Leviticus 23:22-32: a reflection

22“‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you must not wholly reap into the corners of your field. You must not gather the gleanings of your harvest. You must leave them for the poor and for the foreigner. I am the LORD your God.’” 23The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 24“Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, there shall be a solemn rest for you, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. 25You shall do no regular work. You shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD.’” 26The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 27“However on the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement. It shall be a holy convocation to you. You shall afflict yourselves and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD. 28You shall do no kind of work in that same day, for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement for you before the LORD your God. 29For whoever it is who shall not deny himself in that same day shall be cut off from his people. 30Whoever does any kind of work in that same day, I will destroy that person from among his people. 31You shall do no kind of work: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. 32It shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you shall deny yourselves. In the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall keep your Sabbath.”

Set within the laws of the harvest and the holy days is a striking command about provision for the poor: when you reap your harvest, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings, but leave them for the poor and the foreigner. You must not wholly reap into the corners of your field, God says; leave them for the poor and for the foreigner. Israel was not to take every last bit of the harvest for themselves, but to deliberately leave the edges and the gleanings for those in need. Generosity to the poor was built right into the way they gathered their harvest; margin was to be left, on purpose, for the needy. This shows a way of living generously: not taking everything for ourselves, but deliberately leaving margin for those in need. Leave margin in your harvest for the poor. Do not take everything for yourself; leave some for the needy. Generosity to the poor built into the harvest. Leave the edges for those in need, on purpose.

Notice the deliberate generosity built into this command. Israel was not to reap their fields to the very edges, not to go back and gather what was dropped or missed; they were to leave the corners and the gleanings, on purpose, for the poor and the foreigner to come and gather. This built generosity to the needy right into the ordinary work of harvest. They were not to grasp every last bit for themselves, maximizing their own take, but to leave margin, deliberately, for those who had need. This teaches us a way of living that leaves room for the poor. We can be tempted to take everything for ourselves, to grasp all we can, to leave no margin; but God called his people to deliberately leave some of their abundance for those in need, not to reap to the very edges. There is a generosity that is not an afterthought but built into how we handle what we have, leaving margin on purpose for others. To leave margin in our abundance for the poor, rather than grasping everything, is a generous and godly way to live. Do not grasp every last bit for yourself; leave some for those in need. Build generosity to the poor into how you handle what you have. Leave deliberate margin for the needy, not reaping to the very edges.

That is worth taking to heart, for God called his people to leave margin in their harvest for the poor, not grasping everything for themselves, and this teaches a generous way of living. We can be tempted to take every last bit for ourselves, to maximize our own take and leave no margin; but God commanded Israel not to reap to the very edges of their fields, but to leave the corners and gleanings deliberately for the poor and the foreigner. Generosity was built into the harvest. Do not grasp everything for yourself; leave deliberate margin in your abundance for those in need, as Israel left the edges of their fields. Leave margin in your abundance for those in need rather than grasping everything for yourself, as God commanded Israel, when they reaped their harvest, not to reap wholly into the corners of their fields nor gather the gleanings, but to leave them for the poor and the foreigner; for we can be tempted to take every last bit for ourselves, to grasp all we can and leave no margin, maximizing our own take, but God called his people to build generosity to the needy right into the ordinary work of harvest, deliberately leaving some of their abundance for those who had need, so that there is a generosity which is not an afterthought but built into how we handle what we have, leaving margin on purpose for others, and we do well to live this way, not reaping to the very edges but leaving room in our abundance for the poor.

Lord, set within the laws of the harvest and the holy days is a striking command about provision for the poor: when you reap your harvest, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings, but leave them for the poor and the foreigner. You must not wholly reap into the corners of your field, you say; leave them for the poor and for the foreigner. Israel was not to take every last bit of the harvest for themselves, but to deliberately leave the edges and the gleanings for those in need. Generosity to the poor was built right into the way they gathered their harvest; margin was to be left, on purpose, for the needy. This shows a way of living generously: not taking everything for myself, but deliberately leaving margin for those in need. Show me the deliberate generosity built into this command. Israel was not to reap their fields to the very edges, not to go back and gather what was dropped; they were to leave the corners and the gleanings, on purpose, for the poor and the foreigner to gather. This built generosity to the needy right into the ordinary work of harvest. They were not to grasp every last bit for themselves, but to leave margin, deliberately, for those who had need. This teaches me a way of living that leaves room for the poor. I can be tempted to take everything for myself, to grasp all I can, to leave no margin; but you called your people to deliberately leave some of their abundance for those in need. There is a generosity that is not an afterthought but built into how I handle what I have. Take that to my heart, for you called your people to leave margin in their harvest for the poor, not grasping everything for themselves. Keep me from grasping every last bit for myself; help me leave deliberate margin in my abundance for those in need, Lord, as Israel left the edges of their fields, building generosity to the poor into how I handle what I have rather than reaping to the very edges.