1:1-2 Moses decreed that Moabites were not permitted, for a period of ten generations, even to enter the Lord's assembly (Dt 23:3-6), yet Mahlon and Chilion married Moabite women. Naomi's comment (Ru 1:15) suggests that Ruth and Orpah had been participants in the idol worship of their people. The author merely recorded the fact of the marriages, without indicating that Mahlon and Chilion had acted wisely. Two factors, however, mitigate what appears to be their disregard for Moses' ordinance. First, a "generation" need not be 100 years (Gn 15:13,16), requiring a 1000-year period before the expiration of Moses' prohibition, which had been uttered only some 300 years previously. A generation could refer simply to the time between a person's birth and the birth of that person's child. Second, Moses' prohibition applies to Moabites' entering the Lord's assembly (the worship gathering); it did not specifically prohibit marriage with a Moabite woman, since the assembly was predominantly made up of men (cp. Dt 16:16). Moses provided for the possibility that an Israelite might take a woman from another ethnic group as a wife (Dt 21:10-13).
1:20-21 Naomi correctly recognized that God did not necessarily bring only good situations into one's life but that He, at times, brought difficulties (cp. Jb 1:21; 2:10). Elsewhere in Scripture such difficulties areunderstood to be for the purpose of testing or discipline (e.g., Pr 3:11-12; Heb 12:7-11), but Naomi has not attained that insight at this stage.
2:10 Ruth was not wrong in bowing down before Boaz. Falling down or bowing before another person was a common ancient gesture of honor, respect, gratitude or submission. The Bible condemns the offering of worship to any being (whether human or angelic) other than God (Lv 26:1; Dt 6:13-15; Jos 23:7; 2 Kg 17:35-36; Rv 19:10; 22:8-9; cp. Ac 14:11-15), but gestures of respect in normal interpersonal relations are not "worship" in the usual sense.
3:1-4 It is not clear whether Naomi was following a marriage custom of her time when she told Ruth to lie down secretly at Boaz's feet in the middle of the night. She does, however, appear to be applying a variation of the law by which a surviving brother was to marry his deceased brother's wife who had no children, in order to beget a son to continue his deceased brother's family's line (Dt 25:5-10). Naomi's tactics were morally questionable, since the term "his feet" could have been understood as a euphemism for Boaz's private parts (cp. 1 Sm 24:3, where the Hb is lit. "cover his feet"; also Is 6:2). Despite the risky situation, Ruth and Boaz acted in an upright manner.
3:9 When Ruth told Boaz to spread his cloak (lit. "wings") over her, she was not asking him to have sexual relations with her, since nowhere in Scripture do those words indicate sexual intercourse (Ezk 16:8, in fact, would suggest the opposite).
3:13 Why did Boaz tell Ruth to remain with him that night, potentially compromising her virtue, rather than sending her home immediately? In view of the general lawlessness and social disruption that characterized the period of the judges (cp. Jdg 21:25), sending Ruth home alone late at night would have placed her life in danger. The term translated "stay [here]" is never used in Scripture in the context of a sexual situation.
4:10 Boaz's giving of money to Naomi to "acquire" Ruth was not the purchase of a slave but the payment of a bride price. Such a payment was a protection for the bride; the bride's family held the money, which would be given to her in the event of her being divorced or widowed.
4:13 Regarding an Israelite marrying a Moabite, see Jdg 3:5-7 and Ru 1:1-4. Ruth had become a believer in the true God (1:16-17), so Boaz was not marrying the adherent of a false religion, which would have been prohibited (cp. Jdg 14:1-4).
4:17-22 This passage is significant in the larger scope of the biblical narrative; it presents the ancestry of David, which became also the earthly ancestry of Jesus Christ (Mt 1:5-6; Lk 3:31-32; cp. Rm 1:3; Rv 22:16).