And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest.

And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God [Lev. 19:9–10].


This was God’s marvelous provision for the poor. God did not put anyone on charity. He never let anyone sit down and do nothing and receive a welfare check. The poor were taken care of by being given the opportunity to work. This was a marvelous balance between heartless capitalism and godless socialism. Whatever a farmer did not reap his first time around must be left for the poor. The ancient method of harvesting by hand left 10 percent to 20 percent of the grain in the field. The same law applied to their vineyards. I was at a meeting in Turlock, California, and a man told me to go out to the vineyard and help myself to the grapes because he knew how I loved grapes. It was after the harvest and the pickers were all gone. I could have filled a truck with grapes if I had had one there. That night at the meeting I told the folk that I had been out gleaning. That is the way God took care of His people. His method of dealing with poverty enabled both rich and poor to acknowledge the good hand of God.


McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: The Law (Leviticus 15-27) (electronic ed., Vol. 7, pp. 65–66). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.