So she gleaned in the field until even, and beat out that she had gleaned: and it was about an ephah of barley.
Ruth 2:17 belongs to the brief, beautiful four-chapter pastoral story of Ruth from the time of the judges, which presents simple home life in Israel. The story shows God's care for the lineage of Christ, ending with His ancestry into which Ruth, a Moabite woman, is brought as one of His ancestors. The account of the near kinsman in the story points to Christ.
In the verse Ruth gleans scattered grain in Boaz's field until evening and beats out what she gathered, amounting to about an ephah, or a full sack, of barley. Her diligence as a gleaner who keeps working through the day encourages steady labor even when the work is humble or the conditions are difficult. Her gleaning illustrates the small, often overlooked work of seeking people who have been missed or passed by and bringing them into God's harvest.
The harvest in Boaz's field shows that cutting down the grain is not enough, others must bind it into sheaves. Binding means gathering loose material and followers of Christ together in Sabbath-schools, prayer-meetings, missionary associations, and churches. The church lacks organization, with too many idle troops in the reserve, and God's army must be divided into active companies, regiments, battalions, sharpshooters, artillerymen, infantry, and sappers and miners, so that all the castles of sin can be taken for King Immanuel.
Ruth 2:17 belongs to the brief, beautiful four-chapter pastoral story of Ruth from the time of the judges, which presents simple home life in Israel. The story shows God's care for the lineage of Christ, ending with His ancestry into which Ruth, a Moabite woman, is brought as one of His ancestors. The account of the near kinsman in the story points to Christ.
In the verse Ruth gleans scattered grain in Boaz's field until evening and beats out what she gathered, amounting to about an ephah, or a full sack, of barley. Her diligence as a gleaner who keeps working through the day encourages steady labor even when the work is humble or the conditions are difficult. Her gleaning illustrates the small, often overlooked work of seeking people who have been missed or passed by and bringing them into God's harvest.
The harvest in Boaz's field shows that cutting down the grain is not enough, others must bind it into sheaves. Binding means gathering loose material and followers of Christ together in Sabbath-schools, prayer-meetings, missionary associations, and churches. The church lacks organization, with too many idle troops in the reserve, and God's army must be divided into active companies, regiments, battalions, sharpshooters, artillerymen, infantry, and sappers and miners, so that all the castles of sin can be taken for King Immanuel.