14At meal time Boaz said to her, “Come here, and eat some bread, and dip your morsel in the vinegar.” She sat beside the reapers, and they passed her parched grain. She ate, was satisfied, and left some of it.
15When she had risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and don’t reproach her.16Also pull out some for her from the bundles, and leave it. Let her glean, and don’t rebuke her.”
14 At meal time Boaz said to her, “Come here, and eat some bread, and dip your morsel in the vinegar.” She sat beside the reapers, and they passed her parched grain. She ate, was satisfied, and left some of it.
15 When she had risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and don’t reproach her.
16 Also pull out some for her from the bundles, and leave it. Let her glean, and don’t rebuke her.”
KJVKing James Version
14 And Boaz said unto her, At mealtime come thou hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers: and he reached her parched corn, and she did eat, and was sufficed, and left.
15 And when she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and reproach her not:
16 And let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them, that she may glean them, and rebuke her not.
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JPSJPS Tanakh (1917)
14 And Boaz said unto her at meal-time: 'Come hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar.' And she sat beside the reapers; and they reached her parched corn, and she did eat and was satisfied, and left thereof.
15 And when she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying: 'Let her glean even among the sheaves, and put her not to shame.
16 And also pull out some for her of purpose from the bundles, and leave it, and let her glean, and rebuke her not.'
Ruth 2:18(v14)She took it up, and went into the city. Then her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned; and she brought out and gave to her that which she…
Deuteronomy 8:10(v14)You shall eat and be full, and you shall bless Yahweh your God for the good land which he has given you.
Deuteronomy 24:19-21(v16)When you reap your harvest in your field, and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go again to get it. It shall be for the…
2 Kings 4:43-44(v14)His servant said, “What, should I set this before a hundred men?” But he said, “Give the people, that they may eat; for Yahweh says, ‘They…
Matthew 14:20(v14)They all ate, and were filled. They took up twelve baskets full of that which remained left over from the broken pieces.
Show all 25 cross-references
Luke 14:12-14(v14)He also said to the one who had invited him, “When you make a dinner or a supper, don’t call your friends, nor your brothers, nor your…
Romans 12:13(v16)contributing to the needs of the saints; given to hospitality.
1 John 3:17-18(v16)But whoever has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, then closes his heart of compassion against him, how does God’s love remain…
Psalms 112:9(v16)He has dispersed, he has given to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. His horn will be exalted with honor.
Proverbs 19:17(v16)He who has pity on the poor lends to Yahweh; he will reward him.
Matthew 25:40(v16)“The King will answer them, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
Philemon 1:7(v16)For we have much joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.
Hebrews 6:10(v16)For God is not unrighteous, so as to forget your work and the labor of love which you showed toward his name, in that you served the…
Deuteronomy 11:15(v14)I will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be full.
1 Samuel 17:17(v14)Jesse said to David his son, “Now take for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain, and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to…
1 Samuel 25:18(v14)Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread, two containers of wine, five sheep ready dressed, five seahs of parched grain,…
Job 31:16-22(v14)“If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, or have eaten my morsel alone, and the…
Psalms 23:5(v14)You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over.
Proverbs 11:24-25(v14)There is one who scatters, and increases yet more. There is one who withholds more than is appropriate, but gains poverty. The liberal soul…
Isaiah 32:8(v14)But the noble devises noble things; and he will continue in noble things.
Isaiah 58:7(v14)Isn’t it to distribute your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor who are cast out to your house? When you see the naked, that…
Isaiah 58:10-11(v14)and if you pour out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light will rise in darkness, and your obscurity will…
2 Corinthians 8:5-11(v16)This was not as we had expected, but first they gave their own selves to the Lord, and to us through the will of God. So we urged Titus,…
James 1:5(v15)But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (18 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn v14Which she brought home to her mother-in-law.
Which she brought home to her mother-in-law.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv14–16Rth 2:14 And Boaz said unto her, At mealtime…
Rth 2:14 And Boaz said unto her, At mealtime come thou hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers: and he reached her parched [corn], and she did eat, and was sufficed, and left.
Ver. 14. And Boaz said unto her.] Here gratiarum actio erat ad plus dandum invitatio. Ruth’s thankfulness was rewarded with more kindness. Efficacissimum genus est rogandi, gratias agere, saith Pliny. {a} As a little water poured into the pump when the springs lie low, bringeth up a great deal more together with it; so is it here.
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And eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar.] Here was plain fare. Nature is content with a little; and hunger hunteth not after delicates.
And she sat beside the reapers.] She sat to a side, and did not thrust in saucily amongst them, though favoured.
And he reached {b} her parched corn.] Which was great dainties in those days (1Sa 17:17 2Sa 17:28). Now-a-days, what marvel is it that we die so fast? saith Seneca, qui tot mortibus vivimus, who do live by the death of so many other creatures.
{a} In Panegyr.
{b} Sept., εβουνισεν αυτη, He reached unto her by heaps.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv14–15Bread in those simple and frugal times was the…
Bread in those simple and frugal times was the usual food of servants and the meaner sort, at least when they were engaged in such works as this, which required speed, and therefore must be quick in their eating, as well as in their work. Or bread may be here put for any food, as it oft is.
Vinegar; either simple vinegar, in which the poorer sort used to dip their bread, and so eat it in hot countries, as they did not only in Canaan, but afterwards in Italy; it being very proper, especially in those parts, for cooling them in those hot seasons, for strengthening their sinews, &c.; or vinegar mixed with other things to make some kind of sauce.
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Beside the reapers; not with or among them, but at some little distance from them, and as one inferior to them, as she had acknowledged before in words, and now showeth it by her actions.
Parched corn; a food in frequent use and some esteem with them. See 2Sa 17:28.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv14–16And Boaz said, at mealtime come thou hither,.... This…
And Boaz said, at mealtime come thou hither,.... This looks as if she was now in the booth, or house in the field, where the reapers used to retire to eat their food, or rest themselves, or take shelter from the heat of the sun. This meal was very likely dinner, the time of which was not yet come, but would soon, and to which Boaz invited Ruth:
and eat of the bread; his servants did, that is, partake of the provisions they should have; bread being put for all. So Homer (a) speaks of a large ox slain for such a meal for the reapers, besides the "polenta" afterwards mentioned, which the women prepared, and who uses the same word for it the Septuagint does here: "to dip thy morsel in the vinegar"; which was used because of the heat of the season, as Jarchi and Aben Ezra remark, for cooling and refreshment; and such virtues Pliny (b) ascribes to vinegar, as being refreshing to the spirits, binding and bracing the nerves, and very corroborating and strengthening; and it is at this day used in Italy, it is said, in harvest time, when it is hot; where they also use wine mixed with vinegar and water, as Lavater says (c); and who from a learned physician (d) observes, that reapers, instead of wine, use vinegar mixed with a great deal of water, which they call household wine, allayed with water; to which if oil and bread be put, it makes a cooling meal, good for workmen and travellers in the heat of the sun; and the Targum calls it pottage boiled in vinegar. The Romans had an "embamma", or sauce, made of vinegar, in which they dipped their food (e); and Theocritus (f) makes mention of vinegar as used by reapers: in the Syriac version it is bread dipped in milk; and in the Arabic version milk poured upon it. The Midrash (g) gives an allegorical sense of these words, and applies them to the Messiah and his kingdom, and interprets the bread of the bread of the kingdom, and the vinegar of the chastisements and afflictions of the Messiah, as it is said, "he was wounded for our transgressions", &c. Isa 53:5 which, by the way, is a concession that the prophecy in that chapter relates to him:
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and she sat beside the reapers; the women reapers; she did not sit along with them, or in thee midst of them, in the row with them, as ranking with them, but on one side of them, which was an instance of her great modesty:
and he reached her parched corn; either Boaz himself, or he that was set over the reapers. This parched corn seems to be the new barley they were reaping, which they fried in a pan and ate. Galen says (h), the parched corn which is best is made of new barley moderately dried and parched; and that it was the custom of some to drink the same with new sweet wine, or wine mixed with honey, in the summertime, before they went into the bath, who say they feel themselves by this drink freed from thirst. But this seems to be a kind of food, what is sometimes called "polenta", which is barley flour dried at the fire, and fried after it hath been soaking in water one night; so Lavater says, they dry the barley, having been soaked one night in water, the next day they dry it, and then grind it in mills; some dress new barley beaten out of green ears, and make it while moist into balls, and being cleansed, grind it; and thus dressed with twenty pound of barley, they put three pound of linseed, half a pound of coriander seed, and of salt, all being dried before, are mingled in a mill; and if to be kept, are put into new earthen vessels with the meal and bran: but a later writer (i) takes this "Kali", rendered parched corn, not to be anyone certain species, but something made of corn and pulse, as lentiles, beans, &c. and especially fried or parched vetches, of all which together was this kali or pulse; and he refutes the notion of some, who take it to be "coffee", since that has only been in use since the beginning of the sixteenth century, and at first in Arabia; and is not of the kind of pulse, but is the fruit of a certain tree, of which a liquor is made, something to drink; whereas this was food, and was ate, as follows, see Sa2 17:28.
and she did eat, and was sufficed, and left; she had such a plentiful share given her, that she had more than she could eat, and was obliged to leave some, and which it seems she carried home to her mother-in-law, Rut 2:18.
(a) Iliad. 18. ver. 559, 560. (b) Nat. Hist. l. 23. c. 1. (c) In loc. (d) Christophor. "a Vega de arte Medendi", l. 2. apud ib. (e) Salmuth in Pancirol, par. 2. tit. 2. p. 83. (f) Idyll, 10. ver. 13. (g) Melrash Ruth, fol. 33. 2. (h) De Aliment. Facult. l. 1. apud Lavater. in loc. (i) Neumann. apud Rambachium in loc.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn v14She sat - Not with or among them, but…
She sat - Not with or among them, but at some little distance from them, as one inferior to them. It is no disparagement to the finest hand, to be reached forth to the needy.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv14–15Verse 14. Dip thy morsel in the vinegar.] The…
Verse 14. Dip thy morsel in the vinegar.] The חמץ chomets, which we here translate vinegar, seems to have been some refreshing kind of acid sauce used by the reapers to dip their bread in, which both cooled and refreshed them. Vinegar, rob of fruits, c., are used for this purpose in the East to the present day and the custom of the Arabs, according to Dr. Shaw, is to dip the bread and hand together into these cooling and refreshing articles.
