NTS 507 WEALTH AND
POVERTY IN THE BIBLE
Class II: Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I
© Dr. Esa Autero
Wealth and Poverty in the Bible
1.1 Introduction – Wealth and poverty in Pentateuch
 What does the Bible teach
about wealth…
 …poverty?
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I
2.1 Wealth and poverty in Genesis
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…31 God saw all that
He had made, and behold, it was very good (Gen 1:1, 31)

Affirmation of goodness of creation
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our
likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of
the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping
thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 God created man in His own image, in the
image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God
blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the
earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of
the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (1:26-27)
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Humans as God’s image bearers
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Imago Dei: relationship & God’s vice regents – God the owner and ruler
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Human responsibility: rule and subdue with care and consideration (cf. ANE kings)
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I
15 Then
the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden
to cultivate it and keep it…from the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely
die.” (2:15)
 Humans in harmony with their environment
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Work and stewardship of the Garden environment
Death as a result of disobedience
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I
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To Adam…Cursed is the ground because of you;
In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life.
18 “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you;
And you will eat the plants of the field;
19 By the sweat of your face You will eat bread,
Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken;
For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.” (Gen 3:15, 18-19)
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Ground cursed
Work became a burden – just to produce food
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Disintegration of human relations
Physical and spiritual death
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I
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What does Gen 1-3 tell us…before and after the Fall about?
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God’s and human role in creation and material things
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Human role in regards to creation and material things
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Image of God – male and female; image remains after the Fall (Gen 9:6)
Work and leisure
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Rule, subdue – but with care and consideration of the environment
No material thing is inherently evil
After Fall ruling – exploitation or nature worship
Dignity of human beings
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God the Creator of all things – human created being and image bearers
Work becomes struggle and burden after the Fall
Relationship between humans & humans and the nature
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After the Fall breach in relationships – humans & nature
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I

Wealth and poverty – the Patriarchs and Joseph story

Abraham and the patriarchs were wealthy
2 Now Abram
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All patriarchs, including Joseph are (or become) wealthy
Abraham promised: land, progeny, greatness, blessing (12:1-2)
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Wealth of the patriarchs tied to covenantal promise to them
Further observations on patriarchs’ wealth
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was very rich in livestock, in silver and in gold (13:2*)
Abraham let’s Lot get more fertile land – receives confirmation of promise (13:9-15)
Abraham gives voluntary tithe & refuses wealth from kings of Sodom (14:20-24)
Jacob – deceives & is deceived (Jacob & Esau; Jacob & Laban)
Jacob eventually receives God’s blessing & wealth (31:38-42; 32:13-16; 33:11)
Joseph – from favorite to prison, and as wealthy Egyptian official
 to preserve the world and the chosen family from famine
How should these promises of wealth be applied today?
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I

Anything about poverty in Genesis?
had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife
Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to her husband
Abram as his wife. 4 He went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when
she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her
sight…6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your maid is in your power; do
to her what is good in your sight.” So Sarai treated her harshly, and she
fled from her presence…7 Now the angel of the LORD found her by a
spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. 8 He
said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from and where are you
going?” And she said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress
Sarai.” 9 Then the angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress,
and submit yourself to her authority.” 10 Moreover, the angel of
the LORD said to her, “I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they
will be too many to count.” (16:3-4, 6-10)
3 After Abram
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I
9 Now
Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to
Abraham, mocking. 10 Therefore she said to Abraham, “Drive out this maid and
her son, for the son of this maid shall not be an heir with my son Isaac.”…14 So
Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and
gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and gave her the boy, and sent
her away. And she departed and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba.
15 When the water in the skin was used up, she left the boy under one of the
bushes. 16 Then she went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away, for
she said, “Do not let me see the boy die.” And she sat opposite him, and lifted up
her voice and wept. 17 God heard the lad crying; and the angel of God called to
Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter with you, Hagar? Do not
fear, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. 18 Arise, lift up the lad,
and hold him by the hand, for I will make a great nation of him.” 19 Then
God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water; and she went and filled
the skin with water and gave the lad a drink. 20 God was with the lad, and he
grew; and he lived in the wilderness and became an archer. 21 He lived in the
wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
(21:9-10, 14-21)

