...the biblical laws encourage landholders to be generous, sharing harvest blessings with less fortunate members of the community through regulations for the sabbatical year, gleaning, tithing, and ’scrumping’... (i.e.) entering an orchard without permission and helping oneself to fruit.... Israelites are reminded that they do not have absolute rights over the land and its produce, but have been privileged to live there by the divine owner and are dependent on him for its fertility.
- David Baker, Tight Fists or Open Hands?: Wealth and Poverty in Old Testament Law
quoted at Leithart.com
No comments:
Post a Comment