[Ruth] went out and
began to glean in the fields.
—Ruth 2:3
Jennifer Schuldt and her daughter were making brownies. When Jennifer poured the batter into the baking pan, her daughter asked her to leave some of it in the mixing bowl so she could lick some of the uncooked dough. Jennifer smiled and said, “That’s called gleaning.”
She told her daughter the Old Testament story of Ruth, explaining that she had gleaned—picked up grain left behind by the harvesters—in the fields of Boaz.
God told the Israelites, “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” (Lv 23:22).
“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it” (Ps 24:1). We’re allowed to drink his water, fish his seas, and harvest his crops. We’re gleaning.
God’s fields. God’s crops.
“Help yourself!” God says.