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,” Psalm cxxix, 7; Ruth ii, 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,” Ruth ii, 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. xix, 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.
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,” Psalm cxxix, 7; Ruth ii, 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,” Ruth ii, 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. xix, 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.