Abundantly more that we could hope or think!
Ruth 2:17-19 So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. And she took it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She also took it out and gave Naomi what she had left after she was satisfied. Her mother-in-law then said to her, 'Where did you glean today and where did you work? May he who took notice of you be blessed.' So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, 'The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz.'
At the end of the day she was left with an ephah of barley! Amazing aye? Ok, I'm sure you, like me, have no idea how much an ephah is, so I looked it up and its 22 litres. This would be enough to feed both herself and Naomi for about 10 days. No wonder Naomi was surprised and had to know where she had got this! Naomi didn't praise Ruth even though Ruth had obviously been working hard and deserved some praise. But the thing is, the fruit of Ruth's labor couldn't simply be explained in terms of Ruth's diligence. 'Whose field were you in?' is Naomi's first comment. Has that happened to you? Has what you have received from the Lord been so obvious that others just have to know where you got it? Did people notice the difference in you when you first met the Lord that they just had to know what could account for such a change? If not then I guess the other question is, have you, like Ruth, been sharing with others what the Lord has imparted into your life? What the Lord gives us is obviously for our benefit, but he also wants us to be able to share that with others for the edification of all. Ruth was faithful in this and may our testimony, like hers, be of the man that has caused all this to happen.
Ruth 2:21-23 Then Ruth the Moabitess said, 'Furthermore, he said to me, 'You should stay close to my servants until they have finished all my harvest.'' And Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, 'It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his maids, lest others fall upon you in another field.' So she stayed close by the maids of Boaz in order to glean until the end of the barley harvest and the wheat harvest. And she lived with her mother-in-law.
The last point in this chapter is the even greater position that Boaz gave Ruth. Firstly he was gracious in pulling out bundles of grain for her to glean in. But he went further than that and allowed her to glean for the whole season right next to his actual workers. So you had the workers who were paid to glean for Boaz and then there was Ruth, working right along side them and everything she grabbed she was allowed to keep for herself! She didn't plant the wheat or play any part in ensuring that there was adequate growth. She simply got to reap the benefits for herself! A good picture of our inheritance in Christ, where we shall surely benefit in the age to come because of His work on our behalf.