The shepherds of Cana were astir almost before the stars had faded from the brilliant Palestine sky. I was awakened from a refreshing sleep on the rooftop by the pleasant tinkling of innumerable sheep bells, as the flocks moved out in all directions seeking pasture for the day.
Harvesting is about to begin in the fields of Cana and our patriarchal host, in flowing robes such as Abraham might have worn, is busy supervising his kinsmen in their preparations for this great event. Abu Sleiman (father of Solomon) is his name, for in the East men are usually called after the name of the eldest son.
Arriving at the field, one may well imagine himself back in the field of Boaz. (Ruth 2:1-191And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz. 2And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said unto her, Go, my daughter. 3And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech. 4And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, The Lord be with you. And they answered him, The Lord bless thee. 5Then said Boaz unto his servant that was set over the reapers, Whose damsel is this? 6And the servant that was set over the reapers answered and said, It is the Moabitish damsel that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab: 7And she said, I pray you, let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves: so she came, and hath continued even from the morning until now, that she tarried a little in the house. 8Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens: 9Let thine eyes be on the field that they do reap, and go thou after them: have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee? and when thou art athirst, go unto the vessels, and drink of that which the young men have drawn. 10Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger? 11And Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath fully been showed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother in law since the death of thine husband: and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore. 12The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust. 13Then she said, Let me find favor in thy sight, my lord; for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken friendly unto thine handmaid, though I be not like unto one of thine handmaidens. 14And Boaz said unto her, At mealtime come thou hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers: and he reached her parched corn, and she did eat, and was sufficed, and left. 15And when she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and reproach her not: 16And let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them, that she may glean them, and rebuke her not. 17So she gleaned in the field until even, and beat out that she had gleaned: and it was about an ephah of barley. 18And she took it up, and went into the city: and her mother in law saw what she had gleaned: and she brought forth, and gave to her that she had reserved after she was sufficed. 19And her mother in law said unto her, Where hast thou gleaned to day? and where wroughtest thou? blessed be he that did take knowledge of thee. And she showed her mother in law with whom she had wrought, and said, The man's name with whom I wrought to day is Boaz. (Ruth 2:1‑19).) Every detail, as far as one can judge, is but a repetition of Bible scenes. Young men, with narrow sickles, are reaping down the corn, cutting it by handfuls as they sing together. Women are binding up the sheaves with skillful fingers, while boys pass and re-pass with asses laden with corn being carried to the village threshing floor, a rocky piece of ground some five or six acres in extent. In this place all crops must be stacked, by order of the government; for, if it were not assessed and taxed by the government officers before being threshed, there would be little chance of collecting any revenue from some of the more wily inhabitants. One can well understand, also, why Boaz slept at night near his grain on the common threshing floor. A very necessary custom one would say, both then and now.
There was in the day's harvesting an incident which I will pass on. A poor widow has followed up the workers all day, methodically gleaning straw by straw. But alas! there seems to be no kind Boaz in the field this day. None the less, by the time the western sun dips down in the distance behind the Carmel range, filling all Galilee with delicate shades of color, the widow is wending her way homeward with three or four fat sheaves to her credit.
Through faulty reasoning, this modern Ruth has decided to give the threshing floor a wide berth. "What are three or four sheaves worth to a great government?” But that very afternoon the new governor of Galilee, a young Australian, had ridden over from Nazareth, four miles away, to visit, the village. Bowed beneath the sheaves, her eyes bent downward, she is trudging down the last passage to her stone hovel, when she runs right up against the governor.
"What is this?" he demands.
All abashed, the woman pleads her poverty and widowhood; but the governor, an abrupt and outspoken officer of the law, is adamant. He bids her appear without fail before him at the court in Nazareth the following morning.
That night, when some sixty people were gathered in the starlight on the roof of Abu Sleiman's house to hear the gospel message, we knew there was much comment in the village about the severity of the young Australian governor.
Next morning, with her sheaves bound upon a borrowed ass,. the widow trudges over the hill to Nazareth. The governor is still resolute, and she pleads her cause in vain.
"If I acquit you, others will do the same thing. No! The law must be obeyed. You have no right to take wheat home from the harvest field. I fine you twelve piasters."
Then, with a quick, almost unobserved movement as he calls out, "Next case!" he slips twelve piasters from his own pocket and gives it to the clerk, bidding him make out a receipt in favor of the poor lawbreaker.
No wonder there was much more discussion that night both among the Christians and the Moslems in the village of Cana. "These English are very queer people. Who before ever heard of a governor who wanted to fine himself?”
Once more the stars are shining brightly on sleeping Galilee. The flocks of sheep are all safely hushed in the village folds. The women have drawn their jars of water from the spring. Beside the half-built stacks which rise gauntly from the silent threshing floor, men are sleeping in the open as others have done for thousands of years; and I muse again upon the widow and her fine.
Is it not after all but a true, if perhaps feeble, type of the wondrous gospel narrative? We, the poor ones of earth, bowed down with the gleanings from this world's cursed field, our eyes bent earthward as we traverse the crooked byways of sin: we too have each of us run full into the arms of justice. The eternal decree of God has been broken by the waywardness of sin. The penalty must be paid; but who shall pay it? Praise God, the stupendous prophecy of Isaiah has been carried out in every detail; the punishment has been paid in full—at Calvary. There Christ "was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed.”