Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Ruth · About this commentary
Do Not Go Empty
Ruth 3:14-18
14 She lay at his feet until the morning, then she rose up before one could discern another. For he said, “Let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.” · WEB
Boaz guards her reputation, sends grain to Naomi, and uses the exact word Naomi used to accuse God.
She lay at his feet until morning, then rose before one could discern another. The reason is given as his: let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor. The concern is her name and his, and the care taken over it is the strongest evidence about what did and did not happen.
Then he measures six portions of barley into her mantle. It is a gift with a message attached, and verse 17 supplies the words: he said, don't go empty to your mother-in-law.
That word is reyqam H7387, and this is its second and last appearance in the book. Naomi had used it in the town square to accuse God — I went out full, and Yahweh has brought me home again empty Ruth 1:21. Boaz cannot have known she said it. He sends grain with a phrase that answers her charge in her own vocabulary, and the narrator sets the two verses down without remarking on the echo.
Naomi's reply closes the chapter and reads the man exactly: wait, my daughter, until you know how the matter falls, for the man will not rest until he has settled this today.
settled What this mark means