Ruth 2:7

Ruth's good qualities appear at every turn: she was careful to ask leave; she worked steadily all through the long, weary day, not resting during its hottest hours. The last words of this verse are now corrupt: the original statement was 'she has not rested at all,' or 'she has not been home at all'; Ruth 3:7 shows that there was no building in the field to rest in.

8, 9. His maidens were the women-servants who went over the ground after the reapers, reaping being done in so slovenly a manner in the East that much would be wasted if this supplementary work were not performed. The note on Ruth 2:3 indicates how easy it would be to stray into another's field. The young men are the harvesters who come together from all parts of the country, and, away from the restraints of their own homes, are apt to be free of speech, and loose in conduct.

10-12. She throws herself prostrate on the ground, as Orientals have always done before their superiors. She acknowledges herself a foreigner, destitute of right or claims. But Boaz sees only the heroism implied in her having committed herself to the uncovenanted kindness of a strange people. And he commends the wisdom and piety which have brought her to take refuge under the protecting wings of Jehovah the God of Israel (Deuteronomy 32:11; Psalms 36:8; Psalms 57:2; Psalms 91:4; Luke 13:34).