Removing Ruth: Tiqqune Sopherim in Ruth 3.3-4?

Abstract

Commentators on Ruth 3.3-4 often pause to note the kethib—qere found in these verses, explaining the unusual form of the kethibs ‭יחדריו‬ and ‭יחבכשו‬ as archaic second feminine singular perfects. This article suggests that the kethib forms found in Ruth 3.3-4 are not archaic, but are the result of an intentional emendation of the text by a scribe intent on reconciling the passage with the teaching of the Torah. The effect of this change is to remove Ruth from any possible intimate encounter with Boaz and replace her with Naomi. Thus, these two readings should be considered as an unrecognized occurrence of tiqqune sopherim.

Postexilic Prose Traditions in the Writings

“…This particular ambiguity was not lost on ancient readers, as another reading (the kethiv) of the Masoretic text in Ruth 3:3-4 has two first-person verbs instead of the expected second person. This makes the text read that Naomi herself will go down to the threshing floor and lie at Boaz's "feet" (Irwin 2008) instead of her telling Ruth to do so. If Ruth is, in fact, Naomi's sexual proxy, and the child she bears attributed to Naomi, then Ruth is as much an outsider at the end of the book as she is at the beginning.…”