Parched corn] This was a frequent repast among the ancients in almost all countries; see the notes on Le 2:1-14.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv14, 16Rth 2:14. Eat of the bread, and dip thy…
Rth 2:14. Eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar — In the term bread is comprehended all the provision which was made for the reapers, with which they had vinegar for sauce, it being very cooling and refreshing in hot seasons, as the time of harvest there was. He reached her parched corn — Which was a usual and no mean food in those countries, as appears from 2Sa 17:28. Either Boaz, or the servant set over the reapers, gave her this. It is no disparagement to the finest hand to be reached out to the needy. And she sat by the reapers — Not with or among them, but at some little distance, as one inferior to them.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn v14To dip the morsel, or sop, whether it were…
To dip the morsel, or sop, whether it were bread or meat, in the dish containing the vinegar (compare Mat 26:23; Mar 14:20 : Exo 25:29; Num 7:13) was, and still is, the common custom in the East.
Parched or “roasted” corn - Grain was the common food of the country then (compare 1Sa 17:17; 1Sa 25:18; 2Sa 17:28) as it is now.
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And left - Or “reserved” Rth 2:18. Rather, “had some over” (compare Luk 15:17). Rth 2:18 tells us that she took to her mother-in-law what she had left over.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn vv14–15Vinegar, or small wine, made on purpose for working…
Vinegar, or small wine, made on purpose for working people. Some think that such was presented to our Saviour. Yet vinegar was very frequently mixed with other things, and was esteemed particularly refreshing. (Pliny, [Natural History?] xxiii. 1.) (Calmet) --- Side. Not in front, that they might not stare at her. (Menochius) --- And she, &c. Hebrew, "and he gave her frumenty, or parched corn." A little oil might be poured upon it. See Leviticus ii. 14., and 2 Kings xxvi. 28. (Haydock) --- Travellers in Ethiopia only take parched barley with them. (Calmet) --- The leavings, to Noemi. "Learn, says Seneca, (ep. 110,) to be content with a little." Septuagint, "and Booz heaped up food before her, and she ate and was filled, and left a part." (Haydock) --- But it appears that she afterwards took it home, ver. 18. (Menochius) --- The vinegar and corn which were given to Ruth were very refreshing. The Spaniards still drink posca, or water and vinegar. (Tirinus)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv14, 16he reached her parched corn, and she did eat,…
he reached her parched corn, and she did eat, and was sufficed, and left--some of the new grain, roasted on the spot, and fit for use after being rubbed in the hands--a favorite viand in the East. He gave her so much, that after satisfying her own wants, she had some (Rut 2:18) in reserve for her mother-in-law.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv14–1614. At mealtime — At the time of the…
14. At mealtime — At the time of the noontide lunch. The principal meal was taken after the labours of the day were over. Rth_3:7.
Come thou hither — Into the house (Rth_2:7) or tent which was pitched in the harvest field for the accommodation of the reapers, and in which they kept their provisions and ate their meals.
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Bread — A generic word for provisions. The meaning is, Come and take of the provisions here in store.
Vinegar — Wine or strong drink of some kind turned sour, which would form a nauseous draught if taken in any considerable quantity alone, (Psa_69:21,) but served a useful purpose as a sop. “Pliny describes it as being refreshing to the spirits, binding and bracing the nerves, and very sustaining and strengthening for labour. The use of vinegar by reapers is alluded to by Theocritus in his tenth idyl.” — Kitto.
She sat beside the reapers — From this we may not infer that the two sexes ordinarily took their meals together, for this noontide lunch in the harvest field is no proper example of the ordinary domestic customs of the ancient families in Israel. Ruth came to this lunch by special invitation from Boaz.
He reached her parched corn — In passing from Gaza to Hebron in May, 1838, Dr. Robinson saw nearly two hundred reapers and gleaners at work in one field. He saw some taking their refreshment, and as he passed they offered him some parched corn. The manner of its preparation, according to Dr. Thomson, is this: “A quantity of the best ears, not too ripe, are plucked, with the stalks attached. These are tied into small parcels, a blazing fire is kindled with dry grass and thorn bushes, and the corn heads are held in it until the chaff is mostly burned off. The grain is thus sufficiently roasted to be eaten, and it is a favourite article all over the country.” Mr. Tristram gives a similar description of the parching of grain which he witnessed in northern Palestine in May of 1864. He and his party were invited to partake, and he adds: “We found the dish by no means unpalatable. The green ears had become half-charred by the roasting, and there was a pleasant mingling of milky wheat and a fresh crust flavour as we chewed the parched corn.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv14, 1614. in the vinegar] i.e. sour wine. It is…
14. in the vinegar] i.e. sour wine. It is said to be still used in Palestine by the harvesters as relish with bread.
parched corn] i.e. grain taken from the newly reaped corn and roasted in a pan, and eaten with bread or as a substitute for bread.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn v14(14) At meal-time.—This should apparently be joined to what…
(14) At meal-time.—This should apparently be joined to what precedes: Boaz now shows a fresh act of kindness.
Vinegar.—By this term is to be understood wine which had become sour (Pro_10:26). As such, Nazarites were forbidden to use it (Num_6:3). Similar to this was the vinegar of the Gospel narrative, a sour wine generally mixed with water, which was offered to our Saviour (Mat_27:48, &c.).
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Left.—Had to spare. In Rth_2:18, we find that this superfluity was put by for her mother-in-law.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv14–16And Boaz, at meal-time, said to her, Come along…
And Boaz, at meal-time, said to her, Come along hither. Luther, Coverdale, and King"s James"s English translators took the expression "at meal-time" as part of the report of Boaz"s words: "And Boaz said, At meal-time come along hither." But it is evidently to be taken, in accordance with the Masoretic punctuation, as the historical statement of the narrator: "At meal-time, Boaz said, Come along hither." At meal-time Boaz rejoined Ruth, and said to her, "Come along hither." Then they would walk along in company, till they reached the siesta-hut, And eat of the bread, that is going, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar, or the sour wine that was quite a favorite beverage with out-door workers. It had a peculiarly cooling and refreshing effect. It corresponded to the posed used by the Roman soldiery, and would, according to circumstances and individual taste, be taken either "neat" or diluted with water. And she sat by the side of the reapers. Probably along with the other young women, although the refer-once to them is accidentally overlapped by the specification of the male workers. And he prepared for her a bunch of parched corn. fBxyi is only conjecturally rendered "reached" in King James"s version, and by many other translators. The rendering is given under the leadership of the Chaldee Paraphrast, who explains the word by fyviwa, which is a pure Chaldee word for "reached." But light is thrown on the old Hebrew word by both Arabic and Sanscrit cognates, as well as by the Septuagint version (ebounise ). It meant to bind into a bunch or bunches (see Furst and Raabe). The word is illustrated by modern Oriental usage. Dr. W. M. Thomson says, "Harvest is the time for parched corn. It is made thus: A quantity of the best ears, not too ripe, are plucked with the stalks attached. These are tied into small parcels; a blazing fire is kindled with dry grass and thorn bushes, and the corn-heads are held in it until the chaff is mostly burnt off. The grain is thus sufficiently roasted to be eaten, and it is a favorite article all over the country" ("The Land and the Book," p. 648). Mr. Legh, in like manner, states, in MacMichael"s Journey, 1819, that, traveling in harvest-time in the country cast of the Dead Sea, they one day rested near some cornfields, "where one of the Arabs, having plucked some green ears of corn, parched them for us by putting them into the fire, and then, when roasted, rubbing out the grain in his hands" (Kitto"s "Pictorial Bible," in loc.). Sometimes, however, the parched corn is otherwise prepared. Dr. Robinson says, In one field, as we approached Kubeibeh, nearly 200 reapers and gleaners were at work; the latter being nearly as numerous as the former. A few were taking their refreshment, and offered us some of their "parched corn." In the season of harvest the grains of wheat, not yet fully dry and hard, are roasted in a pan or on an iron plate, and constitute a very palatable article of food. This is eaten with bread, or instead of it. Indeed, the use of it is so common at this time among the laboring classes, that this parched wheat is sold in the markets; and it was among our list of articles to be purchased at Hebron for our journey to Wady Musa. The Arabs, it was said, prefer it to rice; but this we did not find to be the case. The whole scene of the reapers and gleaners, and their "parched corn," gave us a lively representation of the story of Ruth and the ancient harvest-time in the fields of Boaz" ("Biblical Researches," vol. 2. p. 394, ed. 1841). Boaz had given Ruth a kind of Benjamin"s portion of parched corn. She could not use it all. And she ate, and was satisfied, and left over. Carefully reserving, however, and "basketing up" the liberal surplus.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn vv14–15At mealtime come thou hither.
Rth_2:14
At mealtime come thou hither.
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The common meal
1. It should indicate the Divine hand in providing it.
2. It should minister to the calm contentment of our hearts.
3. It should indicate a self-respect before men.
4. It should prepare for the next duties in life. (E. Price.)
Mealtime in the cornfields
I. that gods reapers have their mealtimes. The reapers in Jesus fields shall not only receive a blessed reward at the last, but they shall have plenteous comforts by the way.
1. God has ordained certain mealtimes for His reapers; and He has appointed that one of these shall be when they come together to listen to the Word preached. When the Lord blesses the provisions of His house, no matter how many thousands there may be, all His poor shall be filled with bread.
2. Often, too, our gracious Lord appoints us mealtimes in our private readings and meditations. Here it is that His paths drop fatness. No wonder that men grow so slowly, when they meditate so little. We must take the truth, and turn it over and over again in the inward parts of our spirit, and so shall we extract suitable nourishment therefrom.
3. Let us not forget that there is one specially ordained mealtime which ought to occur at least once in the week--I mean the Supper of the Lord. There you have literally, as well as spiritually, a meal.
4. Besides these regular mealtimes, there are others which God gives us, at seasons when, perhaps, we little expect them. You have been walking the street, and suddenly you have felt a holy flowing out of your soul toward God; or in the middle of business your heart has been melted with love and made to dance for joy, even as the brooks, which have been bound with winters ice, leap to feel the touch of spring. You have been groaning, dull, and earthbound; but the sweet love of Jesus has enwrapped your heart when you scarce thought of it. Seasons, too, we have had on our sick-beds.
5. Let me observe that, while these mealtimes come, we know not exactly when, there are certain seasons when we may expect them. The Eastern reapers generally sit down under the shelter of a tree, or a booth, to take refreshment during the heat of the day. And certain I am, that when trouble, affliction, persecution, and bereavement become the most painful to us, it is then that the Lord hands out to us the sweetest comforts. Again, these mealtimes frequently occur before a trial. Sweet cordials prepare for stern conflicts. Times of refreshing also occur after trouble or arduous service. Christ was tempted of the devil, and afterwards angels came and ministered unto Him. After conflict, content; after battle, banquet. When thou hast waited on thy Lord, then thou shalt sit down, and thy Master will gird Himself and wait upon thee.
II. to these meals the gleaner is affectionately invited. That is to say, the poor trembling stranger who has not strength enough to reap, who has no right to be in the field except the right of charity--the poor, trembling sinner, conscious of his own demerit, and feeling but little hope and little joy, is invited to the feast of love.
