This watercolor was created as a background graphic, but it stands on it's own with a simple elegance. The subject matter is wheat. It comes from the book of Ruth chapter 2 verses 19-23:
"And her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you glean today? And where have you worked? Blessed be the man who took notice of you.” So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, “The man's name with whom I worked today is Boaz.” 20 And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by the Lord, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!” Naomi also said to her, “The man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers.” 21 And Ruth the Moabite said, “Besides, he said to me, ‘You shall keep close by my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’” 22 And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, lest in another field you be assaulted.” 23 So she kept close to the young women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvests. And she lived with her mother-in-law." (ESV)
Ruth and her family were well provided for, because she and Naomi were faithful and followed God's direction for their lives, which landed them in the field of Boaz. Boaz was overly kind to them and instructed the gatherers of his field to leave extra barley and wheat behind for Ruth to glean. (I would encourage anyone to read the whole book of Ruth. It's a short book and layer by layer it reveals many truths about God. You can find it here: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ruth+1&version=ESV )
The themes of wheat, barley, and harvest can be found throughout the Bible. They speak of God's justice, his sovereignty, his great design of creation, the marking off of the seasons. This theme of the harvest and of the seasons is a thread that connects from Genesis, through the time of Jesus on earth, and continues onward until the end of days.
Another connection with the harvest that I find fascinating is that the ripening of the barley is what kept the Hebrew calendar on track, and stopped it from drifting through the seasons. Telling the people whether or not an extra month would need to be added. This resulted in a year that usually lasted 12 months and sometimes lasted 13 months.
God often uses the things (wheat, barley, harvest, seasons) of his creation as visuals/metaphors to reveal Himself to us.
© Keith Brabender 2017
