Spread, therefore, thy skirt over thine handmaid— See chap. Ruth 2:12. In the Hebrew it is, spread thy wing. It is a proverbial manner of speaking, signifying in general, take me under thy protection; and in particular, take me under thy protection as a husband: the Chaldee, therefore, plainly renders it, let thy name be called upon thine handmaid, by taking me for thy wife. Even to this day, it is a ceremony among the Jews for the man to throw the skirt of his talith, or veil, over his spouse, and to cover her head with it. See Buxtorf. Synag. Jud. cap. 39: Ruth, subjoins the reason of her request; and, to judge properly concerning it, we must, in a great measure, divest ourselves of modern ideas, and consider not only the manners of those times, but the light in which a state of widowhood and celibacy was considered among the Jews. Ruth, a proselyte to the religion of that nation, was full of those expectations which animated the pious women among them; and the sequel of this history fully proves, that her expectations were not ill-grounded.
Related Commentaries of Ruth 3:9
Ruth 3:9
9 And he said, Who art thou? And she answered, I am Ruth thine handmaid: spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid; for thou art a near kinsman.