1. In the text the gleaner is invited to come: At mealtime come thou hither. We trust none of you will be kept away from the place of holy feasting by any shame on account of your dress, or your personal character, or your poverty; nay, nor even on account of your physical infirmities.
2. Moreover, she was bidden not only to come, but to eat. Whatever there is sweet and comfortable in the Word of God, ye that are of a broken and contrite spirit are invited to partake of it. You are saying in your heart, Oh, that I could eat the childrens bread! You may eat it. You say, I have no right. But the Lord gives you the invitation! Come without any other right than the right of His invitation.
3. Note further, that she was not only invited to eat the bread, but to dip her morsel in the vinegar. The Lords reapers have sauce with their bread; they have not merely doctrines, but the holy unction which is the essence of doctrines; they have not merely truths, but a hallowed delight accompanies the truths.
III. boaz reaches her the parched corn. None but the Lord of the harvest can hand out the choicest refreshments of spiritual minds. How does He do this?
1. By His gracious Spirit He first of all inspires your faith.
2. Having done this, the Saviour does more; He sheds abroad the love of God in your heart.
3. But Jesus does more than this: He reaches the parched corn with His own hand, when He gives us close communion with Himself.
4. Yet once more let me add, the Lord Jesus is pleased to reach the parched corn, in the best sense, when the Spirit gives us the infallible witness within that we are born of God. Philip de Morny, who lived in the time of Prince Henry of Navarre, was wont to say that the Holy Spirit had made his own salvation to him as clear a point as a problem demonstrated in Euclid. The sun in the heavens is not more clear to the eye than his present salvation to an assured believer; such a man could as soon doubt his own existence as suspect his possession of eternal life.
IV. After Boaz had reached the parched corn, we are told that she did eat, and was sufficed, and left. So shall it be with every Ruth. Sooner or later every penitent shall become a believer, every mourner a singer.
1. She did eat, and was sufficed. Your head shall be satisfied with the precious truth which Christ reveals; your heart shall be content with Jesus, as the altogether lovely object of affection; your hope shall be filled, for whom have you in heaven but Christ? Your desire shall be satiated, for what can even your desire hunger for more than to know Christ, and to be found in Him? You shall find Jesus charm your conscience, till it is at perfect peace; He shall content your judgment, till you know the certainty of His teachings; He shall supply your memory with recollections of what He did, and gratify your imagination with the prospects of what He is yet to do.
2. She was sufficed, and left. Some of us have had deep draughts of love; we have thought that we could take in all of Christ, but when we have done our best, we have had to leave a vast remainder. There are certain sweet things in the Word of God which you and I have not enjoyed yet, and which we cannot enjoy yet; and these we are obliged to leave for a while, till we are better prepared to receive them. Did not our Lord say, I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now? There is a special knowledge to which we have not attained, a place of intimate fellowship with Christ which we have not yet occupied. There is yet a beyond, and there will be for ever.
3. A verse or two further on we are told what Ruth did with her leavings. It is very wrong, I believe, at feasts to carry anything home with you; but she was not under any such regulation, for that which was left she took home and gave to Naomi. So it shall be even with you, poor tremblers, who think you have no right to a morsel for yourselves; you shall be allowed to eat, and when you are quite sufficed, you shall have courage to bear away a portion to others who are hungering at home. When you hear a sermon you think, My poor mother cannot get out to-day; how I wish she could have been here, for that sentence would have comforted her. If I forget everything else, I will tell her that. Cultivate an unselfish spirit. Seek to love as you have been loved. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary1892 · Public DomainOn v15CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES.—Rth_2:15. And when she was risen…
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES.—Rth_2:15. And when she was risen up. Evident from this and the previous phrase that Boaz said, “Come thou hither,” as he himself sat among his reapers at the mid-day meal. So that a pause may be understood between the first conversation, ending with Rth_2:13, and the invitation itself, during which Ruth goes on with her gleaning. Then there is the rest lasting throughout the hour of meals, in the tent or house for the reapers, followed by fresh toil until the evening. Commanded his young men. He had charged them already not to touch her (Rth_2:9). Let her glean even among the sheaves. She may also glean between the sheaves (Keil). A rare privilege, not allowed to ordinary gleaners (Steele and Terry); and a still greater concession than that in Rth_2:9—“after the reapers.” And reproach her not. (Heb. shame her not); μὴ καταισχύνητε (LXX.). Ye shall not shame her [do her any injury (Jdg_18:7)] (Keil). In other words, they were not to say things to her which would make her blush (Lange), not to remind her of her poverty, etc.
Rth_2:16. And let fall also of the handfuls. Let fall also out of your armfuls that you have reaped (Vulg.). Pull out from the bundles (Lange). Ye shall also draw out of the bundles for her (Keil). It is necessary to distinguish carefully between “the sheaves” (Rth_2:15) and the “handfuls.” The former is the sheaf already bound by the maidservants, and lying on the ground; the latter is the bundle as taken up and still held in the arm, manipulus (Lange). And leave them. Let them lie (Keil). And rebuke her not. Scold her not (Lange, Keil). These directions of Boaz went far beyond the bounds of generosity and compassion for the poor, and show that he felt a peculiar interest in Ruth, with whose circumstances he was well acquainted, and who had won his heart by her humility, etc.,—a fact important to notice in connection with the further course of the history (Keil).
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Rth_2:17. And beat out, ἐῤῥάβδισεν (LXX.). With a stick (Wordsworth). A process often witnessed by modern travellers in the East (Steele and Terry). About an ephah of barley. About a bushel and a half (ibid). About twenty to twenty-five lbs. (Keil). Impossible to ascertain the quantity, still less its weight, exactly, but it was considerable, say fifty-five pounds (Lange). About eight gallons; see Exo_16:36 (Wordsworth). She had gleaned so much, she could not carry it home in the ear (ibid.). An ephah exactly equal to an English cubic foot (Conder). The quantity of manna contained by the ephah was sufficient for ten men (cf. Exo_16:16, with Exo_16:36).
Rth_2:15-16
Theme.—LIBERAL GIVING, LIKE GOD’S
“And the more thou spendest
From thy little store;
With a double bounty,
God shall give thee more.”
“Thrice happy man! enabled to pursue
What all so wish, but want the power to do!”—Pope.
And when she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let her glean among, etc., and reproach her [shame her] not. And let fall, etc., and rebuke [scold] her not.
Rested, refreshed, invigorated with food, as well as comforted by the kind words of the master of the harvest-field, Ruth evidently rises up to her labour with new pleasure and fresh earnestness. Note. (a) The poor can appreciate and respond to all this, without presuming upon it, or without being encouraged to idleness. Kindness to the deserving is a stimulus, an incentive to fresh enterprise and diligence. (b) The true use of rest and food is to strengthen us for resuming our toil.
Again, mark how the diligent hand obtains new and ever-increasing favours. God’s law is, to him that hath shall be given, and labour is the appointed way of increase, from which even Paradise itself was not exempted (Gen_2:15). He who would have must get, and he who would have much, must get diligently. We are all gleaners, and the world is our harvest-field; and productive gleaning is, and always has been, to the earnest and the industrious. God helps us, both in spiritual and temporal things; but He in no way does so with a desire to do away with human responsibility. He scatters His blessings around us, but we ourselves must gather and make them our own. His giving is never intended to abate our diligence. Boaz here gives from pure goodness and nobleness of heart, and therefore his benevolence is a type of the divine and perfect giving of God.
I. He gives unexpectedly. This is seen in two ways:
(1) He allows her to “glean among the sheaves,” in a place where her labour will be more productive. So the Divine hand, in reward for past diligence, and as a proof of present favour, leads men to new spheres and employments, more fertile, as well as more dignified and productive. Joseph is exalted in Egypt, and David in Israel, and Paul among the apostles. Note. It is lawful to extend favours more to one than another (Fuller), in those things which are free favours (ibid.), in those things which are our own (Mat_20:15), as with Boaz here. So with the Divine grace, and those privileges and opportunities He bestows in a seemingly unequal way among men. He gives and rewards not without a meaning, and not without a reason—this were impossible with God; but He will be accountable to no man for His dealings with the most highly favoured among men. The answer of sovereign grace to the caviller is, and always must be, “Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?” “Is thine eye evil?” etc.
(2) He charges his reapers to scatter handfuls for her. He increases her gleanings, and yet makes it appear the fruit of her own industry (Thomson). [See on Rth_2:8-9, div. I., p. 108.] And in our own lives how often God has given (a) beyond our fondest anticipations, and (b) in ways which seem the result of our own thrift and endeavours. [Examples: Jacob in Laban’s household; Daniel in Babylon.] We say, in our short-sightedness, possibly, that our own hand and our own wisdom has gained us all this increase; but is it so?
II. He gives liberally. Nowhere have the poor been cared for so liberally as among the Jews (Baldwin Brown). The law made it a sacred duty not to reap “wholly the corners of the field,” etc. (Lev_19:9-10), but to leave something behind for the destitute and the stranger. Boaz, however, goes beyond his creed; and so Ruth, who expected to gather a little, gathers abundantly. This is the Divine idea, “good measure, pressed down, running over;” not the giving with a niggardly spirit and a grudging hand, but largely, overflowingly, beyond that which is due, beyond that which is expected or even deserved.
(1) So good men give. They live to bestow happiness. Riches are lent, not given, and bring the purest pleasure when scattered around upon the worthy and the necessitous. Wealth—
“By disburdening grows
More fruitful, which instructs us not to spare.”—Milton.
So God gives (a) largely, (b) liberally, (c) lavishly, (d) constantly. Note. He can make the world, to every one of us, a harvest-field, full of temporal and spiritual blessings.
III. He gives without reproach and without rebuke. His reapers are only his agents in this matter; the master’s will is to control all. An alien, and a daughter of the sinful race of Moab, shall glean in the choicest portions of his harvest-field, shielded from prejudice, and without a single word to remind her of her poverty, or her unworthiness (as some would think it), or of the unexpected favour bestowed upon her. A word to a delicate, sensitive spirit like that she has displayed would spoil all; therefore rebuke her not. Note. Kindness shows itself not only in doing good, but also in preventing evil and reproach. How exactly all this corresponds to the Divine dealings with sinful men! When they come in humble, suppliant attitude, it is said, “None of their sins shall be mentioned unto them.” God shields from shame, as well as bestows pardon, and sovereign grace is always willing to blot out the past. The inspired conception of the Divine benevolence is that He “giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not” (Jas_1:5).
Again, God charges others, lest they should reproach the sensitive and the tender-hearted among His children (Isa_40:1-2; Isa_65:25), as well as the wanderer and the stranger who cast themselves on His protecting care. The Saviour’s disciples were reapers in a field “white unto the harvest,” and yet, when they would have rebuked others who were not “of them,” He said, “Forbid them not” (Mat_19:14).
