There were not many avenues for widows to provide for themselves, but one opportunity was through gleaning. The law expressly stated that at harvest-time a man must not reap the corners of his fields, nor should he go over the fields a second time (Lev. 19:9-10; 23:22). That produce was to be left for the poor and the alien. Boaz went beyond this requirement for Ruth, ordering his men to "pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up" (Ruth 2:16).
