Leviticus 23:22

Lev 23:22 And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I [am] the LORD your God.

Ver. 22. And when ye reap.] See Lev 19:9. In these we entertain Christum convivam, Christ a guest, saith Jerome.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lev_23:22

Not make clean riddance.

Gleaning

The benevolent provision made in our text for the poor and stranger proclaims its author: even God, whose tender mercies are over all His works, who is the Friend of the friendless, and has enjoined that even fragments are to be gathered, that nothing may be lost.

I. Let such as have fields to glean pay attention to the letter and the spirit of this injunction, together with the motive on which obedience is enforced.

1. The letter of this benevolent precept establishes the propriety of permitting persons to glean in your lands; but it does not prohibit clearing your fields of all the sheaves, and carrying them not only to a place of safety, but out of the way of temptation to the gleaners. Is not this evidently implied in the following explanatory directions of the law (Deu_24:19), where not taking away the entire crop is imputed to inadvertence, rather than intention. Neither does it forbid the judicious exercise of this permission as to the persons who may glean, as is clear from the history of Ruth. It rested with the proprietor or occupier of the land to grant or deny the privilege to certain individuals. Yet the command strictly enjoins the duty of leaving what is not thus carried for the poor and strangers, and frowns on the inhuman and selfish practice of turning cattle of any description into the fields until some reasonable time for the gleaning has been allowed to elapse. In some foreign countries the law specifies twenty-four hours after the crop has been carted, but circumstances and conscience must decide for each farmer.

2. We have, however, less to do with the letter than the spirit of this precept. Does it not breathe kindness to the poor, pity to the needy, and cherish the disposition to let fall purposely a few ears of corn rather than collect all with extreme exactitude? Right too rigid, hardens into wrong. The sentiment of this direction should transfuse itself into every part of our conduct, and pervade all our transactions with the poor.

3. The motive subjoined for your obedience: I am the Lord your God--God, who raiseth up one and putteth down another, who maketh the rich and the poor, who has borne with your ingratitude and rebellion, and who has, notwithstanding, given you another and an abundant crop--yes, He is your God whom you profess to obey, and whose authority you wish to regard.

4. Recollect that to obedience is the reward annexed (Deu_24:19).

II. Advice to such as are gleaners. Remember that God, who has ordained this permission, and guarded it by His command, must be honoured by you in the enjoyment.

1. Unless you are poor, you neither might nor would glean: let me then guard you against those snares which always attend poverty. It is a temptation, when afar from human notice, to defraud: lest I be poor and steal. Forget not the old proverb, He that will steal a pin, will steal a greater thing. When opportunity and importunity press, the hand that loosed the band of a sheaf will not forbear to break through the barn and steal.

2. You go into the fields to glean: then do not idle away your time, or what was intended for your good will be an injury to you.

3. Persons generally glean in numbers; then pray avoid bad company and they will soon avoid you. Like always associates with its like--lions with lions, sheep with sheep--a man may be known by the company he keeps. Choose society in your work who will do you good rather than harm; better conversation will cheer you under the heat of the sun and the toil of out-door work, to which you may perhaps not be accustomed.

4. Let me caution you also against what is too common on these occasions--immodest behaviour. Indecent language and coarse manners are disgraceful and dangerous. Use your authority to prevent your children seeing or hearing what is so wrong and easily learnt and but seldom forgotten.

5. It is mentioned to the praise of a most excellent daughter and industrious but poor female that she came home early from gleaning. Be not the last to leave the fields; late hours in every station of life are injurious; works of darkness are always suspicious, often criminal. Many love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil.

6. I wish you to notice that the Scriptures say that the stranger may glean. In some places the poor will not permit this. Are they right? Does not the same verse which permits you allow them? Moreover, perhaps your children, or remoter descendants, may be cast where they are not known, and have no settlement; and often God retributes in this life; as we have done to others He allows or disposes others to deal with us.

