Context No. 2664 of 4322 · Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 24:14-22: in context

14You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the foreigners who are in your land within your gates. 15In his day you shall give him his wages, neither shall the sun go down on it, for he is poor and sets his heart on it, lest he cry against you to the LORD, and it be sin to you. 16The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers. Every man shall be put to death for his own sin. 17You shall not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless of justice, nor take a widow’s clothing in pledge; 18but you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you there. Therefore I command you to do this thing. 19When you reap your harvest in your field, and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go again to get it. It shall be for the foreigner, for the fatherless, and for the widow, that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 20When you beat your olive tree, you shall not go over the boughs again. It shall be for the foreigner, for the fatherless, and for the widow. 21When you harvest your vineyard, you shall not glean it after yourselves. It shall be for the foreigner, for the fatherless, and for the widow. 22You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. Therefore I command you to do this thing.

Deuteronomy gathers a cluster of laws that leave deliberate margin for the vulnerable. Pay a poor hired worker his wages the same day, before sunset, because he is poor and counting on it. And when you harvest, do not go back for the sheaf you forgot, do not strip the olive trees or glean the vineyard clean; leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow. And the reason, twice repeated: remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the LORD redeemed you.

The command is to leave something behind on purpose. Do not harvest every last grape; do not chase down the forgotten sheaf; leave the corners and the gleanings for those who have nothing. It is generosity built into the ordinary work of the field, a deliberate margin left for the poor rather than everything squeezed for yourself. And the wage laws insist on prompt fairness to those who depend on it. The engine of all of it is memory: you were a slave, and God redeemed you, so deal with the vulnerable as one who was once vulnerable and shown mercy. Having been rescued shapes how we treat those still in need.

Do I deliberately leave gleanings, margin and generosity, for the vulnerable, and deal promptly and fairly with those who depend on me, because I remember my own rescue?

Sources

Deuteronomy 24:19: you shall not go again to get it. It shall be for the foreigner, for the fatherless, and for the widow, that the LORD your God may bless you.
Deuteronomy 24:15: In his day you shall give him his wages... for he is poor and sets his heart on it.
Deuteronomy 24:22: You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. Therefore I command you to do this thing.