IV. He gives in encouragement of her own labours. The kindness of Boaz suited
(1) to her situation,
(2) to her employment as a gleaner in the harvest field. So God gives in kind as well as in degree, according to our present capacity. He gives along the lines we ourselves are laying down—a solemn yet certain truth—and according to the spirit and diligence we ourselves are displaying. He gives “wood and hay and stubble” to such as are seeking such; the pure and precious grain of the kingdom only to those whom He is certain have sought, and sought diligently, for the same.
IMPROVEMENT.
(1) Charity, wisely directed, will not tempt the poor to idleness (Lawson).
(2) If we come into fellowship with God, He will protect our characters from shame (E. Price), as well as our lives from want. We are to do our duty, and leave the rest with Him. When led into danger, we are to go quietly on, trusting to His guidance, as well as to our own integrity.
“The end of feeding is to fall to our calling. Let us not therefore, with Israel, sit down to eat and to drink, and so rise up to play; but let us eat to live, not live to eat. We need not make the clay cottage of our body much larger than it is by immoderate feeding: it is enough if we maintain it so with competent food, that God, our Landlord, may not have just cause to sue us for want of reparations.”—Fuller.
“That bird was once a woman, and it is a good lesson she reads us. One day she was kneading bread in her trough, under the eaves of her house, when our Lord passed by, leaning on St Peter. She did not know it was the Saviour and His apostle, for they looked like two poor men travelling past her door. ‘Give us of your dough, for the love of God,’ said the Lord Christ: ‘we have come far across the field, and have fasted long.’ Gertrude pinched off a small piece for them; but on rolling it in her trough, to get it into shape, it grew and grew, and filled up the trough completely. She looked at it in wonder. ‘No,’ said she, ‘that is more than you want;’ so she pinched off a smaller piece, and rolled it out as before; but the smaller piece filled up the trough, just as the other had done; so she put that aside too, and pinched a smaller bit still. But the miracle was just as apparent, the smaller bit filling up the trough the same as ever. Gertrude’s heart was hardened still more; she put that aside also. ‘I cannot give you any to-day,’ said she; for the greed of her heart was to divide all her dough into little bits and roll it into loaves. ‘Go on your journey, and the Lord prosper you.’ Then the Lord Christ was angry, and her eyes were opened, and she fell down on her knees to hear Him say, ‘I gave you plenty, but that hardened your heart, so that plenty was not a blessing to you; I will try you now with the blessing of poverty; you shall henceforth seek your food day by day, and always between the wood and the bark.’ ”—Norwegian Legend of the Gertrude Bird.
“We learn, that is the best charity which so relieves people’s wants as that they are still continued in their calling. For, as he who teacheth one to swim, though haply he will take him by the chin, yet he expecteth that the learner shall nimbly ply the oars of his hands and feet, and strive and struggle with all his strength to keep himself above water; so those who are beneficial to poor people may justly require of them that they use both their hands to work and feet to go in their calling, and themselves take all due labour that they may not sink in the gulf of penury. Relieve a husbandman, yet so as he may still continue in his husbandry; a tradesman, yet so he may still go on in his trade; a poor scholar, yet so he may still proceed in his studies. Thereby the commonwealth shall be a gainer. Drones bring no honey to the hive; but the painful hand of each private man contributes some profit to the public good. Hereby the able poor, the more diligent they be, the more bountiful men will be to them; while their bodies are freed from many diseases, their souls from many sins, wherof idleness is the mother. Laziness makes a breach in our soul, where the devil doth assault us with greatest advantage; and when we are most idle in our vocations, then he is most busy in his temptations.”—Fuller.
“There can be no wrong in those things which are free favours. I am not less just to him to whom I give less, but I am more merciful to him to whom I give more.… Shall it not therefore be lawful for the Lord of heaven to bestow wealth, honour, wisdom, effectual grace, blessings outward and inward, on one, and deny them to another? You, therefore, whom God hath suffered to glean among the sheaves, and hath scattered whole handfuls for you to gather; you that abound and flow with His favours, be heartily thankful unto Him. He hath not dealt so with everyone, neither have all such a large measure of His blessings.”—Fuller.
“I know some preachers who never went to Martin Luther’s school; they may have prayer and meditation, but they have never been schooled by temptation; and if we are not much tempted ourselves, if we are not emptied from vessel to vessel ourselves, we are in very great danger, when we are dealing with these Ruths, lest we be hard with them, and rebuke and reproach them, when instead thereof we should hear the Master say, ‘Comfort ye, comfort ye my people; speak ye comfortably unto Jerusalem.’ Now I take it that we do very much reproach these tender ones when we set up standards in our ministry to which we tell them they must come or else perish.”—Spurgeon.
“But then, brethren, you will notice that these reapers were to let handfuls fall on purpose for her. Well, then, ye reapers in God’s field, let your preaching be very personal. Oh! I love, when I draw the bow, not to do it at a venture, but to single out some troubled heart, and speak to you all as though there were but one here; not pouring the oil over the wound, but coming up to the edge of the gaping sore to pour in oil and wine. These poor Ruths will not dare to take the corn unless we put it right in their way. They are so faithful, so timorous, that though it seems to be scattered for everybody, they think it cannot be for them: but if it be there, put there so that they cannot mistake it, then they say, ‘Well, that is for me; ay, that is what I have felt; that is what I want;’ and they cannot, unbelieving though they be, they cannot help stooping down and picking up the handful that is let fall on purpose for them. Then, if it be so, our preaching must always be very affectionate.”—Ibid.
“Dr Manton once preached in St. Paul’s Cathedral, and a great crowd went to listen to him. A poor man, who had walked fifty miles to bear the good doctor, afterwards plucked him by the sleeve, and said, ‘There was nothing for me this morning.’ The doctor had preached a very learned sermon, full of Greek and Latin quotations which the poor countryman could not understand; but the doctor had not expected him, and there was nothing for him. I think there should always be in our ministry some things for poor Ruth, so plain and so simple, that the wiseacres will turn up their noses, and say, ‘What platitudes!’ Never mind, if Ruth gets a handful of corn, our Master at the last shall know who did His errand best, and served Him with a perfect heart.”—Ibid.
“While such a practice as is here enjoined would have been dishonest and unfaithful without the express authority of the master, not to have done it after it was enjoined would have been undutiful in its turn,”—Thomson.
“Doubtless Boaz, having taken notice of the good nature, dutiful carriage, and the near affinity of Ruth, could not but purpose some greater beneficence and higher respects to her; yet how he fits his kindness to her condition, and gives her that which to her seemed much, though he thought it little. Thus doth the bounty of our God deal with us. It is not for want of love that He gives us no greater measure of grace, but for want of our fitness and capacity. He hath reserved greater preferments for us, when it shall be seasonable for us to receive them.”—Bishop Hall.
Rth_2:17
Theme.—LABOUR UNTIL THE EVENING
“When the corn’s rustle on the ear doth come,
When the eve’s beetle sounds its drowsy hum,
When the stars, dewdrops of the summer sky,
Watch over all with soft and loving eye.”—Nicoll.
“Night is the time for rest;
How sweet, when labours close,
To gather round an aching breast
The curtain of repose,
Stretch the tired limbs, and lay the head
Upon our own delightful bed.”—J. Montgomery.
So she gleaned in the fields until even, and beat out, etc.
The longest and most eventful day must come to a close at last. So with this of Ruth’s toil, and the beginning of her recompense.
(1) She was not weary in well doing.
(2) She did not presume upon the fact that Boaz had so greatly and so generously increased her gleanings. No! She perseveres in her labour of love until the due and proper hour for retiring; then, pleased with what she had gained by her own industry, and careful to secure it, she lingers to beat out the corn, instead of taking it where it might trouble Naomi—a thoughtfulness surpassing even that of most natural children to their parents.
Learn, as suggested here—
I. That it is good to abide where we do well. Boaz had charged her not to glean in another field, but to stand fast by his maidens (Rth_2:8), and here is the result. She reaped the fruit of her constancy;
(1) a lesson to the unstable in temporal things. Prosperity only follows persevering labour. It is the diligent hand that maketh rich; “the rolling stone gathers no moss” (Braden).
(2) To the unstable in the kingdom of God—men who wander from one church to another, from one preacher to another, from one sphere of duty to another. Note. Every man has his appropriate place: the aim of life should be first to find it and then to keep it.
II. That it is good to labour where God sends success. Can Ruth return to the city with a dejected countenance? Never, while Jehovah lives (E. Price). And why? Evident that she was in the place God had appointed for her. We misread the whole narrative, too, if we fail to see that Boaz is only an instrument in the Divine hands. In all labour, even that of gleaning, there is profit; but see what gleaning is when God guides to the harvest field! The humblest toil then becomes not only productive, but beautiful, and pregnant with after consequences.
III. That it is good to toil on until God’s appointed time of rest. “Man goeth forth to his labour until the evening.” There is a time, then, for going forth, and there is also a time for returning. The day for toil, the night for repose, this is God’s great appointed law. Labour is man’s heritage (Gen_2:15), and we are happy only as we bow to this. Life, health, man’s physical and moral well-being depend upon obedience. But mark! Labour, too, has its boundaries, the time when it must end; and from this thought comes a stimulus to which even the great Master Himself responded, “I must work the works of Him that sent me, while it is day,” as well as a hope which looks forward to rest and reward when toil is over. Note. Rest time is not waste time (Spurgeon). The pause prepares mind and body alike for further service.
“King Alphonsus doing something with his hands, and labouring so, as some which beheld him found fault, smiled and said, ‘Hath God given hands to kings in vain?’ ”—Bernard.
“I do not like to see a Christian man too eager for holidays, nor doling out his services in exact and precise proportion to his wages, bitterly complaining if he is requested to do a little more than is in ‘the bond,’ ready to fling down his tools before the first stroke of the clock has fairly struck which tells that the day’s work may cease. A man should be in love with his work, and should take as the mottoes for his inspiration the words, ‘Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do,’ etc., ‘Not slothful in business, fervent in spirit,’ etc.”—Braden.
“Sarah kneaded cakes; Rachel fed sheep; Rebekah drew water; Tamar baked cakes. Suetonius reporteth of Augustus Cæsar, that he made his daughters to learn to spin; and Pantaelon relates the same of Charles the Great. Yet now-a-days (such is the pride of the world) people of far meaner quality scorn so base employments.”—Fuller.
“Such diligence is supremely praiseworthy. and deserves, nay, ensures an abundant reward. It is a great thing in life to be wholly devoted to the work we have in hand, and to be able to say, ‘This one thing I do.’ For there is an incalculable multitude of people who are ‘everything by turns and nothing long.’ Shifty, changeful, dissatisfied, untrustworthy, they pass from one occupation to another with the ease and rapidity with which the wind veers round all the points of the compass; busy, fussy folk who are excited, enthusiastic about one thing to-day, and equally excited and enthusiastic about another and totally opposite thing to-morrow. All they undertake is regarded of the same importance, to be entered upon with unrestrained vigour; but nothing prospers that they touch, because they only touch it, and soon it droops and fades.”—Braden.
