Commentaria in Ruth
Chapter 3. Synopsis of the Chapter
Ruth, at the counsel of Noemi, claims marriage with Booz by right of kinship; he promises to marry her: and therefore sends her back to Noemi laden with barley.
1. And after she was returned to her mother-in-law, she heard from her: My daughter, I will seek rest for thee, and will provide that it may be well with thee. 2. This Booz, with whose maids thou wast joined in the field, is our near kinsman, and this night he winnoweth the barley in the threshing-floor. 3. Wash thyself therefore, and anoint thee, and put on thy better garments, and go down to the floor. Let not the man see thee, till he shall have done eating and drinking. 4. And when he shall go to sleep, mark the place where he sleepeth: and thou shalt go in, and uncover the cloth wherewith he is covered at his feet, and shalt lay thyself down there: and he will tell thee what thou must do. 5. She answered: Whatsoever thou shalt command, I will do. 6. And she went down to the barn-floor, and did all that her mother-in-law had bid her. 7. And when Booz had eaten and drunk, and was merry, and was gone to sleep by the heap of sheaves, she came softly, and uncovering his feet, laid herself down. 8. And behold, at midnight the man was afraid, and troubled; and he saw a woman lying at his feet, 9. and he said to her: Who art thou? And she answered: I am Ruth thy handmaid; spread thy cover over thy servant, for thou art a near kinsman. 10. And he said: Blessed art thou of the Lord, my daughter, and thy latter kindness hath surpassed the former: because thou hast not followed young men, either poor or rich. 11. Fear not therefore, but whatsoever thou shalt say to me, I will do to thee. For all the people that dwell within the gates of my city know that thou art a virtuous woman. 12. Neither do I deny that I am near of kin, but there is another nearer than I. 13. Rest thou this night; and when morning is come, if he will take thee by the right of kindred, all is well: but if he will not, I will without any doubt take thee, as the Lord liveth. Sleep till the morning. 14. So she slept at his feet till the night was going off. And she rose before men could know one another, and Booz said: Beware lest any man know that thou camest hither. 15. And again he said: Spread thy mantle, wherewith thou art covered, and hold it with both hands. And when she spread it and held it, he measured six measures of barley, and laid it upon her. And she carried it and went into the city, 16. and came to her mother-in-law. Who said to her: What hast thou done, daughter? And she told her all that the man had done to her. 17. And she said: Behold, six measures of barley he gave me, and he said: Thou shalt not go empty to thy mother-in-law. 18. And Noemi said: Wait, my daughter, till we see what end the thing will have. For the man will not rest till he have accomplished what he hath said.
1. AND AFTER SHE WAS RETURNED (the harvest being finished) TO HER MOTHER-IN-LAW—Noemi. The Interpreter reads tascab, that is, she returned: now with other points they read tegeb, that is, she sat, she abode.
I WILL SEEK REST FOR THEE—that is, I will seek for thee an honourable and wealthy marriage, in which, freed from the labours of poverty and hunger and the rest, thou mayest rest in the care and providence of a rich and gentle husband, and lead a quiet, cheerful and pleasant life; namely, I will seek for thee a husband rich, and equally kind, with whom thou mayest live in harmony and joy; for with harsh and quarrelsome husbands there is no rest for a wife. Moreover Aben-Ezra: “Girls are not wont to rest,” he says, “until they are married.”
For marriage is “as it were the harbour of youth,” says Plutarch, lest through wandering desires it make shipwreck of chastity.
3. WASH THYSELF AND ANOINT THEE—with plain oil, as a poor but honest woman: for such were then anointed with oil for brightness and cheerfulness. Noemi urges her daughter-in-law Ruth to be anointed with oil, not with spikenard or the like, sweet-smelling and alluring, but with natural and simple oil; and not to colour and change her face with antimony, white lead and other paints and cosmetics, but to appear before Booz with a washed and bright face, and clad in her better garments; that so, adorned modestly, she might invite him to the marriage as due to her. For modest adornment of dress, and still more of manners and virtues, becomes an honest and chaste matron, as St. Peter teaches, epistle I, chapter iii, verse 4. Moreover what Lucan said of Cleopatra, book X:
“Her countenance helps her words, her lovely face pleads,” is likewise true in the rest.
