Poverty and Economy

“There should be no poor among you, for the LORD your God will greatly bless you in the land he is giving you as a special possession. [Deuteronomy 15.4]

There will always be some in the land who are poor. That is why I am commanding you to share freely with the poor and with other Israelites in need. [Deuteronomy 15.11]

What do you think God's attitude is about poverty?

First, God says it should not happen. But next, He says it will, so He made provision for them.

There is a reason Jesus spoke often about the poor and orphans and widows. That reason is because Jesus responded to the heart of God toward them.

There are two reasons that I see why we should strive to treat the poor with benevolence: one is because they are humans and they need it; two is because we need to remain humble toward those people.

The two reasons given above are not always easy. However, I think the combination of the two reasons offers whatever "balance" we may deem necessary. The first reason really is God's heart toward all. But the second reason addresses our attempt to 'play God' and judge whether a person is worthy of our help or not. Yeah, we shouldn't do that.

Now, there is definitely a distinction made between 'fellow Israelite' and 'foreigner' in the context of this teaching. But there are also clear guidelines for slavery put forth too. Regardless, God has addressed 'economy' quite thoroughly here and, unfortunately, our modern society is nowhere near close to modeling what God laid out here.

There were no government programs to address poverty in the time the Bible was written. People took the responsibility of other people upon themselves. Slavery was never in question as morally or socially wrong because it was in fact the moral and social means to help those in poverty! 

In OT times, slavery was never about race - only about economy. However, slavery did envelop and embrace a very clear 'national' theme. In other words, there were different guidelines for 'national' slaves versus 'foreign' slaves. In this way, Israel would remain distinguished from other nations based on their treatment of each other under the realm of the God they commonly served. But, on the contrary, other God-less nations would, in practice, distinguish themselves as such with slavery to other nations as the 'curse' upon them. A good read of Deuteronomy 28 here would reveal "serving others" as a curse, and "having others serve you" as a blessing for disobedience or obedience to God respectively.

As modern society has 'evolved' it would be ludicrous to suggest a return to 'slave economy.' Even though a 'slave economy' more actively engages individuals in the problem of and solution to poverty, there is simply no way society will ever return to slavery's socio-economic solution to poverty. 

So, with this said, is there anything at all to learn from God's rulings about slavery today? Of course there is - we still have a very clear picture of God's heart and benevolence toward the poor!

Father, help me to understand Your heart toward the poor and the potential instruction my heart receives when I practice Your heart toward them.