“Seek a retentive memory, to keep in thy hand what thou hast gathered, or else thou wilt be like a silly gleaner who stoops to glean one ear, and drops another at the same time. Carry home what of truth thou canst. Take notes in thy heart. And when thou hast gathered and hast thy hands full, take care to discriminate. Ruth, we are told, threshed her corn, and left the straw behind, and took home the good wheat. Do thou the same.”—Spurgeon.
“Corn, even the finest kidney of the wheat, grows encompassed with chaff, and therefore must be beaten out and winnowed before it is fit for use.… Paul, that incomparable preacher, freely confessed that he saw and prophesied but in part: if he in part, surely we in a very little part; consequently much of our own chaff is mixed with our Redeemer’s wheat: and that you our hearers are called to beat out what you glean, by a diligent search of the Scriptures, by meditation and prayer.”—Macgowan.
“The materials of the temple were so hewed and carved, both stone and wood, before that they were brought unto Jerusalem, that there was not so much as the noise of a hammer heard in the temple. So Ruth fits all things in a readiness before she goes home, that so no noise might be made at home, to disturb her aged mother.”—Fuller.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv14–15At mealtime
At mealtime
This refers to the noontime meal.
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dip your morsel in the wine vinegar
This was a simple meal eaten in the field. People would sit on the ground around a cloth that had a bowl of wine vinegar on it and plates of broken bread. They would dip their bread in the vinegar bowl to wet it and add flavor before they ate it.
wine vinegar
a sauce that bread was dipped in. The Israelites further fermented some of their wine to make vinegar.
GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v14 Which she brought home to her mother-in-law.
Which she brought home to her mother-in-law.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv14–16 Rth 2:14 And Boaz said unto her, At mealtime…
Rth 2:14 And Boaz said unto her, At mealtime come thou hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers: and he reached her parched [corn], and she did eat, and was sufficed, and left.
Ver. 14. And Boaz said unto her.] Here gratiarum actio erat ad plus dandum invitatio. Ruth’s thankfulness was rewarded with more kindness. Efficacissimum genus est rogandi, gratias agere, saith Pliny. {a} As a little water poured into the pump when the springs lie low, bringeth up a great deal more together with it; so is it here.
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And eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar.] Here was plain fare. Nature is content with a little; and hunger hunteth not after delicates.
And she sat beside the reapers.] She sat to a side, and did not thrust in saucily amongst them, though favoured.
And he reached {b} her parched corn.] Which was great dainties in those days (1Sa 17:17 2Sa 17:28). Now-a-days, what marvel is it that we die so fast? saith Seneca, qui tot mortibus vivimus, who do live by the death of so many other creatures.
{a} In Panegyr.
{b} Sept., εβουνισεν αυτη, He reached unto her by heaps.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv14–15 Bread in those simple and frugal times was the…
Bread in those simple and frugal times was the usual food of servants and the meaner sort, at least when they were engaged in such works as this, which required speed, and therefore must be quick in their eating, as well as in their work. Or bread may be here put for any food, as it oft is.
Vinegar; either simple vinegar, in which the poorer sort used to dip their bread, and so eat it in hot countries, as they did not only in Canaan, but afterwards in Italy; it being very proper, especially in those parts, for cooling them in those hot seasons, for strengthening their sinews, &c.; or vinegar mixed with other things to make some kind of sauce.
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Beside the reapers; not with or among them, but at some little distance from them, and as one inferior to them, as she had acknowledged before in words, and now showeth it by her actions.
Parched corn; a food in frequent use and some esteem with them. See 2Sa 17:28.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv14–16 And Boaz said, at mealtime come thou hither,.... This…
And Boaz said, at mealtime come thou hither,.... This looks as if she was now in the booth, or house in the field, where the reapers used to retire to eat their food, or rest themselves, or take shelter from the heat of the sun. This meal was very likely dinner, the time of which was not yet come, but would soon, and to which Boaz invited Ruth:
and eat of the bread; his servants did, that is, partake of the provisions they should have; bread being put for all. So Homer (a) speaks of a large ox slain for such a meal for the reapers, besides the "polenta" afterwards mentioned, which the women prepared, and who uses the same word for it the Septuagint does here: "to dip thy morsel in the vinegar"; which was used because of the heat of the season, as Jarchi and Aben Ezra remark, for cooling and refreshment; and such virtues Pliny (b) ascribes to vinegar, as being refreshing to the spirits, binding and bracing the nerves, and very corroborating and strengthening; and it is at this day used in Italy, it is said, in harvest time, when it is hot; where they also use wine mixed with vinegar and water, as Lavater says (c); and who from a learned physician (d) observes, that reapers, instead of wine, use vinegar mixed with a great deal of water, which they call household wine, allayed with water; to which if oil and bread be put, it makes a cooling meal, good for workmen and travellers in the heat of the sun; and the Targum calls it pottage boiled in vinegar. The Romans had an "embamma", or sauce, made of vinegar, in which they dipped their food (e); and Theocritus (f) makes mention of vinegar as used by reapers: in the Syriac version it is bread dipped in milk; and in the Arabic version milk poured upon it. The Midrash (g) gives an allegorical sense of these words, and applies them to the Messiah and his kingdom, and interprets the bread of the bread of the kingdom, and the vinegar of the chastisements and afflictions of the Messiah, as it is said, "he was wounded for our transgressions", &c. Isa 53:5 which, by the way, is a concession that the prophecy in that chapter relates to him:
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and she sat beside the reapers; the women reapers; she did not sit along with them, or in thee midst of them, in the row with them, as ranking with them, but on one side of them, which was an instance of her great modesty:
and he reached her parched corn; either Boaz himself, or he that was set over the reapers. This parched corn seems to be the new barley they were reaping, which they fried in a pan and ate. Galen says (h), the parched corn which is best is made of new barley moderately dried and parched; and that it was the custom of some to drink the same with new sweet wine, or wine mixed with honey, in the summertime, before they went into the bath, who say they feel themselves by this drink freed from thirst. But this seems to be a kind of food, what is sometimes called "polenta", which is barley flour dried at the fire, and fried after it hath been soaking in water one night; so Lavater says, they dry the barley, having been soaked one night in water, the next day they dry it, and then grind it in mills; some dress new barley beaten out of green ears, and make it while moist into balls, and being cleansed, grind it; and thus dressed with twenty pound of barley, they put three pound of linseed, half a pound of coriander seed, and of salt, all being dried before, are mingled in a mill; and if to be kept, are put into new earthen vessels with the meal and bran: but a later writer (i) takes this "Kali", rendered parched corn, not to be anyone certain species, but something made of corn and pulse, as lentiles, beans, &c. and especially fried or parched vetches, of all which together was this kali or pulse; and he refutes the notion of some, who take it to be "coffee", since that has only been in use since the beginning of the sixteenth century, and at first in Arabia; and is not of the kind of pulse, but is the fruit of a certain tree, of which a liquor is made, something to drink; whereas this was food, and was ate, as follows, see Sa2 17:28.
and she did eat, and was sufficed, and left; she had such a plentiful share given her, that she had more than she could eat, and was obliged to leave some, and which it seems she carried home to her mother-in-law, Rut 2:18.
(a) Iliad. 18. ver. 559, 560. (b) Nat. Hist. l. 23. c. 1. (c) In loc. (d) Christophor. "a Vega de arte Medendi", l. 2. apud ib. (e) Salmuth in Pancirol, par. 2. tit. 2. p. 83. (f) Idyll, 10. ver. 13. (g) Melrash Ruth, fol. 33. 2. (h) De Aliment. Facult. l. 1. apud Lavater. in loc. (i) Neumann. apud Rambachium in loc.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v14 She sat - Not with or among them, but…
She sat - Not with or among them, but at some little distance from them, as one inferior to them. It is no disparagement to the finest hand, to be reached forth to the needy.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv14–15 Verse 14. Dip thy morsel in the vinegar.] The…
Verse 14. Dip thy morsel in the vinegar.] The חמץ chomets, which we here translate vinegar, seems to have been some refreshing kind of acid sauce used by the reapers to dip their bread in, which both cooled and refreshed them. Vinegar, rob of fruits, c., are used for this purpose in the East to the present day and the custom of the Arabs, according to Dr. Shaw, is to dip the bread and hand together into these cooling and refreshing articles.
Parched corn] This was a frequent repast among the ancients in almost all countries; see the notes on Le 2:1-14.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv14, 16 Rth 2:14. Eat of the bread, and dip thy…
Rth 2:14. Eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar — In the term bread is comprehended all the provision which was made for the reapers, with which they had vinegar for sauce, it being very cooling and refreshing in hot seasons, as the time of harvest there was. He reached her parched corn — Which was a usual and no mean food in those countries, as appears from 2Sa 17:28. Either Boaz, or the servant set over the reapers, gave her this. It is no disparagement to the finest hand to be reached out to the needy. And she sat by the reapers — Not with or among them, but at some little distance, as one inferior to them.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v14 To dip the morsel, or sop, whether it were…
To dip the morsel, or sop, whether it were bread or meat, in the dish containing the vinegar (compare Mat 26:23; Mar 14:20 : Exo 25:29; Num 7:13) was, and still is, the common custom in the East.
Parched or “roasted” corn - Grain was the common food of the country then (compare 1Sa 17:17; 1Sa 25:18; 2Sa 17:28) as it is now.
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And left - Or “reserved” Rth 2:18. Rather, “had some over” (compare Luk 15:17). Rth 2:18 tells us that she took to her mother-in-law what she had left over.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv14–15 Vinegar, or small wine, made on purpose for working…
Vinegar, or small wine, made on purpose for working people. Some think that such was presented to our Saviour. Yet vinegar was very frequently mixed with other things, and was esteemed particularly refreshing. (Pliny, [Natural History?] xxiii. 1.) (Calmet) --- Side. Not in front, that they might not stare at her. (Menochius) --- And she, &c. Hebrew, "and he gave her frumenty, or parched corn." A little oil might be poured upon it. See Leviticus ii. 14., and 2 Kings xxvi. 28. (Haydock) --- Travellers in Ethiopia only take parched barley with them. (Calmet) --- The leavings, to Noemi. "Learn, says Seneca, (ep. 110,) to be content with a little." Septuagint, "and Booz heaped up food before her, and she ate and was filled, and left a part." (Haydock) --- But it appears that she afterwards took it home, ver. 18. (Menochius) --- The vinegar and corn which were given to Ruth were very refreshing. The Spaniards still drink posca, or water and vinegar. (Tirinus)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv14, 16 he reached her parched corn, and she did eat,…
he reached her parched corn, and she did eat, and was sufficed, and left--some of the new grain, roasted on the spot, and fit for use after being rubbed in the hands--a favorite viand in the East. He gave her so much, that after satisfying her own wants, she had some (Rut 2:18) in reserve for her mother-in-law.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv14–16 14. At mealtime — At the time of the…
14. At mealtime — At the time of the noontide lunch. The principal meal was taken after the labours of the day were over. Rth_3:7.