God’s care for the slave Hagar – received a blessing & God’s provision
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I
2.2 Wealth and Poverty in Exodus 1-19
 Exodus the foundational event of God’s people
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Socio-economic oppression “triggers” God (Ex 2:23-25)
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Socio-political, economic, spiritual freedom (Ex 6:7; 9:16; 12)
Promise of good land & abundance (cf. Deut 15:6)
Entry into the land with some wealth (Ex 11:2-3; 12:35-36)
 Some/all to make the Tabernacle
 Golden calf incident – wealth & idolatry (32:1-6)
Daily sustenance of manna (16:15-21)
 Faith in God – miraculous provision on the Sabbath (16:22-30)
 Hoarding and failure to trust in God (16:20; cf. 16:18)

as it is written, “HE WHO gathered MUCH DID NOT HAVE TOO MUCH,
AND HE WHO gathered LITTLE HAD NO LACK.” (2Cor 8:15)
 Paul: equal distribution & avoiding extremes in congregation
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I
2.3 Wealth and Poverty – Legislation in Pentateuch
Introduction – Ownership of property
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God is the owner of all things – esp. the land (cf. Ps 24:1)
God promised the Land to His people (Num 14:8; Deut 6:3; 8:18)
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Divided according to size of the clans (Num 26:52-56; Josh 15-19)
Laws and regulations to safeguard ownership of property
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Theft and covetousness forbidden (Ex 20:15, 17)
Regulation of boundary markers (Deut 19:14; 27:17)
Inheritance rights (Deut 21:15-17)
Honest business practices – e.g. honest scales (Lev 19:35-36)
Laws that relativized ownership of property
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Land ownership never absolutized (cf. Lev 25:23; cf. Ps 24:1)
Cancellation of debts (Deut 15) & other provisions to the poor & slaves
Tithes, offerings, sacrifices – costly to maintain relation w/ God
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I
2.3.1 Vulnerable groups in Israel (slaves, resident aliens, widows, orphans*)
 Slaves and slavery
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Slavery a taken-for-granted institution of the ancient world

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Also in Israel (Ex 21:1-11)
Old Babylonian social class hierarchy:
Ruler
Elite citizen or freemen
Subordinate citizens or serfs
Chattel slaves
Priests, nobility,
officials, merchants,
landowners
Craftsmen, shepherds, laborers,
tenant farmers
Slaves as property
of owners;
purchased or born
slaves
 No formal social stratification in Israel (ideally – practically “marginalized
groups” existed)
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I
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Degrees of slavery – chattel slaves & “semi-slaves”
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Chattel slavery – master’s property

Sources: wars, trafficking, born, selling/abandonment of children
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Exodus and Deuteronomy
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Kidnapping (=theft) and selling fellow Israelites forbidden (Ex 21:16; Deut
24:7) – incurs death penalty
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Gen 14:14; 15:3; 34:29; Num 31:7-12; Josh 9:23; 16:10; Ex 12:44; Ezek 27:13)
15% of postexilic community slaves (Ezra 2:64-65)*
Manumission possible but quite rare
God’s people cannot be enslaved – Exodus precedent
Holiness Code ([= Lev 17-26]; esp. Lev 25:44-46)

