2G2 
RURAL HOURS. 
herself, and could justly value the kindness of others ; she thanks 
the owner of the field, " for that thou hast comforted me, and for 
that thou hast spoken friendly unto thine handmaid." The word 
given here as friendly, is rendered in the margin " to the heart." 
The phrase may be a common Hebrew expression, but it has a 
strength of feeling characteristic of the speaker. Blessed, indeed, 
are the lips that " speak to the heart" of the afflicted ; and bless- 
ed is the sorrowing soul who hears them ! Boaz asks the young 
widow to eat with his people at meal-time : " Eat of the bread, 
and dip thy morsel in the vinegar." " And she sat beside the 
reapers, and he reached her parched corn." The vinegar men- 
tioned here is supposed to mean a kind of acid wine frequently 
named by ancient writers ; and the parched corn was probably 
half-ripe ears of wheat or barley roasted in this way ; a common 
article of food in the East during all ages. " And when she was 
risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let 
her glean even among the sheaves, and reproach her not. And 
let fall some of the handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them 
that she may glean them, and rebuke her not. So she gleaned 
in the field until even, and beat out that she had gleaned ; and it 
was about an ephah of barley." An ephah was about a bushel 
of our measure ; and barley was a grain highly valued in Judea, 
where it was much used for food. A bushel seems a large quan- 
tity ; but it is surprising what full sheaves some of the gleaners 
will carry home with them, now-a-days, and in fields where no 
handfuls arc dropped on purpose. It was only Avhen Ruth told 
her mother of her good success that she learned that Boaz was a- 
near kinsman of her former husband, and, consequently, accord- 
ing to the Jewish law, one upon whom she might ha.vc claims. 
