Iyyar 5 – Please let me glean heads of grain

May 12, 2024

Iyyar 5, 5784; from sunset May 12, 2024, to sunset May 13, 2024

These are the names Naomi and Ruth as seen in the Aleppo Codex, written over 1,000 years ago.

The Bible does not give us specific dates for the events of the second chapter of Ruth, only that it occurred during the barley and wheat harvests. On our calendar, this spans the time between April and June. Today’s date was chosen at random in order to remember Naomi’s daughter-in-law, Ruth and her work in the fields of Israel.

When we last checked in, she and Naomi had just returned to Bethlehem from Moab. It was the beginning of the barley harvest.

There was a relative of Naomi’s husband, a man of great wealth, of the family of Elimelech. His name was Boaz.

So Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Please let me go to the field, and glean heads of grain after him in whose sight I may find favor.” And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.” Then she left, and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.

Now behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said to the reapers, “The LORD be with you!” And they answered him, “The LORD bless you!”

Then Boaz said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?” So the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered and said, “It is the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. And she said, `Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.’ So she came and has continued from morning until now, though she rested a little in the house.”

Then Boaz said to Ruth, “You will listen, my daughter, will you not? Do not go to glean in another field, nor go from here, but stay close by my young women. Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them. Have I not commanded the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn.”

So she fell on her face, bowed down to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?”

And Boaz answered and said to her, “It has been fully reported to me, all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom you did not know before. The LORD repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge.”

Then she said, “Let me find favor in your sight, my lord; for you have comforted me, and have spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your maidservants.”

Now Boaz said to her at mealtime, “Come here, and eat of the bread, and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar.” So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed parched grain to her; and she ate and was satisfied, and kept some back.

And when she rose up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her. Also let grain from the bundles fall purposely for her; leave it that she may glean, and do not rebuke her.”

So she gleaned in the field until evening, and beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. Then she took it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. So she brought out and gave to her what she had kept back after she had been satisfied. And her mother-in-law said to her, “Where have you gleaned today? And where did you work? Blessed be the one who took notice of you.” So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and said, “The man’s name with whom I worked today is Boaz.”

Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “Blessed be he of the LORD, who has not forsaken His kindness to the living and the dead!” And Naomi said to her, “This man is a relation of ours, one of our close relatives.”

Ruth the Moabitess said, “He also said to me, `You shall stay close by my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’”

And Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, and that people do not meet you in any other field.” So she stayed close by the young women of Boaz, to glean until the end of barley harvest and wheat harvest; and she dwelt with her mother-in-law. – Ruth Chapter 2 (NKJ)

I always thought it would be great to have a boss like Boaz. He comes out of Bethlehem (his office) and walks down the road (hallway), waves to his workers and says, “The LORD be with you!” And his reapers (employees) say to him in return, “The LORD bless you!” I’d like to work at a place like that. 😊

If we take a high-level view of the book of Ruth, perhaps we can see it from a different perspective. We suggest reading the book with the following point of view:

Naomi = the Jewish people
Ruth = foreigners who have pledged themselves to the God of Israel
Boaz = the Kinsman Redeemer, the Messiah, Jesus

From this perspective, we can see that Ruth has joined herself to the people of Israel. She has been welcomed to glean from the fields of Israel by the Messiah. He has pronounced a blessing over her. She is working “the harvest” alongside Israel, sitting next to the reapers and being served food and drink by the Messiah, Himself.

Earlier we learned how Ruth may have chosen the God of Israel and crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land on the tenth day of the first month. This follows the patterns of how God commanded us to choose our Passover lamb and how Joshua led the children of Israel in crossing the Jordan River, entering into the Promised Land, on the same day. We considered how Naomi’s statement “Don’t call me Naomi, call me Mara” (don’t call me “sweet,” call me “bitter”) may have occurred at a Passover Seder. And now, after the sacrifice of the “Lamb” – a gentile is free to glean from the fields of Israel. This aligns with Leviticus 23:22…you shall leave them for the poor and the “stranger.”

`When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field when you reap, nor shall you gather any gleaning from your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger: I am the LORD your God.’”

The “stranger” (gentiles) have benefitted from the seed planted by the Jewish people. We are being “fed” because of them.

We’ll continue following Ruth as she spends the Counting of the Omer, literally counting the omers of grain that she has gleaned from the fields of Boaz.

To read all of our posts about Naomi and Ruth, please click on the image above.