“In spite of this, there will be no one needy among you; because Adonai will certainly bless you in the land which Adonai your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess — if only you will listen carefully to what Adonai your God says and take care to obey all these mitzvot I am giving you today.“-Deuteronomy 15:4-5
One of the key themes I’ve been trying to hammer home to you in this blog is that…
…if you really want to properly understand the words and intent of Scripture, it is absolutely essential that you possess a strong understanding of the ancient cultures from which the Bible originated.
We’ve been talking about borrowing, lending and release as it operated in ancient Israel.
However, such activities were also common to all the ancient cultures of the Biblical era.
We have cuneiform clay tablets dating back to BEFORE Abraham that record the laws established by various kings for borrowing, lending and release.
In fact, a good majority of these tablets are nothing but accounting records and business transactions.
As I’ve said before, many of the Laws that God gave to Israel were already established norms among the world’s nations at the time.
In the Mesopotamian cultures (from which Abraham sprang), as part of their coronation celebrations, it was a normal custom for rulers to release a select group of their subjects from either debt, slavery, prison and in some cases even a death sentences.
What’s interesting is that while such a practice made the king appear to be a compassionate and generous person, that really wasn’t the case.
What do I mean by that?
Because the truth is the king really didn’t sacrifice or lose anything because the cost burden had already been born by those folks who had paid a ton of money for their slaves (which they were about to lose) or the lender who had already lent a substantial sum of money to some lucky soul who was about to have all his debt forgiven.
There is a lot of interesting economic history to dive into concerning this subject.
For instance, later on the Greeks and Athenians when they released serfs from their land debt, took the land from the rich who took it from them and returned it to the original owners as a payback to make up for decades of social wrongdoing.
This kind of echos what occurred during the Jubilee year when land was given back to its original owners.
Let’s not forget that these Laws of Moses concerning debt repayment and release did NOT apply to gentiles.
These Laws were for Israelites only.
Again, take a look at verse 3.
“You may demand that a foreigner repay his debt,
but you are to release your claim on
whatever your brother owes you.”
The word “brother” or “kinsman” in other translations is referring ONLY to a member of Israel.
Finally, verse 4 comes to the main point of the matter.
“In spite of this, there will be
no one needy among you;
because Adonai will certainly
bless you in the land
which Adonai your God is giving you
as an inheritance to possess.”
This has got to be one of the most inspiring verses in all of Scripture.
It is the Lord’s intention that there be no poverty-stricken people in Israel.
The idea being expressed here is that since the children of Israel are receiving the Promised Land as a free gift from God, everyone is basically on an equal basis.
This makes sense because Israel is inheriting vines they did not plant, fields they did not clear and cities they did not build.
Hence, there is no reason why anyone should have to go without.
Everyone’s needs should be taken care of.
However, I should mention that these blessings did not cover the lazy, criminal or rebels who would dare to lead Israel into idolatry.
So what did Israel have to do in order to realize this divine utopia?
The answer is simple.
OBEY GOD’S COMMANDS as they pertain to caring for the poor and releasing those suffering from debt and servitude.
If Israel will do this, HASHEM promises that His blessings will so overtake His People, they will never ever have to worry about money or food.
In fact, Israel will be in such an advantageous position that instead of having to borrow money from the gentiles, it will be the gentiles who will be tripping over each other to borrow money from Israel.
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