Foundations for Christian Mission, Mentor's Guide, MG04

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F O U N D A T I O N S F O R C H R I S T I A N M I S S I O N

I. Access to productive resources again : in the year of Jubilee, the poor were to recover their property.

1. The restoration of the property was to be done justly and fairly, Lev. 25.13-17.

2. Provision is made for those whose funds and resources were short or non-existent, Lev. 25.25-28.

V. The Implications for God’s Standard in the Covenant Community: Live out the Shalom of God in the midst of the Covenant Community

Deut. 15.4-5 But there will be no poor among you; for the LORD will bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess— [5] if only you will strictly obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all this commandment that I command you today.

The Poor in the OT: A Summary

The impression is sometimes given that God prospered the righteous with material possessions (Ps. 112.1–3). While it is true that the benefits of industry and thrift to individuals and to the nation are clearly seen, and that God promises to bless those who keep his commandments (Deut. 28.1–14), there were numbers of poor people in Israel at every stage of the nation’s history. Their poverty might have been caused through natural disasters leading to bad harvests, through enemy invasion, through oppression by powerful neighbors or through extortionate usury. There was an obligation on the wealthier members of the community to support their poorer brethren (Deut. 15.1–11). Those who were most likely to suffer poverty were the fatherless and the widows and the landless aliens (gerim). They were often the victims of oppression (Jer. 7.6; Amos 2.6–7a), but Yahweh was their vindicator (Deut. 10.17–19; Ps. 68.5–6). The law commanded that provision should be made for them (Deut. 24.19–22), and with themwere numbered the Levites (Deut. 14.28–29) because they had no holding of land. A man could sell himself into slavery, but if he were a Hebrew he had to be treated differently from a foreigner (Lev. 25.39–46). ~R. E. Nixon. “Poverty.” The New Bible Dictionary . D. R. W. Wood, ed. 3rd ed. (electronic ed.). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996. p. 945.

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