Lessons:

1. From the whole of this subject, primarily, let us learn our obligation to God for His invaluable Word--a standard of unerring rectitude, and wherein is contained every thing necessary for life and godliness.

2. We may infer that if God has condescended to regulate smaller concerns, He will not overlook greater matters. Has He thus cared for your bodies and temporal interests, and will He be less provident about your immortal spirits?

3. Let us remember that the evening of our life draweth on; when, as she who gleaned in the fields of Boaz returned to her inquiring parent and reported her success, we shall return to the dust from whence we sprang; and must say to corruption, Thou art my mother. It shall then be asked of us, Were have ye gleaned to-day? where wroughtest thou? What reply shall we make? (W. Clayton.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lev 23:22. When ye reap, thou — From the plural, ye, he comes to the singular, thou, because he would press this duty upon every person who had a harvest to reap, that none might plead exemption from it. And it is observable, that, though the present business is only concerning the worship of God, yet he makes a kind of excursion to repeat a former law of providing for the poor, to show that our devotion to God is little esteemed by him if it be not accompanied with acts of charity to men.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

THE LAW OF CHARITY, Lev_23:22.

22. The corners of thy field — This provision for the poor was more ample than the Authorized Version shows. The borders of the field were to be left. How wide a border, was to be determined by the owner, thus affording scope for the exercise of his benevolent affections, or for the manifestation of avarice. In Deu_24:19, the overlooked sheaf is mercifully set apart for the needy gleaners. Thus the spirit of unselfish love, the very essence of Judaism and Christianity, was carefully enjoined upon the Israelites.

The stranger — This term signifies about the same as our expression “naturalized foreigner,” inasmuch as it implies a certain political status in the country in which he resides. The civil rights of the stranger were not very accurately defined. That he was eligible to all civil offices except that of king we infer from Deu_17:15, on the principle that the prohibition of the greater is not a prohibition of the less. In Lev_25:23, Jehovah says to his people, “The land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.” This plainly implies that the stranger could not be a landowner. This fact will account for his poverty. The landless, as a class, must ever be on the borders of starvation. The origin of these “aliens to the covenant” is evident. They were the remnant of the Canaanites, “the mixed multitude” which accompanied Israel from Egypt, captives taken in war, political refugees, fugitive slaves, hired servants, and merchants. The census of them in Solomon’s time gave a return of one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred males, about a tenth of the whole population. 2Ch_2:17. They were required not to infringe any fundamental law of the State, such as relates to the sabbath, the hal-lowed Name, food during passover, marriage laws, worship of Moloch, and eating blood. They could offer sin offerings, and enjoy the blessings of the day of atonement. The enactments of the Mosaic law respecting resident aliens were conceived in a spirit of liberality which is not surpassed by any of the most enlightened Christian nations of modern times.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, &c.--(See on Lev 19:9). The repetition of this law here probably arose from the priests reminding the people, at the presentation of the first-fruits, to unite piety to God with charity to the poor.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 22. Neither shalt thou gather any gleaning] See Clarke on Le 19:9.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(22) Thou shalt not make a clean riddance.—Better, thou shalt not wholly reap, as the Authorised version translates the same phrase in Lev_19:9. In the midst of rejoicing and thankfulness to God for a bountiful harvest, the Lawgiver again inculcates the duty of remembering the poor, and reminds the proprietors of the land that the needy have legally a share in the produce, as has been enacted in Lev_19:9.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

22. And when … harvest] Probably inserted here from Lev_19:9 (also H), with which it is verbally identical.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And when ye reap the harvest of your land,.... This law is repeated from Lev 19:9; and as Aben Ezra observes, the feast of weeks being the feast of the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, it is repeated, that they might not forget what God had commanded them to do at that time, namely, to leave somewhat for the poor; and the Jewish writers (a) observe, that this law, being put among the solemn feasts of the passover, pentecost, and tabernacles, and the beginning of the year, and the day of atonement, teaches, that he that observes it, and leaves the corner of the field and the gleanings to the poor, it is as if he built the sanctuary, and offered his sacrifices in the midst of it; but a much better reason may be given for it, which was, to teach them that when they expressed their thankfulness to God, they should exercise charity and liberality to the poor:

thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: See Gill on Lev 19:9,

thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the Lord your God; See Gill on Lev 19:10.

