The Attack

God’s Care for the Poor

Picture: God’s Care for the Poor 1TC 362.1

In order to encourage the people to come together for religious service, as well as to provide for the poor, God required a second tithe of all the increase. Concerning the first tithe, the Lord declared, “I have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel.” (Numbers 18:21). For two years they were to bring the second tithe to the place where the sanctuary was established. After presenting a thank offering to God and a part to the priest, the givers were to use the rest of the amount for a religious feast in which the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow should participate. 1TC 362.2

Every third year this second tithe was to be used at home, in entertaining the Levite and the poor. This tithe would provide a fund for charity and hospitality. 1TC 362.3

And more provisions were made for the poor. After recognizing God’s claims, the most noticeable part of the laws given by Moses is the generous, tender, and hospitable spirit that they show toward the poor. Although God had promised to bless His people, He declared that there would always be poor people in the land. Then, as now, people could experience difficult problems, sickness, and loss of property, yet as long as the Israelites followed God’s instruction, there were no beggars among them nor any who did not have enough food. 1TC 363.1

The law of God gave the poor a right to a certain part of the earth’s produce. A hungry person was free to go to a neighbor’s field, orchard, or vineyard, to obtain food. 1TC 363.2

Whatever was left after the harvest in fields, orchards, and vineyards belonged to the poor. “When you reap your harvest in your field,” said Moses, “and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. ... When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over the boughs again. ... When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 24:19-22. Also see Leviticus 19:9, 10). 1TC 363.3

God’s Mercy to Poor People

Every seventh year special arrangements were made for the poor. At planting time, which followed the harvest, the people were not to sow; they were not to tend the vineyard in the spring; and they must not expect either harvest or vintage. The yield of this year was to be free for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and even for the creatures of the field. (Exodus 23:10, 11; Leviticus 25:5). 1TC 363.4

But if the land normally produced only enough to meet the needs of the people, how were they to survive during the year when the gathered no crops? The promise of God made ample provision: “I will command My blessing on you in the sixth year,” He said, “and it will bring forth produce enough for three years. And you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat old produce until the ninth year; until its produce comes in you shall eat of the old harvest.” (Leviticus 25:21, 22). 1TC 363.5

The sabbatical year was to be a benefit to both land and people. The soil, resting for one season, would later produce much more. The people were released from the pressing work in the fields. All enjoyed more free time, more opportunities for restoring their physical strength, more time for meditation and studying the teachings of the Lord, and for teaching their families. 1TC 364.1

In the sabbatical year the Hebrew slaves were to be given their liberty. “When you send him away free from you, you shall not let him go away empty-handed; you shall supply him liberally from your flock, from your threshing floor, and from your winepress. From what the Lord has blessed you with, you shall give to him.” (Deuteronomy 15:13, 14). 1TC 364.2

The wages of a worker were to be paid promptly. “Each day you shall give him his wages, and not let the sun go down on it, for he is poor and has set his heart on it.” (Deuteronomy 24:15). 1TC 364.3

Special directions also were given about how to treat runaway slaves: “You shall not give back to his master the slave who has escaped from his master to you. He may dwell with you in your midst, ... where it seems best to him; you shall not oppress him.” (Deuteronomy 23:15, 16). 1TC 364.4

To the poor, the seventh year was a year of release from debt. The Hebrews were to lend money without interest to their needy spiritual brothers and sisters. It was expressly forbidden to require unusually high interest rates from the poor: “If one of your brethren becomes poor, and falls into poverty among you, then you shall help him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. Take no usury or interest from him; but fear your God, that your brother may live with you. You shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food at a profit.” (Leviticus 25:35-37). If the debt remained unpaid until the year of release, the principal itself could not be recovered. “If there is among you a poor man of your brethren, ... you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother. ... Beware lest there be a wicked thought in your heart, saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand,’ and your eye be evil against your poor brother and you give him nothing, and he cry out to the Lord against you, and it become sin among you.” “The poor will never cease from the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and to your needy, in your land,’” “‘and willingly lend him sufficient for his need, whatever he needs.’” (Deuteronomy 15:7-9, 11, 8). 1TC 364.5

