This morning I read in Deuteronomy 15:4 that God promised that there would be no poor among the Israelites when God gave them the promised land. Moses then spends two paragraph-long verses just how prosperous Israel would be if they obey God.

Then, in verse 7, he tells them what to do if one of their brothers is a poor man! In verse 10, he tells them, “You shall surely give,” and in verse 11 the reason they shall surely give is because “the poor will never cease out of the land”!!

I doubt seriously that Moses had already forgotten verse 4 by the time he wrote verse 11. I understand that most scholars believe the books of Moses were edited during the captivity in Babylon. Surely and editor would never miss an author contradicting himself on a short essay.

The answer to this seeming contradiction is that Israel was meant to be a family under God. Deuteronomy 15:7 specifies that a brother is the poor man.

No one would be poor in Israel because the rich would take care of the poor! Even if there were no fabulously wealthy Israelites to personally help the poor, whole cities are commanded to tithe to the benefit of the widows, poor, and Levites in Deuteronomy 14, just one chapter earlier. For two year, once per year, families would bring their tithes to Jerusalem for a week-long feast, and they were instructed to bring the poor and the Levites with them. The third year, they didn’t go anywhere; they just gave the tithe to the poor and Levites.

Interestingly enough, 2 Corinthians 9 describes the churches actually doing this. Rather than a tithe, each person gave as they felt they should give, without compulsion, though Paul strongly urged them to be generous. In that chapter, Paul was collecting money from Grecians (Philippi, Corinth, etc.) and Galatians to help the Jerusalem church because of a famine.

That continued for much longer than you might think. Around AD 150, a Christian wrote:

We who valued above all things the acquisition of wealth and possessions now bring what we have into a common stock and share with every one in need. We who hated and destroyed one another and would not live with men of a different tribe because of their different customs now, since the coming of Christ, share the same fire with them. (Justin Martyr, First Apology 14)

Around AD 200:

Or maybe it is that the family possessions, which generally destroy brotherhood among you, create fraternal bonds among us. One in mind and soul, we do not hesitate to share our earthly goods with one another. All things are common among us but our wives. (Tertullian, Apology 39)

Around AD 400:

God hath made thee rich, why makest thou thyself poor? He hath made thee rich that thou mayest assist the needy; that thou mayest have release of thine own sins, by liberality to others. He hath given thee money, not that thou mayest shut it up for thy destruction, but that thou mayest pour it forth for thy salvation. (John Chrysostom) *see not at bottom

This post is not a complaint. I live in Northwest Arkansas, near Bentonville, Walmart’s central location. So many people work there that if you ask a person where he or she works, and they work at Walmart, you will very likely hear, “I work at a local retail store.” There are a lot of wealthy people around here, and I would guess that the free meals offered to the poor are the best you will find anywhere in the United States.

Not everyone can be helped, but for those seeking help, churches (and WalMart, which pays employees $10/hour for volunteering for charities in their off-time) pour money into the various charities around here. Both those who give and those less financially fortunate pour time into both helping people with addictions and even finding people with addiction to see if they are willing to be helped. It is truly awesome.

This is a simple teaching. God’s plan for Israel was that he would prosper them as a whole so that if they took care of their brothers, and their brothers’ families, there would not be a poor person among them.

I encourage all churches to teach their people how to make sure that there is no poor among you.

Don’t forget that riches are dangerous. Jesus calls them deceitful, and says they can choke out the word of God in your life (Matt. 13:22). Paul says that those determined to be rich “fall into a temptation, a snare, and many foolish and harmful lusts, such as drown men in ruin and destruction” (1 Tim. 6:9). Yikes!

It is so hard for a rich person to enter God’s kingdom that Jesus compared it to trying to put a rope through a needle! (Matt. 19:24; ancient Syriac manuscripts have “rope” rather than “camel”; the two words are very similar in Aramaic and ancient Syrian).

So let’s follow Chrysostom’s advice, and the example of so many here in NW Arkansas and pour out our money on the poor for our salvation!

Lots of prosperity preachers say you’ll be blessed with money if you give them money, but it is much better to give your money to the poor than the rich. Giving for the support and mission of your local church is great because many do good, but giving to people who are persuading you to be determined to be rich will drown you in ruin and destruction!

Yeah. God promises to pay back the ones who have pity on the poor (Prov. 19:17), not the charlatans that trick you into thinking Jesus wants you rich in earthly treasures that will actually steal your heart away from him (Matt. 6:19-21).

*I had a whale of a time finding a link to John Chrysostom’s original quote. My link is to a chapter in The Nicene and Post Nicene Father, second series, volume 9, and Homily 2. However, that Homily 2 is a subset of sermons in Antioch on statues. There are other Homily 2’s in that volume, and Chrysostom’s writings consume 6 volumes all by themselves. Yikes!