The Pulpit Commentary — Ruth — Section 20

(T'l~rn;i). And she kissed them, locking (,er. 13) would ye therefore wait till they them lingeringly Rnd lonngly in a farewell grew up t would ye therefore 1hut youraelvea embrace. "Kissed them." The preposition up eo a1 not to have husband ■ t nay, my to, according to the customary Hebrew idiom, daughter•; for my lot is exceedingly bitter, stands before the pronoun. In kissing, more than even yonre, for the hand of Naomi imparted herself passionatelv to her Yahveh baa gone out again ■t me. Most beloved daughters-in-law, and clung 'to them. pathetic pleading, and not easily reproduced There would be full-heartc,l reciprocation, on lines of literal rendering. "Go, for I o.m and each to each would cling "in their too old to have a husband." A euphemistic em bra.cement, as they grew together" (Shake- rendering ; but the original is euphemistic speare, Henry VIII.). And they lifted np too, though un.der another phraseolo~cal their voice and wept. The idea is not that all phase. " But even if I could so.y, I na.ve three wept aloud. The pronoun "they" refers hope." The poverty of the Hebrew verb in to the daughters-in-law, as is evident both respect of provision to express "moods I, is from the preceding and from the succeeding co?spicuous : " that," i. e. "suppose th~t I context. The fine idiomatic version of the said, I have hope." Mark the climactic Yulgate brings out successfully and unam- representation. Firstly, No.omi makes, for biguously the true state of the case--q= argument's sake, the supposition that she elevllta voce flere creperunt. The lifting up might yet ho.ve sons ; tl:ien, secondly, she of the voice in weeping must be thought of carries her supposition much higher, namely, according to the measure of Oriental, as dis- that she might that very night have a hus- tinguished from Occidental, custom. In the band ; o.nd then, thirdly, she carries the East there is less self-restraint in this matter supposition a great deal higher still, namely, than in the West. that even already her sons were brought Ver. 10.-A.nd they said unto her, Surely forth : "Would you therefore wait?" Note we will return with thee 11llto thy people. the therefore. Ibn Ezra, the Septuagint, the So King James' s version. The expression in Vulgate, and King James's version assume the original is broken at the commencement: that )P~ means for them. The feminine "And they said to her, For with thee we pronoun, however, as applied to Naomi's shall return to thy people." It is as if they s<'ns, is, on that supposition, all but inex- had said, " Do not insist on our retnrn to plicable. It is much better to assume, with our mothers' homes, for with thee we shall the majority of modern critics, that it is return to thy peopl,e." Note the expression, " we shall return," instead of "we shall go equivalent to )?,~, whether we call it a Chal- with thee in thy retnrn to thy people." For daism or not. Certainly it was current in the moment they identify themselves with Chaldee (see Dan. ii 6, 9). But it may have their mother-in-law, as if they had come floated in circles of Semitic society that were with her from Jndah_ never included within Chaldrea proper. In- Yer. 11.-A.nd liaomi said, Turn back, deed, there were no precise limits bounding my daughters. To what purpose should off the Chaldee language from the kindred yon go with me 1 Have I yet soD.B in my dialects, just as there are no such limits in womb, that might be husbands to yon! English or in German, or in any member of According to the old Levirate law-a survival a linguistic group. Idioms often overlap. cf rude and barbarous times-Orpah and In the two interrogative clauses, "Would ye Ruth, having had husbands who died with- for tha.t purpose wait till they grew up 7 out issue, would have been entitled to claim Would ye for that purpose seclude your- marriage with their hnsbands' brothere, if selves, so as not to have husbands Y" there such surviving brothers there had been (see is a parallelism ; only, in the second clause, Deut. xxv. 5--9 ; Matt. :x.xii 24--28). A.nd the representation rises. "For my lot is if the surviving brothers were too young to exceedingly bitter, more than even yours ; " be married, the widows, if they chose, might literally, "for it is bitter to me exceedingly, wait on till they reached maturity (see Gen. beyond you." The verb is used imperson- x:xxviii ). It is in the light of these customs ally. Naomi means that her case was even that we are to read Naomi's remonstrances. more lamentable than theirs, so that she The phraseology in the second interrogation could not encourage them to hang their is very primitive, and primitively 'agglutin- dependence on her help, or to hope for a ative.' "Are there yet to be sons in my retrieval of their circumstances in becoming womb, and they shall be to you for hus- partakers of her fortunes. The translation bands 1" (see on ver. 1). of King James's version, "for your sakes," Yer. 12. -Turn back, my daughters, go; though decidedly supported by the Septuagint, for I e.m too old to have a huaband. But is unnatural Po.gnin and Drusius both give even if I conld ■ ay, I he.ve hope; yea, even the correct rendering, " more than you." So if I had a hnsband this very night; yea, do Michaelis and Wright. But Bertheo.u eveu if I had already given birth to 1on1; and Gesenius agree with King James's ver, on. r. G-14.J THE BOOK OF RUTH. 13