No one needed to be afraid that their generosity would make them poor. “You shall lend to many nations,” God said, “but you shall not borrow; you shall reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over you.” (Deuteronomy 15:6). 1TC 365.1

Preventing Extremes of Wealth or Poverty

After “seven times seven years” came the great year of release—the Jubilee. “Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound ... throughout all your land. And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants ... and each of you shall return to his family.” (Leviticus 25:9, 10). 1TC 365.2

“On the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement,” the trumpet of Jubilee was sounded, calling all the children of Jacob to welcome the year of release. 1TC 365.3

As in the sabbatical year, the land was not to be sown or reaped, and all that it produced was to be considered the rightful property of the poor. Hebrew slaves who did not receive their freedom in the sabbatical year were now set free. 1TC 365.4

But what especially made the year of Jubilee special was the return of all land property to the family of the original owner. No one was allowed to trade his estate, and he was not to sell his land unless poverty forced him to do so. Whenever he or any of his relatives might want to buy it back it, the purchaser must not refuse to sell it. If it was not bought back earlier, it would be returned to its original owner or his heirs in the Year of Jubilee. 1TC 365.5

The Lord declared to Israel: “The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me.” (Leviticus 25:23). God was the rightful owner, the original land holder. It was to be impressed on everyone that the poor and unfortunate have as much right to a place in God’s world as the wealthy. 1TC 365.6

Our merciful Creator made these kinds of provisions to lessen suffering, to bring some ray of hope, to flash some gleam of sunshine into the life of the very poor and distressed. 1TC 366.1

Great evils result from the continued building up of wealth by one class of people and the poverty of another. The sense of this inequality would bring out strong feelings in the poorer class. There would be a feeling of despair and desperation that would tend to break down society and open the door to crimes of every kind. The regulations that God established were to promote social equality. The sabbatical year and the Jubilee would set right to a great extent the things that had gone wrong in the social and political order of the nation. 1TC 366.2

These regulations, designed to bless the rich no less than the poor, would restrain greed and cultivate a noble spirit of kindness. By encouraging kindness between all classes, they would promote stability of government. 1TC 366.3

We are all woven together in the great web of humanity. Whatever we can do to benefit others will reflect in blessing on ourselves. The law of mutual dependence runs through all classes of society. The poor are not more dependent on the rich than are the rich on the poor. While the one class ask a share in the blessings God has bestowed on their wealthier neighbors, the other need the faithful service, the strength of brain and bone and muscle, that are the resources of the poor. 1TC 366.4

God’s Plan Would Solve Social and Economic Problems Today

Many enthusiastically urge that all people should share equally in earthly blessings, but this was not the plan of the Creator. A diversity of financial condition is one of the ways that God designs to develop character. He wants those who have worldly possessions to regard themselves as managers of His goods, entrusted to them to use for the benefit of the needy. 1TC 366.5

Christ has said that we will always have the poor with us. The heart of our Redeemer sympathizes with the lowliest of His earthly children. He tells us that they are His representatives on earth, placed among us to awaken in our hearts the love He feels toward the suffering and oppressed. He regards an act of cruelty or neglect toward them as if it had been done to Him. 1TC 367.1

If the law God gave for the benefit of the poor had continued to be followed, how different would be the condition of the world today, morally, spiritually, and economically! Such widespread poverty as seen now in many countries would not exist. 1TC 367.2

The principles that God has given would prevent the terrible evils that result from the oppression of the poor by the rich and the suspicion and hatred of the rich by the poor. While these principles might keep a person from gathering great wealth, they would prevent the ignorance and complete poverty of tens of thousands of people whose poorly-paid servitude is what it takes to build up these colossal fortunes. They would bring a peaceful solution to problems that now threaten the world with lawlessness and bloodshed. 1TC 367.3