In the latter sense the idea is familiar in Scripture. 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. 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. In the tomb-painting of Egypt there are representations of harvest scenes which strikingly remind us of this. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Being himself a good man, the goodness she had evinced in her conduct to her mother-in-law won upon his heart. 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. 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. 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.
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