C. F. Keil and Franz Delitzsch on Ruth 3:1-2

Rth 3:1-2

As Naomi conjectured, from the favour which Boaz had shown to Ruth, that he might not be disinclined to marry her as goël, she said to her daughter-in-law, “My daughter, I must seek rest for thee, that it may be well with thee.” In the question אבקּשׁ הלא, the word הלא is here, as usual, an expression of general admission or of undoubted certainty, in the sense of “Is it not true, I seek for thee? it is my duty to seek for thee.” מנוח = מנוּחה (Rth 1:9) signifies the condition of a peaceful life, a peaceful and well-secured condition, “a secure life under the guardian care of a husband” (Rosenmüller). “And now is not Boaz our relation, with whose maidens thou wast? Behold, he is winnowing the barley floor (barley on the threshing-floor) to-night,” i.e., till late in the night, to avail himself of the cool wind, which rises towards evening (Gen 3:8), for the purpose of cleansing the corn. The threshing-floors of the Israelites were, and are still in Palestine, made under the open heaven, and were nothing more than level places in the field stamped quite hard.“A level spot is selected for the threshing-floors, which are then constructed near each other, of a circular form, perhaps fifty feet in diameter, merely by beating down the earth hard.” - Robinson, Pal. ii. p. 277.