I take a perverse pleasure in seeing people discover for themselves wisdom that’s been in the Bible for centuries.

Leviticus 19:9-10 “And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleaning of thy harvest. And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather the fallen fruit of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am Jehovah your God.” (ASV)

A group of people in (what I guess is) the Los Angeles area have created a website listing fruit trees from which the owners have given permission for the public to glean. It’s very appropriate that they call their project “Fallen Fruit“, as seen in the above verse. God laid out a blueprint for a working welfare system that recognized both the importance of landowners (contra progressive socialism), and the rights of the poor and needy (contra conservatism, compassionate or otherwise).

One of the key assumptions in the gleaning laws was that God has the right to tell the landowner what he can do with his field. The landowner is allowed to reap his harvest, but may not go over it more than once. In other words, God is saying that only the harvest of the first pass belongs to the landowner. Were the landowner to go over his field again, he would be stealing from the poor and could be dealt with accordingly.

Leviticus 23:22 “‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field when you reap, nor shall you gather any gleaning from your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger: I am the LORD your God.”

Look at this from the perspective of the poor. Nowhere do we see God saying, “After you gather the first harvest, now go over your field a second time and take that harvest to the civil government who will decide how best to distribute it.” This would put an unfair burden on the landowner, and instead we see that responsibility placed on the poor. Even though the harvest was available, they still needed to get up in the morning, and glean. It was hard work, that was necessary to get food on the table.

Anyway, I think this sort of thing is pretty cool. I’d really like to see similar programs put in place in the Chester County area. A few years back, my mom spent time working with the Chester County Gleaning Program. While the project is a good start, it doesn’t have one of the key components of Biblical gleaning, that is, the recipient harvesting the food themselves. The work involved in gathering should be there, because it’s Biblical (2 Thessalonians 3:10), and because the hard work will encourage them to move into more profitable labors.

Deuteronomy 24:19-21 “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 stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow.”