What Does the Bible Say about the Harvest?
- Lisa Loraine Baker Author of Someplace to Be Somebody
- Published Oct 13, 2023
Each fall, consumers everywhere are assailed with pumpkin spice everything. And amid the flavors of fall are retailers who advertise “A Harvest of Savings” to entice shoppers. Because it’s the season of ingathering, what does the Bible say about the harvest?
Where Does the Bible Mention the Harvest?
The harvest has numerous mentions in Scripture, regarding both plenty and want as regards the earth’s produce. Harvest is defined by The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary as, “the culmination of the agricultural cycle followed immediately by the processing of crops and fruit into foodstuffs such as grain, wine, oil, and dried fruit.”
The Lord God gave dominion over the earth to Adam and Eve (and all humankind) in Genesis 1:28-29. When they fell, God told Adam the ground was cursed. Yet though our work is hard, there is a promise of a harvest because God says Adam would eat the plants of the ground and bread (Genesis 3:18-19).
The first specific mention of harvest is Genesis 8:22, when the Lord God makes the Noahic Covenant and said “seedtime and harvest will never cease” as long as the earth remains. Another covenant, another promise of a harvest, this time as a new beginning for the post flood world (Genesis 8:17). In Genesis 8:21, as the Lord God smelled the pleasing aroma of Noah’s sacrifice, He said, “I will never again curse the ground because of man…” As Ligonier Ministries states, it’s “an early sign that one day all creation will be renewed.”
As we look through further verses where harvest is mentioned, we see its various usages within Scripture.
Harvest in Genesis 30:14 denotes a specific time of year.
The narrative of Joseph, son of Jacob, in Genesis 45:5-8, gives us a rendering of harvest being used in two forms. The harvest is surely a physical representation of the Lord’s provision, both in the food harvested by men and in His preservation of His people.
Exodus 22:29 presents the first explicit command about what to do with the harvest. The fullness of one’s harvest is to be an firstfruits offering to the Lord, with no holding back.
We find different Feasts commissioned by the Lord in Exodus 23:14-19. The Feast of the Harvest of the firstfruits of their labors from what was sown in the field is commanded in verse 16. Along with that was the Feast of the Ingathering “at the end of the year when you gather in the fruit of your labors from the field.” This feast was also called the Feast of Weeks (a week of weeks), the grand celebration at the end of the harvest (Jeremiah 5:24). Vine’s Expository Dictionary explains, “The beginning of ‘harvest’ varied according to natural conditions, but took place on the average about the middle of April in the eastern lowlands of Palestine, in the latter part of the month in the coast plains and a little later in high districts. Barley ‘harvest’ usually came first and then wheat. ‘Harvesting’ lasted about seven weeks, and was the occasion of festivities.” In the New Testament, it’s called the Feast of Pentecost (Leviticus 23:5-6, Acts 2:1; 20:16; 1 Corinthians 16:8).
The command for a landowner to not reap a field right to its edge and not gather the gleanings is found in Leviticus 19:9. The reason for this is given in Leviticus 23:22 – the gleanings are to be left for the poor and for the sojourner in the land. God underscores this command by telling His people once again He is “the LORD your God.”
We see this played out in the book of Ruth, chapter 2. Naomi sends Ruth to glean from the fields of Boaz, the man who would become their kinsman redeemer. Ruth knew the harvest law, even though she was a Moabitess. She said to Naomi, “Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor.” And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.” We see later Boaz is in the line of Jesus, for his son with Ruth, Obed, was grandfather to King David.
Harvest is mentioned many other times in the Old Testament, most notably in the books of Isaiah and Jeremiah, whose use of the word is often symbolic for a harvest of souls. (See also Hosea 6:11 and Joel 3:13.)
When we get to the New Testament, we see a change in the use of the word to more metaphorical and spiritual senses.
Every mention of the harvest in the New Testament alludes to human souls.