4. AND SHALT LAY THYSELF DOWN THERE—not naked; for this would have been immodest and alluring, but clad in her better garments, as he said in verse 3. Wherefore, although Lyranus and Dionysius, and even St. Ambrose, book III On Faith, chapter v, blame this counsel of Noemi and the deed of Ruth, as somewhat improper and alluring, yet Theodoret, the Author of the Imperfect Work, Abulensis, Salianus, Serarius and others excuse both, partly because all this adornment and preparation was honest and modest; partly because nothing else was sought by it than the marriage that was due; partly because both Booz and Ruth were advanced in years, and of tried and chaste life, so that there was no fear of fornication in them; partly because the matter was directed by Noemi, a wise and pious matron, and still more by God, who willed this marriage to be contracted, that David might be born of it, and Christ of him. Hence the Author of the Imperfect Work on chapter 1 of Matthew says that Ruth in Hebrew is the same as inspiration, because she did this inspired by God: “Unless,” he says, “the inspiration of God had been in Ruth, she would not have said what she said, nor done what she did.” For this deed of Ruth is not to be imitated by other women and men, because it is dangerous, and tempts to fornication. The Author of the Imperfect Work goes on: “What is first praised in her? Love of the race of Israel? or simplicity? or obedience? or faith? Love of the race of Israel indeed, because she so desired to bear sons of the seed of Israel, and to become one of the people of God. For if she had desired union with a man like a wanton girl, she would rather have sought some young man. But since she wished to satisfy not her wantonness but her religion, she chose a holy family rather than youthful age. As for simplicity, she did not enter under his cloak of her own accord; nor did she think that he might perhaps spurn her, as a just man a wanton girl, or that he might mock her, and, what was graver, despise her when mocked, as many do: but obeying the counsels of her mother-in-law she trusted confidently that God would prosper her action, knowing her own conscience, that lust did not drive her to this, but religion had urged her.”
8. AND HE SAW A WOMAN.—For although it was night, yet because he slept in the open air on the threshing-floor, and the moon or stars were shining, he could easily see that Ruth was a woman, not a man; even if he could not tell from her face who she was, because of the darkness of the night.
9. SPREAD THY COVER OVER THY SERVANT, FOR THOU ART A NEAR KINSMAN—that is, take me to wife, because for this, as kinsman, thou art bound, to raise up seed to my husband, dead without children. Whence the Chaldee renders: Let thy name, I pray, come upon thy handmaid, that thou mayest take me to wife, and have me as partner of thy bed. Lyranus adds that the bridegroom was wont to lay the edge of his cloak over the bride, to signify by this gesture that he took her into his power and protection. Some blame this saying and deed of Ruth, as I have said, as though she dangerously tempted the chastity of Booz and exposed her own. But others generally excuse it, because, trusting in the chastity of Booz and her own, proved through so many years, she judged there was no danger, as indeed the event showed there was none.
Abulensis adds that Ruth by this phrase asked for Booz’s embrace. But this is not likely; if however she asked it, she asked it as a conjugal act, not as a fornicatory one. For then clandestine marriages were not forbidden: wherefore by mutual consent, whether expressed in words or signified by carnal union, marriage was contracted. If then Ruth asked this, she asked only the conjugal debt, and through it asked the marriage itself; and she did so, partly to provide for her own and her mother-in-law Noemi’s widowhood and poverty through the wealth of a rich husband; partly to look to the name and memory of her husband dead without children, by raising up seed to him from another husband, which was an act of charity and conjugal love; partly to satisfy the law of God, extended by custom, commanding a husband’s kinsman to raise up seed, and to urge Booz himself to satisfy it: which was an act of obedience and religion.
Allegorically St. Jerome, in the preface on Osee: “Salmon,” he says, “begot the just man Booz of Rahab the harlot, who, covering Ruth the Moabitess with the wing of his cloak, as she lay at his feet, carried her over to the head of the gospel.” And book V on Isaias, chapter xvi: “O Moab! on whom the lion is to rage, and of whom not even the remnant can be saved, have this consolation: There shall go forth from thee the spotless Lamb, who taketh away the sins of the world, who shall rule over the earth. From the rock of the desert, that is Ruth, who, Jesse, and of Jesse David, and of David Christ.”
10. AND THY LATTER KINDNESS HATH SURPASSED THE FORMER.—In Hebrew, thou hast made thy latter kindness better than the former; Vatablus, thou hast made thy latter piety more excellent than the former, as if to say: Thou wast dutiful to thy husband living, but thou art more dutiful now to the dead, while thou strivest to raise up seed to him dead without children, by marriage with his kinsman. Hear Blessed Peter Damian, book VIII, epistle 14 to the Sisters: “Ruth showed due reverence to her mother-in-law, kept matronly modesty, and preserved faith to her dead husband: she left her country and parents given to idols, and without any teacher’s instruction passed over, a noble proselyte, to the worship of the true God. Behold then Judith casting aside the prosperity by which she was upheld in life; Ruth embracing the adversity by which she was pressed. Both, with one mind though in different fortune, pleased the one God, not undeservedly, because neither succumbed so to adversity, nor, forgetting herself in prosperity, cast herself down. But the one bore what she abounded in, the other enjoyed what she suffered; both alike, in the changes of worldly inconstancy, declaring: as its darkness, so its light.”
11. FOR ALL THE PEOPLE THAT DWELL WITHIN THE GATES OF MY CITY KNOW.—The Hebrew: all the gate of my people knows, which Vatablus and others explain, as if to say: all the Senate of my people knows. For judges and the Senate formerly sat in the gates and gave judgment, so that they might easily be approached and met by countrymen and strangers. More fully our Vulgate explains the gate of the people by a conversion, the people of the gate, that is, the people dwelling within the gates.
THAT THOU ART A VIRTUOUS WOMAN.—In Hebrew chail, that is, of energy, courage, strength, as if to say: All know that thou art a strenuous, diligent, laborious woman. Whence the Septuagint render: a powerful woman, and also manly. The Chaldee: It is manifest before all who sit in the great gate of the Sanhedrin (that is, of the Congregation or Council) of my people, that thou art a just woman, and that in thee is strength, or power, to look upon the lamp of the commandments of God.
12. BUT THERE IS ANOTHER NEARER THAN I.—Noemi surely knew this; but she knew his disposition, that he would not wish to take the poor and foreign Ruth as wife, as the event showed, and therefore she thought not him, but Booz, the more modest and dutiful, should be honourably invited to her marriage. So Abulensis, Serarius and others.
13. ALL IS WELL.—tob, that is, it is good. Some Rabbis take tob as a proper name of the kinsman, as if he had been called Tob, that is, good, as Tobias was called as if good to God, or the goodness of God. Whence Rashi: “Salmon, Elimelech and Tob,” he says, “were brothers.” But the Septuagint, the Chaldee, our Vulgate and others take tob as an appellative noun, and render it in the neuter gender, it is good.
her husband dead, left a widow, bore Obed of Booz, and of Obed. I WILL TAKE THEE WITHOUT ANY DOUBT as wife. Marvel here at the singular charity and chastity of Booz, who would not so much as touch Ruth lying beside him, but promised marriage. Hear the Author of the Imperfect Work, hom. 4 on Matthew: “What is proclaimed in Booz? humility, chastity and religion. Humility and chastity indeed, because he did not touch her like a wanton with a girl; nor did he shrink from her as one chaste from a wanton: but as soon as he heard her word about the law of kinship, he imputed none of all this to wantonness, but ascribed it all to religion. Nor did he despise her as a rich man a poor woman; nor was he afraid, as a mature man, of a young girl; but readier in faith than in body he went in the morning to the gate, and summoned one of the family whom by right of kinship he reckoned nearer, he obtained her, he prevailed not so much by right of kinship as by the favour of God who chose. Therefore perhaps he is called prevailing.” For Booz is the same as strong. Hence the Talmudists compare Booz with the most chaste Joseph. Whence R. Eliezer, chapter xxxix: “There were three,” he says, “who before their Creator tamed concupiscence:” Joseph, Booz and Phaltiel son of Lais, of whom 2 Kings is to be wondered at, even if he had been of iron or adamant, and his bones of bronze, and his flesh of stone. Yet the venerable Booz bore these incitements, tempering himself by desire of virtue.” And below: “Reverence alone for honour, and love of right held him Booz back, that he should not complete the work of Venus. Greatly therefore to be praised is that man, who, such an opportunity being given, could resist such flames of Venus; therefore he is not to be passed over by us in silence, but to be sung with some praise. Rightly then did Christ will to be born of such parents, because they were of such great virtue.”
Moreover the hardness of the bed and the cold greatly helped the chastity of Booz; for he lay not on a feather bed, but on the threshing-floor, in the open, in the cold air, since hardness of bed and cold greatly break the ardour of concupiscence; for which reason the Pharisees, as I have said elsewhere, when lying down, applied a plate of lead to the loins (in which is the origin of seed) to cool them, and so to avoid nocturnal pollutions in sleep. Hence also many Religious go barefoot. For bare and cold feet greatly quench the heat of nature and the burning of lust, as experience shows. Hence finally the Anchorites slept not in beds but on the ground. St. Francis, as St. Bonaventure testifies, being invited into the house of a certain Cardinal, when at night he lay in a soft bed, felt sharp assaults of demons; wherefore he soon fled from it, saying repeatedly, “that demons are drawn to tempt by soft things, but are frightened and put to flight by hard.”
15. HE MEASURED SIX MEASURES OF BARLEY.—Ruth could carry these six measures on her shoulders. For fine wheat is lighter than wheat, barley than fine wheat, and oats than barley. For she was a “woman of virtue,” as he said in the Hebrew of Isaias xi, verse 4 and following. Verse 11, that is, manly, strong and robust. Aben-Ezra, however, takes by the six measures six just men, who were to be begotten of Ruth, namely David, Daniel, Ananias, Misael, Azarias and the Messias. Symbolically R. Salomon, in Lyranus, takes by the six measures the six gifts of the Holy Spirit.