Gleaning

Biblical Texts

The gleaning regulations appear three times in the laws of the Pentateuch.

• Leviticus 19:9-10: When reaping grain, the Israelites were not to reap the corners of the field completely or gather the fallen ears. Likewise, they were not to strip the vineyard bare or gather the fallen grapes, but were to leave them for the poor and the stranger (a foreigner residing in Israel).
• Leviticus 23:22: Within the regulations for the appointed feasts, the same command is repeated immediately after the Feast of Weeks.
• Deuteronomy 24:19-22: A sheaf forgotten in the field was not to be retrieved. Olives and grapes were not to be gone over a second time but were to be left for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. The reason given is: "And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt."

Background

The Hebrew verb laqat, rendered "glean," means "to gather" or "to collect." At harvest time, workers cut the grain with sickles and bound it into sheaves; following behind them to pick up the remaining ears was the portion of the poor. The institution limited the share the landowner could harvest, while also allowing the poor to obtain food through their own labor. In later Judaism, the Mishnah tractate Peah ("Corner") treats these regulations in detail and is known for specifying that the corner of the field left unharvested should be at least one-sixtieth of the crop.

Gleaning in the Book of Ruth

Ruth, a Moabite woman, returned to Bethlehem with her mother-in-law Naomi at the beginning of the barley harvest (Ruth 1:22). Ruth went out to glean in order to obtain food, and the field she came to belonged to Boaz, a kinsman of Elimelech (Ruth 2:3). Boaz instructed his workers to let Ruth glean even among the sheaves and to deliberately pull out some ears from the bundles and leave them for her (Ruth 2:15-16). This went beyond what the law required. Ruth continued gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvests (Ruth 2:23). The narrative proceeds through the marriage of the kinsman-redeemer and leads into the genealogy of David.

Significance in the Whole of Scripture

Gleaning is also used figuratively. Gideon pacified the men of Ephraim by asking, "Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer?" (Judges 8:2). In the prophetic books, the little that remains after the harvest serves as an image of the remnant that survives judgment (Isaiah 17:6; Obadiah 1:5).

The New Testament does not refer directly to the gleaning regulations. The incident in which the disciples plucked ears of grain on the Sabbath (Mark 2:23) rests on Deuteronomy 23:25, which permitted a person to pick a neighbor's grain by hand and eat it, a provision distinct from the gleaning law. Many interpreters hold that the spirit of the gleaning law, care for the poor neighbor, carries over into the sharing of the early church (Acts 4:32-35) and into Paul's collection (2 Corinthians 8-9).

Interpretation and Points of Discussion

• Contemporary application: The Reformed tradition generally regards these regulations as part of Israel's civil law while holding that the moral principles they contain remain valid. Some interpreters apply this principle to individual almsgiving, while others read it more broadly as a basis for social institutions and economic ethics.
• Interpretation of Ruth: Reading Ruth's arrival "by chance" at the field of Boaz as an act of God's providence is a widely held interpretation. However, retellings that describe the two characters' emotions or romance in detail add material not found in the text.
• Millet's painting: Jean-François Millet's The Gleaners (1857) is often associated with the Book of Ruth, but the work depicts nineteenth-century French peasant women.

In the Korean Church

The gleaning texts are frequently cited in sermons for Harvest Thanksgiving (Maekchu Thanksgiving) and Thanksgiving, in expository preaching on the Book of Ruth, and in sermons emphasizing almsgiving and sharing.