notice of Ruth perceived that she was mentally and morally, as well as physically, a substantial and capable woman. She was possessed of force, both of mind and character. She was, in the New England sense, of the expression, a woman of "faculty. She was full of resources, and thus adequate to the position which, as Boaz"s wife, she would be required to fill. There was no levity about her, "no nonsense." She was earnest, industrious, virtuous, strenuous, brave. There was much of the heroine in her character, and thus the expression connects itself with the masculine application of the distinctive and many-sided word, a mighty man of valor." The expression lyij tvae occurs in Pro_12:4, where, in King James"s version, it is, as here and in Pro_31:10, translated "Ca virtuous woman virtuous woman is a crown to her husband." But it is not so much to moral virtue that there is a reference as to that general capacity which consists in large discourse, looking before and after" ("Hamlet," 4:4).

Compare the masculine expression lyijAyvena in Exo_18:21, Exo_18:25, rendered, in King James"s version, "able men," and meaning capable or substantial men, who, however, as we learn from the additional characteristics that are specified, were to be likewise conspicuous for high moral worth. In Pro_31:10 there is the same reference to general capacity, as is evidenced by the graphic representation that follows a representation that by no means exhausts itself in the idea of moral virtue. Ibn Ezra takes the whole soul out of the expression when he interprets it, both here and in Proverbs, as meaning a woman possessed of riches." When Boaz says, "All that thou sayest I will do to thee," he means, "All that thou hast so winsomely and yet so modestly referred to in what thou didst say, I am prepared to do to thee. There was only one obstacle in the way, and that of a somewhat technical description. If that should be honorably surmounted, nothing would be more agreeable to Boaz s heart than to get nearer to Ruth "For," said he, "it is on all hands known in the gate of my people that," etc. Literally the phrase is, "for all the gate of my people know," a strange inverted but picturesque mode of expression. It was not "the gate of the people," but the people of the gate," that knew.

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 Boaz was perfectly correct, and probably Ruth"s proceeding was wise and justifiable. Upon her character no breath of suspicion rested; she was, in the language of the text, "a virtuous woman.

I RUTH"S VIRTUE WAS MANIFESTED BY HER CIRCUMSPECT CONDUCT WITH REFERENCE TO YOUNG MEN. "Thou followedst not young men, whether rich or poor.

II HER VIRTUE WAS APPARENT IN HER OBEDIENCE TO HER MOTHER-IN-LAW. Instead of taking counsel of her own comparative inexperience, she listened to the advice of the sage and prudent Naomi.

III HER VIRTUE WAS ACKNOWLEDGED BY ALL HER ACQUAINTANCE. "All the city of my people doth know." If there had been anything in the conduct of the poor, friendless young foreigner inconsistent with virtue, it would not have been hid. She escaped calumny.

IV HER VIRTUE LED TO AN HONORABLE MARRIAGE AND POSITION IN ISRAEL. "A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband.

We can believe that Ruth verified the beautiful description given in Pr 31. T.

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 genius; we may have women of scientific attainment, and God has given no lack of intellectual endowments to women, but we must have virtue. Let the history of later Rome tell us what the loss of this is.

I NO LIFE IS HIDDEN. "All the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman." Every history stands revealed. Concerning Nehemiah, we read of the testimony given in time of national trouble: There is a man in thy kingdom in whose heart is the fear of the holy God." And so this simple-hearted Ruth, who had not tried to make herself attractive to the young men, poor or rich, who had been modest in manner and heroic in conduct, left the impress of her character on the city.

II NO LIFE CAN BE RELIGIOUS THAT IS NOT VIRTUOUS. We may, indeed, have virtue of a kind, a morality of respectability, without religion; but we cannot be religious without morality, for religion does not consist in ceremonies however impressive, or days however sacred, or opinions however sound; but in a life of consecration to God, and of obedience to all the sanctities of the moral law. There may be a religion of emotionalism merely; but blessed as it is to feel the true, we must live it out as well in common life.

III NO POWER IS SO PERMANENT AS THAT OF HOLY LIFE. Character lives in others. We do not die when we pass from earth. Ruth lives today. It would be interesting to know how many have been led even in this age to devoutness and decision by the remembrance of her conduct and the exquisite pathos of her words. The little "city" of which our text speaks has passed away, but wherever the word of God is known and read, there Ruth reproduces herself in the history of others. The very name has become a family name, and is honored by constant use in every generation. W.M.S.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

"אשת חיל (a virtuous woman):" I will explain this in Proverbs.

"מ"ם ואמנם נוסף כמ"ם חנם (The letter 'mem' in 'ואמנם' is added, like the 'mem' in 'חנם')."

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.