2 Samuel 19:9-43; Jeremiah 3:6-4:2; Galatians 4:21-5:9
So she (Ruth) gleaned in the field until even, and beat out that she had gleaned. Ruth 2:17
Ruth gathered sheaves from the field daily, but to get the benefit and blessing from her labours, she had to thresh them to separate the wheat from the chaff. In the same vein, the apostle Paul exhorted young Timothy saying—“Give attendance to reading… Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all” (1 Tim. 4:13, 15). Reading the Scriptures would correspond to “gleaning.” Meditation would correspond to “beating-out.” Reading the Scriptures daily is a vital necessity, but this must be followed by meditation, to get to the kernel of truth contained therein, and thus to feed our souls. —W. H. Burnett
O may these holy pages be, our ever new delight,
And still new beauties may we see, and still increasing light. —A. Steele