Leviticus is one of those books that is often skimmed or skipped by many bible readers, but I honestly must say that I actually enjoy it. I know that sounds incredibly odd but there really is so much information about the temple, the priests and sacrificial worship. The writer of Hebrews tells us that all these things were just shadows of the things above.
In my observations and research I came across the concept that the instructions that Moses receives in many ways parellels the creation story. In other words, the blueprints for the temple given to Moses by God was God once again setting up a place that he might dwell among his people. They would be His people and He would be their God as it was in the garden.
I think I could have actually written several blog posts on Leviticus but out of all the gems and treasures I encountered the one I'd like to share is found in chapter 23 verse 22, " 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 the alien. I am the LORD your God."
This instruction to not harvest to the edges of the field almost immediately brought to mind the phrase, "live within your means." which in its self is wisdom for many reasons and yet it is so rare in today's world to actually find people that live within theirs means. In our world of ever increasing debt, we not only reap to the very edge of our field but we often reep from fields that are not our own. We live off barrowed harvest to the point that next years harvest is already accounted for before we even plant it, so to speak.
But not only were the Israelites commanded not to reap to the edge of their fields but God gives us the reason behind it as well. So that the poor can be provided for. That is a revolutionary idea. It gives the idea of living within your means a purpose beyond self. John and I have often talked about how we desire to always live within or below or means, and we want to be generous people. But I don't think we have ever tied them so closely together as this verse does. Let us live within our means so that we will have something to give to the poor.
When you think about the tithe in scripture many people can say they believe and live by the principle that the tithe belongs to God, but how many believe and obey this teaching that the edges of their field belong to the poor. The gleanings belong to the poor. In God's economy they do.
It is hard to imagine a community of people that would not only live within their means but would also provide the local church with a means to exist with their tithe and provide for the poor in their local community with the edges of their fields and their gleenings, their surplus, their profit. How very very unamerican. But yet an invisible God gives us a picture of His kind of economy.
What if God's people lived like this? What if God's people went against the grain in society and lived so far within their means, committed to a simple lifestyle, that they were able to give the first 10% to the local church and then after meeting their own basic needs, shared the rest with the poor?
God puts forth such an expectation for His people and follows it with, " I am the LORD your God."
In essence I hear Him say in that one sentence, " I am the LORD. I am God. Put your trust in me! Don't trust in what your hands can provide. Don't trust in wealth. Don't put your hope in the rain and the soil to provide for you. Put your hope in ME. I am the LORD your God! I will bless you and I will bless others through you. You are my people and through you all the nations of the earth will be blessed."
Oh, what God does with hearts that aren't bound up in fear, that aren't imprisoned to materialism. Hearts free from greed and full of compassion toward the poor. Hearts that some how grasp the great mystery that we are in divine relationship with the Creator God, and that relationship with the divine is directly mirrored in our relationship with humanity. God has made it impossible to love Him or know Him apart from loving the poor of the earth. He always identifies with them. In the words of Christ we hear the same message, "Whatever you have done to one of the least of these, you have done to me."
