When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. Suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. There appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit...that day there were added about three thousand souls." Acts 2:1-4, 41
Today we celebrate the feast of Pentecost, commemorating the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on God's people. It was the birth of the Church. Today our Jewish friends will be celebrating the feast of Shavuot, which is what they were doing at the Temple when the Holy Spirit was given all those years ago.
Shavuot celebrated the spring harvest and was one of seven feasts God commanded His people to celebrate each year (you can read about them in Leviticus 23 and Deuteronomy 16). He also gave them specific ways to celebrate this feast: with a freewill offering of your hand, given as the Lord has blessed you; rejoicing before the Lord, you and your household, servants, the stranger, the orphan, the widow; remembering you were slaves in Egypt. Then almost as a postscript He adds this, "When you reap the harvest...you shall not reap to the corners of your field nor gather the gleaning of your harvest; you are to leave them for the needy and the alien. I am the Lord your God." Lev. 23:22
As I was reading about this particular feast which foreshadows the giving of the Holy Spirit, it struck me that this law of gleaning was attached to the harvest feast of Shavuot only. It was not attached to the harvest feast of Pentecost or the harvest feast of Tabernacles. I wondered why gleaning was included in this particular one and not the others. What was God showing His people? So I had to do a little treasure hunting in the scriptures.
I discovered this particular law was given three times in the Torah. Most laws are only mentioned twice (once in Leviticus and again in Deuteronomy). Because God repeats Himself three times I wondered what precept He wanted to make sure His people understood. Each time He gave this command He added, "I am the Lord your God". He is identifying Himself with this action. Because He is gracious and compassionate, He expects His people to be gracious and compassionate to each other and to those around them.
Another thing I realized is in addition to the ten percent tithe all Israelites gave to the Lord, there were gifts and offerings which would vary with each individual. If you had a source of harvest you were to be generous with that, going over your fields only once and not harvesting all the way to the corners. You would be doing your part in society to help the widow, the orphan, the poor and the alien - those who were most helpless could come behind your harvesters and pick up the leftovers for themselves. In that way you would be acknowledging that you served a most generous God who had aided you when you were the most helpless as slaves in Egypt.
Of course we are no longer under the Old Testament laws of tithing and gleaning, but I believe the precept still stands. What lesson is there here for me? Do I only give ten percent of my resources, my time, my talent? Do I also give gifts, offering, and gleanings during those harvest times in my life when I have an abundance? I am aware that every day in my life may not be "harvest day"; I don't always have "gleanings" so to speak. But there have been many harvest days in my life when I have not always reflected the generosity of my Father.
But I still wondered why God included the law of gleaning with the harvest feast of Shavuot which foreshadowed Pentecost. Why would God wait until His people were gathered to celebrate a harvest which reminded them to care for the widow, orphan, poor and alien to send His Holy Spirit? What precept might He be showing us in connecting the harvest, the law of gleaning and the gift of the Holy Spirit?
I'm not going to give you any specific answer because I believe God will show each of us individually what He might want you to take away from this. But let me remind you of these words from Acts 2 when the Spirit was given:
"All the believers were together and had everything in common...they gave to anyone as he had need...and the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."
Just for fun: Can you guess why the book of Ruth is read in synagogues during the celebration of this feast?
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