Ruth 2:18

18 And she took up, and went into the city: and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned, and Ruth brought forth and gave to her the food which she had left from what she had been satisfied with.

Ruth 2:18 Meaning and Commentary

Ruth 2:18

And she took it up
The ephah of barley, into her arms, or on her shoulders:

and went into the city;
the city of Bethlehem;

and her mother in law saw what she had gleaned:
she set it down before her, and she looked at it with admiration, that she should glean so much in one day:

and she brought forth;
not Naomi, as Josephus ^F11 represents it, who understood it as if she brought forth some food her neighbours had brought her, part of which she kept for Ruth, though he takes it in the other sense also; but the meaning is, that Ruth brought forth out of a scrip, as the Targum adds; besides the ephah of barley she set before her, she brought some victuals out of a bag:

and gave to her, that she had reserved after she was sufficed;
not that she ate of the barley, and her mother-in-law also; and then she gave her the rest to lay up against another time, as some interpret it; but the remainder of the food which Boaz gave her at dinner time, which she could not eat, ( Ruth 2:14 ) she reserved for her mother, and now gave it to her; an instance of that piety commended by the apostle, ( 1 Timothy 5:4 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F11 Antiqu l. 5. c. 9. sect. 2.

Ruth 2:18 In-Context

16 And do ye by all means carry it for her, and ye shall surely let fall for her some of that which is heaped up; and let her eat, and glean, and rebuke her not.

17 So she gleaned in the field till evening, and beat out that she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barely.

18 And she took up, and went into the city: and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned, and Ruth brought forth and gave to her the food which she had left from what she had been satisfied with.

19 And her mother-in-law said to her, Where hast thou gleaned to-day, and where hast thou wrought? blessed be he that took notice of thee. And Ruth told her mother-in-law where she wrought, and said, The name of the man with whom I wrought to-day Booz.

20 And Noemin said to her daughter-in-law, Blessed is he of the Lord, because he has not failed in his mercy with the living and with the dead: and Noemin said to her, The man is near akin to us, he is one of our relations.