Chattel slavery limited to foreigners (non-Israelites)
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Possibly also “resident aliens” (v. 45) but probably a different group here meant
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I
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Treatment of slaves
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ANE laws & treatment of slaves – laws protect masters’ property from loss
Book of the Covenant/Covenant Code (= Exod 20-23)
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Rules against abuse of slaves – master not free to treat slaves as property
Beating slave with a stick to death (21:20-21) – discipline but not abuse to death*
 Legal protection of the slave & punishment of the master (possibly death penalty)
 Permanent injury to the slave (21:26-27) – “eye…tooth” most & least severe abuse
 Master’s right to discipline excludes abuse and maiming (contra e.g. CH #282)
 Deterrent to slave brutality
 Freedom granted to the slave in case of excessive discipline (even knocking a tooth)
 In Code of Hammurabi, no compensation to the slave (CH #199)
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Two other laws on slaves
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Ox gores a slave to death – compensation to master (21:32)
Guilt offering for required to atone for sexual relations w/ a slave engaged to another
(Lev 19:20-22)
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I
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Fugitive slaves – how to stop slaves from running away
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ANE laws – forbidden to harbor fugitive slaves; always return
Code of Hammurabi – harboring fugitive slave = death penalty (CH #22-24)
Deuteronomic laws
15 “You
shall not hand over to his master a slave who has escaped from his
master to you. 16 He shall live with you in your midst, in the place which
he shall choose in one of your towns where it pleases him; you shall not
mistreat him (Deut 23:15-16)
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Help, hospitality – not oppression
 striking contrast: in Babylon death penalty in Jerusalem opportunity to hospitality*
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Fugitive slaves were vulnerable to oppression and maltreatment
The law likely about foreign slaves who flee to Israel for safety (cf. Isa 16:3-4)
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I
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Various “semi-slaves” and their treatment
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Groups: temporary slaves, concubines, and bonded laborers
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Status somewhere between free person and chattel slave
Temporary slaves (chattel slavery is permanent)
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Free citizen incurs debt – forced to sell family member (or self)
Debtor becomes a slave though for limited time
If a man’s slave contests his slave status against his master, and it is proven
that his master has been compensated…two-fold, that slave shall be free
(Laws of Lipit Ishtar #14)
 Service that amounts to twice the payment
th year (CH #117)
 In CH three years of service and released on the 4
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If debt paid earlier, freedom or if there was a general debt release (per king)
Practice: difficult know how widely practiced
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Often granting loans to poor was a means to make them permanent debt-slaves
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I
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Covenant Code (Ex 21:2-6)
“If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the seventh he shall go
out as a free man without payment. 3 If he comes alone, he shall go out alone; if he is
the husband of a wife, then his wife shall go out with him. 4 If his master gives him a
wife, and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall belong to
her master, and he shall go out alone.5 But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master,
my wife and my children; I will not go out as a free man,’ 6 then his master shall bring
him to God, then he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall
pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him permanently (Ex 21:2-6)

