Harvest
Harvest
(, )
1. Use of the word in the NT.-The Gr. verb () for to harvest or to reap properly means to do summer work (from , summer). In addition to the numerous allusions to sowing and reaping contained in the Gospels, there are several other references to harvest-time in the pages of the NT. Thus St. Paul, when finding it necessary to upbraid the Corinthian converts for their meanness in regard to this worlds goods, sarcastically asks: If we to you did sow (i.e. when we planted the church in Corinth) spiritual things, is it a great matter if we of you should reap material things? (1Co 9:11). The sower is entitled to expect a harvest of the particular crop which he sows-in this case a spiritual harvest; how much more is he entitled to a mere worldly harvest as the compensation for his toil, inadequate though the compensation be. In 2Co 9:6 St. Paul reverts to the same metaphor and in the same connexion. Niggardliness would appear to have been a besetting sin of the Corinthians, as seemingly also of the Galatians (cf. Lightfoot, Galatians 5, p. 219). The proposition here set forth is similar to that enunciated in Gal 6:7 though the application is somewhat different. He that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he that soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. In Gal 6:7 this is compressed into the single sentence: Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. The Apostle then proceeds to apply the truth embodied in the proverb to the subject to which ho is devoting his particular attention: For he that soweth unto his own flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap eternal life. The proverb itself is a common one, and is found not only in the Bible but also in the classical writers (cf. Lightfoot, op. cit. p. 219), and the aptness of the simile is too obvious to require any comment. Without abandoning his metaphor, the Apostle next addresses those who, though faithful up to a point, are apt to be faint-hearted: in well-doing, let us not lose heart, for at its proper time (i.e. at harvest-time) we shall reap if we faint not.
In Gal 6:7-8 the harvest is made to depend on the nature of the ground into which the seed is cast, but in 1Co 9:11 the reference is rather to the particular kind and quality of the seed sown (cf. Job 4:8), while in 2Co 9:6 the amount sown is the point emphasized.
In Jam 5:4 we have another allusion to the agricultural operations incidental to harvest-time: Behold, the hire of the labourers who mowed your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud (i.e. comes too late from you), crieth out: and the cries of them that reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. The same love of money evidently prevailed among those here addressed as in the Galatian and Corinthian churches. The particular manifestation of it which the writer singles out as the object of his special denunciation is the omission to pay the labourers their wages promptly. In the eyes of the law this was a heinous offence; thus in Lev 19:13 it is enacted that the wages of a hired servant shall not abide with thee all night until the morning (cf. also Pro 3:27-28, Jer 22:13, Mal 3:5).
In Rev 14:15-16 the Parousia is represented as ushering in the great harvest of the worlds fruit (cf. Mat 13:39 the harvest is the end of the world). In Mat 13:39 ff. the harvest consists in gathering up the tares as well as the wheat with a view to their subsequent separation; here, however, only the wheat is reaped, and the evil, which in the Parable appears as tares, is treated under another metaphor in Rev 14:17 ff. In the Parable again the angels are the reapers, but here the Son of Man Himself gathers the fruit. Of that hour, the hour to reap (Rev 14:15), knoweth no man, no not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father (Mar 13:32), who sends an angel to announce to the Divinely-commissioned reaper that the hour to reap is come; for the harvest of the earth is over-ripe (better perhaps fully ripe, though the word used [] properly refers to the drying up of the juices of the wheat).
After the gathering in of all the wheat, another angel comes forth from the Temple, he also having a sharp sickle, and a second reaping follows the first. This second reaping follows the first just as the vintage, with which it is here associated, succeeded the wheat harvest (cf. Joe 3:13). It will be observed that the Son of Man reaps the wheat, but the work of destruction is fittingly consigned to an angel. The children of the kingdom are in this chapter identified with the wheat as elsewhere in the NT, but the wicked are identified with the clusters of the vine destined to be trodden in the winepress of the wrath of God (cf. the vine of wrath in Rev 14:8; Rev 14:10).
