Ruth 2:7

_AND SHE SAID, I PRAY YOU, LET ME GLEAN AND GATHER AFTER THE REAPERS AMONG THE SHEAVES: SO SHE CAME, AND HATH CONTINUED EVEN FROM THE MORNING UNTIL NOW, THAT SHE TARRIED A LITTLE IN THE HOUSE._ After the reapers among the sheaves. Various modes of reaping are practiced in the East. Where the crop is thin and short, it is plucked up by the roots. In other states it is cut with the sickle. Whether reaped in the one way or the other, the grain is cast into sheaves loosely thrown together, to be subjected to the process of threshing, which takes place for the most part immediately after the reaping. Field labours were begun early in the morning, before the day became oppressively hot. SHE TARRIED A LITTLE IN THE HOUSE - i:e., the field tent, erected for the occasional rest and refreshment of the labourers....

4-16 The pious and kind language between Boaz and his reapers shows that there were godly persons in Israel. Such language as this is seldom heard in our field; too often, on the contrary, what is immoral and corrupt. A stranger would form a very different opinion of our land, from that which Ruth would form of Israel from the converse and conduct of Boaz and his reapers. But true religion will teach a man to behave aright in all states and conditions; it will form kind masters and faithful servants, and cause harmony in families. True religion will cause mutual love and kindness among persons of different ranks. It had these effects on Boaz and his men. When he came to them he prayed for them. They did not, as soon as he was out of hearing curse him, as some ill-natured servants that hate their master's eye, but they returned his courtesy. Things are likely to go on well where there is...

Verse Ruth 2:7. _THAT SHE TARRIED A LITTLE IN THE HOUSE._] It seems as if the reapers were now resting in their _tent_, and that Ruth had just gone in with them to take her rest also....

THE HOUSE - The shed or booth where they took their meals, and were sheltered from the sun in the heat of the day (see Genesis 33:17)....

EXPOSITION IT is by way of introduction to the remaining narrative that the writer says:— RUTH 2:1 AND NAOMI HAD, ON HER HUSBAND'S SIDE, A FRIEND. The C'tib reading מְיֻדַּע (absolute מְיֻדָע) is much to be preferred to the K'ri מוֹדַע. But מְיֻדָּע is ambiguous in import. It primarily means _known_, _well-known_, _acquainted_, _an acquaintance _(see Job 19:14; Psalms 55:13; Psalms 88:8, Psalms 88:18). But as intimate acquaintances, especially in a primitive and compar

AND SHE SAID,.... These are the words of the servant continued, who goes on with the account of Ruth, and her conduct, since she had been in the field: I PRAY YOU LET ME GLEAN, AND GATHER AFTER THE REAPERS AMONG THE SHEAVES: for though by the law of Israel she had a right, as a poor widow and stranger, to glean, yet as the owner of the field, and his servants, by his appointment, under him, might have power of fixing the time when such might glean, and of judging who were the proper persons to be admitted, Ruth in her great modesty and meekness did not choose to enter on this work without leave: SO SHE CAME; into the field and gleaned, having obtained leave: AND HATH CONTINUED EVEN FROM THE MORNING UNTIL NOW; had been very diligent and industrious in gathering up the loose ears of corn among the sheaves, as she followed the reapers cutting down and binding up the corn in sheaves; she...

CHAPTER 2 GLEANING IN THE FIELD _ 1. Ruth gleaning in the field of Boaz (Ruth 2:1)_ 2. Grace shown to Ruth by Boaz (Ruth 2:4) 3. Ruth hears concerning Boaz (Ruth 2:18) Boaz comes now upon the scene. His name means “in Him is strength.” He is called “a mighty man of wealth.” As the kinsman-redeemer he is a beautiful type of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one in whom there is strength, the rich one. Ruth knows at first little of him and the coming relationship with the wealthy one. Boaz is related to Elimelech, whose name “my God is king” is typical of Israel's faith. Through Elimelech only Naomi (the nation Israel) has a claim on Boaz. And she can only lay claim through Ruth. Even so Israel has a claim on the ble

THE MEETING OF BOAZ AND RUTH. Naomi's kinsman quite a different word from the near kinsman (goë l) of Ruth 2:20 is introduced in Heb. words which sometimes denoted a wealthy man, and sometimes a valiant man, so that a peaceful farmer like Boaz is characterised in the same terms as warriors like Gideon and Jephthah (Judges 6:12; Judges 11:1). The name Boaz may mean in Him is strength. Ruth 2:2. It was a custom, and it became a law, in Israel that the poor, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow should be permitted to glean in the harvest fields (Deuteronomy 24:19

FROM THE MORNING. all the morning....

_save that she tarried a little in the house_ lit. -her dwelling in the house is (but) short": not _the house_of Boaz, which is out of the question; possibly _her own house_, in which case the meaning will be -she has but recently come to live here." It is doubtful, however, whether the words can bear this sense; the text is probably corrupt. The LXX. reads -and she hath not rested in the field (even) a little time"; the Vulg., -and not even for a moment hath she returned to the house." Something can be said for each of these emendations, but neither is quite satisfactory....