The Gleaning System

These posts are based on notes from our sermon series on Ruth.

I want to look at the Israelite gleaning system for a second.  It will help us understand exactly what is going on here with Ruth and why she’s out picking up left-over grain in Boaz’s fields.

The question I want to get at is, this:  how has God instructed us to care for the poor and needy?

I.  God does care and instructs us to care.

Proverb’s 14:31

He who oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker, But he who honors Him has mercy on the needy.

This is really interesting, because it’s as if God personally identifies with the poor and needy. 

Matthew 25:31-40

31When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne. 32All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will place the sheep on His right and the goats on His left.

34Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in, 36I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you visited Me.’

37Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? 38When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39When did we see You sick or in prison and visit You?’

40And the King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’

Again, God identifies himself intrinsically with these poor and needy.  The Bible is full of this.  Kings, for example, are supposed to look out specifically for the poor and needy and make sure they get justice, Proverbs 31:8-9.  And that echoes the Law in Deuteronomy 16:19-20 where kings are told to pursue justice and not accept bribes.

So we can say, God cares for the poor to the point of identifying with them, and He expects you to do the same.

II.  God’s system of gleaning gives us normative guidelines for caring for the poor

The good news is that God gave some civil laws to Israel that are supposed to serve as a model for how the Church and Christian governments should operate as we take over the world.  When a nation is Christian—like our nation—we will have Christian laws.  And where do Christians look to help us understand what kind of laws are wise to have—we look to the Bible.  The Westminster Confession affirms that the biblical civil laws have a general equity—or value—and that governments should consult them when they make law.

Now look at the gleaning system.  What was the gleaning system?

There’s a few places we find this, but let’s look at Deuteronomy 24:19-22.

19“When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 20When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over them again. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. 21When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not strip it afterward. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. 22You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this.

According to this, in a harvest activity, you’re purposefully leaving stuff so that poor people can gather it.  And specifically it’s for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.  You’ve got widows and orphans—so we’re talking about a social security system here.  So this is Ruth and Naomi—widows.

You’ve got this category of sojourner.  Or strangers.  Or foreigners. 

It’s interesting to think about, during periods when Israel is oppressed, there’s probably more widows and orphans than there are sojourners.  And during time like this, when you’ve got a bumper harvest, there’s probably more foreigners.  So Boaz might be employing foreigners on his reaping crew, plus you’ve got the widows and orphans.  The harvest fields are a busy place—the fields here are full of people.

Importantly, all of the sojourner/foreigners have a legal basis.  But the price to attain or retain that legal basis is steep.  First of all, idolatry is forbidden.  No idols are allowed in Israel—Commandment #2. 

Second, you have to obey the Sabbath—no working on the Sabbath.  It’s hard for us to imagine, after having lived with a Sabbath for millenia, just how fundamentally alien this law as for the old world.  The Sabbath is a transformational and fundamental practice.  These foreigners had no idols and lived under the Sabbath laws.

Eventually they’ll want to partake in the Jewish festivals, which are apparently lots of fun.  And this includes the Passover.  They want to join and become Jews—and by the way that’s the whole point of the Jewish nation was to assimilate the other nations.  And to take part in the most Jewish of the Jewish festivals—the Passover—you had to be circumcised.  Which, let’s be frank, is a pretty radical procedure.

No idols, the Sabbath, and now circumcision.  These foreigners that were allowed this significant charity of gleaning were not blocking the Hebrew Highway into Jerusalem waving Midianite flags.  These were committed proto-Jews themselves.  They were assimilating.  The word for sojourner doesn’t quite mean “pilgrim,” but it’s on the spectrum.  These were people committed to being a productive part of the Jewish nation.

That’s the basis of these gleaning laws and all the laws for the sojourner.  We, the Jewish nation, the sons of Abraham, are not going to be racist, says the law.  It’s not about who your dad or family or race was—fundamentally, there is only one race—the human race—and the human race, the nations, will eventually stream to God.  The Law says, under those conditions, we’re going to be welcoming.

This gleaning system is part-and-parcel of the welcoming environment.  Come obey our laws, and we will share in our abundance. 

The first task for a Hebrew in terms of honoring God by being charitable to the foreigner was—to be rich.  Only the rich—good farmers with abundant harvests—are going to have leftovers.

Do you want to help people—be rich—like Boaz.  What do we mean by that?  This:  Whatever you do, you should be excellent.  And power and authority flows to those who are excellent and who take responsibility for those things.  And a rich man who has an abundant harvest and carefully manages his harvest to leave some for the gleaners is doubly excellent and charitable and loving.

This was Boaz.  And this is also Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ, in multiple parables, styles himself as a sower and a reaper and a fisher and a land-owner king.  And He is truly excellent and He is truly wealthy.  He has been exalted and glorified, and He has carefully neglected certain portions of His fields—fields where, in His providence, you find yourself today.  You are poor and hungry.  Life has left you destitute and alone in this world, but Christ has led you to this corner of His field.  And what do you find?  A sheaf of grain.  A bunch of grapes.  An olive or two.  And He leads you along down the edge of his field, and pretty soon, your arms are full.

That’s what our gracious Lord does for you.  And that’s what He expects you to do for others.  You personally.

And that’s the system He expects us to implement as a nation—politically.

I.  God does care and instructs us to care.

II.  God’s system of gleaning gives us normative guidelines for caring for the poor.