Gleaning

[Soldier4Christ]

Has anyone heard of gleaning? It is mentioned in a number of places in the Bible and it is a process that is still done today. After the farmers have harvested their crops their is normally a portion of the harvest that invariably gets left behind. This is especially true of those fields that are harvested by machinery.

Gleaning is the gathering of the harvest that is left behind by the reapers. Some farmers are letting people glean their fields to help feed the poor. It costs the farmer too much to make it worth their while to do this gleaning themselves. This is where some of the food comes from for food pantries. There are some organizations that are doing this already. One group is a group of home schoolers that are teaching their children the benefit of this method and getting them to help those in need as well as themselves. These children are learning many aspects of marketing, math, business as well as charity work. At the same time as putting food on their own tables.


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.

[Brother Jerry]

Yes it was common practice to leave portions of the field for the gleaning.  A wonderful practice that is not done enough anymore, but still done. 

[Soldier4Christ]

Unfortunately many have not heard of this. Because the word itself is mentioned only in the Old Testament it is often ignored. However we are told in the New Testament that we are to give with a cheerful heart.

Yes in the Biblical times it was told to leave a portion of the fields unharvested and it was normally the better portion of the crops. Todays practice is to use the portion that machinery leaves behind.

In 1996 there was a law signed called The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act that has made the act of gleaning easier to do here in the U.S. however in the Soviet Union gleaning is punished with death or 10 years of forced labor since August 7, 1932. Israel still has a mandatory gleaning law in effect.

This is an excellent way for us to meet our commission of helping the poor. Even if a person themselves are poor they in turn can help others that are poor by participating in one of these gleaning projects.