Ruth 3:1

EXPOSITION

And Naomi, her mother-in-law, said to her, My daughter, shall not I seek out for thee a rest, that it may be well with thee? When Ruth had nothing more to do on the harvest-fields, where Boaz appeared daily, and was unremittingly gracious to her, she may have fallen into a pensive mood. Naomi was quick to note the varying ' nuances ' of feeling, and said " My daughter, shall I not seek out for thee a rest?" The expression rest , or resting-place , though in itself of generic import, was, when used in such circumstances as environed Ruth, quite specific in application, and would be at once understood. It was a home to which Naomi pointed, a home for her daughter's heart. In such a home, if warm and pure, there would be repose for the affections. "That it may be well with thee," or, "which shall be good for thee." Either translation is warrantable and excellent. The latter is the most simple, and is given by Carpzov and Rosenmüller; but the former is in accordance with a frequent idiomatic use of the expression, in which there is a change from the relative in result to the relative in aim , so that אֲשֶׁר יִיטַב is equivalent to לְמַעַן יִיטַב (see Deuteronomy 4:40 ; Deuteronomy 6:3 , Deuteronomy 6:18 ; Deuteronomy 10:11 , 25, 28). Naomi did not distinguish between rests that would be 'good, ' and other rests which would not be 'good.' Nor did she moralize on the idea of a rest , and affirm that it would be 'good' for her widowed daughter-in-law. She assumed that every true rest was 'good,' and, on the basis of that assumption, she sought out one for her devoted Ruth. Hence the superiority of the rendering that expresses aim to that which expresses the mere prediction of result .