The Poor Among You

There will always be poor people in the land.

Deuteronomy 15:11

            Verse four and verse eleven of this chapter appear at first glance to be a contradiction.  “There should be no poor among you”, and “There will always be poor people in the land.”

            Very simply put, God’s intention is that there should be no poor among you.  However, as a result of the Fall and the corruptible, natural spirit of people, there will always be poor people.  A careful examination of the entire chapter shows that there is no contradiction at all.

            It seems today that the poor are everywhere, except where the prominent people of society have excluded them.  Consider this data on United States poverty:

·         The United States has the highest overall poverty rate among advanced economies.

·         Approximately 13.2% of  Americans live below the federal poverty level.

·         Federal Poverty level for a family of 4 (2010): $22,500.

·         Nearly one in four children live in households that struggle to put food on the table. That's 16.7 million children.         

Consider these international statistics:

·         More than 1.2 billion of the world’s pollution lives in inadequate housing.

·         An annual income of less than US$10,000. is more than adequate to describe poverty in most developing countries.

·         For the first time in human history the number of overweight people rivals the number of underweight people (Worldwatch Institute).

·         Prior to the earthquake in Haiti about 75% of population lived in absolute poverty.

·         Prior to the earthquake in Haiti about 80% of the population was unemployed.

            What poverty have you observed in your community?

            The question is not:  Why are there poor?  But, what should the Christian’s response be to the poor?

Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless;

Maintain the rights of the poor

and oppressed.

Psalm 82:3

No Poor Among You

There should be no poor among you,

for in the land of the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you.

Deuteronomy 15:4

                       

Even before the Fall, Adam was commanded to work the garden and take care of God’s creation.  While undertaking this activity, the earth would yield fruits of human labor.  God the Creator intends that the creation in combination with human effort would produce the necessary sustenance for life.  The original intentions of the Creator have not changed since the Fall of Adam and Eve.

       

It is foreseeable that some families would produce more food than they themselves would need.  What than would happen to the surplus?  Does one try to stockpile it—saving it for harder, leaner times?  Or perhaps sell it or exchange it through bartering?  How does one do this keeping faithful to God’s original intentions and one’s selfish desires?  The point is that the Fall has left mankind with a deep gap between God’s intentions and mankind’s practices.

D. Hughes writes, “The central theme of biblical teaching on economic activity is that everyone should enjoy the benefits that accrue from it.  In this sphere Old Testament law, prophetic pronouncements and the teaching of Jesus and his apostles are very much biased towards the poor.”[1]

In Deuteronomy, God commands his people to be certain that there exists no poor among them.  In other words, God indicates that the heavenly blessings will exceed life’s requirements.  The surplus of God’s people must be freely distributed to the poor.  God’s desire is not that the poor should have to beg and become further indebted to the wealthy of society, but that godly people would see the need and abundantly respond.  Hughes observes that “in the community of God’s people, Israel the rich were to supply freely the means for the poor to work themselves out of poverty.”

Why has our world forsaken God’s intentions?

Are the words of God—“there should be no poor among you”—relevant to today’s world?

What are you personally doing to keep these words of God?

God presides in the great assembly;

He gives judgment among the “gods”;

“How long will you defend the unjust

and show partiality to the  wicked?”

Psalm 82:1-2

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[1] D. Hughes, God of the Poor, p. 157.