Ruth 2:23
So Ruth stayed close to the servant girls of Boaz to glean grain until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.
Sermons
Harvest-TimeJ.R. Thomson Ruth 2:23














This Book of Ruth is emphatically the book of the husbandman. It pictures the barley-harvest and the wheat-harvest of ancient days. The primitive manners and usages are interesting, and deserve attentive study. But harvest - as here so vividly brought before us - is full of lessons of a spiritual kind. E.g. -

I. HARVEST WITNESSES TO THE ATTRIBUTES OF THE DIVINE CREATOR. To his power and wisdom. To his goodness. To his faithfulness to his promise: "Seed-time and harvest shall not cease."

II. HARVEST IS A SUMMONS TO MAN'S GRATITUDE AND CONFIDENCE.

III. HARVEST IS SUGGESTIVE OF GREAT SPIRITUAL TRUTHS. There is a moral harvest in the history of the human character and of human society. Seed and soil are presumed. Development and growth are evidenced. The law operates: "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." The fruit is matured and gathered in. The Husbandman - God himself - is interested in the result. To us the result is infinitely important. - T.

It is good, my daughter, that thou go out with his maidens.
Old persons may be expected to have collected, by reflection and experience, more wisdom than the young, and should be ready to communicate instruction to those that need it. Let the young have their hands prepared for the service of the old, and the old may recompense them abundantly by the words of their mouths. Happy would it have been for Rehoboam and for all his people had he known what respect is due to the wise counsels of the aged. What numbers of young persons take rash steps in the journey of life which cannot be retraced, because they rather choose to follow the impulse of their own passions than to ask and follow the advices of those who brought them into the world.

(G. Lawson.)

"It is good that thou go forth with his maidens," since he invites thee to glean in his fields. Although Naomi would not be troublesome to her relations, nor solicit favours from them when necessity did not compel her, she was not so high-minded as to reject a favour that was offered. Poor persons, who have seen better days, are sometimes too nice and scrupulous in receiving obligations. It is good to be as independent in the world as our circumstances will allow; but to be absolutely independent is impossible, and to have a spirit above the acceptance of favours, when our circumstances render the acceptance of them needful, is a proud resistance of our spirits to that Providence which manages our concerns and which manages them with wisdom and kindness when it lays our pride in the dust.

(G. Lawson.)

That they meet thee not in any other field.
"Maidens," says one shrewd old commentator, "are the fittest company for maidens, among whom a chaste widow, such as Ruth was, may well be recounted." Modesty is the life-guard of chastity. Let this suggest the wider rule that every one should have his chosen field in which to gather Christian instruction and wisdom; and that having chosen it, he ought to keep to it. The common shepherd whom you meet on the mountains will tell you that the wandering sheep never thrives. And further, that we ought to choose for our cherished companions and "inner friends" those who are gleaners in the gospel-field like ourselves. Wander, through want of vigilance or through secret preference, into the society of the idle, the ungodly, or the immoral, and you are on the enemy's ground and in the midst of serpents and snares. You are out of the sphere of Divine protection whenever you walk into the circle of temptation without a call of duty; and there is no Davy-lamp in those noxious mines to prevent explosion, or to protect you from destruction. But the fellowship of them that fear God will show you how to be good, and will make you better. Even the lump of clay, when it was placed near the rose, according to the beautiful Persian proverb, caught some of its fragrance (Song of Solomon 1:8).

(A. Thomson, D. D.).

