Ruth 2:23 So she kept fast by the maidens of Boaz to glean to the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest; and dwelled with her mother in law. This Book of Ruth is emphatically the book of the husbandman. It pictures the barley-harvest and the wheat-harvest of ancient days. The primitive manners and usages are interesting, and deserve attentive study. But harvest - as here so vividly brought before us - is full of lessons of a spiritual kind. E.g. - I. HARVEST WITNESSES TO THE ATTRIBUTES OF THE DIVINE CREATOR. To his power and wisdom. To his goodness. To his faithfulness to his promise: "Seed-time and harvest shall not cease." II. HARVEST IS A SUMMONS TO MAN'S GRATITUDE AND CONFIDENCE. III. HARVEST IS SUGGESTIVE OF GREAT SPIRITUAL TRUTHS. There is a moral harvest in the history of the human character and of human society. Seed and soil are presumed. Development and growth are evidenced. The law operates: "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." The fruit is matured and gathered in. The Husbandman - God himself - is interested in the result. To us the result is infinitely important. - T. Parallel Verses KJV: So she kept fast by the maidens of Boaz to glean unto the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest; and dwelt with her mother in law. |