“Hebrew” (often derogatory term Ex 1:15-16, 19; 2:6-7; 1Sam 4:6, 9; 13:19-20; Jon 1:9)
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Israelite in financial difficulty – most likely poor landless Israelite
Temporary slavery/bonded labor for max. 6 yrs. (Lev 25:39-43)
Free in the seventh year
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Is this from the time bonded labor started or national Sabbath yr.? (Dt 15:15)
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I
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Wives and children
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Wife and children owned by master (if given by him)
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Common practice in ANE to have “home-bred” slaves (cf. 1 Chr 2:34-35)
Wife and children released if married prior to bonded labor stint
Voluntary extension – slave choose to stay w/ master
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Presupposes good and humane treatment of the slave
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Attractive to landless poor; aged, disabled; those w/o family network
Love of master unprecedented in ANE law codes
Ear piercing ceremony
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Public acknowledgment b/f God & people – probably sanctuary door
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Demonstrate master’s completed obligation to slave & freewill of slave
Ear piercing symbolizes obedience (=Hb. shama) & attachment to the master’s
household
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I
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Deuteronomic Laws (15:12-18) – landless Israelite
12 “If
your kinsman, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, then he shall serve you
six years, but in the seventh year you shall set him free. 13 When you set him free,
you shall not send him away empty-handed. 14 You shall furnish him liberally from
your flock and from your threshing floor and from your wine vat; you shall give to
him as the LORD your God has blessed you.15 You shall remember that you were a
slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; therefore I
command you this today. 16 It shall come about if he says to you, ‘I will not go out
from you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he fares well with
you; 17 then you shall take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he
shall be your servant forever. Also you shall do likewise to your maidservant. 18 “It
shall not seem hard to you when you set him free, for he has given you six
years with double the service of a hired man; so the LORD your God will bless you in
whatever you do.
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“kinsman” or brother
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member of the covenant community fallen on hard times  “semi-slave”
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I
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Freedom on 7th yr. (v. 12) – in practice, see Jer 34:8-10
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Includes legislation of male & female slaves (comp. Exodus)
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Freedom on 7th yr. and release with “open-handed” generosity
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Freed slave gets share of the produce – to have a “start-up” capital to start over
How much? “liberally…as the LORD has blessed you” – voluntary generosity
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Female may also become temporary slave (debt of husband/father)
Motivation and encouragement to be free & self-sustaining
Break the cycle of poverty, servitude & bondage
Based on liberation of bondage from Egypt
Option to stay w/ master – less likely due to provision
Blessing and provision for generosity
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“Do not consider hardship…to let go” & “LORD will bless…in all you do”
“served six years…half the cost of hired worker”
Three yrs. service rough price for having a slave – 6 yrs. is ½ the cost
 Slavery is discouraged due to Exodus experience but practiced as a necessity
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I
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Concubines – work, sex, children (taken-for-granted institution)
7 “If
a man sells his daughter as a female slave, she is not to go free as the male
slaves do. 8 If she is displeasing in the eyes of her master who designated her for
himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He does not have authority to sell her
to a foreign people because of his unfairness to her.9 If he designates her for his
son, he shall deal with her according to the custom of daughters. 10 If he takes to
himself another woman, he may not reduce her food, her clothing, or her conjugal
rights. 11 If he will not do these three things for her, then she shall go out for
nothing, without payment of money. (Ex 21:7-11)
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Status b/w free woman and slave
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Daughter sold as concubine – presumably due to debt (cf. Isa 50:1)
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Not as temporary slave but permanent concubine for master (or his son)
Master changes mind – concubine redeemed by family, not sold to slavery*
For son as concubine – to be treated as family (not “full” wife necessarily)
Master takes another concubine – concubine still rights for sustenance and
good treatment OR concubine is granted complete freedom
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I
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“War” concubine – obtained as a spoil of war (Deut 21:10-14)
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Right to mourn for parents (1 month) and adjust to new situation
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Not asked to provide pleasure during the mourning & rape is forbidden
May become wife or concubine of the captor
If he is dissatisfied with her – let her go as free (not sold as slave)
 Laws are more humane than “war spoil” in ANE or even today in many places
 Concubine practice taken for granted and made more humane
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I
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Bonded laborers – arrangement for Israelite who lost land
39 ‘If
a countryman of yours becomes so poor with regard to you that he sells
himself to you, you shall not subject him to a slave’s service. 40 He shall be
with you as a hired man, as if he were a sojourner; he shall serve with you
until the year of jubilee. 41 He shall then go out from you, he and his sons
with him, and shall go back to his family, that he may return to the property
of his forefathers. 42 For they are My servants whom I brought out from the
land of Egypt; they are not to be sold in a slave sale. 43 You shall not rule over
him with severity, but are to revere your God (Lev 25:39-43)

Three stage descent into poverty (vv. 35-43)
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Mortgaging land (25:25-28) – inters-free loan (vv. 35-38) – bonded labor
Bonded laborer to be treated as “employee”* (not slave or semi-slave)
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What is being sold is not the person but service for specified period
Released during Jubilee to return to family and clan (vv. 39-41)
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People and land belong to LORD – returned at Jubilee
God’s people & Exodus experience – only fear one Master, the LORD (v. 43)
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I
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Right of redemption
47 ‘Now
if the means of a stranger or of a sojourner with you becomes sufficient,
and a countryman of yours becomes so poor with regard to him as to sell himself
to a stranger who is sojourning with you, or to the descendants of a stranger’s
family, 48 then he shall have redemption right after he has been sold. One of his
brothers may redeem him, 49 or his uncle, or his uncle’s son, may redeem him, or
one of his blood relatives from his family may redeem him; or if he prospers, he
may redeem himself. 50 He then with his purchaser shall calculate from the year
when he sold himself to him up to the year of jubilee; and the price of his sale
shall correspond to the number of years. It islike the days of a hired man that he
shall be with him. 51 If there are still many years, he shall refund part of his
purchase price in proportion to them for his own redemption; 52 and if few years
remain until the year of jubilee, he shall so calculate with him. In proportion to
his years he is to refund the amount for his redemption. (Lev 25:47-52)
 Family retains the right of redemption – esp. in case of foreign master
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I
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Redemption price – based on number of yrs. until next Jubilee
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Responsibility of redemption from closest to more distant relative
Does the redeemed person become…
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Completely free
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How to sustain oneself without land?
Bonded laborer within his clan/family – dependent until next Jubilee
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Better conditions than under a foreigner (or another Israelite family)
 Either option is possible
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I

