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.