Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ruth 4:15
And he shall be unto thee a restorer of [thy] life, and a nourisher of thine old age: for thy daughter-in-law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath born him.
15. better to thee than seven sons ] Ruth has proved it by her piety towards the dead and the living. Seven is a round number, cf. 1Sa 1:8.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
A restorer of thy life, i.e. of the comfort of thy life, which was in a great measure dead and gone.
Hath born him, to wit, a son; the pronoun for the noun understood, which is frequent in the Hebrew tongue. Or, hath born to him, i.e. to thy kinsman, to wit, a son, which is easily understood; and so the pronoun affix is put for the separate; of which there are instances; as Jos 15:19; 1Ki 19:21; Job 31:37; Eze 29:3.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life,…. Of the joys, pleasures, and comforts of it, which she had been deprived of through the death of her husband and her two sons, ever since which she had lived a sorrowful life; all the comfort she had was from her daughter-in-law, and now a grandchild being born to her of her would be a means of restoring comfort to her mourning sorrowful spirit, and give her pleasure in those years in which she did not expect any:
and a nourisher of thine old age; that would when grown up feed her, support her, and supply her with all necessaries of life, being heir to a large and rich estate:
for thy daughter in law which loveth thee; Ruth the wife of Boaz, who had shown her love, in leaving her own country and kindred, to come along with her into a strange land, and who had laboured for her support in it, and still retained the same affection for her:
which is better to thee than seven sons, hath borne him: either which had been so in the time of her widowhood, as the Targum; or rather which was so now, being the wife of so rich a person, and having now brought forth a son, heir to the estate, who would be more capable of doing for her than if she had seven sons living, having no other than their paternal estate.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(15) A nourisher.(See marginal renderings).
Daughter-in-law.The position of the nominative is emphatic.
Loveth.The verb is a perfect, which hath ever loved thee.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
15. He shall be That is, the child shall be. Boaz was the goel or redeemer of Ruth but the child Obed was the goel of the aged Naomi.
Restorer of thy life He shall make thee feel the glow of youthful life and joy again.
A nourisher of thine old age A source of comfort, since the birth of this son would take away the reproach of childlessness from her husband’s family.
Better than seven sons Because through Ruth “the loss of her own sons had been supplied in her old age, and the prospect was now presented to her of becoming in her childless old age the tribe-mother of a numerous and flourishing family.” Keil. “It would seem as if there was already a kind of joyous foretaste of the birth and infancy which, in aftertimes, was to be forever associated with the name of Beth-lehem.” Stanley.
“ And he will be to you a restorer of life, and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has borne him.”
And they assured Naomi that once he was old enough he would ‘restore her life’ by giving her encouragement and a reason for living. And secondly that he would be a ‘nourisher of her old age’, ensuring that she was provided for and that all her needs were met. So the woman who had left Moab in such despair was now assured of a safe and happy future. And this was because her own daughter-in-law had borne him, a daughter-in-law who loved her and had indeed been better to her than seven sons, seven indicating the divinely perfect number. To have seven sons would be the ideal, giving total confidence and provision for the future, and the idea here is thus that Ruth was such a wonderful daughter-in-law that she was of greater value than seven sons, because Naomi could have such confidence in her. Brought up under such a mother, they are saying, how could the son not be similar?
Rth 4:15 And he shall be unto thee a restorer of [thy] life, and a nourisher of thine old age: for thy daughter in law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath born him.
Ver. 15. And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life. ] A joyless life is a lifeless life. Mortis habet vices quae trahitur vita gemitibus. Such had been Naomi’s life for a long while, till now that God had raised her up a restorer. “Now we live,” &c. 1Th 3:8
And a nourisher of thine old age. For thy daughter-in-law, which loveth thee hath born him.] And it is to be hoped that he will not degenerate, or grow out of kind: for partus sequitur ventrem, the birth followeth the belly, as the proverb is.
a nourisher: etc. Heb. to nourish thy grey hairs, Gen 45:11, Gen 47:12, Psa 55:22, Isa 46:4
for thy: Rth 1:16-18
better: 1Sa 1:8, Pro 18:24
Reciprocal: Rth 4:17 – Obed
Rth 4:15. A restorer of thy life Of the comfort of thy life, such a comfort as to make thee, in some sort, young again. For they hoped the child would inherit his mothers virtues, and particularly her affection to Naomi, which was so surpassing, that it made her a greater blessing to her than a great many children of her own body would have been. Better than seven sons See how God sometimes makes up the want of those relations from whom we expected most comfort, in those from whom we expected least! The bonds of love prove stronger than those of nature.
4:15 And he shall be unto thee a restorer of [thy] life, and a nourisher of thine old age: for thy daughter in law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than {i} seven sons, hath born him.
(i) Meaning, many sons.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes