Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ruth 2:7
And she said, I pray you, let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves: so she came, and hath continued even from the morning until now, that she tarried a little in the house.
7. save that she tarried a little in the house ] lit. ‘her dwelling in the house is (but) short’: not the house of Boaz, which is out of the question; possibly her own house, in which case the meaning will be ‘she has but recently come to live here.’ It is doubtful, however, whether the words can bear this sense; the text is probably corrupt. The LXX. reads ‘and she hath not rested in the field (even) a little time’; the Vulg., ‘and not even for a moment hath she returned to the house.’ Something can be said for each of these emendations, but neither is quite satisfactory.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The house – The shed or booth where they took their meals, and were sheltered from the sun in the heat of the day (see Gen 33:17).
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 7. That she tarried a little in the house.] It seems as if the reapers were now resting in their tent, and that Ruth had just gone in with them to take her rest also.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
She said, I pray you, let me glean; she did not boldly intrude herself, but modestly ask leave of us.
Hath continued even from the morning until now; she is not retired though idleness, for she hath been diligent and constant in her labours.
In the house; not in Naomis house, as many understand it, as may be gathered from Rth 2:18,19, but in the little house or tent, which was set up in the fields at these times, and was necessary in those hot countries, where the labourers or others might retire for a little repose or repast at fit times. Being weary with her continued labours she comes hither to take a little rest.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7. she said . . . Let me glean andgather after the reapers among the sheavesVarious modes ofreaping are practised in the East. Where the crop is thin and short,it is plucked up by the roots. Sometimes it is cut with the sickle.Whether reaped in the one way or the other, the grain is cast intosheaves loosely thrown together, to be subjected to the process ofthreshing, which takes place, for the most part, immediately afterthe reaping. Field labors were begun early in the morningbeforethe day became oppressively hot.
she tarried a little in thehousethat is, the field tent, erected for the occasional restand refreshment of the laborers.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And she said,…. These are the words of the servant continued, who goes on with the account of Ruth, and her conduct, since she had been in the field:
I pray you let me glean, and gather after the reapers among the sheaves: for though by the law of Israel she had a right, as a poor widow and stranger, to glean, yet as the owner of the field, and his servants, by his appointment, under him, might have power of fixing the time when such might glean, and of judging who were the proper persons to be admitted, Ruth in her great modesty and meekness did not choose to enter on this work without leave:
so she came; into the field and gleaned, having obtained leave:
and hath continued even from the morning until now; had been very diligent and industrious in gathering up the loose ears of corn among the sheaves, as she followed the reapers cutting down and binding up the corn in sheaves; she began pretty early in the morning, and had stuck close to it till that time, which may be supposed to be about noon, or pretty near it, for as yet it was not mealtime, Ru 2:14. The Septuagint version is therefore very wrong, which reads
“from the morning until the evening,”
for that was not yet come, Ru 2:17 but
she tarried a little in the house; not that she went home to the city, and stayed a little in the house of Naomi her mother, and then returned again, for she went not home until the evening, Ru 2:17, but the meaning of the passage is, that she had been constant and diligent in gleaning all the morning, only a very little time that she was in the house, which was in the field; either a farm house of Boaz adjoining to the field; or rather a cottage or booth, as Aben Ezra interprets it, which was in the field, whither the reapers betook themselves when they ate their meals; or to shelter themselves under the shade of it, as Abendana, from the heat of the sun at noonday; and here Ruth set herself down awhile for a little rest, and ease, and refreshment; and some think she was here when Boaz came, and therefore took the more notice of her.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
7. That she tarried a little in the house Literally, This her resting in the house is little. That is, This rest which you now see her taking in the tent has been but for a little time, for her toil has been most assiduous from early morning until now.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“ And she said, ‘Let me glean, I pray you, and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.’ So she came, and has continued even from the morning until now, except that she tarried a little in the house.”
He explained that Ruth had in fact asked permission to glean, following the reapers as they gathered the sheaves. And he pointed out how hard she had worked at her task, working from dawn to this moment, apart from taking shelter for a short while in a lean-to which was apparently provided in order to offer a brief shelter from the hot sun while people ate such food as they had. She would no doubt have chosen a time when it was not otherwise being used, but it had not failed to be noticed by the overseer. His words may have been expressing admiration, or they may have been an assurance to Boaz that he was being observant. Gleaners no doubt sometimes exceeded their rights.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Rth 2:7. That she tarried a little in the house Or rather, and hath not been but a moment in the house; 1:e. in the tent, which was pitched in the field for the refreshment of the reapers, and of such as were labouring in the field. This is Aben-Ezra’s exposition of the word house, and it appears extremely natural.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Rth 2:7 And she said, I pray you, let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves: so she came, and hath continued even from the morning until now, that she tarried a little in the house.
Ver. 7. I pray you, let me glean. ] See Trapp on “ Rth 2:2 “
And gather after the reapers.
And hath continued even from the morning.
Until now, that she tarried a little in the house.
a .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
from the morning = all the morning.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
I pray: Pro 15:33, Pro 18:23, Mat 5:3, Eph 5:21, 1Pe 5:5, 1Pe 5:6
continued: Pro 13:4, Pro 22:29, Ecc 9:10, Rom 12:11, Gal 6:9
in the house: It seems that the reapers were now resting in a tent, erected for that purpose; and that Ruth had just gone in with them, to take her rest also.
Reciprocal: Rth 2:21 – Thou shalt
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Rth 2:7. She said, I pray you, &c. She did not boldly intrude herself, but modestly ask leave of us. Till now She is not retired through idleness, for she hath been diligent and constant in her labours. The house In the little house or tent, which was set up in the fields at these times, and was necessary in those hot countries, where the labourers might retire for a little repose or repast. Being weary with her continued labours, she comes hither to take a little rest.