In the Gospels (Matthew 9:37; Luke 10:2; John 4:35), Jesus speaks directly to His disciples about the kingdom harvest. “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;” where souls are the crop to be harvested for the kingdom. Jesus also used harvest in parables when He spoke to the crowds (Matthew 13:30, 39; Mark 4:29).
Since the harvest Jesus spoke of is human souls, the Great Commission has much to do with a righteous harvest (Matthew 28:18-20). We Christians are the harvest and we are enabled to “re-seed” by sharing the Good News of Jesus.
Paul and James speak of a “harvest of righteousness” being those who are saved through believers’ ministry (Romans 1:13; 2 Corinthians 9:10; James 3:18).
Yet another kind of human soul harvest looms — the harvest of the unrighteous on God’s day of wrath, when an angel will reap the wicked from the earth (Revelation 14:15). “So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God” (Revelation 14:19).
How Should Christians Celebrate the Harvest?
Knowing the Bible’s twofold use of the word, we now have great insight into how we are to celebrate the harvest.
Bountiful God-given fruit-of-the-land harvests for farmers and for us who do smaller scale gardening is to be shared with others who lack. Many gardeners find they planted too many of certain crops, and some vegetables are prolific producers whether with one plant or many. We anxiously await ripe vegetables, grains, and fruit.
We can:
- Plant a community or church garden and invite others to come help till, plant, water, and harvest what grows.
- Preserve by canning and/or freeze extras and give liberally to church members, neighbors, food banks, and homeless shelters.
- Teach others how to grow a garden and preserve what the Lord has you produce.
- Invite those in need to glean from our gardens and fields.
- Have a Harvest Feast to thank the Lord for His kind provision of food.
Inviting people to help and to glean is a good practice because it teaches the value of work. As we work alongside the poor (in spirit and in need), we have a golden opportunity to speak of the Lord of the Harvest. And work is inherently good because it comes from the Lord. God preserves the integrity of the poor by giving them work to do in the harvest. And as Leviticus 34:21 commands, we shall work six days and rest on the seventh day. A harvest feast is a great way to share how we all need God’s rest.
A few Bibles lessons we can share with unbelievers:
- God owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Psalm 50:10).
- Fathers give good things to their children; how much more will God the Father give to those who ask (Psalm 107:9; Matthew 7:11).
- When we seek God’s kingdom first, all the things we need (food, clothing, etc.) will be given to us. Therefore don’t be anxious about little or much; God knows our needs (Matthew 6:33; Philippians 4:19). God knows even the needs of his winged creatures and He will provide for us (Job 38:41).
- We can teach our garden visitors how to pray for the harvest of the land and of people who love the Lord.
Is There Another Kind of Harvest in the Bible?
The Bible mentions another type of harvest — the harvest of souls, a metaphorical reference used to denote God’s gathering of souls, both the righteous and unrighteous.
The following verses speak about praying for more disciples to go out and preach the Gospel. Myriad people exist; some will be a part of the Lord’s harvest of righteousness when they repent in faith and surrender to the Lord Jesus as Savior and Lord.
Matthew 9:38 - “Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
Luke 10:2 - “And He said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.’”
These following two verses from Revelation should be seen as dire warnings for those who refuse God’s kind invitation for eternal life through Jesus Christ.
Revelation 14:15 - “And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, ‘Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.”
This is the gathering of the grain—the people of God—for their reward (vv. 14-16).
Revelation 14:19 - “So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.”
This gathering is for grapes — wicked people who are used to make the wine of God’s wrath. The grapes are thrown into the winepress of God’s wrath and are crushed (vv. 17-20).
We thank God both for the consumable harvest of the earth and for the harvest of souls for eternity with Christ.
Father,
You are the Lord of the harvest, both of the fruit of Your earth and of the souls of men and women. We praise You for giving us all good things and for sending Jesus to save us. We are the good seed of the harvest because of Your grace and mercy. Help us to remember to share the bounty You provide from our gardens and fields. And give us opportunities to share the good news of Jesus Christ, the Lord of the harvest.
For it’s in His name and for His glory we pray,
Amen.
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/AlexRaths
