What is the spiritual analogy of leaving the corners and gleanings?
The spiritual analogy is that after the first fruits—Christ and the resurrected—are taken out, the main harvest (about 98%) is reaped, but the corners and gleanings are left as separate stems on the ground. They are left for the poor, just as the literal harvest had a physical need.
Les explains that the harvest analogy begins with a literal grain harvest, a forty-acre field of barley. The ripened stems are taken and made into a sheaf, presented as first fruits. Christ has been resurrected from the dead, and those who came out of the grave now make up the first fruits of the spiritual harvest. Then, in Leviticus 19:9-10, the Lord instructs that when reaping, they are not to wholly or completely reap the corners of the field, nor gather the gleanings. They are not to glean the vineyard or gather every grape, but leave them for the poor. Les notes there was a physical need, but the spiritual analogy is that after the first fruits are taken out, the main field is harvested—probably 98%—with the exception of the corners and a few gleanings, separate stems left lying on the ground. He calls this the main harvest.
And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest.
More Questions
Why were farmers told not to reap the corners or gather the gleanings and grapes?
The reason a farmer was not allowed to completely reap the corners of his field or gather the gleanings and every grape is that those were to be left for the poor—that was the physical need behind the command.
What did Leviticus 19:9 command concerning the corners of the field and the gleanings of the harvest?
In Leviticus 19:9, God instructed the Israelites that they were not to wholly or completely reap the corners of their field, nor gather the gleanings of their harvest.