The Bible on the Poor
So many of the “religious” right seem to think that if you are poor it is your fault because you are lazy or of “inferior stock.” (Yes I have actually heard that term used on many radio talk shows.) Many in the tea party actually seem to almost fear the poor. Why? Maybe because they feel they are different from them and thus even could be dangerous.
Even the compassionate populace who want to help those who have found themselves living in poverty don’t want to get too close to this group because (they say) it is depressing to dwell on the condition that so many of our citizens find themselves.
So Americans who view themselves as living in the most Christian nation in the world, find themselves in conflict with the Bible that they are constantly calling on to support their views on so many social issues.
What does that Bible say about how to treat those less fortunate? Did they forget that according to the Bible, God see a person’s neediness as a call for compassion and action?
There are more than 300 passages on the poor, social justice, and God's deep concern for both. Find them, read them. You will find that poverty and oppression are always on God's mind.
Many readers might argue that God loves us all rich and poor. This is true. However, God and Jesus have both given us their character as a model for all humans. So if God values the poor, we need to also. But what does that mean? The Bible isn’t that cryptic.
Consider Deuteronomy 15:7 -- If there is a poor man among you, one of your brothers, in any of the towns of the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand to your poor brother; but you shall freely open your hand to him, and generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks. Stay in the Book of Deuteronomy and read 26:12 where it says “When you have finished paying the complete tithe of your increase in the third year, the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the orphan and the widow, that they may eat in your towns, and be satisfied.”
Why did God destroy Sodom? Many of the religious right would probably tell you that God destroyed Sodom because of it inhabitants’ wickedness and debauchery. But that’s not why God brought his wrath down on Sodom. Read Ezekiel 16:49 and you will find that God destroy Sodom because it "had arrogance, abundant food, and careless ease" and it’s citizens "did not help the poor and needy.
It is clear that God considers it a sin to merely ignore the poor.
Here are a few more examples that are right on point.
Proverbs 29:7 The righteous is concerned for the rights of the poor; the wicked does not understand such concern.
Proverbs. 31:8. Open your mouth for the dumb, for the rights of all the unfortunate. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the rights of the afflicted and needy.
Psalms. 140:12. I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and justice for the poor. Proverbs. 31:8. Open your mouth for the dumb, for the rights of all the unfortunate. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the rights of the afflicted and needy.
Psalms. 140:12. I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and justice for the poor. Isaiah 10:1-3. "Woe to those who enact evil statutes, and to those who continually record unjust decisions, so as to deprive the needy of justice, and rob the poor of My people of their rights.”
James 5:1-6. Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. ...Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and with you have withheld, cries out against you; and the outcry of the harvesters has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.
Luke 16:19-25. "Now there was a certain rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, gaily living in splendor every day. And a certain poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, and longing to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table; besides, even the dogs would come and lick his sores. Now it came about that the poor man died and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. And in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham far away, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried out and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue; for I am in agony in this flame.' But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony...'"
These Biblical passages do not mean that the rich man is being punished in hell because he was responsible for Lazarus's condition; but that the rich man was responsible for Lazarus as a fellow human being; the rich man was aware of Lazarus’s suffering at his door and did nothing to help.
What I am trying to say is that being an advocate for the poor and underprivileged is something that a religious person so do without even thinking. A Christian doesn’t stay silent. A Christian advocates for the poor in every venue -- among their friends, in their church, within their community, within their place of work, within their political party.
