^ A certain beadle had fancied the manse housemaid, but was at a loss for an opportunity to declare himself. One day — a Sunday — when his duties were ended, he looked sheepish, and said, " Mary, wad ye tak a turn, Mary ? " He led her to the churchyard, and pointing with his finger, got out, " My fowk lie there, Mary ; wad ye like to lie there ? " ^
^ A. G. Brown.
' Dean Ramsay, Beminiscences of Scottish Life and Character, 305.
A Greeting in Harvest.
•31
Literature.
Bardsley (J. W.), Elustrative Texts and Texts Illustrated, 294. Dawson (J. E. le S.), Lenten Readings on the Booh of Ruth, 40. Keble (J.), Sermons for the Christian Year : Sundays after Trinity, xiii.-
end, 97. Macmillan (H,), Jesus in the Cornfield, 23. Neale (J. M.), Sermons preached in a Religious HousCy ii. 346. Perren (C), Seed-Corn for the Sower, 498. Sowter (G. A.), Sowing and Reaping, 118.
Churchman's Pulpit : Harvest Thanksgiving, 37, 40 (Macmillan). Plain Sermons by Contributors to " Tracts for the Times,'" vi. 197.
836
A Greeting in Harvest.
And, behold, Boaz came from Beth-lehem, and said unto the reapers, The Lord be with you. And they answered him, The Lord bless thee. —Ruth ii. 4.
1. The greeting took place at Bethlehem. There are two towns of that name mentioned in the Old Testament. This is Bethlehem of Judah. It is situated about six miles south and west of Jerusalem, on a ridge which rises to a height of 2550 feet above sea-level, and falls away in terraced slopes on all sides, the descent to the north and east being specially steep. The terraces, as they sweep in graceful curves round the ridge from top to bottom, give to the little town the appearance of an amphitheatre, and serve to make to the approaching traveller a picture which closer acquaint- ance does not wholly disappoint.^
^ Bethlehem is still " the house of bread," as its name means, and the way to Bethlehem is still through fields of barley in April as it was in the days of Boaz, A quarter of a mile below the town, on the slope of the hill, the traditional site of the threshing- floor of the great Hebrew farmer is pointed out to the visitor ; and its authenticity is exceedingly probable, for it is just in the place where the Bible narrative prepares you to look for it. We read in the advice which Kuth's mother-in-law gave to her that she said of Boaz, " Behold, he winnoweth barley to-night in the threshing-floor. Wash thyself therefore, and anoint thee, and put thy raiment upon thee, and get thee down to the threshing-floor." Now threshing-floors are always in the same field where the corn or barley is reaped ; for all the threshing and winnowing processes in the East, owing to the fineness of the weather, are done in the open air ; and they are always in the highest part of the field which is most exposed to the wind, so that in winnowing the chaff may be blown away from the grain. You might therefore have expected that Naomi would ask her daughter-in-law to go up to the threshing-floor. But her words are true to the local peculi- ^ T. Nicol- in the Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels, i. 195.
238 A GREETING IN HARVEST
arities, which are different from those of other places. The town of Bethlehem covered the whole top of the hilly ridge on which it was built. It occupied the highest ground in the country, so that any place round about was lower than itself ; consequently there was no room for a threshing-floor on the heights where it would naturally be situated. The threshing-floor of Boaz, like his farm, had to be formed at a lower level, in some such declivity as the traditional spot. Euth had therefore to go down to it, as the sacred narrative tells us ; and this little coincidence confirms in a most interesting and unexpected manner the local accuracy of the Bible writer, and shows that he must have written, not from imagination, but, from having lived on the spot, and thus having been familiar with its peculiar features.^
2. It was the time of barley harvest. It was a beautiful April day, and the barley-fields of Boaz below the town of Bethlehem — this crop being always the first to ripen in Palestine as in our own country — were lying golden under the blue cloud- less sky, and the reapers had begun with their sickles to cut it down. It was a picturesque sight, full of colour and animation ; the light blue and red dresses of the women — which are exactly the same now as in the days of Euth — contrasting with the yellow grain and glowing with intense vividness in the brilliant sunshine. It was a scene that an artist would have loved to paint; as indeed it has often been painted, for who does not remember some artistic representations of " Euth among the alien corn " ?
She stood breast high amid the corn Clasp'd by the golden light of morn, Like the sweetheart of the sun, Who many a glowing kiss had won.
On her cheek an autumn flush. Deeply ripen'd; — such a blush In the midst of brown was bom, Like red poppies grown with corn.