Ruth 2:18

And she took it up, and went into the city: and her mother in law saw what she had gleaned: and she brought forth, and gave to her that she had reserved after she was sufficed.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

2:17-23 It encourages industry, that in all labour, even that of gleaning, there is profit. Ruth was pleased with what she gained by her own industry, and was careful to secure it. Let us thus take care that we lose not those things which we have wrought, which we have gained for our souls' good, 2Jo 1:8. Parents should examine their children, as Naomi did, not to frighten or discourage them, so as to make them hate home, or tempt them to tell a lie; but to commend them if they have done well, and with mildness to reprove and caution them if they have done otherwise. It is a good question for us to ask ourselves every night, Where have I gleaned to-day? What improvement have I made in knowledge and grace? What have I done that will turn to a good account? When the Lord deals bountifully with us, let us not be found in any other field, nor seeking for happiness and satisfaction in the creature. We lose Divine favours, if we slight them. Ruth dutifully observed her mother's directions. And when the harvest was ended, she kept her aged mother company at home. Dinah went out to see the daughters of the land; her vanity ended in disgrace, Ge 34. Ruth kept at home, and helped to maintain her mother, and went out on no other errand than to get provision for her; her humility and industry ended in preferment.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And beat out that she had gleaned - Namely, with a stick, as the word implies (compare Deuteronomy 24:20; Isaiah 27:12). This method is still commonly practiced. Ruth gleaned enough to support herself and her mother-in-law for five days Exodus 16:16.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

17. and beat out that she had gleaned—When the quantity of grain was small, it was beat out by means of a stick.

an ephah—supposed to contain about a bushel.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Or, that which she had left of her fulness, or after she was satisfied. She did eat as much as she desired of what she had gleaned, and her mother, as I suppose, with her, and the residue she gave to her mother to lay up for future use.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And she took it up,.... The ephah of barley, into her arms, or on her shoulders:

and went into the city; the city of Bethlehem:

and her mother in law saw what she had gleaned: she set it down before her, and she looked at it with admiration, that she should glean so much in one day:

and she brought forth; not Naomi, as Josephus (k) represents it, who understood it as if she brought forth some food her neighbours had brought her, part of which she kept for Ruth, though he takes it in the other sense also; but the meaning is, that Ruth brought forth out of a scrip, as the Targum adds; besides the ephah of barley she set before her, she brought some victuals out of a bag:

and gave to her, that she had reserved after she was sufficed; not that she ate of the barley, and her mother-in-law also; and then she gave her the rest to lay up against another time, as some interpret it; but the remainder of the food which Boaz gave her at dinner time, which she could not eat, Ruth 2:14 she reserved for her mother, and now gave it to her; an instance of that piety commended by the apostle, 1 Timothy 5:4.

(k) Antiqu l. 5. c. 9. sect. 2.

Geneva Study Bible

And she took it up, and went into the city: and her mother in law saw what she had gleaned: and she g} brought forth, and gave to her that she had reserved after she was sufficed.

(g) That is, from her bag, as it is in the Chaldee text.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

18. her mother in law saw] A slight change of pronunciation gives a more expressive sense: she shewed her mother in law.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 18. - And she lifted it up, and went into the city: and her mother-in-law beheld what she had gleaned. She likewise brought forth, and gave to her, what she had left over after she was satisfied. It would be with gratitude and pride that Ruth would let her heavy burden slip off into the hands of Naomi. It would be with gratitude and wonder that Naomi would behold the precious load. Other gentle emotions would stir within the mother-in-law's hungry heart when her beloved daughter-in-law produced and presented the remains of her delightfully refreshing repast at the tent. The expression, "after she was satisfied," is literally, "from her satiety." Ruth 2:18

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

This she brought to her mother-in-law in the city, and "drew out (sc., from her pocket, as the Chaldee has correctly supplied) what she had left from her sufficiency," i.e., of the parched corn which Boaz had reached her (Ruth 2:14).