Ruth Gleaning in the Fields of Barley
This story is from the Bible. Naomi and her husband Elimilech traveled to the country of Moab because there was a famine in their country of Israel. Ruth was a woman of the country of Moab. I should point out that this was NOT Moab, Utah. Ruth married an Israelite. Her husband's brother also married a woman from Moab. When all three men died and the famine in Israel ended Naomi was in great mourning, so she sent her daughters in laws to go back to their own people and families. Naomi was going back to her home country. But Ruth refused to leave Naomi. Ruth said to Naomi, "Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God"
They returned to the town of Bethlehem at the start of the barley harvest. Ruth went to the barley fields to glean barley. This means that she and her mother in law were poor. The Law of Moses said that harvesters had to leave some grain in the field for the poor to pick up. This is gleaning.
When the well to do owner of the first field she went to heard about Ruth he told her to glean only in his field. His name was Boaz. He also told her to eat and get water with his workers and that hey would leave her alone. He told her how impressed he was with her for staying with her mother in law. Boaz also told the men to "accidentally on purpose" to drop some handfulls of barley for Ruth to glean. Ruth came home with a LOT of barley.
Naomi taught her daughter in law the customs and Boaz eventually took her to wife. To me this story tells us that God truly is no respecter of persons. He cares for all His children. Ruth would go on to be the great great grandmother of Kind David...and therefore one of the ancestors of our Savior Jesus Christ.
I highly recommend reading this story in the Bible. It is fairly easy to read and it is a great story! Appropriately it is found in the Book of Ruth.
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