Ruth 2:1-3
Now Naomi had a kinsman of her
husband, a man of great wealth, of the family of Elimelech, whose name was
Boaz. And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, "Please let me go to the field
and glean among the ears of grain after one in whose sight I may find
favor." And she said to her, "Go, my daughter." So she departed
and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers; and she happened to come
to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of
Elimelech.
Naomi
and Ruth arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest. Since they
hadn’t planted any grain, they couldn’t harvest any unless they gleaned. Ruth
set off to glean and just happened to go to the field of Boaz. It was a happy
happenstance—some might call it a coincidence. I don’t believe in
coincidences—do you? God ordained the meeting of Ruth and the family of
Elimelech…in Moab and in Bethlehem.
Through Moses, God
established the custom, actually considered a law, of gleaning to provide food
for the poor. Now when you reap the
harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, nor
shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. Nor shall you glean your
vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall
leave them for the needy and for the stranger. I am the Lord your God. Leviticus
19:9-10 NASB. Additionally, God promises a blessing to those who allow the
gleaning in their fields. When you reap
your harvest in your field and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall
not go back to get it; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the
widow, in order that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your
hands Deuteronomy 24:19 NASB. Thus,
Naomi and Ruth were provided for, they wouldn’t starve in Bethlehem. It wasn’t
a handout. Ruth was what the law specified: needy and a foreigner. It wasn’t a
handout like today’s welfare system provides. She had to work for their food
bending down to pick up the fallen heads and kernels that the barley reapers
didn’t gather as they cut and bound the stocks of grain. Farming was so much
different than it is today with all of our mechanization. Gleaners wouldn’t get
much from a field now.
The law provided
for the gleaners to gather at the edges of the field, as well as across the
field behind the reapers. Does that correspond to anything spiritually?
Personally, I don’t just want to pick up bits and pieces of scripture—I want
the meat, the whole head of the grain, not just a few kernels. I know that to
get that I have to get into God’s Word for myself. Having someone else spoon
feed me with second hand messages just is not as nourishing as digging into the
Word and having the Lord show me what is important between Him and me. Feeding
our relationship. There is no other way. How about you? Do you have a desire to
study God’s Word for yourself or are you satisfied with sitting in the pew
hearing stories about what God has done for other people?
Lord,
help us to reap a harvest of truths from Your Word and not just settle for
gleaning the leftovers.
© 2012 by Mickey M.
Hunacek. All rights reserved.
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