Leviticus 19:9-13: a reflection

9“‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, neither shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10You shall not glean your vineyard, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the foreigner. I am the LORD your God. 11“‘You shall not steal. “‘You shall not lie. “‘You shall not deceive one another. 12“‘You shall not swear by my name falsely, and profane the name of your God. I am the LORD. 13“‘You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him. “‘The wages of a hired servant shall not remain with you all night until the morning.

In the midst of Israel's laws, God commands a particular kind of generosity built into the way they worked. When you reap your harvest, he says, do not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings; leave them for the poor and the foreigner. The landowner was to leave margin, deliberately not harvesting everything, so that the poor could come and gather what was left. Provision for the needy was built into the ordinary work of the harvest.

Notice the deliberate generosity commanded here: leave margin, do not take everything for yourself. The landowner could have reaped every last stalk, maximizing his own gain; but God commanded him to leave the edges and the gleanings for the poor. This was generosity built into the very way he worked, a deliberate leaving of margin so that others could be provided for. It was not a matter of giving away surplus after the fact, but of not taking everything in the first place, leaving room for the needy in how the work was done.

That principle of leaving margin for others is worth carrying into our own work and gain. We can be tempted to reap to the very edges, to maximize our own gain, to take everything we can for ourselves. But God's command to leave the gleanings suggests a different way: to build generosity into how we work and earn, deliberately leaving margin, not taking everything for ourselves, so that there is something left over for those in need. Do not reap to the very edges of your field, taking everything for yourself; build into your work and your gain a deliberate margin for the poor and the needy, as God commanded Israel to leave the gleanings. Let generosity be not merely an afterthought with your surplus, but built into how you work and earn, leaving room, as the harvest law did, for those in need to be provided for from what you might have taken for yourself.

Lord, in the midst of Israel's laws you commanded a deliberate generosity built into their work: when they reaped, they were not to reap to the very edges or gather the gleanings, but leave them for the poor and the foreigner. Show me that principle of leaving margin for others. I can be tempted to reap to the very edges, to maximize my own gain, to take everything I can for myself. But your command to leave the gleanings suggests a different way: to build generosity into how I work and earn, deliberately leaving margin, not taking everything for myself, so that there is something left over for those in need. Keep me from reaping to the very edges of my field, taking everything for myself; help me build into my work and my gain a deliberate margin for the poor and the needy, as you commanded Israel to leave the gleanings. Let generosity be not merely an afterthought with my surplus, but built into how I work and earn, leaving room, as the harvest law did, for those in need to be provided for from what I might have taken for myself. Make me deliberately generous, Lord, in how I work and earn.