Ruth 3:5

And she said unto her, All that thou sayest unto me I will do.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(5) I will do.—Ruth’s obedience here is an intelligent obedience. She knew in what relation Boaz stood for her family, and the duties attaching to the relationship (Ruth 2:20; Ruth 3:9). Thus with obedient trust, implicitly but not blindly, she follows her mother-in-law’s orders; strong in conscious innocence she risks the obloquy that may attend her duty.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

3:1-5 The married state should be a rest, as much as any thing upon earth can be so, as it ought to fix the affections and form a connexion for life. Therefore it should be engaged in with great seriousness, with earnest prayers for direction, for the blessing of God, and with regard to his precepts. Parents should carefully advise their children in this important concern, that it may be well with them as to their souls. Be it always remembered, That is best for us which is best for our souls. The course Naomi advised appears strange to us; but it was according to the laws and usages of Israel. If the proposed measure had borne the appearance of evil, Naomi would not have advised it. Law and custom gave Ruth, who was now proselyted to the true religion, a legal claim upon Boaz. It was customary for widows to assert this claim, De 25:5-10. But this is not recorded for imitation in other times, and is not to be judged by modern rules. And if there had been any evil in it, Ruth was a woman of too much virtue and too much sense to have listened to it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Uncover his feet - Rather, "the place of his feet;" the foot of his bed, as we should say. So also Ruth 3:7-8.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

4. go in, and uncover his feet and lay thee down—Singular as these directions may appear to us, there was no impropriety in them, according to the simplicity of rural manners in Beth-lehem. In ordinary circumstances these would have seemed indecorous to the world; but in the case of Ruth, it was a method, doubtless conformable to prevailing usage, of reminding Boaz of the duty which devolved on him as the kinsman of her deceased husband. Boaz probably slept upon a mat or skin; Ruth lay crosswise at his feet—a position in which Eastern servants frequently sleep in the same chamber or tent with their master; and if they want a covering, custom allows them that benefit from part of the covering on their master's bed. Resting, as the Orientals do at night, in the same clothes they wear during the day, there was no indelicacy in a stranger, or even a woman, putting the extremity of this cover over her.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The confidence she had in Naomi’s wisdom and piety, and true love to her, made her ready to follow her advice, wherein she was the more excusable, because she did not understand the laws and customs of the country, as Naomi did.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And she said unto her,.... Having the highest opinion of her piety and prudence, and being confident she would never advise her to what was contrary to true religion and virtue:

all that thou sayest unto me I will do; observe every instruction and direction she gave her, and attend strictly to every circumstance pointed out to her, as she did; the word for "unto me" is one of those instances, the Masora observes, is not written but read; the letters of the word are not in the text, only the vowel points, the reason of which cannot well be said; what the Midrash (q) gives can never satisfy.

(q) Midrash Ruth, ut supra. (fol. 33. 3.)

Geneva Study Bible

And she said unto her, All that thou sayest unto me I will do.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 5. - And she said, All that thou sayest I will do. There is no need for adopting into the text the K'ri "to me," after the expression, All that thou sayest." It is a mere "tittle," indeed, whether we omit or insert the pronoun; yet it was not found in the manuscripts that lay before the Septuagint and Vulgate translators. Ruth 3:5

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Ruth promised to do this. The אלי, which the Masorites have added to the text as Keri non scriptum, is quite unnecessary. From the account which follows of the carrying out of the advice given to her, we learn that Naomi had instructed Ruth to ask Boaz to marry her as her redeemer (cf. Ruth 3:9).