2. The harvest in Palestine.-Of the various harvests in Palestine, that of barley takes place first. Generally speaking, it begins about the middle of April, but in the Jordan valley in March, while in the coast districts, on the other hand, it commences about ten days later, and in the elevated regions sometimes as much as a month later. Hence the labourers from the hills are free to assist in reaping the harvest of the coast-dwellers, while the latter in turn can lend a hand in gathering in the harvest in the hill-country. The wheat harvest commences about a fortnight after the barley harvest; the gathering of fruit and vegetables takes place in summer, the gathering of olives in autumn, and the vintage from August onwards. The harvest of course depends on the rainfall, which, to render the best results, must neither be very large nor very small.
Barley is the universal food of asses and horses and is also the staple food of the poor, who, however, generally mix it with wheaten meal when they can afford to do so. Wheat thrives well in Palestine, thirty-fold being quite an average crop. It is reaped with a sickle, and gathered into bundles which are generally carried off at once on the backs of camels to the threshing-floor, where the heads are struck off the straw by the sickle. The threshing-floor is generally common to the whole village, and consists of a large open space on the side of a hill, the surface of the rock being levelled for the purpose, or, failing this, an artificial mortar floor is prepared. The grain is usually separated from the chaff by oxen treading it as they are driven round and round a circular heap of corn in the centre of the floor. The oxen as a rule are not muzzled (cf. Deu 25:4, 1Co 9:9, 1Ti 5:18). Sometimes, however, the wheat is threshed by means of a heavy wooden wheel or roller, or else by a kind of drag consisting of two or three boards fastened together, the under-surface of which is studded with pieces of iron, flint, or stone. It is drawn by a horse or an ass. This machine is seen more frequently in the northern parts of the country. After threshing comes the process of winnowing. As soon as the straw has been removed, the corn is thrown up into the air by shovels, when the wind blows away the chaff and the grain falls back. When there is no wind, a large fan is employed (cf. Mat 3:12). The chopped straw, called tibn, is used as fodder for the cattle.
But, even after the winnowing, the grain is still mixed with small stones, pieces of clay, unbruised ears and tares, all of which must be removed before the corn is ready for use. Hence the necessity of the further process of sifting. This work is done by women. The sieve generally consists of a wooden hoop with a mesh made of camel-hair. The sifter is seated on the floor and shakes the sieve containing the grain until the chaff comes to the surface; she then blows it away, removes the stones and other bits of refuse, after which the grain is ready for the granary. In modern times it is always stored in underground chambers, generally about 8 feet deep; they are cemented on the inside to keep the damp out, the only opening being a circular mouth, about 15 inches in diameter, which is boarded over and, if concealment is desirable, covered with earth or grass. The grain thus stored will keep for years. See also Sickle, Vine, Vintage.
Literature.-H. B. Tristram, Eastern Customs in Bible Lands, 1894, p. 123f.; J. C. Geikie, The Holy Land and the Bible, 1903, pp. 53, 244, 252; W. M. Thomson, The Land and the Book, 1864, p. 543f.; G. Robinson Lees, Village Life in Palestine, 1897, ch. iv.; T. S. Evans, in Speakers Commentary, iii. [1881] 302; J. B. Lightfoot, Galatians5, 1876, p. 219f.; J. B. Mayor, The Epistle of St. James3, 1910, p. 157f.; H. B. Swete, The Apocalypse of St. John2, 1907, p. 188ff.; Encyclopaedia Biblica i. 80f.; Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) i. 49ff.; Dict. of Christ and the Gospels i. 40; Hastings Single-vol. Dictionary of the Bible 16.
