Leave the Edges, Love Your Neighbor

When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God. (Leviticus 19:9–10 ESV)

The edge of a field, Cliffs of Moher, Ireland

The book of Leviticus could be considered a code book, a book of regulations that guided God’s people (under the leadership of Moses) as to how they were to conduct their lives both in the wilderness and especially when they reached their new home in the Promised Land.

At the point that the rules of Leviticus were given, none of the Israelites owned land. They were living in the Negev, the desert south of Israel, and remained in the desert for forty years. But when—not if—they finally reached and conquered the already inhabited land God had promised to them, they had rules to follow, and this verse from Leviticus 19 was an important one:

You shall not reap your field right up to its edge . . . you shall not strip your vineyard bare. (vv. 9–10)

This same idea repeats a few chapters later in Leviticus 23:22: “And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.”

And finally, in Deuteronomy, the laws of Yahweh were given once more for the second generation of Israelites, the ones who would actually enter the Promised Land—and soon:

When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over them again. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not strip it afterward. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this. (Deuteronomy 24:19-22)

Two Key Ideas

What is the point?

1. In God’s economy, all that is yours is not all yours.

For the Israelites, especially those who followed Joshua (Moses’ successor) into the battles that eventually granted them access to the Promised Land, it would have been (or should have been) incredibly apparent that their efforts alone could not have afforded them everything they eventually owned. Case in point: one “battle” consisted of merely walking around a heavily fortified perimeter blowing horns. And then massive stone walls fell. (Read about the battle of Jericho in Joshua 6.)

Who else but Yahweh could have granted such a defeat?

So when they settled the land, surely the Israelites remembered, as they scanned their newly secured farms and vineyards and fields, that all they could see was not theirs. For all they could see and all that they had, they owed full thanks to God.

2. In God’s economy, all that is yours is not all for you.

Because God defeated their enemies and because God granted to them their farms and vineyards and fields, who else but God could dictate to them exactly what they would do with their newly acquired assets? Who else but God could set the rules?

But the rules He made had already been set and given to them, some forty years before:

You shall not reap your field right up to its edge . . . you shall not strip your vineyard bare. (Leviticus 19:9–10)

The heading for this section of Scripture, in the English Standard translation at least, is “Love Your Neighbor as Yourself,” and if you’re wondering what these verses have to do with us, or have to do with New Testament Christianity, or have to do with caring for creation as a New Testament Christian, I think this heading helps us shape an answer.

The Greatest Commands

When Jesus was asked by a bystander, “Which is the great commandment in the Law?”, He responded: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:36–40).

In other words, the entire code book of Leviticus had these two commandments in mind.

These two commandments are the point of it all.

So the specific instruction not to “reap your field right up to its edge” and not to “strip your vineyards bare” are manifestations of loving your neighbor. That is to say, If you want to know what loving your neighbor looks like, this is it.

It’s recognizing that all we have is from God.

It’s recognizing that because all we have is from God, He gets to make the rules.

It’s deliberately sharing what we have—and not with just anyone, not with someone who can “return the favor,” but specifically with “the poor” and “the sojourner” (translated elsewhere as “foreigner”—see NIV).

The Poor and Foreigner Today

Currently, “air pollution is now the #2 risk factor for death globally, resulting in 8.1 million deaths in 2021.”[1] These deaths primarily take place in African and Asian households with as many as “70% of these deaths [being] children under five years old,” and this in homes that are, by global standards impoverished, “burning solid fuels for cooking and heating inside the home.”

Wondering what the #1 global risk factor is for death among children under five years old? Malnutrition.

Here, the poor. Here, the foreigner.

We are losing millions every year because of lack of food and lack of clean air.

What Can We Do?

The same thing the Israelites were commanded to do:

You shall not reap your field right up to its edge . . . you shall not strip your vineyard bare. (Leviticus 19:9–10)

We may not own a field. We may not own a vineyard. But whatever we have—it’s not all ours. And whatever we have—it’s not all for us. And if, because we are New Testament Christians, we do not subscribe to Yahweh’s code for the Israelites, we can at least adhere to the words of Jesus: love your neighbor as yourself.

The difference between the Israelites’ experience with this dictum and ours is the poor and foreigner had to come to their fields; in today’s world, we have the opportunity to “go” to them. Look for ways to reach the foreigner and the poor. Look for ways to reduce pollution and reduce your consumption and share what you have been given. Ask your church leaders about programs and non-profits you might support. Research your options.

Start small, but start.

Because ignoring the problem is not a solution.

And ignoring others’ needs is out of line with Christ’s commands. 💛

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[1] “New State of Global Air Report Finds Air Pollution Is Second Leading Risk Factor for Death Worldwide,” Health Effects Institute, accessed July 14, 2025, https://www.healtheffects.org/announcements/new-state-global-air-report-finds-air-pollution-second-leading-risk-factor-death.