שֹׁ֤בְנָה בְנֹתַי֙ לֵ֔כְןָ כִּ֥י זָקַ֖נְתִּי מִהְי֣וֹת לְאִ֑ישׁ כִּ֤י אָמַ֙רְתִּי֙ יֶשׁ־לִ֣י תִקְוָ֔ה גַּ֣ם הָיִ֤יתִי הַלַּ֙יְלָה֙ לְאִ֔ישׁ וְגַ֖ם יָלַ֥דְתִּי בָנִֽים׃
Вернись, дочери мои, иди своим путем; Я слишком стар, чтобы иметь мужа. Если я скажу: у меня есть надежда, должен ли у меня даже сегодня вечером быть муж, а также родить сыновей;
Tze'enah Ure'enah
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.
Rabbeinu Bahya
ולא שמע אליה לשכב אצלה, “and he did not listen to her request even to (merely) lie beside her.” The plain meaning of the text is that Joseph refused to have any bodily contact with Mrs. Potiphar even if it did not involve intercourse itself.
להיות עמה, “to be intimate with her.” To have sexual intercourse. We have found elsewhere in the Bible that the word להיות may mean sexual intercourse, such as in Ruth 1,12 where Naomi speaks about “being in the company of a man,” i.e. to have intimate relations with him which would result in her becoming pregnant.” The Hebrew word used there for having sexual relations is גם הייתי הלילה לאיש.
להיות עמה, “to be intimate with her.” To have sexual intercourse. We have found elsewhere in the Bible that the word להיות may mean sexual intercourse, such as in Ruth 1,12 where Naomi speaks about “being in the company of a man,” i.e. to have intimate relations with him which would result in her becoming pregnant.” The Hebrew word used there for having sexual relations is גם הייתי הלילה לאיש.
Sforno
וגם נתתיו ללוי, the meaning of the word גם in our context is the same as the words אף על פי, “even so.” We find the word גם used as אף על פי also in Ruth 1,12 when Naomi explains to her daughters-in-law that even if she were to get married immediately she would not be able to produce sons who could become the husbands of her daughters-in-law and thereby keep their deceased husbands’ names alive vicariously (symbolic levirate marriage). We must therefore perceive the farmer’s declaration to mean: “I confess that my sin was great so that as a result I am forced to destroy or remove all sacred things from my house even though I, personally, have discharged my duties by giving the Levite and his companions these tithes at Your command. Having done so, I pray that You will look down benevolently. Seeing that normally the word השקפה is used in Scripture as “looking down to confirm something negative,” the farmer had to add that he means that he has merited a benevolent השקפה as expressed by the plea וברך את עמך את ישראל, “and bless Your people, Israel, etc.”