P. S. P. Handcock.
Fuente: Dictionary of the Apostolic Church
Harvest
(, katsr’, i.e. reaping; ), the season of gathering grain or fruits. In general, this fell, as now in Palestine, in the middle of April or Abib (Joh 4:35), although in many parts, e.g. at Jericho (whose inhabitants were the first to present the first fruits, Mishna, Pesach, 4:8), it began as early as March (Shaw, Tray. p. 291). (See Gerdes, De tempore messis Hebraeorum, Utrecht, 1720.) Dr. Robinson says: On the 4th and 5th of June, the people of Hebron were just beginning to gather their wheat; on the 11th and 12th, the threshing-floors on the Mount of Olives were in full operation. We had already seen the harvest in the same state of progress on the plains of Gaza on the 19th of May; while at Jericho, on the 12th of May, the threshing-floors had nearly completed their work (Bib. Res. 2, 99, 100). On the sixteenth day of the first month, Abib or Nisan (Josephus, Ant. 3, 10, 5), a handful of ripe ears was offered before the Lord as the first-fruits; after which it was lawful to put the sickle to the corn (Lev 23:9-14). (See Schramm, De manipulo hordeaceo, Frckft. a. O. 1706.) The harvest is described as beginning with the barley, and with the festival of the Passover (Lev 23:9-14; 2Sa 21:9-10; Ruth 2, 23), and ending with the wheat (Gen 30:14; Exo 34:22), and with the festival of Pentecost (Exo 23:16). (See Otho, Lex. Rabb. p. 684.) In the most ancient times the corn was plucked up by the roots. When the sickle was used, the wheat was either cropped off under the ear, or cut close to the ground; in the former case, the straw was afterwards plucked up for use; in the latter, the stubble was left and burnt on the ground for manure (Isa 17:5; Job 24:24). The sheaves were collected into a heap, or removed to the threshing-floor (Gen 37:7; Lev 23:10-15; Rth 2:7-15; Job 24:10, Jer 9:22; Mic 4:12; Amo 2:13). In Palestine at the present day, the grain is not bound into sheaves, but is gathered into two large bundles, which are carried home on either side of the backs of animals (Thomson, Land and Book, 2, 323).
The reapers were the owners and their children, and men and women servants (Rth 2:4; Rth 2:8; Rth 2:21; Rth 2:23; Joh 4:36; James 5, 4). Refreshments were provided for them, especially drink, of which the gleaners were often allowed to partake (Rth 2:9); so in the Egyptian scenes we see reapers drinking, and the gleaners applying to share the draught. The time of harvest was a season of very great enjoyment, especially when the crops had been plentiful (Psa 126:1-6; Isa 9:3). The harvest in Scripture is likewise put for a time of destruction (Hos 6:11), according to Newcome; but according to Horsley, for a time of mercy. Of the former sense there is an example in Jer 51:33, plainly referring to the judgments of God upon Babylon. So in the oracle concerning Damascus (Isa 17:5), as Lowth observes, the king of Assyria shall sweep away the whole body of the people, as the reaper strips off the whole crop of corn, and the remnant shall be no more in proportion than the scattered ears left to the gleaner. In Joe 3:13, the last words explain the figurative language which precedes: they are ripe for excision. The same comparison is used in Rev. 14:14; 15:18, where the person referred to as executing vengeance is Jesus Christ himself, though angels assist in the execution. But harvest is also used in a good sense, as in Mat 9:37; Luk 10:2; Joh 4:35. So in Jer 8:20, The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved; i.e. the time in which we expected to be saved is past. The harvest, in agricultural reckoning, is considered to be the end of the season, being the time appointed for gathering in the fruits of the earth, and finishing the labors of the year. So, in Mat 13:39, our Lord says, The harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels In Mat 9:36, our Lord, seeing multitudes coming to hear him, remarks, The harvest truly is plenteous; i.e. many are willing to receive instruction. SEE AGRICULTURE.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Harvest
the season for gathering grain or fruit. On the 16th day of Abib (or April) a handful of ripe ears of corn was offered as a first-fruit before the Lord, and immediately after this the harvest commenced (Lev. 23:9-14; 2 Sam. 21:9, 10; Ruth 2:23). It began with the feast of Passover and ended with Pentecost, thus lasting for seven weeks (Ex. 23:16). The harvest was a season of joy (Ps. 126:1-6; Isa. 9:3). This word is used figuratively Matt. 9:37; 13:30; Luke 10:2; John 4:35. (See AGRICULTURE
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Harvest
HARVEST.See Agriculture.
