Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

THE MISSION OF JESUS §13.4
The consequent responsibility laid upon the community is most clearly
documented in Deut. 15.7-11 and 24.10-15, 19-22, where the harsh reality of
poverty is well illustrated. The day labourer who owns no land of his own and
must work for others must be paid the same day, otherwise he will have no means
of buying food and will go to bed hungry (24.15). The individual who has to
pawn his one and only cloak must have it back before the day ends, otherwise he
will have no means of warding off the cold of the night (24.12-13). The poor
have to depend on the generosity of the landowner for any share in the harvest
(24.19-21). 138 The social stigma of poverty is mirrored in a sequence of proverbs,
which no doubt echoes the common wisdom of the time. 139
(2) Material poverty left the poor vulnerable to economic exploitation.
Poverty was by no means always the result of individual fecklessness or slothfulness,
of natural disaster or enemy action. It was also a social condition, with social
causes, often the result of greed and manipulation on the part of others. The
poor were vulnerable before those members of society who controlled economic
and political power, and who were willing to use that power ruthlessly. Consequently,
the poor were also the downtrodden and oppressed, often pushed by circumstances
to the margin of society. Two episodes during the monarchy well illustrate
the contrasting helplessness of the less powerful and the ruthlessness of
avaricious power — the story told by Nathan the prophet to illustrate David's
abuse of power (2 Sam. 12.1-6) and king Ahab's corruption of legal process to
secure the property of Naboth (1 Kings 21). Where such reasonably well-to-do
people as Uriah and Naboth proved so powerless before the powerful, what hope
had the poor? Of the great prophets, Amos and Isaiah in particular become
spokesmen for the poor in vitriolic denunciation of the acquisitiveness and exploitation
of the poor on the part of the rich. 140
(3) Since they were helpless and hopeless in the face of human oppression,
the poor needed to rely all the more on God. And so the idea of 'the poor' came
to include those who recognized their vulnerability and looked to God for help,
since they could look nowhere else. 141 The psalmist in particular responds with
the assurance that God is the champion of the poor. 142 Noteworthy is the degree
138. See also Exod. 23.6, 11; Lev. 19.10; 23.22; 25.25; Job. 29.12; Prov. 19.7; 22.9, 22;
28.8, 27; 29.7, 14; 31.20; Sir. 4.1, 4, 8; 7.32; 29.9.
139. Prov. 13.8; 14.20; 18.23; 19.4; 23.21; 28.19; 30.8-9.
140. Amos 2.6-7; 4.1; 5.11-12; 8.4-6; Isa. 3.14-15; 5.8; 10.1-2; 32.7; 58.3, 6-7; see also
Job 24.3-4, 9, 14; Pss. 10.2, 9; 37.14; 94.5-6; 109.16; Prov. 30.14; Ezek. 16.49; 18.12, 17;
22.29; Mic. 2.2; Zech. 7.9-10; Sir. 13.19, 21, 23; CD 6.16.
141. E.g., Job 5.16; Pss. 10.12-14; 25.16; 34.6; 69.29, 32.
142.Pss.9.18; 10.14, 17; 12.5; 14.6; 22.24-26; 35.10; 40.17; 41.1; 68.5, 10; 69.33; 70.5;
72.12-13; 102.17; 113.7; 132.15; see also 1 Sam. 2.8; 2 Sam. 22.28; Job 34.28; 36.6; Prov.
3.34; Isa. 11.4; 14.32; 29.19; 41.17; 49.13; 61.1; Jer. 20.13; Sir. 21.5; Pss. Sol. 5.11; 15.1.
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