One of the most precious lessons we may learn from the story of Ruth is to be found in her manner of gleaning. In chapter 2:3 we read, "She went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers." In verse 7 the servant said to Boaz, "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." Then in verse 23 the inspired writer adds, " She kept fast by the maidens of Boaz to glean unto the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest." She came to glean, she continued to glean, and she gleaned unto the end. Happy Ruth! she continued in the field, to find her need abundantly met through the goodness of God, under whose wings she had come to trust.
What an example of "patient continuance" and its reward this is for us who are privileged to "glean among the sheaves " of the word of God! How can we glean to profit ?-continue unto the end ? As we traverse the field of truth, we shall find, like the favored Moabitish damsel, "handfuls of purpose " let fall for us to gather. Our gracious Master, whom Boaz but faintly typifies, prepares for us, and drops at our very feet, tokens of His love and care. "The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him" (Lam. 3:25).
To follow Ruth further, she "beat out" that which she had gleaned. Now, if we would profit by spiritual gleaning, we must " beat out" the precious ears of truth by prayerful meditation. Then we shall be able to say with Jeremiah of old, "Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and Thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart" (Jer. 15 :16).
Then follows the practical application of the truth. " 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" (2:18). What a complete picture of one who has been "abundantly satisfied" with the fatness of God's house! It is only by being thus satisfied, "filled with the finest of the wheat," that we can become His messengers, going out into the world laden with blessing for others.
May we therefore continue to glean, and glean unto the end, in this rich harvest-field. The time of gleaning brought Ruth food and gladness through the kindness of Boaz, to whom she had once been "a stranger" (2:10):and what did the end of the harvest bring ? Rest in His love and His home. So when our gleaning days are over, we shall pass into the glorious fulfilment of the promise left by our Lord Jesus, " In My Father's house are many mansions :if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself" (John 14 :2, 3). J. M. G.