There
Shall Be No Poor Among You
Deuteronomy
15:1-15
Eric
Hoffer, 20th century American philosopher and author, was an
eloquent voice in support of the working classes. His writings still resonate today,
predominantly because the problems he addressed still exist. Hoffer said:
The only index by which
to judge a government or a way of life is by the quality
of the people it acts upon. No matter how noble the objectives of a
government,
if it blurs decency and kindness,
cheapens human life, and breeds ill will and
suspicion—it is an evil government.
Sounds like a companion piece to today’s Scripture from
Deuteronomy. Hoffer’s statement could
easily be a rabbinical commentary on this passage. It wouldn’t surprise me if there were similar
words in the Torah’s companion work, the Talmud.
God’s intent for Israel was that there would be no
generational poverty. Through Moses, God
told the Israelites that there would be plenty of land—plenty of room for
everyone to not merely survive, but to thrive.
Upon entering Canaan and taking possession, each man was to be given a
piece of this land—a land flowing with milk and honey. This would be his land forever—well,
actually, God’s land—to be settled, tilled, planted and harvested. Each man would hold his piece of God’s land
as God’s caretaker. The land was not to
be taken from him.
This was the concept behind the sabbatical year of the
land discussed in today’s passage. If
your neighbor’s crop failed for any reason—including his own fault—and he gave
it to you in payment for a debt, in the seventh year it was to be returned to
him. If your neighbor suffered a
reversal of fortune for any reason—including his own fault—and indentured
himself or members of his family to you, in the seventh year he or his family
were to be set free—free to return to his land and try again.
“There shall be no poor among you.” That’s God’s command.
There are two statements in this passage which I find
troubling. The first is found in v. 3,
which says that foreigners may be treated differently from Israelites. Elsewhere God says foreigners should be
subject to the same laws and treated as fairly as Israelites. That sounds more like God as I understand
God.
The second statement is in v. 11, which says, “For there
will never cease to be poor in the land.”
It seems to me that if God’s instructions are carried out to the
fullest, poverty should, at some time, be eradicated. On the other hand, there will always be
people who find themselves in adverse conditions, either because of
circumstances beyond their control, or circumstances brought about by their own
behavior. This is why God finishes v. 11
by saying, “Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your
brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’”
This isn’t a limited, one-time commandment. This is the law—God’s law—forever. No matter when or where, or how often we
encounter poverty, we are to work to end it.
This is especially true of generational poverty. God clearly wants to make sure that if people
fall into poverty they don’t get trapped there.
To the extent that a government, as Hoffer says, “blurs
decency and kindness, [and] cheapens human life” it is an evil government. This is as true of our government today as it
was of the government of ancient Israel.
To the extent Christians allow our government to pursue policies that
contribute to generational poverty, we are complicit in that evil. God’s commandments are as binding on us today
as they have been at any time in history.
We
have no choice but to obey.
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