English
Português
Español
Français
Answer
The Hebrew term for “glean” is laqat, which means “to collect, gather up, pick up.” Gleaning involves gathering grain or other harvested material that reapers have left behind. In the Bible, the Israelites were instructed to permit the poor to trail behind the reapers and gather leftover spears of grain and fallen grapes. This way, the Law of Moses ensured provisions for the poor, orphans, widows, and resident aliens. The law mandated that landowners must reserve a portion of the harvest for gleaners: “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” (Leviticus 19:9-10).
Gleaning plays a significant role in the narrative of Ruth, the Moabite widow who was the daughter-in-law of the widow Naomi in Bethlehem. To avoid complete destitution, Ruth gleaned grain in the fields of 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'” «And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said unto her, Go, my daughter. », (Ruth 2:2).
The landowner Boaz was deeply moved by Ruth’s care for her elderly and grieving mother-in-law, leading him to instruct his harvesters to exceed the legal requirements to assist her: “As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, ‘Let her gather among the sheaves and don’t reprimand her. Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her'” (Ruth 2:15-16). The harvesters dropping “handfuls of purpose” (KJV) for Ruth to glean is a wonderful illustration of God’s grace.
Gleaning is also used figuratively in the Bible to describe the slaying of men who fled from battle: “And they turned and fled toward the wilderness unto the rock of Rimmon: and they gleaned of them in the highways five thousand men; and pursued hard after them unto Gidom, and slew two thousand men of them” «And they turned and fled toward the wilderness unto the rock of Rimmon: and they gleaned of them in the highways five thousand men; and pursued hard after them unto Gidom, and slew two thousand men of them. », (Judges 20:45, KJV).
The prophets often used gleaning figuratively in the Bible. In the book of Jeremiah, gleaning takes on the imagery of complete devastation and destruction. Israel had been utterly stripped of its possessions, like grapes that had been completely plucked from the vine: “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Let them glean the remnant of Israel as thoroughly as a vine; pass your hand over the branches again, like one gathering grapes'” «Thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall throughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn back thine hand as a grapegatherer into the baskets. », (Jeremiah 6:9).
Again, in Jeremiah, God’s judgment on the Edomites was going to be more thorough than a grape-gatherer in a vineyard. Grape pickers at least left some gleanings: “If grape pickers came to you, would they not leave a few grapes? If thieves came during the night, would they not steal only as much as they wanted? But I will strip [Edom] bare” (Jeremiah 49:9-10).
The prophet Micah described the world as a gleaned vineyard.
Hard, with the godly having been entirely plucked from the land: “What misery is mine! I am like one who gathers summer fruit at the gleaning of the vineyard; there is no cluster of grapes to eat, none of the early figs that I crave. The faithful have been swept from the land; not one upright person remains. Everyone lies in wait to shed blood; they hunt each other with nets” (Micah 7:1-2).
The prophet Isaiah applied gleaning symbolically in a message about the ultimate day of judgment and salvation for all the people of God: “In that day from the river Euphrates to the Brook of Egypt the LORD will thresh out the grain, and you will be gleaned one by one, O people of Israel” «And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel. », (Isaiah 27:12, ESV).
Gleaning in the Bible is an important concept that believers ought to take to heart. We should remember to cheerfully and generously allow others in need to glean from the blessings we have received. In turn, we do well to realize that our blessings have been gleaned through God’s goodness and grace from His abundant fields. And finally, as God’s people we ought to live in readiness for a great gleaning in the future harvest when the Lord returns to thresh out the grain, gather up His people, and dispense with the chaff.
