Ruth 2:18

18 Ruth carried the grain into town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also took out the food that was left over from lunch and gave it to Naomi.

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 In fact, drop some full heads of grain for her from what you have in your hands, and let her gather them. Don't tell her to stop."

17 So Ruth gathered grain in the field until evening. Then she separated the grain from the chaff, and there was about one-half bushel of barley.

18 Ruth carried the grain into town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also took out the food that was left over from lunch and gave it to Naomi.

19 Naomi asked her, "Where did you gather all this grain today? Where did you work? Blessed be whoever noticed you!" Ruth told her mother-in-law whose field she had worked in. She said, "The man I worked with today is named Boaz."

20 Naomi told her daughter-in-law, "The Lord bless him! He continues to be kind to us -- both the living and the dead!" Then Naomi told Ruth, "Boaz is one of our close relatives, one who should take care of us."