Komentaryo sa Ruth 3:3: Rashi, Tze'enah Ure'enah & Ibn Ezra

[And you shall] bathe. From the contamination of your [past] idolatry.¹Rus, obviously does not have to be told to do such a basic thing (i.e., to bathe), therefore it must allude for her to remove the contamination of her past idolatry.

“Bathe and anoint yourself” [3:3]. You should bathe and anoint yourself with good oil and herbs. You should dress yourself with good clothes and go down to the barn, but do not disclose yourself to the man until he has eaten and drank. Our sages learn from this verse that even a person which not rich should have two types of clothes, one for the weekdays and the other for the Sabbath.⁵⁸Ruth Rabbah, 5.12. Therefore, it is written, you should put on your clothes. Obviously, she wouldn’t go naked, but this shows us that she should put on her other clothes and where did she have other clothes? However, this means her Sabbath clothes, even though she was poor, as we see from the above-cited verses, that she collected the ears of grain, yet she had Sabbath clothes.

Why does the verse say “ve-yaradeti,” which means, I will go down? It should have said “ve-yaradet,” which means, you should go down. However, it wants to show that Naomi said to Ruth, my merit should also go with you, just as if I went along with you. That is why “ve-yaradeti” is written, which means, I will go down.⁵⁹Yalkut Shimoni, Ruth, Remez 604.

And scent yourself. These are the [Torah’s] precepts.

Dress [yourself] in your finest garb. Shabbos garments.²Maseches Shabbos 113b. The word שמלה rather than בגד or לבוש indicates especially fine clothing of Shabbos or Yom Tov. Malbim Alternatively, the mere mention to put on clothes is superfluous, it therefore must refer to Shabbos clothing. (Sifsei Chachomim)

And go down to the threshing floor. It is written וְיָרַדְתִּי [=and I will go down]; [i.e.,] my merit will go down with you.³And protect you from any mishap.

But do not identify yourself to the man. To Bo’az.