(a) In Torat Cohenim, apud Yalkut in loc. & Jarchi.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

From the plural ye he comes to the singular thou, because he would press this duty upon every person who hath a harvest to reap, that none might plead exemption from it. And it is observable, that though the present business is only concerning the worship of God, yet he makes a kind of excursion to repeat a former law of providing for the poor, to show that our piety and devotion to God is little esteemed by him, if it be not accompanied with acts of charity to men.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

When ye reap, thou - From the plural, ye, he comes to the singular, thou, because he would press this duty upon every person who hath an harvest to reap, that none might plead exemption from it. And it is observable, that though the present business is only concerning the worship of God, yet he makes a kind of excursion to repeat a former law of providing for the poor, to shew that our devotion to God is little esteemed by him if it be not accompanied with acts of charity to men.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

General Information:

Yahweh continues telling Moses what the people must do.

When you reap the harvest of your land, you must not completely reap the corners of your fields

"When you gather your crops, do not gather them all the way to the edges of your fields"

translationWords

reap

harvest

glean

alien

Yahweh

God

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

ובקצרכם AND WHEN YE REAP [THE HARVEST OF YOUR LAND, THOU SHALT NOT MAKE CLEAR RIDDANCE OF THE CORNER OF THE FIELD] — Scripture repeats the prohibition here (although it has already been mentioned above, 19:9) in order to make one who transgresses this law infringe two negative commands. R. Abdima the son of R. Joseph said: What reason had Scripture to place it (the law concerning the corner of the field) amidst those regarding the festival-sacrifices — those of Passover and Pentecost on this side of it, and those of the New Year, Day of Atonement and “the Feast” (Tabernacles) following on that side of it? To teach you that he who leaves the gleanings, the forgotten sheaf and the corner of the field to the poor as it ought to be, is regarded as though he had built the Temple and offered his sacrifices therein (cf. Sifra, Emor, Chapter 13 11).

תעזב THOU SHALT LEAVE [THEM UNTO THE POOR] — leave these in front of them and they shall gather: you are not allowed to assist one of them to the injury of another poor man (Sifra, Kedoshim, Chapter 3 5; Mishnah Peah 5:6).

אני ה' אלהיכם I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD, Who am faithful to pay you your reward.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

AND WHEN YE REAP THE HARVEST OF YOUR LAND, THOU SHALT NOT WHOLLY REAP THE CORNER OF THY FIELD, NEITHER SHALT THOU GATHER THY GLEANING OF THY HARVEST: THOU SHALT LEAVE THEM FOR THE POOR. Rashi comments: “He repeats once more these prohibitions [although they have been mentioned above, 19:9] in order to make one liable for transgressing two negative commandments [in each case].” And Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra said that the reason [for the repetition] is because the Festival of Weeks is the day on which the first-fruits of wheat harvest [are brought as a meal-offering, in the form of the two leavened loaves], therefore He warned that “you should not forget what I have commanded you to do in those days.” The correct interpretation appears to me to be that the expression, And when ye reap the harvest of your Land alludes to “the harvest” mentioned at the beginning of this section, thus stating that when you will come into the Land and you reap the sheaf, the first-fruits of your harvest, thou shalt not wholly r,eap the corner of that field for the sake of the sheaf, neither shall you gather the gleaning, meaning to say that this commandment [of bringing the omer,” and on the fiftieth day is the Festival of Weeks. Thus it is clear that the time of this festival is dependent upon the omer.] does not override these negative commandments.

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.