Come thou hither — Into the house (Rth_2:7) or tent which was pitched in the harvest field for the accommodation of the reapers, and in which they kept their provisions and ate their meals.
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Bread — A generic word for provisions. The meaning is, Come and take of the provisions here in store.
Vinegar — Wine or strong drink of some kind turned sour, which would form a nauseous draught if taken in any considerable quantity alone, (Psa_69:21,) but served a useful purpose as a sop. “Pliny describes it as being refreshing to the spirits, binding and bracing the nerves, and very sustaining and strengthening for labour. The use of vinegar by reapers is alluded to by Theocritus in his tenth idyl.” — Kitto.
She sat beside the reapers — From this we may not infer that the two sexes ordinarily took their meals together, for this noontide lunch in the harvest field is no proper example of the ordinary domestic customs of the ancient families in Israel. Ruth came to this lunch by special invitation from Boaz.
He reached her parched corn — In passing from Gaza to Hebron in May, 1838, Dr. Robinson saw nearly two hundred reapers and gleaners at work in one field. He saw some taking their refreshment, and as he passed they offered him some parched corn. The manner of its preparation, according to Dr. Thomson, is this: “A quantity of the best ears, not too ripe, are plucked, with the stalks attached. These are tied into small parcels, a blazing fire is kindled with dry grass and thorn bushes, and the corn heads are held in it until the chaff is mostly burned off. The grain is thus sufficiently roasted to be eaten, and it is a favourite article all over the country.” Mr. Tristram gives a similar description of the parching of grain which he witnessed in northern Palestine in May of 1864. He and his party were invited to partake, and he adds: “We found the dish by no means unpalatable. The green ears had become half-charred by the roasting, and there was a pleasant mingling of milky wheat and a fresh crust flavour as we chewed the parched corn.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv14, 16 14. in the vinegar] i.e. sour wine. It is…
14. in the vinegar] i.e. sour wine. It is said to be still used in Palestine by the harvesters as relish with bread.
parched corn] i.e. grain taken from the newly reaped corn and roasted in a pan, and eaten with bread or as a substitute for bread.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On v14 (14) At meal-time.—This should apparently be joined to what…
(14) At meal-time.—This should apparently be joined to what precedes: Boaz now shows a fresh act of kindness.
Vinegar.—By this term is to be understood wine which had become sour (Pro_10:26). As such, Nazarites were forbidden to use it (Num_6:3). Similar to this was the vinegar of the Gospel narrative, a sour wine generally mixed with water, which was offered to our Saviour (Mat_27:48, &c.).
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Left.—Had to spare. In Rth_2:18, we find that this superfluity was put by for her mother-in-law.
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The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv14–16 And Boaz, at meal-time, said to her, Come along…
And Boaz, at meal-time, said to her, Come along hither. Luther, Coverdale, and King"s James"s English translators took the expression "at meal-time" as part of the report of Boaz"s words: "And Boaz said, At meal-time come along hither." But it is evidently to be taken, in accordance with the Masoretic punctuation, as the historical statement of the narrator: "At meal-time, Boaz said, Come along hither." At meal-time Boaz rejoined Ruth, and said to her, "Come along hither." Then they would walk along in company, till they reached the siesta-hut, And eat of the bread, that is going, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar, or the sour wine that was quite a favorite beverage with out-door workers. It had a peculiarly cooling and refreshing effect. It corresponded to the posed used by the Roman soldiery, and would, according to circumstances and individual taste, be taken either "neat" or diluted with water. And she sat by the side of the reapers. Probably along with the other young women, although the refer-once to them is accidentally overlapped by the specification of the male workers. And he prepared for her a bunch of parched corn. fBxyi is only conjecturally rendered "reached" in King James"s version, and by many other translators. The rendering is given under the leadership of the Chaldee Paraphrast, who explains the word by fyviwa, which is a pure Chaldee word for "reached." But light is thrown on the old Hebrew word by both Arabic and Sanscrit cognates, as well as by the Septuagint version (ebounise ). It meant to bind into a bunch or bunches (see Furst and Raabe). The word is illustrated by modern Oriental usage. Dr. W. M. Thomson says, "Harvest is the time for parched corn. It is made thus: A quantity of the best ears, not too ripe, are plucked with the stalks attached. These are tied into small parcels; a blazing fire is kindled with dry grass and thorn bushes, and the corn-heads are held in it until the chaff is mostly burnt off. The grain is thus sufficiently roasted to be eaten, and it is a favorite article all over the country" ("The Land and the Book," p. 648). Mr. Legh, in like manner, states, in MacMichael"s Journey, 1819, that, traveling in harvest-time in the country cast of the Dead Sea, they one day rested near some cornfields, "where one of the Arabs, having plucked some green ears of corn, parched them for us by putting them into the fire, and then, when roasted, rubbing out the grain in his hands" (Kitto"s "Pictorial Bible," in loc.). Sometimes, however, the parched corn is otherwise prepared. Dr. Robinson says, In one field, as we approached Kubeibeh, nearly 200 reapers and gleaners were at work; the latter being nearly as numerous as the former. A few were taking their refreshment, and offered us some of their "parched corn." In the season of harvest the grains of wheat, not yet fully dry and hard, are roasted in a pan or on an iron plate, and constitute a very palatable article of food. This is eaten with bread, or instead of it. Indeed, the use of it is so common at this time among the laboring classes, that this parched wheat is sold in the markets; and it was among our list of articles to be purchased at Hebron for our journey to Wady Musa. The Arabs, it was said, prefer it to rice; but this we did not find to be the case. The whole scene of the reapers and gleaners, and their "parched corn," gave us a lively representation of the story of Ruth and the ancient harvest-time in the fields of Boaz" ("Biblical Researches," vol. 2. p. 394, ed. 1841). Boaz had given Ruth a kind of Benjamin"s portion of parched corn. She could not use it all. And she ate, and was satisfied, and left over. Carefully reserving, however, and "basketing up" the liberal surplus.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv14–15 At mealtime come thou hither.
Rth_2:14
At mealtime come thou hither.
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The common meal
1. It should indicate the Divine hand in providing it.
2. It should minister to the calm contentment of our hearts.
3. It should indicate a self-respect before men.
4. It should prepare for the next duties in life. (E. Price.)
Mealtime in the cornfields
I. that gods reapers have their mealtimes. The reapers in Jesus fields shall not only receive a blessed reward at the last, but they shall have plenteous comforts by the way.
1. God has ordained certain mealtimes for His reapers; and He has appointed that one of these shall be when they come together to listen to the Word preached. When the Lord blesses the provisions of His house, no matter how many thousands there may be, all His poor shall be filled with bread.
2. Often, too, our gracious Lord appoints us mealtimes in our private readings and meditations. Here it is that His paths drop fatness. No wonder that men grow so slowly, when they meditate so little. We must take the truth, and turn it over and over again in the inward parts of our spirit, and so shall we extract suitable nourishment therefrom.
3. Let us not forget that there is one specially ordained mealtime which ought to occur at least once in the week--I mean the Supper of the Lord. There you have literally, as well as spiritually, a meal.
4. Besides these regular mealtimes, there are others which God gives us, at seasons when, perhaps, we little expect them. You have been walking the street, and suddenly you have felt a holy flowing out of your soul toward God; or in the middle of business your heart has been melted with love and made to dance for joy, even as the brooks, which have been bound with winters ice, leap to feel the touch of spring. You have been groaning, dull, and earthbound; but the sweet love of Jesus has enwrapped your heart when you scarce thought of it. Seasons, too, we have had on our sick-beds.
5. Let me observe that, while these mealtimes come, we know not exactly when, there are certain seasons when we may expect them. The Eastern reapers generally sit down under the shelter of a tree, or a booth, to take refreshment during the heat of the day. And certain I am, that when trouble, affliction, persecution, and bereavement become the most painful to us, it is then that the Lord hands out to us the sweetest comforts. Again, these mealtimes frequently occur before a trial. Sweet cordials prepare for stern conflicts. Times of refreshing also occur after trouble or arduous service. Christ was tempted of the devil, and afterwards angels came and ministered unto Him. After conflict, content; after battle, banquet. When thou hast waited on thy Lord, then thou shalt sit down, and thy Master will gird Himself and wait upon thee.
II. to these meals the gleaner is affectionately invited. That is to say, the poor trembling stranger who has not strength enough to reap, who has no right to be in the field except the right of charity--the poor, trembling sinner, conscious of his own demerit, and feeling but little hope and little joy, is invited to the feast of love.
1. In the text the gleaner is invited to come: At mealtime come thou hither. We trust none of you will be kept away from the place of holy feasting by any shame on account of your dress, or your personal character, or your poverty; nay, nor even on account of your physical infirmities.
2. Moreover, she was bidden not only to come, but to eat. Whatever there is sweet and comfortable in the Word of God, ye that are of a broken and contrite spirit are invited to partake of it. You are saying in your heart, Oh, that I could eat the childrens bread! You may eat it. You say, I have no right. But the Lord gives you the invitation! Come without any other right than the right of His invitation.
3. Note further, that she was not only invited to eat the bread, but to dip her morsel in the vinegar. The Lords reapers have sauce with their bread; they have not merely doctrines, but the holy unction which is the essence of doctrines; they have not merely truths, but a hallowed delight accompanies the truths.
III. boaz reaches her the parched corn. None but the Lord of the harvest can hand out the choicest refreshments of spiritual minds. How does He do this?
1. By His gracious Spirit He first of all inspires your faith.
2. Having done this, the Saviour does more; He sheds abroad the love of God in your heart.
3. But Jesus does more than this: He reaches the parched corn with His own hand, when He gives us close communion with Himself.
4. Yet once more let me add, the Lord Jesus is pleased to reach the parched corn, in the best sense, when the Spirit gives us the infallible witness within that we are born of God. Philip de Morny, who lived in the time of Prince Henry of Navarre, was wont to say that the Holy Spirit had made his own salvation to him as clear a point as a problem demonstrated in Euclid. The sun in the heavens is not more clear to the eye than his present salvation to an assured believer; such a man could as soon doubt his own existence as suspect his possession of eternal life.
IV. After Boaz had reached the parched corn, we are told that she did eat, and was sufficed, and left. So shall it be with every Ruth. Sooner or later every penitent shall become a believer, every mourner a singer.
