When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you. I am the Lord your God.  

Leviticus 23:22 

 So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning. Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, a man of standing from the clan of Elimelek, whose name was Boaz. And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.”  

 Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.”  So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek. 

Ruth 1:22-2:3 

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December 11, 2025 

God cares deeply that our societies provide for people who are vulnerable, impoverished, or oppressed. And so, Israel had laws to do just that. In Leviticus 19, sandwiched between commands like “Do not worship idols” and “Do not steal” comes this command:  

‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God. (v. 9-10) 

The poor and the foreigner would not have access to their own land to harvest, or connections to landowners who would hire them. In the gleaning system, economically vulnerable people—like widows, orphans, and foreigners, each of whom are mentioned dozens of times in the Bible—would not be left destitute. There would be work for them. They could provide for themselves.  

Practically speaking, Ruth fits into all three categories. She has no father to care for her, she is a widow, and she is a foreigner. 

How do you think the landowners and other workers felt about this system? It’s hard to say. How would you feel if you were required to leave some of your hard work and earnings for the vulnerable in our society to take and live off of? 

Israel also had laws compelling relatives of a deceased husband to marry his widow, providing her with a home and livelihood, legal and social identity, children and future. These marriage laws ensured that families would not disintegrate, that property and descendants could be redeemed.  

Does this sort of marriage sound traumatic to you? It does to me. But I can see it for what it was: a way to protect vulnerable women and children from poverty and death in a society that left them with few options and little agency.  

When Ruth arrives in this new land, she gets right to work. God is showing His faithfulness by caring for the most vulnerable by requiring society to have structures to care for the most vulnerable.  

Questions for reflection and discussion:  

  • What do these laws teach us about God, and what God values? 
  • What laws and practices do we have in place to care for and provide for those in need? 
  • How can you follow the spirit of God’s law and use your own hard work and earnings to create flourishing for others who might go without?  

Church Reading Plan: 2 Chronicles 11-12; Revelation 2