To gleam?
February 19, 2008
Leviticus 23:22 NET
(22) When you gather in the harvest of your land, you must not completely harvest the corner of your field, and you must not gather up the gleanings of your harvest. You must leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the LORD your God.' "
God had clearly told people throughout the Old Testament that they were to take care of the poor, widowed and the strangers that lived amongst them. Now, right in the middle of scriptures that talk about how they are to celebrate festivals, God talks about gleaming. They were instructed not to harvest right up to the edge of the field, and if they were to drop any of the harvest they were to leave it there. Then the poor were to come along and pick up what was left behind so that they could afford to live. Why if God instructed them to take care ofthe poor did He tell the people to leave behind the gleamings?
My thoughts are that all the other things were to be done so that you could feel good about yourself. You were the one doing the giving, you were the one that they had to come to and ask for help. But withgleaming , you had no control over who got what. In fact, you really gave in an anonymous fashion. It also allowed for the poor to do some work to get what they needed. The big thing to me was the poor did not have to ask for help, they just got it.
So how can people gleam today? Can they? I think that they can.
I can think of many years ago when I left groceries on a persons doorstep and walked off after ringing the bell. I can think of a Jewish man whom I do computer repair work for (my only customer anymore), who when I tell him $30 for what I did he writes the check for $50. I know of hunters who cannot eat all their kill so they donate it to a processing plant to give it to a food bank. I can think of Andrew Wommack ministries (http://www.awmi.net/). Andrew not only gives away free tapes where ever he goes to preach, but all of his sermon series are available to download and listen to. He could make people pay for them, but he allows for the gleaming of the fields.
Gleaming is still around today. And it is something that we should practice in our everyday life.
Read through the Bible in one year in Historical order
Today
Leviticus 22:1-23:44
Tomorrow
Leviticus 24:1-25:55
http://tinyurl.com/24beby for a daily reading tool link.
