Ruth 2:17
So Ruth gathered grain in the field until evening. And when she beat out what she had gleaned, it was about an ephah of barley.
Sermons
LabourS. B. Rees.Ruth 2:17
Persevering LabourC. Ness.Ruth 2:17
The Successful GleanerBp. Oxenden.Ruth 2:17
Liberality to the PoorJ.R. Thomson Ruth 2:15-17














The customs recorded in these chapters remain - many of them - to the present day. As to gleaning, Robinson says, "The way led us through open fields, where the people were in the midst of the wheat-harvest. The beautiful tracts of grain were full of reapers of the Henady Arabs, and also of gleaners almost as numerous. These were mostly women; and this department seemed almost as important as the reaping itself, since the latter is done in so slovenly a manner, that not only much falls to the ground, but also many stalks remain uncut. In one field nearly 200 reapers and gleaners were at work, the latter being nearly as numerous as the former." As to threshing, Robinson mentions that "several women were beating out with a stick handfuls of the grain which they seemed to have gleaned." As to the parching of corn, the same writer says, "The grains of wheat, not yet fully dry and hard, are roasted in a pan or on an iron plate, and eaten along with bread, or instead of it." Boaz showed his practical sympathy with the widows of the narrative by giving parched corn to Ruth to eat, and by securing that her gleaning should be even more successful and abundant than was usual with the maidens.

I. Liberality to the poor should ACCORD WITH THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE GIVER.

II. It should TAKE A FORM ADAPTED TO THE WANTS OF THE RECIPIENT.

III. It should BE UNGRUDGING AND GRACEFUL IN ITS BESTOWAL.

IV. It should RE INSPIRED BY THE MEMORY OF THE UNDESERVED BOUNTY OF THE GREAT GIVER, GOD.

V. It should NOT COUNT UPON, though it may have occasion to rejoice in, THE GRATITUDE OF THE BENEFICIARY. - T.

So she gleaned in the field until even.
1. Gleaners in gospel-fields should continue in their gleaning work from morning to evening. How many are but half Sabbath folk, that can spare to spend a morning in Sabbath service, but are for their pastimes after that! Ruth was none of those lazy gleaners.

2. Though God be very bountiful to us, yet will He have us to use all the means in a way of subserviency to His bounty. God will give us at the second-hand what He would not give us at first-hand; He will give us grace and knowledge by the use of the means, which He gives not immediately from Himself. "God sells all for labour," saith Hesiod.

(C. Ness.)

I. NO LABOUR IS TOO INSIGNIFICANT FOR LOVE. "So she gleaned." She was of a good family, accustomed to a life of ease and plenty. That which she does now is anything but dignified.

1. A work for the commonest powers.

2. A work for the commonest people.

3. A work whose results bear no comparison to the expenditure of labour.

4. A work in which is redone that which has been considered as done.Men measure the worth of work by its conspicuousness. The real worth of work lies in meeting the necessity for its existence, and the motive which inspires it. Two lives depend upon her toil — then her work has worth; she loves the woman for whom she toils — then her work has dignity. Her love consecrates lowest means for highest ends.

II. NO RESULTS OF LABOUR ARE TOO INSIGNIFICANT FOR CARE. She "beat out that she had gleaned."(S. B. Rees.)

1. Ruth was a gleaner; and so should we be. The Bible is that field. Search the Scriptures; glean there. Pick up every grain, for it contains precious nourishment. No matter how many gleaners; there is food enough for all.

2. Alas, how many careless ones there are, who never glean at all! They loiter all the day of their life idle. And so, when night comes, they sink into eternity with nothing done.

3. Others, again, begin when Ruth leaves off, at even. All the bright and sunny portion of their lives they give to the world.

4. Ruth began gleaning in the morning. She felt that every hour must be employed; that every moment was precious. She laboured diligently. May we make God's Word our daily study!

(Bp. Oxenden.)

People
Boaz, Elimelech, Ephah, Naomi, Ruth
Places
Bethlehem, Moab
Topics
Amounted, Barley, Beat, Beateth, Crushing, Ephah, Evening, Field, Gathered, Getting, Gleaned, Gleaneth, Grain, Heads, Seed, Threshed, Till
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 2:17

     4933   evening
     5616   measures, dry

Ruth 2:1-20

     5809   compassion, human

Ruth 2:14-18

     4456   grain

Ruth 2:14-23

     5117   Ruth

Ruth 2:15-19

     8428   example

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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