Fuente: A Dictionary Of Christ And The Gospels
Harvest
HARVEST.See Agriculture.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Harvest
harvest (, kacr; , therismos): To many of us, harvest time is of little concern, because in our complex life we are far removed from the actual production of our food supplies, but for the Hebrew people, as for those in any agricultural district today, the harvest was a most important season (Gen 8:22; Gen 45:6). Events were reckoned from harvests (Gen 30:14; Jos 3:15; Jdg 15:1; Rth 1:22; Rth 2:23; 1Sa 6:13; 2Sa 21:9; 2Sa 23:13). The three principal feasts of the Jews corresponded to the three harvest seasons (Exo 23:16; Exo 34:21, Exo 34:22); (1) The feast of the Passover in April at the time of the barley harvest (compare Rth 1:22); (2) The feast of Pentecost (7 weeks later) at the wheat harvest (Exo 34:22), and (3) The feast of Tabernacles at the end of the year (October) during the fruit harvest. The seasons have not changed since that time. Between the reaping of the barley in April and the wheat in June, most of the other cereals are reaped. The grapes begin to ripen in August, but the gathering in for making wine and molasses (dibs), and the storing of the dried figs and raisins, is at the end of September. Between the barley harvest in April and the wheat harvest, only a few showers fall, which are welcomed because they increase the yield of wheat (compare Amo 4:7). Samuel made use of the unusual occurrence of rain during the wheat harvest to strike fear into the hearts of the people (1Sa 12:17). Such an unusual storm of excessive violence visited Syria in 1912, and did much damage to the harvests, bringing fear to the superstitious farmers, who thought some greater disaster awaited them. From the wheat harvest until the fruit harvest no rain falls (2Sa 21:10; Jer 5:24; compare Pro 26:1). The harvesters long for cool weather during the reaping season (compare Pro 25:13).
Many definite laws were instituted regarding the harvest. Gleaning was forbidden (Lev 19:9; Lev 23:22; Deu 24:19) (see GLEANING). The first-fruits were required to be presented to Yahweh (Lev 23:10). In Syria the Christians still celebrate ‘id er-rubb (feast of the Lord), at which time the owners of the vineyards bring their first bunches of grapes to the church. The children of Israel were enjoined to reap no harvest for which they had not labored (Lev 25:5). In Proverbs the harvesting of ants is mentioned as a lesson for the sluggard (Pro 6:8; Pro 10:5; Pro 20:4).
Figurative: A destroyed harvest typified devastation or affliction (Job 5:5; Isa 16:9; Isa 17:11; Jer 5:17; Jer 50:16). The time of harvest, in the Old Testament frequently meant the day of destruction (Jer 51:33; Hos 6:11; Joe 3:13). Joy in harvest typified great joy (Isa 9:3); harvest of the Nile, an abundant harvest (Isa 23:3). The harvest is past meant that the appointed time was gone (Jer 8:20). Yahweh chose the most promising time to cut off the wicked, namely, when there is a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest (Isa 18:4, Isa 18:5). This occurrence of hot misty days just before the ripening of the grapes is still common. They are welcome because they are supposed to hasten the harvest. The Syrian farmers in some districts call it et-tabbakh el’ainib wa tn (the fireplace of the grapes and figs).
In the Gospels, Jesus frequently refers to the harvest of souls (Mat 9:37, Mat 9:38 bis; Mat 13:30 bis,39; Mar 4:29; Joh 4:35 bis). In explaining the parable of the Tares he said, The harvest is the end of the world (Mat 13:39; compare Rev 14:15). See also AGRICULTURE.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Harvest
With Israel the harvest was associated with the Feasts, which should have kept ever before them the goodness of God. Barley harvest was at the feast of first fruits; the wheat harvest at the feast of weeks; and the vintage at the feast of tabernacles. Lev 23:10; Lev 16:34. Harvest was a joyful time, Isa 9:3, and the poor were not to be forgotten. Deu 24:19-22.
