Friday 21 November 2014

How do we glean?

In Leviticus 19:9-10 Israelites were commanded to leave their gleanings. That meant when they harvested their crops, any part of the crops that fell were to be left on the ground so that the poor had something to pick up. The same principle was to be applied in vineyards. How would we apply the principle of 'leave the gleanings' today?


The idea behind the principle is that the landowner doesn't try to grab everything that is rightfully his. He could make sure there are no stalks of wheat lost, and who would blame him? They are his crops on his land. But Leviticus told him leave some. It wasn't sacrificial giving, but it stopped landowners from being needlessly greedy as well. The gleanings of individuals might not have been much, but with every landowner in Israel keeping Leviticus 19:9 the poor could be significantly helped.


It doesn't take much to give some spare change to charity. It doesn't have to be sacrificial to be meaningful (though we must still be willing to be sacrificial). Its easier today than ever before to not only leave our 'gleanings', but see the impact. 99p spent on buying the band aid song adds up to less than a cup of Starbucks coffee, but the song has raised a significant sum already.


Looking at the wider picture, there has never been a conflict between gospel work and care for the poor. True gospel passion has always gone hand in hand with help for those in need (Gal 2:10). In the book of Ruth, where we see the gleanings command applied, the book is a picture of redemption which begins with a connection between the redeemer and the redeemed, in which the redeemer has compassion and helps with the material needs of the redeemed.

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