TO ELLEN & CAT RE:
EXAM DREAMS & RUTH

Having thought to have left the fertile field of Boaz, here I am again, reminded by Ellen and Cat of the "exam" dreams.  Yeah I have had these dreams complete with the intense feelings of failure and wanting to "go at it again"....usually takes the form of something like I had completely flunked some college final exam either by not even having attending it, or just goofing off.   Then, I get on with registering for the class or classes again to repeat them.   Of course in my college experience that is all too often what actually happened lol...........
      Which brings me back to the field of Boaz.   Having not sorted out exactly what was meant by the mention of "wheat" in that one passage.   But we do know that this occurs at the end of the age of "grace" because:
      Ruth 2:2 And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said unto her, Go, my daughter.
      Furthermore, we know that regardless of the presence of wheat, that she did in fact glean and "beat out" BARLEY. This suggests that she "rightly divided the Word of God".
      Ruth 2:17 So she gleaned in the field until even, and beat out that she had gleaned: and it was about an ephah of barley.
      Directly after this was when Boaz began to thresh the barley.
Now, since the barley matures before the wheat harvest begins (Pentecost), and since Ruth had gleaned only barley, and she was told to stay in Boaz's field only, then the question arises as to whether barley is actually winnowed  before the wheat is threshed (two different handlings for the two different types of grain)  or whether the two are winnowed (barley) and threshed (wheat)  together.  Nonetheless these verses have to do with barley not wheat, and that leads back to the "exam" dreams.
      Ruth 3:2 And now is not Boaz of our kindred, with whose maidens thou wast? Behold, he winnoweth barley to night in the threshingfloor.
      As I have noted in the past, the treatment of these two grains differs, and the threshing floor is where it is done; that is, barley is "winnowed" and wheat is "threshed" there.   Of course poor little Gideon tried to thresh wheat in the grape vat, but hey times were hard then.
      Ruth 3:6 And she went down unto the floor
We all go "down" to the floor.  Anybody out there had a very difficult  life last year ?   I for one sure did, the worst in my life.
      When we go "down" to the floor to be "winnowed", we certainly mark out where He is and go lie down at His feet do we not.   So, what I am suggesting here is that this winnowing of Ruth is the "exam", the "judgment" that begins "at the house of the Lord".
      1Pe 4:17 - For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

      And another point is that Ruth was "found worthy", as we all pray to be "found worthy" to escape all these things that follow (the wheat harvest).   If we pass that exam we will be "found worthy".

      Ruth 3:10 And he said, Blessed be thou of the LORD, my daughter: for thou hast showed more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, inasmuch as thou followedst not young men, whether poor or rich.

      So Ruth passes the exam, and Boaz states that she has not run after "other lovers" , whether rich or poor.  The rich and poor churches in the book of Revelation are Smyrna and Laodecia....Smyrna gets 10 days of tribulation, and as for Laodecia, well, Jesus has His barf bag ready for them......

      So, Ruth was "judged" at the time of winnowing of the barley, and this would bring to mind when the Lord (prior to the opening of the seals) in the book of Revelation, judges the seven churches regarding their "qualities",  AND it is interesting that the Church of Philadelphia is Ruth!   This church shows its kindness at the "latter end" of the church age, and shows love for the Lord (kindness), whereas as the first church had "left your first love".   The seven churches are judged according to the "young men" (new doctrines introduced) that the various churches have lusted after.
      Remember, above, that "judgment begins at the house of the Lord" - the church, (1st Peter 4:17), so we are judged BEFORE the wheat is threshed, and "what shall become of them who believe the truth"?   Well, the wheat gets threshed in the tribulation years.
      Then, we get on with the story about how she sleeps there all night and he "rewards" her with six measures of barley.   So, this judgment of the churches results in rewards or loss of rewards.   He tells her to take off her veil (her outer garment), and he fills it with the barley.   Then he says something interesting,

      Ruth 3:14 And she lay at his feet until the morning: and she rose up before one could know another. And he said, Let it not be known that a woman came into the floor.

      Let it NOT be known that a woman (the church) was judged?
Wonder why not?  It could very well be that when the Lord takes the church home with Him, that no-one will know that the church as been "judged" and found "worthy" to escape all that is to follow (tribulation). (wheat harvest)
     Wait So here we have this woman spending the night with this guy in this big barn, and he loads her up with barley (as Marilyn Agee has said this was a huge amount - I think over 60 pounds), and she goes trudging back to the city with sixty pounds of barley.   Now you tell me if some neighbor or other doesn't stop her at 6:00 a.m.  and say "Hey Ruth, wherdja  get all the barley?"   "Oh, just gleaned all night you know...."   "Yeah, right, Ruth,  but what's this trail of barley grains going back to the threshing floor?"
      Like at 6:00 am I'm dragging these three 20-pound bags of Quik-Crete  through town here, wrapped up in my coat and someone says "Hey Arlene been to Home Depot?"   "Well not really, actually McDonald's..........."     Yeah, Right.....
      Tomorrow Ascension Day is past.   And then we get thrown right into Ezekiel's pot with everything else, and have to try from there to sort out what "plant" we could possibly be?

      Eze 4:9 - Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof.

      Love to you all, YSIC   Arlene