Ruth might see some straggling ears of grain that the binders had failed to bind into the sheaves. If she were to glean these, the young men were not to embarrass her by any word of censure that would indicate they so much as noticed it. His instructions to the harvest crew give further evidence of the special consideration Boaz deliberately showed Ruth. Perhaps he was already thinking of Ruth’s right to ask him to marry her, and thereby preserve the estate and the house of her deceased husband. Naomi’s appraisal of Boaz’ conduct implies that she thus understood his unusual kindness to Ruth. The way was prepared for Naomi to explain the Jewish custom of levirate marriage, whereby a deceased husband’s nearest relative was to marry his widowed wife (see on Deut. 25:5).

It seems that Ruth went back to her gleaning before the “young men” returned to their harvesting. She worked longer than they did, and gleaning was not an easy task.