The harvest is used symbolically in the N.T. for the gathering of souls to God. Mat 9:37-38; Joh 4:35. Also of the judgement of the kingdom at the end of the age, when the angels as reapers will first gather the tares and bind them in bundles for burning, and then the wheat will be gathered into God’s barn. Mat 13:39-41. There will also be a harvest of judgement for the earth: the earth will be reaped; and the vine of the earth, that should have produced fruit to God, will be cast into the winepress of the wrath of God. Rev 14:15-20. In the harvest there is discrimination in judgement.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Harvest
Sabbath to be observed in
Exo 34:21
Sabbath desecrated in
Neh 13:15-22
Of wheat at Pentecost, in Palestine
Exo 34:22; Lev 23:15-17
Of wheat, before vintage
Lev 26:5
Of barley, before wheat
Exo 9:31-32
Celebrated with joy
Jdg 9:27; Isa 9:3; Isa 16:10; Jer 48:33
Promises of plentiful
Gen 8:22; Jer 5:24; Joe 2:23-24
Figurative
Job 24:6; Pro 10:5; Jer 8:20; Joe 3:13; Mat 9:37; Mat 13:39; Luk 10:2; Rev 14:15 Pentecost, Called, Feast of Harvest; Tabernacles, Feast of; First Fruits; Reaping; Gleaning
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Harvest
Harvest in Palestine was in March and April, and the term is frequently employed to designate this season of the year. Jos 3:16; Pro 6:8. The harvests of the different grains happened in regular succession, and are known as the “wheat-harvest,” 1Sa 12:17, and the “barley-harvest,” Rth 1:22. The grain was reaped with sickles, Jer 50:16, gathered in handfuls, Rth 2:16, and done up Into sheaves, Psa 129:7. It was then conveyed to the barns or threshing-floors, sometimes in carts, Amo 2:13, where it was threshed or winnowed. One mode of threshing was by the treading of oxen, which it was forbidden to muzzle. Deu 25:4. Harvest was a season of great joy and merriment. Isa 9:3. Our Lord refers to the end of the world under the term of harvest, Mat 13:39, whose reapers will be the angels. The angel is represented figuratively as at that time thrusting in his sickle, “for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” Rev 14:16.
Fuente: People’s Dictionary of the Bible
Harvest
Harvest. See Agriculture.
Fuente: Smith’s Bible Dictionary
HARVEST
Harvest in several places of Scripture, denotes some destroying judgment, by which people fall as corn by the scythe. It is thus used in Isa 17:5; Jer 51:33; Joe 3:13.
Homer f1 compares men falling thick in battle, to corn falling in ranks in the harvest.
The Indian Oneirocritic says, ” If a king dream that he sees harvest reaped in his own country, he will soon hear of a slaughter of his people.”
This metaphor of reaping or mowing, is also used in most authors to signify an excision or utter destruction of the subject. So Horacef2 and Virgilf3 have used it. And in Homer,f4 mowing is a symbol of war; the straw signifies the slain, and the crop or corn, those that escape.
Harvest, upon the account of the corn gathered and laid up, is sometimes used in a good sense. Thus in Mat 9:37, Luk 10:2, the raising of the Christian church is by our Saviour compared to a harvest. And the labourers or reapers are the preachers of the Word, and their scythe their preaching of it. See also Joh 4:35. And so in Jer 8:20, “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved,” i.e. the time in which we expected to be saved is past.
Lastly, harvest, upon the account of the separation of the corn from the earth or stubble, is used in Mat 13:30, as the symbol of the end of the world;when the good are to be separated from the bad, in order for the one to be preserved as corn, and the other to be destroyed as chaff.