1. She did eat, and was sufficed. Your head shall be satisfied with the precious truth which Christ reveals; your heart shall be content with Jesus, as the altogether lovely object of affection; your hope shall be filled, for whom have you in heaven but Christ? Your desire shall be satiated, for what can even your desire hunger for more than to know Christ, and to be found in Him? You shall find Jesus charm your conscience, till it is at perfect peace; He shall content your judgment, till you know the certainty of His teachings; He shall supply your memory with recollections of what He did, and gratify your imagination with the prospects of what He is yet to do.
2. She was sufficed, and left. Some of us have had deep draughts of love; we have thought that we could take in all of Christ, but when we have done our best, we have had to leave a vast remainder. There are certain sweet things in the Word of God which you and I have not enjoyed yet, and which we cannot enjoy yet; and these we are obliged to leave for a while, till we are better prepared to receive them. Did not our Lord say, I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now? There is a special knowledge to which we have not attained, a place of intimate fellowship with Christ which we have not yet occupied. There is yet a beyond, and there will be for ever.
3. A verse or two further on we are told what Ruth did with her leavings. It is very wrong, I believe, at feasts to carry anything home with you; but she was not under any such regulation, for that which was left she took home and gave to Naomi. So it shall be even with you, poor tremblers, who think you have no right to a morsel for yourselves; you shall be allowed to eat, and when you are quite sufficed, you shall have courage to bear away a portion to others who are hungering at home. When you hear a sermon you think, My poor mother cannot get out to-day; how I wish she could have been here, for that sentence would have comforted her. If I forget everything else, I will tell her that. Cultivate an unselfish spirit. Seek to love as you have been loved. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v15 CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES.—Rth_2:15. And when she was risen…
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES.—Rth_2:15. And when she was risen up. Evident from this and the previous phrase that Boaz said, “Come thou hither,” as he himself sat among his reapers at the mid-day meal. So that a pause may be understood between the first conversation, ending with Rth_2:13, and the invitation itself, during which Ruth goes on with her gleaning. Then there is the rest lasting throughout the hour of meals, in the tent or house for the reapers, followed by fresh toil until the evening. Commanded his young men. He had charged them already not to touch her (Rth_2:9). Let her glean even among the sheaves. She may also glean between the sheaves (Keil). A rare privilege, not allowed to ordinary gleaners (Steele and Terry); and a still greater concession than that in Rth_2:9—“after the reapers.” And reproach her not. (Heb. shame her not); μὴ καταισχύνητε (LXX.). Ye shall not shame her [do her any injury (Jdg_18:7)] (Keil). In other words, they were not to say things to her which would make her blush (Lange), not to remind her of her poverty, etc.
Rth_2:16. And let fall also of the handfuls. Let fall also out of your armfuls that you have reaped (Vulg.). Pull out from the bundles (Lange). Ye shall also draw out of the bundles for her (Keil). It is necessary to distinguish carefully between “the sheaves” (Rth_2:15) and the “handfuls.” The former is the sheaf already bound by the maidservants, and lying on the ground; the latter is the bundle as taken up and still held in the arm, manipulus (Lange). And leave them. Let them lie (Keil). And rebuke her not. Scold her not (Lange, Keil). These directions of Boaz went far beyond the bounds of generosity and compassion for the poor, and show that he felt a peculiar interest in Ruth, with whose circumstances he was well acquainted, and who had won his heart by her humility, etc.,—a fact important to notice in connection with the further course of the history (Keil).
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Rth_2:17. And beat out, ἐῤῥάβδισεν (LXX.). With a stick (Wordsworth). A process often witnessed by modern travellers in the East (Steele and Terry). About an ephah of barley. About a bushel and a half (ibid). About twenty to twenty-five lbs. (Keil). Impossible to ascertain the quantity, still less its weight, exactly, but it was considerable, say fifty-five pounds (Lange). About eight gallons; see Exo_16:36 (Wordsworth). She had gleaned so much, she could not carry it home in the ear (ibid.). An ephah exactly equal to an English cubic foot (Conder). The quantity of manna contained by the ephah was sufficient for ten men (cf. Exo_16:16, with Exo_16:36).
Rth_2:15-16
Theme.—LIBERAL GIVING, LIKE GOD’S
“And the more thou spendest
From thy little store;
With a double bounty,
God shall give thee more.”
“Thrice happy man! enabled to pursue
What all so wish, but want the power to do!”—Pope.
And when she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let her glean among, etc., and reproach her [shame her] not. And let fall, etc., and rebuke [scold] her not.
Rested, refreshed, invigorated with food, as well as comforted by the kind words of the master of the harvest-field, Ruth evidently rises up to her labour with new pleasure and fresh earnestness. Note. (a) The poor can appreciate and respond to all this, without presuming upon it, or without being encouraged to idleness. Kindness to the deserving is a stimulus, an incentive to fresh enterprise and diligence. (b) The true use of rest and food is to strengthen us for resuming our toil.
Again, mark how the diligent hand obtains new and ever-increasing favours. God’s law is, to him that hath shall be given, and labour is the appointed way of increase, from which even Paradise itself was not exempted (Gen_2:15). He who would have must get, and he who would have much, must get diligently. We are all gleaners, and the world is our harvest-field; and productive gleaning is, and always has been, to the earnest and the industrious. God helps us, both in spiritual and temporal things; but He in no way does so with a desire to do away with human responsibility. He scatters His blessings around us, but we ourselves must gather and make them our own. His giving is never intended to abate our diligence. Boaz here gives from pure goodness and nobleness of heart, and therefore his benevolence is a type of the divine and perfect giving of God.
I. He gives unexpectedly. This is seen in two ways:
(1) He allows her to “glean among the sheaves,” in a place where her labour will be more productive. So the Divine hand, in reward for past diligence, and as a proof of present favour, leads men to new spheres and employments, more fertile, as well as more dignified and productive. Joseph is exalted in Egypt, and David in Israel, and Paul among the apostles. Note. It is lawful to extend favours more to one than another (Fuller), in those things which are free favours (ibid.), in those things which are our own (Mat_20:15), as with Boaz here. So with the Divine grace, and those privileges and opportunities He bestows in a seemingly unequal way among men. He gives and rewards not without a meaning, and not without a reason—this were impossible with God; but He will be accountable to no man for His dealings with the most highly favoured among men. The answer of sovereign grace to the caviller is, and always must be, “Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?” “Is thine eye evil?” etc.
(2) He charges his reapers to scatter handfuls for her. He increases her gleanings, and yet makes it appear the fruit of her own industry (Thomson). [See on Rth_2:8-9, div. I., p. 108.] And in our own lives how often God has given (a) beyond our fondest anticipations, and (b) in ways which seem the result of our own thrift and endeavours. [Examples: Jacob in Laban’s household; Daniel in Babylon.] We say, in our short-sightedness, possibly, that our own hand and our own wisdom has gained us all this increase; but is it so?
II. He gives liberally. Nowhere have the poor been cared for so liberally as among the Jews (Baldwin Brown). The law made it a sacred duty not to reap “wholly the corners of the field,” etc. (Lev_19:9-10), but to leave something behind for the destitute and the stranger. Boaz, however, goes beyond his creed; and so Ruth, who expected to gather a little, gathers abundantly. This is the Divine idea, “good measure, pressed down, running over;” not the giving with a niggardly spirit and a grudging hand, but largely, overflowingly, beyond that which is due, beyond that which is expected or even deserved.
(1) So good men give. They live to bestow happiness. Riches are lent, not given, and bring the purest pleasure when scattered around upon the worthy and the necessitous. Wealth—
“By disburdening grows
More fruitful, which instructs us not to spare.”—Milton.
So God gives (a) largely, (b) liberally, (c) lavishly, (d) constantly. Note. He can make the world, to every one of us, a harvest-field, full of temporal and spiritual blessings.
III. He gives without reproach and without rebuke. His reapers are only his agents in this matter; the master’s will is to control all. An alien, and a daughter of the sinful race of Moab, shall glean in the choicest portions of his harvest-field, shielded from prejudice, and without a single word to remind her of her poverty, or her unworthiness (as some would think it), or of the unexpected favour bestowed upon her. A word to a delicate, sensitive spirit like that she has displayed would spoil all; therefore rebuke her not. Note. Kindness shows itself not only in doing good, but also in preventing evil and reproach. How exactly all this corresponds to the Divine dealings with sinful men! When they come in humble, suppliant attitude, it is said, “None of their sins shall be mentioned unto them.” God shields from shame, as well as bestows pardon, and sovereign grace is always willing to blot out the past. The inspired conception of the Divine benevolence is that He “giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not” (Jas_1:5).
Again, God charges others, lest they should reproach the sensitive and the tender-hearted among His children (Isa_40:1-2; Isa_65:25), as well as the wanderer and the stranger who cast themselves on His protecting care. The Saviour’s disciples were reapers in a field “white unto the harvest,” and yet, when they would have rebuked others who were not “of them,” He said, “Forbid them not” (Mat_19:14).
IV. He gives in encouragement of her own labours. The kindness of Boaz suited
(1) to her situation,
(2) to her employment as a gleaner in the harvest field. So God gives in kind as well as in degree, according to our present capacity. He gives along the lines we ourselves are laying down—a solemn yet certain truth—and according to the spirit and diligence we ourselves are displaying. He gives “wood and hay and stubble” to such as are seeking such; the pure and precious grain of the kingdom only to those whom He is certain have sought, and sought diligently, for the same.
IMPROVEMENT.
(1) Charity, wisely directed, will not tempt the poor to idleness (Lawson).
(2) If we come into fellowship with God, He will protect our characters from shame (E. Price), as well as our lives from want. We are to do our duty, and leave the rest with Him. When led into danger, we are to go quietly on, trusting to His guidance, as well as to our own integrity.
“The end of feeding is to fall to our calling. Let us not therefore, with Israel, sit down to eat and to drink, and so rise up to play; but let us eat to live, not live to eat. We need not make the clay cottage of our body much larger than it is by immoderate feeding: it is enough if we maintain it so with competent food, that God, our Landlord, may not have just cause to sue us for want of reparations.”—Fuller.
“That bird was once a woman, and it is a good lesson she reads us. One day she was kneading bread in her trough, under the eaves of her house, when our Lord passed by, leaning on St Peter. She did not know it was the Saviour and His apostle, for they looked like two poor men travelling past her door. ‘Give us of your dough, for the love of God,’ said the Lord Christ: ‘we have come far across the field, and have fasted long.’ Gertrude pinched off a small piece for them; but on rolling it in her trough, to get it into shape, it grew and grew, and filled up the trough completely. She looked at it in wonder. ‘No,’ said she, ‘that is more than you want;’ so she pinched off a smaller piece, and rolled it out as before; but the smaller piece filled up the trough, just as the other had done; so she put that aside too, and pinched a smaller bit still. But the miracle was just as apparent, the smaller bit filling up the trough the same as ever. Gertrude’s heart was hardened still more; she put that aside also. ‘I cannot give you any to-day,’ said she; for the greed of her heart was to divide all her dough into little bits and roll it into loaves. ‘Go on your journey, and the Lord prosper you.’ Then the Lord Christ was angry, and her eyes were opened, and she fell down on her knees to hear Him say, ‘I gave you plenty, but that hardened your heart, so that plenty was not a blessing to you; I will try you now with the blessing of poverty; you shall henceforth seek your food day by day, and always between the wood and the bark.’ ”—Norwegian Legend of the Gertrude Bird.
