We are doing a series of posts on what the Bible says about living justly. We have talked about all humanity bearing the image of God and being given the dignity of work and the gift of rest. We have also talked about the accumulation of wealth and causes of poverty.
Today’s post is on generational wealth and poverty, how the specific practice of gleaning cut down on both. This practice was an “everyday” or “every year” instruction by God for reaping of crops by Israelite farmers. It is found in Leviticus 19:9-10.
9 “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. 10 And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.
In this passage we see God instructing Israelite farmers to leave margins in their fields of unreaped crops. Is this a sloppy work ethic which God is teaching and ingraining into Israelite farming practice? No! It is a generous work ethic! God trains farmers to leave some produce in their fields and vineyards, rather than stripping them bare. He then instructs them to allow the poor and sojourner to enter their property and gather (“glean”) what is left in order to provide for themselves. This required Isrealite farms to both obey God’s generous instructions and trust in the Lord to provide. We know they did this at least some of the time, because this practice is included in and central to the story of Ruth and Boaz found in the book of Ruth. Ruth gleans in Boaz’s field in order to provide for herself and her mother-in-law, Naomi, because Ruth and Naomi no longer have means to farm land in Israel and are extremely poor.
It is also important to note that this generosity is extended to foreigners. Ruth is a foreigner; she is from Moab, and the Moabites had a tense relationship with Israel because of past history. Yet in obedience to God’s law Boaz welcomes her to glean in his field. He hears of her character and is moved to extend protection and generosity toward her. Boaz is a man of character, but I think we should NOT miss the fact that God built generosity to foreigners (sojourners) into His Law. When instituting this principle, God reminds Israel that they were sojourners/slaves in Egypt, and He teaches them to pay the kindness forward that they wished they had been shown there. This is Golden Rule thinking before Jesus spoke about doing unto others what you would have them do unto you (Luke 6:31). Rather than refusing to allow “ethnic outsiders” admission onto their property, God taught them to welcome foreigners and show kindness.
The other extraordinary genius of this practice is that the poor and sojourners provide for themselves with the dignity of their own work. This is not a “hand-out,” although it certainly is provided through the generosity and compassion of Israelite farmers. Obedience to God’s law required sacrifice by the Isrealite farmers. The owner of the field is foregoing some of his own harvest in order to provide for others who are needy. Following this practice cuts down on the profits and the amount of wealth a farmer could accumulate. The flip side is that this ordinance provides food for a poor neighbor or sojourner. And if a farmer allows the poor to come onto his field to glean, he would be contributing to the continued ability and skill of the poor to provide for themselves, should they be able to come into possession of their own land in the future. (And what we will see in future posts is that God also built in a way for the poor to acquire land in the future.)
According to the internet, there’s an old saying, usually attributed to Confucius, that goes something like “Give a man a fish, and you’ll feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you’ve fed him for a lifetime.” God was already teaching his people this before Confucius, but teaching it better! Rather than an “either/or,” God’s law teaches Israelites to do both giving and teaching.
An additional benefit of this practice is regular contact between the landowners and the poor and sojourners. When a fellow Israelite became poor and lost his land to pay his debts, God instructed his kinsmen to treat him as a stranger, which sounds like putting him out. But just the contrary. Leviticus 25:35 says to let him live with you. Perhaps God wanted the poor to live in proximity with their more affluent kinsmen not only so they could come glean in their fields but so that true relationships would be maintained among all strata of the society. The poor would therefore not be “out of sight, out of mind” in Israelite communities, but known, respected and cared for. We can see a similar instruction for believers in Romans 12:16. “Do not be proud: instead, associate with the humble.” Association with the humble (whether humble in spirit or condition) not only potentially benefits the humble but provides an antidote to pride for the believer.
Is there a place for ‘handouts’? Yes, we see biblical laws which govern offerings or tithes for widows, orphans and sojourners, and all landless neighbors. These were categories of people in Isrealite culture who had less ability to provide for themselves. A principle that we can draw from these passages is that we Christians should be concerned both for alleviating immediate needs and for providing the kind of charity that allows the poor to work to provide for themselves. As we’ve seen from our passages in Leviticus, giving the poor the opportunity to work allows them to build skills that could potentially alleviate or prevent generational poverty.
Applications: This practice of gleaning is not practical for many of us in the present day as most of us are not agricultural workers or farm owners. My applications therefore are springboarding from the practice of gleaning to the more general principles of obedience to God, sacrifice, generosity and living among the humble in circumstance.
Out of obedience to and love for God, we should be known for our generosity. Christians should not be stingy. One of the reasons God instructed Isrealite farmers to allow the poor and sojourner to glean in their fields is because He is a generous God. He is so generous, that He did not withhold His only Son, but willingly gave Him as a sacrifice for us all (Romans 8:32). We should model that generosity in how we live with others. As employers, I believe Christians should consider the workers they employ, prioritizing paying them adequate wages, which will undoubtedly cut into their profit margins. Afterall, the worker is worthy of his wages (Luke 10:7). We should pay living wages out of obedience to God and love of our neighbors, whether that is required by our law or not.
One small but specific application for a larger number of us is to tip generously when we eat out. The wages of restaurant workers are often low because businesses presume that tips will make up what is lacking in their hourly wages. Tips are often shared among a whole pool of staff in the hospitality industry, not simply the one waiter who takes our order. Since one of my children was in the hospitality industry, I began to see these service workers with new eyes – as if they were my own child! I can afford to eat out, but I am often inclined to be cheap with my tip. My daughter has encouraged me to tip generously!
Finally, as Christians, I believe we must grow in trust of God to protect our interests and also grow in faithfulness to live generously towards others, including getting to know the less well-to-do, the poor, immigrants, and people who are different from us in ethnicity, education, and economic status. Just as the Isrealite farmers often lived in close proximity to those who gleaned from their fields, it is important to not separate ourselves residentially from the needy. Furthermore, I think we Christians should brainstorm ways to address the cycle of poverty. For example, if we own rental property, how should we think about our tenants? If low income wage earners must commute far to their jobs, staying employed can become a challenge. The solutions we propose may be costly, reducing our own profit margins, but they will make a difference in the sustainability and quality of another person’s life. And more importantly, while we may forego storing up riches for ourselves here on earth, we will be storing up riches where “neither moth nor rust destroys….For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt 6:21) I want my heart to be with my Lord, don’t you?