Share and Share Alike

“When thou comest into thy neighbour’s vineyard, then thou mayest eat grapes thy fill at thine own pleasure; but thou shalt not put any in thy vessel. When thou comest into the standing corn of thy neighbour, then thou mayest pluck the ears with thine hand; but thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbour’s standing corn.” (De 23:24-25 AV)

 

I’d hate to admit it, but part of me didn’t respond as well to those two verses as a saint should.  Let us draw the picture here.  If someone was passing through your vineyard or field of corn, they could consume as much as they wanted without asking.  The only restriction was they could only take that which they could immediately eat.  They could not take more than that to profit withal.  When we project this to a larger scale, one could imagine a line forming just to sample your goods.  Some writers believe the reference here is to the workers of those fields who consume some of the fruit while working for the husbandman.  That would certainly be the case.  However, many writers believe this would apply to anyone finding themselves in the fields of the farmer.  Anyone could enjoy a snack without asking.  In our culture, we would consider this rude.  But not in the biblical culture of hospitality.  There may be several reasons for this.  First, the husbandman or farmer did not farm for the sole purpose of profit.  This is what we do today.  They farmed so they might provide for the needs of their animals and family.  They may have bartered to attain other necessities, but farming and husbandry were never intended to make the average Hebrew a wealthy individual.  Second, the understanding and custom of hospitality run deep in the Mideastern mind.  Taking care of one another is a law of tradition.  Thirdly, to share meant to find pleasure and purpose in what one was accomplishing.  Like a chef who shares his creation, it is satisfying to hear compliments on the fruit of one’s labor.  Most importantly, the saint understood his part in his increase.  He may have tilled the land and planted the seed, but he did not make it rain or cause the sun to shine.  He did not design the seed to germinate and grow.  All his increase came from the LORD and thus it wasn’t his to horde.  The laws of hospitality demand we share God’s blessings.

I like cooking.  Not baking.  I’m not a chemist.  Rather, I like cooking without a recipe.  I am a creator, not a planner.  One of the things I like to do is cook breakfast.  Most of them are simple.  Sometimes, I might go through the grocery store and formulate a recipe in my head.  I will pick up some meat that would be good breakfast meat.  Then I go through the vegetable section and pick out some goods that would combine well.  Seasoning is crucial.  We have some less popular seasonings to add to my creation.  I might pick up some shredded cheese.  We are trying to reduce bad carbs.  We need to lose weight before it becomes a serious health issue.  So, potatoes must be replaced.  I looked up some top replacement vegetables and settled on radishes.  Believe it or not, they are rather tasty.  I washed them, quartered them than through them in a pan with butter and olive oil.  I fried them up as you would normally fry up homefries.  I added some garlic, peppers, onions, sausage, bacon, and mushrooms.  Frying them all together, I skipped the eggs.  But I think I might add them the next time.  I added some Mediterranean seasonings, piled a load of cheese on top, and placed it all under the broiler.  Viola!  Breakfast!  But who would come walking down the stairs smelling the awesome aroma coming from the kitchen?  My beloved wife.  As she always does, she remarked how wonderful the smells of breakfast pleased her nose.  I worked hard on that meal.  Was I going to share?  Absolutely!  In fact, knowing the recipe pleased her was more gratifying to me than the meal itself.  Why don’t we do the same with everything we have?  Why don’t we share as a means to please someone else?

This is the point of the hospitality laws.  It wasn’t just about meeting a need.  It wasn’t just about sharing our superabundance.  Sharing what we have was a means to show love to someone we barely know.  It is the avenue by which we can share how good God is as a testimony to His grace in provision.  Sharing what we have is something we westerners don’t do as often as we might.  Knowing the LORD giveth and the LORD taketh away, we should seek to be a blessing to any and all who may have a temporary need.  To see someone walking through our fields and helping themselves to a quick snack should please us.  The LORD has allowed us to be a blessing to another.  After all, if we all shared then there wouldn’t be bitterness over what someone else had.  This is not to say the Bible teaches communism.  The need above was temporary.  Not a permanent one.  The landowner was lawfully obligated to provide grapes or corn to someone who ate his fruit habitually.  This was a temporary need that could be filled immediately.  This was charity.  Let us be charitable with those who are famished and especially with the good news of the gospel of Christ.