“217. HARVEST FARE—RUTH 2:5-14”

Harvest Fare—Rth_2:5-14

There were no doubt some distinctions of costume and appearance between the Israelites and Moabites, and Ruth was too poor to have, as yet, rendered her habit wholly conformable to that of the women of the place. Then there was something about her that showed that she was not a woman of Israel; and it was this probably that drew the attention of Boaz towards her, and led him to inquire of his overseer who she was. The man informed him that it was “the Moabitish damsel who had come back with Naomi out of the country of Moab.” The story, it seems, was well known in Bethlehem, and this information sufficed to apprize Boaz of the whole case. Being himself a good man, the goodness she had evinced in her conduct to her mother-in-law won upon his heart. He accosted her kindly, and desired her to avail herself of all the privileges of the harvest-field, so that while she gleaned for her own benefit, she might partake of the refreshments and advantages of those who labored for him. He begged she would keep to his grounds during the harvest, and not, in the hope of bettering herself on the one hand, or in the fear of presuming on the other, remove to the lands of any other person. And it will be observed how, in the absence of enclosures, he gives her the means of knowing his grounds, by telling her to adhere to the society in which she already finds herself, that of his own laborers, among whom she might rely upon perfect safety. We gather that the persons employed in the field were men-servants, women-servants, and day-laborers—the women being, seemingly, chiefly employed in ministering to the wants of the men engaged in active toil, and in performing some of the lighter labors. One of the most important provisions of the harvest-field was water, often necessarily brought from some distance, and placed so as to keep cool. The labors of the hot harvest-field could not be carried on without the occasional refreshment of a draught of water, and the importance attached to this is shown by the particular mention which Boaz makes of it in desiring Ruth, “When thou art athirst, go to the vessels, and drink of that which the young men have drawn.” This seems to be a special indulgence to a gleaner—at least it was one of which a young stranger, so diffident as Ruth, might dislike to avail herself without distinct permission. In the tomb-painting; of Egypt there are representations of harvest scenes which strikingly remind us of this. Among such analogies we perceive a provision of water in skins, hung against trees, or in jars upon stands, with the reapers drinking, and women, perhaps gleaners, applying to share the draught.

Egyptian Harvest Scene

Overpowered by this unexpected kindness, poor Ruth humbly acknowledged her deep sense of it, and her great surprise; on which Boaz told her that he knew her deeply-interesting story, and that her generous self-denial could not but win for her the respect of all good men, and ensured her the protection and blessing of him “under whose wings she had come to trust”—a beautiful figure, derived, as some think, from the cherubim whose wings overshadowed the mercy-seat; or quite as probably from the act of a parent bird in festering and sheltering its callow brood underneath its wings. In the latter sense the idea is familiar in Scripture. So in the last address of Moses to the people, “As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings, so the Lord alone did lead him.” Note: Deu_32:11-12. And again, more emphatically, out Lord himself over Jerusalem, “O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem,… how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings and ye would not?” Note: Luk_13:34.

Heart-touched by this short conversation, the good man continued still more kindly to attend to Ruth’s comfort, and to show the interest be took in her welfare. It seems that there was a tent pitched in the field of labor for the more perfect refreshment of the reapers, particularly at the noontide meal and subsequent repose. This is what is called “the house”—the word for house being often applied to a tent in Scripture. It was here, seemingly, that Boaz held this conversation with Ruth, for he goes on to say, “At meal-time come thou hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar.” On this we have to remark, that “bread” is a general term for any kind of “provisions” that may have been prepared, and which was probably not confined to bread. On the contrary there seems to have been generally liberal diet prepared on such occasions. We know of the large store of various food, provided even by the niggardly Nabal, for his shearers; and it is not likely that the no less important labor of the reapers would be less bountifully considered by the liberal Boaz. However, the chief meal in the midst of harvest labor seems to have been in the evening, at supper, after the labors of the day had closed; and that this at noon-tide, after which labor was resumed, was a comparatively slight meal such as we should call a lunch, as is still the case in the East. A full meal at mid-day would have been little suited to the resumption of active labor. Indeed, this is implied in the fact, that when Boaz retired to rest on a subsequent night, it was “when he had eaten and drunken, and his heart was merry.” So in Homer, although in his beautiful description of harvest labor, as depicted in the shield of Achilles, large provision is made for the reapers, it is for the supper at the close of the day, while refreshments of a lighter kind are provided for intermediate use. This picture is such as the reader forms in his mind of the field of Boaz—

“There, too, he form’d the likeness of a field

Crowded with corn, in which the reapers toil’d,

Each with a sharp-tooth’d sickle in his hand.