People
Boaz, Elimelech, Ephah, Naomi, Ruth
Places
Bethlehem, Moab
Topics
Barley, Barley-harvest, Boaz, Bo'az, Cleaveth, Close, Completion, Cutting, Dwelleth, Dwelt, Early, Ended, Fast, Finished, Girls, Glean, Gleaning, Grain, Harvest, Harvests, Kept, Late, Law, Maidens, Maids, Mother-in-law, Order, Servant, Servant-girls, Stayed, Till, Wheat, Wheat-harvest, Women
Outline
1. Ruth gleans in the field of Boaz
4. Boaz takes notice of her
8. and shows her great favor
18. That which she got, she carries to Naomi

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Ruth 2:23

     4456   grain
     4542   wheat

Ruth 2:14-23

     5117   Ruth

Ruth 2:15-23

     4454   gleaning

Library
A Full Reward.
"It hath fully been shewed me, all that thou hast done ... and how thou hast left they father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore. The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD GOD of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust" (Ruth ii. 11, 12). In this interesting narrative we have another instance of the way in which the HOLY GHOST teaches by typical lives. We have dwelt on some precious lessons
J. Hudson Taylor—A Ribband of Blue

Formation and History of the Hebrew Canon.
1. The Greek word canon (originally a straight rod or pole, measuring-rod, then rule) denotes that collection of books which the churches receive as given by inspiration of God, and therefore as constituting for them a divine rule of faith and practice. To the books included in it the term canonical is applied. The Canon of the Old Testament, considered in reference to its constituent parts, was formed gradually; formed under divine superintendence by a process of growth extending through
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible

Scriptural Poems; Being Several Portions of Scripture Digested into English Verse
viz., I. The Book of Ruth II. The History of Samson III. Christ's Sermon on the Mount IV. The Prophecy of Jonah V. The Life of Joseph VI. The Epistle of James BY JOHN BUNYAN Licensed According to Order. London: Printed for J. Blare, at the Looking Glass, on London Bridge, 1701. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. This very interesting little volume of poems, we believe, has not been reprinted since the year 1701, nor has it ever been inserted in any edition or catalogue of Bunyan's works. This may have
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

The Exile --Continued.
There are many echoes of this period of Engedi in the Psalms. Perhaps the most distinctly audible of these are to be found in the seventh psalm, which is all but universally recognised as David's, even Ewald concurring in the general consent. It is an irregular ode--for such is the meaning of Shiggaion in the title, and by its broken rhythms and abrupt transitions testifies to the emotion of its author. The occasion of it is said to be "the words of Cush the Benjamite." As this is a peculiar name
Alexander Maclaren—The Life of David

Appendix viii. Rabbinic Traditions About Elijah, the Forerunner of the Messiah
To complete the evidence, presented in the text, as to the essential difference between the teaching of the ancient Synagogue about the Forerunner of the Messiah' and the history and mission of John the Baptist, as described in the New Testaments, we subjoin a full, though condensed, account of the earlier Rabbinic traditions about Elijah. Opinions differ as to the descent and birthplace of Elijah. According to some, he was from the land of Gilead (Bemid. R. 14), and of the tribe of Gad (Tanch. on
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

The Pilgrim's Progress
FROM THIS WORLD TO THAT WHICH IS TO COME. THE SECOND PART. DELIVERED UNDER THE SIMILITUDE OF A DREAM. WHEREIN IS SET FORTH THE MANNER OF THE SETTING OUT OF CHRISTIAN'S WIFE AND CHILDREN, THEIR DANGEROUS JOURNEY, AND SAFE ARRIVAL AT THE DESIRED COUNTRY. By JOHN BUNYAN. 'I have used similitudes.'--Hosea 12:10. London: Printed for Nathaniel Ponder, at the Peacock in the Poultry, near the Church, 1684. THE AUTHOR'S WAY OF SENDING FORTH HIS SECOND PART OF THE PILGRIM. Go now, my little book, to every
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Ruth
Goethe has characterized the book of Ruth as the loveliest little idyll that tradition has transmitted to us. Whatever be its didactic purpose--and some would prefer to think that it had little or none-it is, at any rate, a wonderful prose poem, sweet, artless, and persuasive, touched with the quaintness of an older world and fresh with the scent of the harvest fields. The love--stronger than country--of Ruth for Naomi, the gracious figure of Boaz as he moves about the fields with a word of blessing
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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