7 “If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, 8 but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. 9 Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the Lord against you, and you be guilty of sin. 10 You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. 11 For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land’”

Deuteronomy 15:7-11 (ESV)

Some seem to confuse “legal” with “honorable”: If the government allows or does it, it must be morally okay. But governmental policy can never be the standard for good and bad. And that includes the proper treatment of the poor. While few doubt the importance of a legislated safety net for innocents in desperate circumstances, it is folly to suppose that a bureaucratic welfare system is ideal. For the ideal, one must look to Scripture.

The poor of Deuteronomy 15:7-11 were not a permanent underclass, but esteemed brothers who had fallen into difficulty. They had become poor (v. 7), but this was not their normal position. More fortunate brothers could say of them wholeheartedly, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” Furthermore, these poor understood that repayment was the norm; loans, not grants (v. 9), were their first thought. Such was the ideal.

As for the better off, they were to be generous, full of fellow-feeling, even when it could cost them. Since God decreed debt forgiveness every seventh (sabbatical) year, the man who loaned money in the sixth year might suffer loss. God said, “Never mind,” when it came to helping the poor (vv. 9-10). That was simply a risk that good people took. The reason was simple: Love trumped economic gain. And it must be sincere love, with “no unworthy thought in your heart” (v. 8). It was free, ungrudging giving (v. 10). It was lifestyle giving, since opportunities to help the poor would be present always (v. 11). It was spiritual giving, where the scriptural context was obvious to both giver and receiver. This was a blessed ideal (v. 10).

In contrast, some of a nation’s poor have become addicted to neediness. Through socially irresponsible behavior and self-destructive habits, they have guaranteed their lasting indigence. Their stance is one of impatient demand, not supplication. And thoughts of accountability and repayment are largely alien.

Biblical giving is a matter of simplicity and love. The state welfare system is often infected with bureaucratic inertia and special-interest politics. Bureaucracies tend to reward complacency rather than initiative. As one pundit has observed, the safety net has become a hammock. No wonder that those who are forced to support the welfare state with their taxes often do so grudgingly.

Critics of the national welfare program must understand that governments were never meant to accomplish the ideal. They can only encourage good things and discourage bad things. The actual achievement of ideals depends upon the free choices of citizens motivated by God’s best. Legislatures and parliaments cannot coerce wholehearted kindness and sincere gratitude. These are the result of God’s work on the human heart and hallmarks of His Church. So yes, state welfare will continue in some form or other, but it should never be confused with the ideal which one glimpses in the pages of Deuteronomy.
   

article from Kairous Journal

First Baptist Church of Perryville is located in Cecil County, MD.