Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ruth 1:13

Would ye tarry for them till they were grown? would ye stay for them from having husbands? nay, my daughters; for it grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the LORD is gone out against me.

13. would ye therefore tarry till they were grown? ] The narrative in Genesis 38. shews that the custom of levirate marriage was presupposed for the patriarchal age, but in a more primitive form than that of the modified law in Deuteronomy 25. According to Genesis 38. a son, though not of marriageable age, is bound by a positive requirement of the divine will to marry his brother’s widow, and she must remain a widow till he be grown up (ib. Rth 1:11). The identity of the latter expression with that in the present verse seems to imply a reminiscence of the patriarchal narrative. But Naomi’s imaginary sons, the offspring of an impossible second marriage, would be half-brothers to Mahlon and Chilion; and there is nothing to shew that a levirate marriage was customary in such a case. Moreover, the object of this kind of marriage was to prevent the extinction of a family and the transference of the family property into the hands of strangers. As a matter of fact, however, Naomi is not thinking of this at all; she is not lamenting that her sons died without children, but that Ruth and Orpah have lost their husbands; her one anxiety is for the future welfare of her daughters in law. Hence, though her language is coloured by a reference to a well-known social institution, the reference is not exact, not intended to be taken literally.

It is noticeable that several words in this verse point to the post-exilic date of the writer: therefore is represented by a pure Aramaic word, Dan 2:6; Dan 2:9; Dan 4:27 [Aram. 24]; tarry, again in Est 9:1, Psa 119:166 (‘hoped’); stay, lit. be restrained, shut up, only here in the O. T.; in Aramaic the pass. ptcp. is used of a wife tied to a husband and deserted and prohibited from marrying again, e.g. Talm. Jerus. Giin iv. 45c.

it grieveth me much for your sakes ] lit. it is very bitter for me because of you; for this use of the prep. ( min=because of) cf. Ecc 2:10, Psa 31:11; Psa 107:17 etc. Naomi’s sympathy goes out to the young widows, and she urges them to seek happiness elsewhere. The rendering in the marg. means, ‘You can go back and marry again; a worse lot is in store for me, I must remain a solitary.’ The rendering of the text is to be preferred as more in accordance with Naomi’s unselfish feeling.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Would ye stay for them from having husbands? it is unreasonable for me to expect it, or for you to perform it.

For your sakes; that you are left without the comfort of husbands or children; that I must part with such dear and affectionate daughters; and that my circumstances are such that I cannot invite nor encourage you to go along with me. For her condition was so mean at this time, that Ruth, when she came to her mothers city, was forced to glean for a living, Rth 2:2.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

13. the hand of the Lord is gone outagainst methat is, I am not only not in a condition to provideyou with other husbands, but so reduced in circumstances that Icannot think of your being subjected to privations with me. Thearguments of Naomi prevailed with Orpah, who returned to her peopleand her gods. But Ruth clave unto her; and even in the pages ofSterne, that great master of pathos, there is nothing which so callsforth the sensibilities of the reader as the simple effusion he hasborrowed from Scriptureof Ruth to her mother-in-law [CHALMERS].

Ru1:19-22. THEY COMETO BETH-LEHEM.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Would you tarry for them till they were grown?…. It is not to be thought that they would tarry till she was married and had children, and then till these infants were grown up to men’s estate, and be marriageable; for though Tamar tarried for Shelah, yet he was born, and of some years of age, though not a grown man, Ge 38:11

would ye stay for them from having husbands? they were young widows, and it was fit they should marry again; and it could not be imagined that they would deny themselves having husbands, in expectation of any sons of her’s:

nay, my daughters; I am well satisfied you will never tarry for them, nor deprive yourselves of such a benefit; it is unreasonable to suppose it:

for it grieveth me much for your sakes; that she could be of no manner of service to them, either to give them husbands, or to support and maintain them, should they go with her; or “I have exceedingly more bitterness than you” d; her condition and circumstances were much worse than theirs; for though they had lost their husbands, she had lost both husband and children: or it was more bitter and grievous to her to be separated from them, than it was for them to be separated from her; her affection to them was as strong, or stronger than theirs to her; or they had friends in their own country that would be kind to them, but as for her, she was in deep poverty and distress, and when she came into her own country, knew not that she had any friends left to take any notice of her:

that the hand of the Lord is gone out against me; in taking away her husband and children, and reducing her to a low estate, penniless and friendless; so poor, as it appears, that her daughter-in-law, when come to the land of Canaan, was obliged to glean for the livelihood of them both, as in the next chapter.

d “amaritudo mihi (est) valde prae nobis”, Montanus, Rambachius; so Pagninus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(13) It grieveth me much for your sakes.A much more probable translation is, it is far more bitter for me than for you. An exact parallel to the construction is found in Gen. 19:9. The ancient versions are divided, the LXX., Peshito Syriac, and Targum support this translation; the Vulg. is rather loose in its rendering.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

13. It grieveth me much for your sakes More literally, It is much more bitter to me than to you that, etc. My hopes for earthly comfort in my own land are poorer than yours in Moab.

The hand of the Lord is gone out against me In my own family a severe and mysterious Providence has cut off all temporal hope for you and for me. This was indeed a source of grief. Keil observes that Naomi omitted to notice one possible case, namely, that her daughters in law might find other husbands in Judea. He supposes she did not hint at this chiefly from feelings of delicacy on account of their Moabitish descent, which would be an obstacle to their marriage among the Israelites.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

“ Turn again, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say, I have hope, if I should even have a husband tonight, and should also bear sons, would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from having husbands? No, my daughters, for it grieves me much for your sakes, for the hand of YHWH is gone forth against me.”

Furthermore even if there had been a chance that she could produce children, and was able immediately to marry, would they really want to wait until any sons so born would grow up? By that time the women too would be almost beyond childbearing. No it was better for them that they left her and returned to their families and sought husbands in Moab. She assured them of the grief that she felt that YHWH had so dealt with her that she could offer them nothing, because His hand had ‘gone forth against her’. The whole move to Moab, although seeming a good idea at the time, was now seen as a disaster. YHWH had not been in it for good.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Rth 1:13 Would ye tarry for them till they were grown? would ye stay for them from having husbands? nay, my daughters; for it grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the LORD is gone out against me.

Ver. 13. Would ye tarry for them? ] Heb., Hope. The Hebrew word that signifieth hope, signifieth a line: because by hope the heart is stretched out as a line, to the thing it hopeth for.

Till they were grown. ] Children are not to be married till mature and marriageable.

Nay, my daughters, ] q.d., If you mean to marry at all, marry in due time, and defer not too long. Every Jew at this day is bound to marry before he is twenty years old, else he is looked upon as one that liveth in sin.

For it grieveth me much. ] I have much bitterness: “remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.” Lam 3:19 But did not Naomi herself cast this gall into God’s cup, by her impatiency and excess of grief? which yet was much mitigated, no doubt, when she considered that it was –

The hand of the Lord that was gone out against her. ] That her afflictions befell her not by fate or blind fortune. Among philosophers the most noted sect for patience was that of the Stoics, who ascribed all to fate. God’s people have better comforts. Virtus lecythos habet in malis.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)