“We learn, that is the best charity which so relieves people’s wants as that they are still continued in their calling. For, as he who teacheth one to swim, though haply he will take him by the chin, yet he expecteth that the learner shall nimbly ply the oars of his hands and feet, and strive and struggle with all his strength to keep himself above water; so those who are beneficial to poor people may justly require of them that they use both their hands to work and feet to go in their calling, and themselves take all due labour that they may not sink in the gulf of penury. Relieve a husbandman, yet so as he may still continue in his husbandry; a tradesman, yet so he may still go on in his trade; a poor scholar, yet so he may still proceed in his studies. Thereby the commonwealth shall be a gainer. Drones bring no honey to the hive; but the painful hand of each private man contributes some profit to the public good. Hereby the able poor, the more diligent they be, the more bountiful men will be to them; while their bodies are freed from many diseases, their souls from many sins, wherof idleness is the mother. Laziness makes a breach in our soul, where the devil doth assault us with greatest advantage; and when we are most idle in our vocations, then he is most busy in his temptations.”—Fuller.
“There can be no wrong in those things which are free favours. I am not less just to him to whom I give less, but I am more merciful to him to whom I give more.… Shall it not therefore be lawful for the Lord of heaven to bestow wealth, honour, wisdom, effectual grace, blessings outward and inward, on one, and deny them to another? You, therefore, whom God hath suffered to glean among the sheaves, and hath scattered whole handfuls for you to gather; you that abound and flow with His favours, be heartily thankful unto Him. He hath not dealt so with everyone, neither have all such a large measure of His blessings.”—Fuller.
“I know some preachers who never went to Martin Luther’s school; they may have prayer and meditation, but they have never been schooled by temptation; and if we are not much tempted ourselves, if we are not emptied from vessel to vessel ourselves, we are in very great danger, when we are dealing with these Ruths, lest we be hard with them, and rebuke and reproach them, when instead thereof we should hear the Master say, ‘Comfort ye, comfort ye my people; speak ye comfortably unto Jerusalem.’ Now I take it that we do very much reproach these tender ones when we set up standards in our ministry to which we tell them they must come or else perish.”—Spurgeon.
“But then, brethren, you will notice that these reapers were to let handfuls fall on purpose for her. Well, then, ye reapers in God’s field, let your preaching be very personal. Oh! I love, when I draw the bow, not to do it at a venture, but to single out some troubled heart, and speak to you all as though there were but one here; not pouring the oil over the wound, but coming up to the edge of the gaping sore to pour in oil and wine. These poor Ruths will not dare to take the corn unless we put it right in their way. They are so faithful, so timorous, that though it seems to be scattered for everybody, they think it cannot be for them: but if it be there, put there so that they cannot mistake it, then they say, ‘Well, that is for me; ay, that is what I have felt; that is what I want;’ and they cannot, unbelieving though they be, they cannot help stooping down and picking up the handful that is let fall on purpose for them. Then, if it be so, our preaching must always be very affectionate.”—Ibid.
“Dr Manton once preached in St. Paul’s Cathedral, and a great crowd went to listen to him. A poor man, who had walked fifty miles to bear the good doctor, afterwards plucked him by the sleeve, and said, ‘There was nothing for me this morning.’ The doctor had preached a very learned sermon, full of Greek and Latin quotations which the poor countryman could not understand; but the doctor had not expected him, and there was nothing for him. I think there should always be in our ministry some things for poor Ruth, so plain and so simple, that the wiseacres will turn up their noses, and say, ‘What platitudes!’ Never mind, if Ruth gets a handful of corn, our Master at the last shall know who did His errand best, and served Him with a perfect heart.”—Ibid.
“While such a practice as is here enjoined would have been dishonest and unfaithful without the express authority of the master, not to have done it after it was enjoined would have been undutiful in its turn,”—Thomson.
“Doubtless Boaz, having taken notice of the good nature, dutiful carriage, and the near affinity of Ruth, could not but purpose some greater beneficence and higher respects to her; yet how he fits his kindness to her condition, and gives her that which to her seemed much, though he thought it little. Thus doth the bounty of our God deal with us. It is not for want of love that He gives us no greater measure of grace, but for want of our fitness and capacity. He hath reserved greater preferments for us, when it shall be seasonable for us to receive them.”—Bishop Hall.
Rth_2:17
Theme.—LABOUR UNTIL THE EVENING
“When the corn’s rustle on the ear doth come,
When the eve’s beetle sounds its drowsy hum,
When the stars, dewdrops of the summer sky,
Watch over all with soft and loving eye.”—Nicoll.
“Night is the time for rest;
How sweet, when labours close,
To gather round an aching breast
The curtain of repose,
Stretch the tired limbs, and lay the head
Upon our own delightful bed.”—J. Montgomery.
So she gleaned in the fields until even, and beat out, etc.
The longest and most eventful day must come to a close at last. So with this of Ruth’s toil, and the beginning of her recompense.
(1) She was not weary in well doing.
(2) She did not presume upon the fact that Boaz had so greatly and so generously increased her gleanings. No! She perseveres in her labour of love until the due and proper hour for retiring; then, pleased with what she had gained by her own industry, and careful to secure it, she lingers to beat out the corn, instead of taking it where it might trouble Naomi—a thoughtfulness surpassing even that of most natural children to their parents.
Learn, as suggested here—
I. That it is good to abide where we do well. Boaz had charged her not to glean in another field, but to stand fast by his maidens (Rth_2:8), and here is the result. She reaped the fruit of her constancy;
(1) a lesson to the unstable in temporal things. Prosperity only follows persevering labour. It is the diligent hand that maketh rich; “the rolling stone gathers no moss” (Braden).
(2) To the unstable in the kingdom of God—men who wander from one church to another, from one preacher to another, from one sphere of duty to another. Note. Every man has his appropriate place: the aim of life should be first to find it and then to keep it.
II. That it is good to labour where God sends success. Can Ruth return to the city with a dejected countenance? Never, while Jehovah lives (E. Price). And why? Evident that she was in the place God had appointed for her. We misread the whole narrative, too, if we fail to see that Boaz is only an instrument in the Divine hands. In all labour, even that of gleaning, there is profit; but see what gleaning is when God guides to the harvest field! The humblest toil then becomes not only productive, but beautiful, and pregnant with after consequences.
III. That it is good to toil on until God’s appointed time of rest. “Man goeth forth to his labour until the evening.” There is a time, then, for going forth, and there is also a time for returning. The day for toil, the night for repose, this is God’s great appointed law. Labour is man’s heritage (Gen_2:15), and we are happy only as we bow to this. Life, health, man’s physical and moral well-being depend upon obedience. But mark! Labour, too, has its boundaries, the time when it must end; and from this thought comes a stimulus to which even the great Master Himself responded, “I must work the works of Him that sent me, while it is day,” as well as a hope which looks forward to rest and reward when toil is over. Note. Rest time is not waste time (Spurgeon). The pause prepares mind and body alike for further service.
“King Alphonsus doing something with his hands, and labouring so, as some which beheld him found fault, smiled and said, ‘Hath God given hands to kings in vain?’ ”—Bernard.
“I do not like to see a Christian man too eager for holidays, nor doling out his services in exact and precise proportion to his wages, bitterly complaining if he is requested to do a little more than is in ‘the bond,’ ready to fling down his tools before the first stroke of the clock has fairly struck which tells that the day’s work may cease. A man should be in love with his work, and should take as the mottoes for his inspiration the words, ‘Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do,’ etc., ‘Not slothful in business, fervent in spirit,’ etc.”—Braden.
“Sarah kneaded cakes; Rachel fed sheep; Rebekah drew water; Tamar baked cakes. Suetonius reporteth of Augustus Cæsar, that he made his daughters to learn to spin; and Pantaelon relates the same of Charles the Great. Yet now-a-days (such is the pride of the world) people of far meaner quality scorn so base employments.”—Fuller.
“Such diligence is supremely praiseworthy. and deserves, nay, ensures an abundant reward. It is a great thing in life to be wholly devoted to the work we have in hand, and to be able to say, ‘This one thing I do.’ For there is an incalculable multitude of people who are ‘everything by turns and nothing long.’ Shifty, changeful, dissatisfied, untrustworthy, they pass from one occupation to another with the ease and rapidity with which the wind veers round all the points of the compass; busy, fussy folk who are excited, enthusiastic about one thing to-day, and equally excited and enthusiastic about another and totally opposite thing to-morrow. All they undertake is regarded of the same importance, to be entered upon with unrestrained vigour; but nothing prospers that they touch, because they only touch it, and soon it droops and fades.”—Braden.
“Seek a retentive memory, to keep in thy hand what thou hast gathered, or else thou wilt be like a silly gleaner who stoops to glean one ear, and drops another at the same time. Carry home what of truth thou canst. Take notes in thy heart. And when thou hast gathered and hast thy hands full, take care to discriminate. Ruth, we are told, threshed her corn, and left the straw behind, and took home the good wheat. Do thou the same.”—Spurgeon.
“Corn, even the finest kidney of the wheat, grows encompassed with chaff, and therefore must be beaten out and winnowed before it is fit for use.… Paul, that incomparable preacher, freely confessed that he saw and prophesied but in part: if he in part, surely we in a very little part; consequently much of our own chaff is mixed with our Redeemer’s wheat: and that you our hearers are called to beat out what you glean, by a diligent search of the Scriptures, by meditation and prayer.”—Macgowan.
“The materials of the temple were so hewed and carved, both stone and wood, before that they were brought unto Jerusalem, that there was not so much as the noise of a hammer heard in the temple. So Ruth fits all things in a readiness before she goes home, that so no noise might be made at home, to disturb her aged mother.”—Fuller.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv14–15 At mealtime
At mealtime
This refers to the noontime meal.
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dip your morsel in the wine vinegar
This was a simple meal eaten in the field. People would sit on the ground around a cloth that had a bowl of wine vinegar on it and plates of broken bread. They would dip their bread in the vinegar bowl to wet it and add flavor before they ate it.
wine vinegar
a sauce that bread was dipped in. The Israelites further fermented some of their wine to make vinegar.
translationWords
Boaz
Ruth
bread
wine
reap
grain
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv14–15 2:14 By sharing his meal with Ruth, Boaz extended…
2:14 By sharing his meal with Ruth, Boaz extended hospitality far beyond the call of duty.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.