The purpose was to provide food for the poor and stranger, as God commanded in the Law.
Leviticus 19:9-10 explicitly says to leave the corners, gleanings, and some grapes for the poor and stranger. Les Feldick points out that command had a physical need behind it. He then uses the same harvest picture to illustrate the order of the resurrection, with Christ as the firstfruits and the main harvest following.
Leviticus 19:9-10 — This is the passage Les reads when explaining the command to leave corners and gleanings for the poor.
Leviticus 23:22 — Repeats the same command in the context of Israel's harvest festivals.
In Leviticus 19:9-10, God commands the children of Israel that when they reap the harvest of their land, they are not to wholly reap the corners of the field, nor gather the gleanings of the harvest. They are also told not to glean the vineyard or gather every grape. The text states plainly, "thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God." This was not a polite suggestion; it was a statute of the Mosaic Law. The same instruction appears again in Leviticus 23:22, where God reiterates that the corners of the field and the gleanings are to be left "unto the poor, and to the stranger." Thus the Law built a system of provision for the needy directly into Israel's agricultural cycle.
Les reads Leviticus 19:9-10 and highlights the phrase "thou shalt leave them for the poor." He says, "Now of course there was a physical need." So he affirms the literal, God-given purpose: helping the poor. But he immediately pivots to a spiritual analogy, explaining that after the firstfruits are taken out, the main field is harvested, with the exception of the corners and gleanings. Les calls this main harvest "probably 98% of the total." In his teaching, this agricultural law in Leviticus becomes a picture of the resurrection order, with Christ as the firstfruits and the main harvest of believers following.
The Bible gives the direct reason in Leviticus 19:10: "thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger." The law made it illegal for a landowner to strip his field completely. By leaving the corners and the dropped grain, he was making provision for the poor and foreigners to gather food. The same command is repeated in Leviticus 23:22, showing that this care for the needy was built into Israel's harvest calendar.
Les connects the physical law to a spiritual pattern. In Clip 1, he says that after the firstfruits have been taken out, the main field is harvested with the exception of the corners and gleanings. He calls this main harvest "probably 98% of the total." This imagery, he teaches, mirrors the resurrection order: Christ is the firstfruits, followed by the larger harvest of believers. In Clip 7, he tells listeners to "keep this harvest analogy in your mind" as he returns to Leviticus 19:9.
Leviticus 19 Harvest Reference
Les points his listeners back to Leviticus 19:9 while describing the Old Testament harvest picture, but this clip only sets up the passage.
Physical Purpose: For the Poor
Les directly quotes Leviticus 19:9-10, explaining that the corners and gleanings were left because of a physical need: they were for the poor. He then introduces the spiritual harvest analogy.
Christ the Firstfruits: Resurrection Explained Verse by Verse
Now then, what were these Jews supposed to do? They were to go into that green field and pluck those early ripened stems with the heads, enough so that they would have a sheath, and then they would take it to the priest, and it was a wave offering. Now read it again. When you are come into the land, and ye shall reap the harvest, you shall bring the firstfruits to the priest.
Instruction After the Main Harvest
Les repeats the instruction that after the main part of the field was harvested, the corners and gleanings were not to be taken.
From Adam to the Rapture: God's Plan for the Ages
All right, now here in Leviticus chapter 23, verse 9, the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When you be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, and you shall bring a sheaf or a bundle, you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest.
Christ the Firstfruits: Resurrection Explained Verse by Verse
But as they came to the barley harvest, which of course was the first crop that Israel harvested in Palestine, which would be shortly after the Passover of course. But he comes down into verse 9 of chapter 23 with the third of these seven feasts. First is Passover, and then unleavened bread, and then you come to verse 9 and 10. They have this feast of firstfruits. Now verse 10. Leviticus 23a "...
The Millennium Explained: What Revelation 20 Really Teaches
Now I don't imagine I'm going to have enough time again, but for those of you in television, I'm sorry, you'll probably have to just be hanging by a thread until we come back again in our next program. But for those of you here in the studio, Chapter 23, where we have, at least as far as I know, the first mention of this word, first fruits. One minute. Sharon, you're not kind at all.
Harvest Analogy in Mind
Les tells his audience to keep the harvest analogy in mind as he returns to Leviticus 19:9 after discussing the firstfruits.
Leviticus 19:9: 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.
This is the key command about leaving the edges and dropped grain of the field.
Leviticus 19:10: And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God.
This extends the same principle to vineyards and explicitly states the purpose: provision for the poor and stranger.
Leviticus 23:22: And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the LORD your God.
The command is repeated in the context of Israel's harvest festivals, reinforcing that it was a standing requirement.
God commanded them to leave the corners and gleanings so the poor and stranger would have food. Les Feldick points out that this was the physical purpose of the command.
Les likens the harvest to God's program: Christ is the firstfruits, then the main harvest is taken, with corners and gleanings left. He sees the law as an agricultural picture of resurrection order.
No. The command in Leviticus 19:9-10 and Leviticus 23:22 uses the language of obligation—'thou shalt not'—so it was a legal requirement, not an optional act of charity.
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