heathen customs of the time—shows its Divine origin, that what was dropped, or left, or forgotten in the harvest, was not to be claimed by the owner, but remained, as a matter of right, for the poor, the widows, and emphatically also for the “stranger.” As if to confute the later thoughts of Jewish narrowness, “the stranger” alone is mentioned in all the three passages where this command occurs (Lev. 19:9, 10; 23:22; Deut. 24:19–22).10 Thus would the desolate share in Israel’s blessings—and that