And Boaz said to her at mealtime, Come hither and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers; and he reached her parched corn, and she ate and was sufficed, and reserved [some].
Ruth is a poor widow from Moab, gathering leftover grain at the edge of Boaz's field. Why does the wealthy owner call this foreigner to his own meal, seat her with his workers, and feed her by hand?
The food is plain. The sour wine was a dip for the bread, and the grain was roasted over a fire. But the helping Boaz gave her was no token.
At mealtime, Boaz showed further favour to the Moabite woman. Boaz let Ruth share fully with the rest, and dip her morsel of bread in the dish of vinegar or sour wine. As she sat among the reapers, Boaz himself passed her a generous helping of roasted grain. It was a double portion to mark his favour. Truly blessed are the meek; they "shall eat and be satisfied" (Psalm 22:26).
The invitation lands on someone who is sure she has no claim to it.
Boaz's praise does not puff her up; she is well aware that all is grace and she desires to find yet more grace. She recognizes his authority over her and declares herself to be his unworthy servant. Then he singles her out for honour by inviting her to his feast. Ruth sits at Boaz's table! What a mark of favour for this poor foreigner!
She brings a scrap of bread; what makes it taste good comes from his side of the table.
Our Lord never leaves a seeking soul to hunger. In the provision for Ruth's refreshment we see His hand of bounty, even for one who little realizes the fulness of His grace. She is welcome to dip her morsel in the vinegar. Along with her feeble understanding — her bit of bread — she receives the strength and refreshment suggested in the wine. Have we not done the same in the early days of our faith? We brought our little scrap of truth, our little glimpse of Christ. We found it made delicious and strengthening by the sense of a love which we did not bring.
She sits with a crowd, yet Boaz aims one act at her alone.
At mealtime Boaz says, "Come here and eat some bread." This is enjoyment together. Sheep feed together. But notice: "he passed to her roasted grain." In the company, that was something meant for Ruth alone. It is individual attention, so delightful both to read and to experience.
The order at the end of the verse matters: first food, then fullness, then a surplus.
What a picture of a soul simply sitting down and fully receiving the grace of God! What is the first thing I do when His grace offers me Christ the living Bread? I eat. What follows? I am satisfied. The heart is full, the conscience is perfectly purged, the soul is at rest… Then, as a simple consequence, comes this: there is something (in our case an immensity) "left," which we carry off for the benefit of others. Grace magnificently expands the heart, strips it of selfishness, and fills it with desires for the blessing of others.
The harvest law told landowners to leave the edges of the field for the poor and the foreigner. Boaz keeps it and then goes past it.
As a true son of Israel, Boaz, the Bethlehemite, remembers this word of the God of Israel, and does even more than was commanded. The reapers, as we read in the story, give him a good report of this poor stranger from Moab. He greets her with kind and gracious favour, and she accepts his grace with thankfulness. She is satisfied with what her work could gather. But he goes beyond all she desired: he serves her with his own hands and gives her a place among his sheaves.
Commentators differ on what this meal pictures.
Some may see in this a picture of the Lord's Supper for those who are His own. But may I suggest instead that it pictures a Bible reading of the Lord's people around His Word. There, gathered with them, is one seeking a like portion who has not yet tasted the redemptive work of Christ. That one truly longs for soul satisfaction. As the Holy Spirit, through the lips of those gathered, unfolds the glories of the riches of Christ, that soul drinks in the truth with real pleasure and delight. As Ruth takes home to Naomi what she kept back after she was satisfied, so that soul must tell others something of this treasure it has just begun to learn.
- Called. Boaz calls a foreigner with no right to the harvest from the field's edge to his own meal.
- Seated. She eats with the reapers and shares fully. Plain field food is made rich by the one who serves it.
- Served. In the middle of a crowd, one hand reaches out to her alone. Grace does not lose the individual.
- Satisfied. She eats and is content; the hungry heart stops searching once Christ feeds it.
- Surplus. She carries the leftovers home to Naomi. A satisfied heart always has something to give to someone else.
And when she rose up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and ye shall not reproach her.
A poor foreigner is gleaning leftovers in a stranger's barley field. The owner changes the rules in her favour. His order to his workers has two halves: where she may gather, and how they must speak to her. Commentators read both as a picture of how God treats those who come to Him with nothing.
A gleaner picked up only the stalks left lying on the ground. Boaz moves that line.
When Ruth started gleaning again, Boaz instructed his young men to give her every help. She was to gather up the barley stalks left scattered on the field when the men tied the sheaves.
One writer takes the lifting of limits as the point. He applies it to how much of the Bible a Christian may read.
"Let her glean even among the sheaves," says Boaz. She has the right of range over all his field. There are to be no limits or restrictions on her. And the Christian has the range of all the word of God given to him, from Genesis to Revelation.
The law gave Ruth no standing in Bethlehem. She was a stranger there. But God had already made a provision for people like her.
As we have already noticed, under the law Ruth had no claim and no place in Bethlehem. But there was a provision made for the poor and the stranger at harvest time. She throws herself entirely on the grace of God, who in this way provided ears of corn for those who had no right to the full harvest.
Boaz was not inventing generosity. He was carrying out a law God had already given.
Boaz was simply acting out that gracious ordinance whose benefit Ruth was reaping. The same grace that had given him the field gave her the gleanings. They were both debtors to grace. She was the happy recipient of Jehovah's goodness.
Ruth never hears this order. Boaz gives it over her head, to the young men. That detail carries weight for anyone who serves others.