According to Bishop Horsley, in Scripture the harvest is always the in-gathering of the objects of God’s final mercy, Rev 14:15-16; Mat 13:30; Mar 4:29; Hos 6:11. “The vintage,” he observes, “is always an image of the season of judgment; but the harvest of the in-gathering of the objects of God’s final mercy. I am not aware that a single unexceptionable instance is to be found in which the harvest is a type of judgment. In Rev 14:15-16, The sickle is thrust into the ripe harvest, and the earth is reaped;’ i.e. the elect are gathered from the four winds of heaven. The wheat of God is gathered into his barn, Mat 13:20. After this reaping of the earth, the sickle is applied to the clusters of the vine, and they are cast into the great wine-press of the wrath of God, Rev 14:18-20. This is judgment. In Joe 3:13, the ripe harvest is the harvest of the vine; i.e. the grapes fit for gathering, as appears from the context. In Jer 51:33, the act of thrashing the corn upon the floor, not the harvest, is the image of judgment. It is true, the burning of the tares in our Saviour’s parable, Matt 13:is a work of judgment, and of the time of harvest, previous to the binding of the sheaves. But it is an accidental adjunct of the business, not the harvest itself. I believe the harvest is never primarily, and in itself, an image of vengeance.”f5
F1 II. 1,. ver. 67, &c.
F2 Hor. L. iv. Od. 14, ver. 31, 32.
F3 Virgil.”-En. L. x. ver. 513.
F4 Hora. II. T. ver. 221, &c.
F5 See Horsley on Hosea vi.
Fuente: A Symbolical Dictionary
Harvest
akin to therizo, “to reap,” is used (a) of “the act of harvesting,” Joh 4:35; (b) “the time of harvest,” figuratively, Mat 13:30, Mat 13:39; Mar 4:29; (c) “the crop,” figuratively, Mat 9:37-38; Luk 10:2; Rev 14:15. The beginning of “harvest” varied according to natural conditions, but took place on the average about the middle of April in the eastern lowlands of Palestine, in the latter part of the month in the coast plains and a little later in high districts. Barley “harvest” usually came first and then wheat. “Harvesting” lasted about seven weeks, and was the occasion of festivities.
Fuente: Vine’s Dictionary of New Testament Words
Harvest
Three months intervened between the seed time and the first reaping, and a month between this and the full harvest. Barley is in full ear all over the Holy Land, in the beginning of April; and about the middle of the same month, it begins to turn yellow, particularly in the southern districts; being as forward near Jericho in the latter end of March, as it is in the plains of Acre a fortnight afterward. The reaping continues till the middle of Sivan, or till about the end of May or beginning of June, which, as the time of wheat harvest, finishes this part of the husbandman’s labours.
2. The reapers in Palestine and Syria make use of the sickle in cutting down their crops, and, according to the present custom in this country, fill their hand with the corn, and those who bind up the sheaves, their bosom,
Psa 129:7; Rth 2:5. When the crop is thin and short, which is generally the case in light soils, and with their imperfect cultivation, it is not reaped with the sickle, but plucked up by the root with the hand. By this mode of reaping, they leave the most fruitful fields as naked as if nothing had ever grown on them; and as no hay is made in the east, this is done, that they may not lose any of the straw, which is necessary for the sustenance of their cattle. The practice of plucking up with the hand is perhaps referred to in these words of the Psalmist, to which reference has already been made: Let them be as the grass upon the house tops, which withereth afore it groweth up; wherewith the mower filleth not his hand, nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom. The tops of the houses in Judea are flat, and, being covered with plaster of terrace, are frequently grown over with grass. As it is but small and weak, and from its elevation exposed to the scorching sun, it is soon withered. A more beautiful and striking figure, to display the weak and evanescent condition of wicked men, cannot easily be conceived.
