Justice for the Poor: Gleaning – The Kingdom Curriculum XVIII (6)

Justice for the Poor: Gleaning

“And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner.” Leviticus 23.22

The third way that local communities must prepare to help the poor is by providing opportunities for work. Gleaning was a way that a poor person could take responsibility for his situation, preserve his dignity, and supply the needs of himself and his family while he waited on the Lord to restore his proper station in the community.

Gleaning is a far cry from the kinds of “welfare” programs we are familiar with in our day, when people, by virtue of mere poverty, are granted money and privileges that often have the effect of encouraging them to continue in their poverty. Local communities–and local churches–must investigate ways of helping the poor within their communities to maintain their sense of stewardship, responsibility for their own welfare, and membership in the local community by creating opportunities for the poor to work, if only on a temporary basis.

Gleaning was, of course, a seasonal activity. It could only serve the needs of the poor during the season of harvest. But the principle expressed in these laws–make it possible for the poor to work to supply their own needs–would doubtless have been applied in a variety of ways within faithful communities. Perhaps believers who own local businesses should lay up some money for emergency assistance and part-time jobs for the poor. Churches could do the same, or could use pooled diaconal funds to pay poor people to help elderly members of the community in various tasks.

Coupled with programs for loans and grants, “workfare” opportunities can help to ensure that justice is extended to the poor and that opportunities are provided for them to right their situation over time, with the loving help and counsel of their neighbors.

Reading and meditating on the Law of God is every believer’s duty and privilege (Ps. 1). Order your copy of The Law of God, a compendium of the commandments and precepts of God’s Law, by going to www.MyParuchia.com, point your browser to “Publications,” then click on the drop-down option, “Waxed Tablet Publications.”

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore.

T.M. Moore is editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001,2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.