Fifth, the reapers receive special directions from their master, so that they may be ready for their service. Boaz "instructed his young men, saying, 'Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her.'" People's special needs will call for special directions from the Lord. How near the servant must be to the Master! Only so, in the course of his service, will he know how to let fall a special handful, for a special need, without "reproach" and without "rebuke."
Boaz had the means to hand her a sack of grain and end the matter. He does not.
The kindness of Boaz shows further in his orders to his harvesters. They are to let Ruth glean even among the sheaves, and to let grain fall on purpose for her. Boaz could have given Ruth a large amount of grain and saved her the work of gleaning and beating it out. But he wisely left her with work to do, while he encouraged her by letting her see that her work was not in vain.
Mackintosh points to the manner of the kindness, not only its size.
This noble Israelite clearly wanted "the stranger" to have plenty. He wanted her to have it as the fruit of her own gleaning, not of his charity.
Gaebelein draws two lines from this field at once — one to Israel's future, one to the reader's own Bible.
All of this foreshadows what the believing remnant of Israel will pass through in soul when the harvest begins, and how graciously the Lord will deal with that remnant. We may also apply it on spiritual lines to a soul that seeks blessing, and to how the Lord deals in His grace with those who seek Him… We glean in His Word.
- Claim — Ruth had no legal right in Bethlehem. She came as a stranger and cast herself on a provision God had already made for the poor.
- Command — Boaz orders what grace gives: free range among the sheaves, and no reproach from his workers.
- Concealed — Boaz speaks the order to his young men, not to Ruth. The servant who stays close to his master learns how to meet a need without rebuke.
- Cost — Boaz does not just hand over the grain. He leaves her real work, and lets her see that the work is not wasted.
- Carried home — the same grace that gave Boaz the field gave Ruth the gleanings. Both alike were debtors to grace.
And ye shall also sometimes draw out for her [some ears] out of the handfuls, and leave them that she may glean, and rebuke her not.
Ruth is a foreigner gleaning in a field that is not hers. Boaz gives an order about her that she is never meant to hear. Older translations word his order, "let fall also some of the handfuls on purpose for her." Commentators build on those two words, "on purpose." In them they see how God provides for people who think they are only picking up leftovers.
Boaz gave his men two orders about Ruth. She could gather the loose stalks, and they were also to pull grain out of the tied sheaves for her.
When Ruth went back to gleaning, Boaz instructed his young men to give her every help. She was to gather up the barley stalks left scattered on the field when they tied the sheaves. They were also to pull out a few handfuls from the sheaves for her special benefit.
Boaz could have handed her a sack of grain. Instead he arranged for her to find it herself.
Nothing can surpass the exquisite refinement of the words, "let fall also some of the handfuls on purpose for her." Clearly this noble Israelite wanted "the stranger" to have plenty. And he wanted her to have it as the fruit of her own gleaning rather than of his generosity. This was refinement itself. It put her in direct connection with the God of Israel, and in dependence on Him. He was the God who had fully recognised "the gleaner" and provided for her. Boaz was only acting out that gracious law, and Ruth was reaping its benefit. The same grace that had given him the field gave her the gleanings. They were both debtors to grace.
Boaz guards the manner of the kindness as much as the kindness itself: no reproach, no rebuke. Commentators take that as a lesson for anyone who serves others on God's behalf.
The special needs of people will call for special directions from the Lord. How close the servant must be to the Master! Only then, in the course of his service, will he know how to let fall a special handful for a special need, without "reproach" and without "rebuke." The Lord in this, as in all else, is our perfect example. On the day of the resurrection He sent a message to Peter: "Go, tell his disciples and Peter." Was He not, with infinite perfection, letting fall a "handful on purpose" for a poor wandering sheep, without "reproach" and without "rebuke"?
Ruth went home loaded with grain and never knew why the field was so generous. Commentators ask whether the reader has had the same experience.
Knowing her need well, and her possible reluctance, Boaz orders his men to let some handfuls of grain fall on purpose for her. This is very beautiful, and shows the loving thought of our Lord. Have we not found just such handfuls of comfort, hardly suspecting where they came from? We have found some precious assurance, some view of God's love and grace. We say we found it, but it was let fall on purpose for us. The word of God is full of such handfuls of grace left on purpose for the needy soul. … When did a needy gleaner ever turn to its pages and not find just the word for himself? It shows the heart of God that He has scattered handfuls of blessing, messages of love and grace, from one end of His Book to the other.
One writer turns the picture into a direct offer.
"But," you say, "I am afraid of the day of judgment." Well then, here is a handful for you. "Whoever believes in him is not condemned." And again: "Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me HAS ETERNAL LIFE." Gather up that handful, beat it out, take it home, and eat it. "Has eternal life. He DOES NOT COME INTO JUDGMENT, but HAS PASSED from death to life."
Commentators also draw a rule for everyday giving from what Boaz did here.
The example of Boaz should teach us here. He let Ruth glean, but he made sure her gleaning was worthwhile. This is a very safe and very simple principle. God intends people to work at something. We go against Him when we pull someone out of depending on the results of patient work and into depending on the results of false generosity. … No bread tastes so sweet as the bread a person nobly earns. But those who earn their bread should get enough.
- On purpose. The scattered grain looked accidental, but it was placed. What faith calls a discovery was a decision made before the gleaner arrived.
- On purpose for her. The handfuls were not general charity. They were aimed at one person and her need — as the risen Lord named Peter in His message.
- On purpose, unseen. Ruth never heard the order. Kindness that hides its source lets the receiver keep her dignity and look straight to God.
- On purpose, and still earned. Boaz gave her plenty, but in the form of her own work. She went home fed and with her dignity intact.
- On purpose, so pass it on. Serve close enough to the Master to drop the right handful at the right moment — with no reproach and no rebuke.