3. The reapers go to the field very early in the morning, and return home betimes in the afternoon. They carry provisions along with them, and leathern bottles, or dried bottle gourds, filled with water. They are followed by their own children, or by others, who glean with much success, for a great quantity of corn is scattered in the reaping, and in their manner of carrying it. The greater part of these circumstances are discernible in the manners of the ancient Israelites. Ruth had not proposed to Naomi, her mother-in-law, to go to the field, and glean after the reapers; nor had the servant of Boaz, to whom she applied for leave, so readily granted her request, if gleaning had not been a common practice in that country. When Boaz inquired who she was, his overseer, after informing him, observes, that she came out to the field in the morning; and that the reapers left the field early in the afternoon, as Dr. Russel states, is evident from this circumstance, that Ruth had time to beat out her gleanings before evening. They carried water and provisions with them; for Boaz invited her to come and drink of the water which the young men had drawn; and at meal-time, to eat of the bread, and dip her morsel in the vinegar. And so great was the simplicity of manners in that part of the world, and in those times, that Boaz himself, although a prince of high rank in Judah, sat down to dinner in the field with his reapers, and helped Ruth with his own hand. Nor ought we to pass over in silence the mutual salutation of Boaz and his reapers, when he came to the field, as it strongly marks the state of religious feeling in Israel at the time, and furnishes another proof of the artless, the happy, and unsuspecting simplicity, which characterized the manners of that highly favoured people. And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, The Lord be with you. And they answered him, The Lord bless thee, Rth 2:4.
4. It appears from the beautiful history of Ruth, that, in Palestine, the women lent their assistance in cutting down and gathering in the harvest; for Boaz commands her to keep fast by his maidens. The women in Syria shared also in the labours of the harvest; for Dr. Russel informs us, they sang the ziraleet, or song of thanks, when the passing stranger accepted their present of a handful of corn, and made a suitable return. It was another custom among the Jews to set a confidential servant over the reapers, to see that they executed their work properly, that they had suitable provisions, and to pay them their wages: the Chaldees call him rab, the master, ruler, or governor of the reapers. Such was the person who directed the labours of the reapers in the field of Boaz. The right of the poor in Israel to glean after the reapers was secured by a positive law, couched in these words: And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy land; neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest. And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard: thou shalt leave them to the poor and the stranger: I am the Lord your God, Lev 19:9. It is the opinion of some writers, that, although the poor were allowed the liberty of gleaning, the Israelitish proprietors were not obliged to admit them immediately into the field, as soon as the reapers had cut down the corn, and bound it up in sheaves, but when it was carried off: they might choose, also, among the poor, whom they thought most deserving, or most necessitous. These opinions receive some countenance from the request which Ruth presented to the servant of Boaz, to permit her to glean among the sheaves; and from the charge of Boaz to his young men, Let her glean even among the sheaves; a mode of speaking which seems to insinuate that though they could not legally hinder Ruth from gleaning in the field, they had a right, if they chose to exercise it, to prohibit her from gleaning among the sheaves, or immediately after the reapers.
Fuente: Biblical and Theological Dictionary
Harvest
Jer 8:20 (b) This is a description of the end time when the Lord will judge the earth and gather into Heaven believers who are profitable to Him (the grain), but will shut out of Heaven the weeds and the tares which have no value to Him. We see this on the farm constantly. That which is useful to the farmer he gathers into his barns. The vines and the stubble remain in the field to rot.
Jer 51:33 (a) This is a picture of the judgment of this great city when GOD would cut her down and destroy her because of her iniquity.
Mat 9:37 (a) This is a type of the great number of people who are interested in their souls’ welfare, are hungry for deliverance, and are waiting for someone to lead them to CHRIST JESUS, the Saviour.
Mat 13:39 (a) By this figure the Lord is telling us of the judgment at the end of this age when the Lord will separate His people from the ungodly, will reward the Christian, but will punish the sinner.
Rev 14:15 (a) This is a picture of the Great Tribulation when the end comes and GOD comes forth in mighty judgment and terrible wrath to punish the wicked and the rebellious people of earth.