룻기 1:12 해설: Tze'enah Ure'enah, Rashi & Ralbag Ruth

“Turn back, my daughters, for” [1:12]. Turn back my daughters for I am too old to be married. Even if I thought there was hope for me to have a husband and if I would become pregnant tonight. Or if I had children, would you wait so long. One can ask of Scripture: what does it mean when it says if I had children and you would marry them? How are they allowed to marry the children of Naomi, since they will be their brothers’ wives and one is not allowed to marry his brother’s wife, if he is not able to impregnate her?³²Ruth Rabbah, 2.16. However, our sages say that the marriages of Machlon and Chilion were not religiously valid since Orpah and Ruth were gentiles and betrothal does not apply to a gentile. However, now they wanted to convert and therefore they would not be the wives of the children’s brothers.

One asks about Scripture, why does it write the word leikhna without a heh. He writes leikhna without a heh, because this way the word adds up to one hundred. The lamed amounts to thirty, the khaf amounts to twenty, and the nun amounts to fifty. All together, this is one hundred. This showed that one of them would go away and one hundred uncircumcised men would sleep with her. From the other one, King David would come, who would marry the daughter of King Saul, whose name was Michal and her name also amounts to one hundred. He would betroth her with one hundred Philistine foreskins. That is to say, Saul did not want to give his daughter Michal to David unless he would kill a hundred Philistines. He had also promised his daughter because he had killed Goliath the Philistine. Afterwards, Saul said, if you won’t kill another hundred Philistines, I won’t give her to you.³³I Samuel, 18:17–27.

Our sages ask: when Scripture writes, if I also took a man this night,³⁴Ruth, 1:12. this teaches us proper behavior. One should only have sexual relations with his wife at night. That is why the verse says, if I slept with a man this night, when it should have said, if I slept with a man immediately.³⁵Yalkut Shimoni, Ruth, Remez 601.

For I am too old to have a husband. That I should marry him and bear sons, that you would marry them, for they would not be forbidden to you [to marry] and you would not be forbidden to them as far as [the prohibition against marrying] the wife of an older brother who died before he was born, for she [the widow] does require a levirate marriage because Machlon and Chilyon were not [halachically] married to them because they were gentiles and had not converted,¹⁵Had they converted before, their marriage would be binding and Rus would be prohibited from marrying Machlon’s yet unborn brother. The law of levirate marriage does not apply to a person born after his brother’s death. Marrying one’s brother’s wife constitutes incest when levirate marriage does not apply. However, since there was no binding marriage, Rus would be permitted to marry Machlon’s yet unborn brother. and now they were coming to convert as it is stated, “We will return with you to your people.”¹⁶Above, verse 10. From now on we will become one people.

Even if I could say, “I have yet hope.” For even if my heart told me that I have hope to marry again and to bear sons.

Even if I were to have a husband tonight. And more than this, even if I were to conceive male offspring tonight.

And even if I were to bear sons. Or even if I had already borne sons.