Along the furrow here, the harvest fell

In frequent handfuls; there they, bound the sheaves.

Three binders of the sheaves their sultry task

All plied industrious, and behind them boys

Attended, filling with the corn their arms,

And offering still their bundles to be bound.

Amid them, staff in hand, the master stood

Silent exulting, while beneath an oak

Apart, his heralds busily prepared

The banquet, dressing a well-thriven ox

New slain, and the attendant maidens mix’d

Large supper for the hinds, of whitest flour.”

Iliad, xviii. (Cowper.)

The “vinegar” has engaged some attention from its being something much apart from our own usages. Some have questioned that it was vinegar at all, rather supposing that it was some weak acid wine, such as the small table wine of France and Germany. We would rather take it to be proper “vinegar,” which the Jewish writers describe as being used for its refrigerating qualities by those who labored hard in the heat of the sun. Such was the ancient, and probably first, opinion of its virtue in this respect; and Pliny describes it as being refreshing to the spirits, binding and bracing the nerves, and very sustaining and strengthening for labor. It is said to be still used in Italy in harvest time, when the weather is hot. It seems from more particular description that in that country they used, and still use, instead of wine, vinegar mixed with a good deal of water, which they call household wine, to which, it is said, that if oil and bread be put, it makes a cooling meal, good for laborers and travellers in the heat of the sun. The use of vinegar by reapers is alluded to by Theocritus in his tenth Idyll. This is supposed to be what the Targum means by pottage boiled in vinegar. We know also that the Romans had an “embammia,” or sauce made of vinegar, in which they dipped their food. We have ourselves a vinegar sauce, with herbs, to use with lamb, which is not improbably derived from the sauce used by the Jews with the paschal lamb, the same into which our Lord dipped the sop he gave to his betrayer. The “mint” which we commonly use, may represent the “bitter herbs” used by the Hebrews on that occasion. The sauce which the law prescribed to be used with the paschal lamb, was probably not confined to that occasion. Here, in like manner, Ruth is directed to “dip her morsel in the vinegar.”

At the refection itself, which followed soon, it is stated that “she sat beside the reapers.” This is a point of more importance than the cursory reader may suppose. It has been imagined by many from the analogy of modern eastern customs, that men and women among the ancient Israelites, did not eat together; but this passage affords evidence to the contrary, and is, we apprehend, the only passage which clearly shows that they did. This is one among many indications which confirm its in the opinion we have long entertained, that the women among the Israelites enjoyed far more social freedom than is now allowed to them in Western Asia, and that we should often err in representing their condition too rigidly by comparisons drawn from the existing customs of the East. It might indeed be urged that the customs of the harvest-field do not adequately illustrate, in this respect, common domestic usages. And to this we are unprovided with any satisfactory answer, as we do not recollect any other Scriptural instance of the two sexes taking their meals together. All we mean to say is, that according to the present customs of the East, the incident as here described could not have occurred even in the harvest-field.

Of this meal Boaz himself partook with his reapers; for it is said that “he reached her parched corn, and she did eat.” Of this parched corn we may allow Dr. Robinson to speak, under date May 22, on the road from Gaza to Hebron—“The crops of grain were good. In one field, as we approached Ruheibeh, nearly two hundred reapers and gleaners were at work: the latter being nearly as numerous as the former. A few were taking their refreshment, and offered us some of their parched corn. In the season of harvest the grains of wheat, not yet fully dry and hard, are roasted in a pan, or on an iron plate, and constitute a very palatable article of food; this is eaten along with bread, or instead of it. Indeed, the use of it is so common at this season among the laboring classes, that this parched wheat is sold in the markets. The Arabs are said to prefer it to rice; but this we did not find to be the case. The whole scene of the reapers, the gleaners, and their parched corn, gave us a lively representation of the story of Ruth and the ancient harvest-home in the fields of Boaz.” He adds: “Of the vinegar mentioned in the same chapter we saw nothing.”

There is another mode of parching corn in the East, very similar to that which still exists in the western islands of Scotland, where this mode is called gradden, from the Irish word grad, signifying quick. A woman sitting down, takes a handful of corn, holding it by the stalks in the left hand, and then sets fire to the ears, which are presently in a flame: she has a stick in her right hand, which she manages very dexterously, beating off the grain at the very instant when the husk is quite burnt; for if she miss that, she must use the kiln; but experience has taught them this art to perfection. The corn may be so dressed, winnowed, ground, and baked within an hour after reaping from the ground. This and other analogies between eastern usages and such as now or recently subsisted in the highlands and western islands of Scotland, go some way to substantiate Mr. Urquhart’s claim of an eastern origin for the inhabitants.

Autor: JOHN KITTO