Humane treatment of bonded laborers
53 Like
a man hired year by year he shall be with him; he shall not rule over
him with severity in your sight. 54 Even if he is not redeemed by
these means, he shall still go out in the year of jubilee, he and his sons with
him. 55 For the sons of Israel are My servants; they are My servants whom I
brought out from the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God. (Lev 25:53-55)

Ideally every Israelite is redeemed
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Family/clan as the first line of defense against poverty & hardship
Jubilee release as a backup for non-redemption by relatives or self
 Theological justification – “my servants…I brought out of Egypt”
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I
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Release of slaves – 7th or 50th year? (Ex 21; Lev 25; Deut 15)
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Three possible theories*
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Documentary hypothesis – all stem from different periods and reflect
changing traditions
Harmonization – already by Philo (Spec. Laws 2:122)
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Difficulty – not released “until next Jubilee”
Two distinct situations and people
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Ex 21 & Deut 15 – temporary slavery of landless Israelites
Lived as hired workers – unable to pay debt  temporary slavery
 Redemption not mentioned b/c not possible by poor families**
Max. of six yrs. of servitude – then released
 Given provisions to “start again” in Deut 15 after servitude
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I
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Lev 25 – Israelite landholder
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Forced by poverty to mortgage land & then (family) go into servitude
Not slavery proper but bonded labor
Probably had more “fixed” hours and better provision (clothing, housing)
Jubilee release (max. 50yrs. of service)
 Return of freedom and land as a means of provision
 No need for “generosity of the master”
 No option to continue with the master (cf. Ex 21 & Deut 15)
What did God not forbid slavery altogether?
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OT Laws realistic rather than idealistic
Focus on limited term & humane conditions
Israel did not obey these Laws though often
https://youtu.be/3oe0yB5Kwdo - modern-day slavery
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I
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Resident aliens
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Relatively little concern in ANE Laws in general
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Some foreign citizens included in debt release (Edict of Ammi-saduqa #3, 5-6, 8,
20-21)
Also Eastern tradition of hospitality
 At Ugarit resident aliens have rights and responsibilities (Baker, 177)
Generally foreigners vulnerable due to being outsiders
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Left b/c war, famine, oppression
The importance of legislation on resident aliens in the Law
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Rabbis: concern for resident aliens in Law mentioned 36x
 More than love of God, Sabbath observance, circumcision or theft
Israelite precedent as resident aliens
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Abraham, Isaac, Jacob; people in Egypt (Exile later on)
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I
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Who is considered “resident alien” (Hb. ger)?
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“reside as alien” (Hb. gur) – Israelites outside of their tribal territory
Levites who do not have land (Deut 18:6; Judg 17:7-9; 19:1)
Israelites (north) who live in Judah (2 Chr 15:9; Judg 19:16)
Wandering Rechabites who are nomadic (Jer 35:7)
Individual traveler (Job 31:32)
Esp. non-Israelite living in Israel (Ex 12:19; Lev 17:10-16; 18:26; Num 15:13-16)
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Same laws apply to both (Ex 12:19; Lev 17:10-16; 18:26)
May participate in ceremonies/festivals* (Ex 12:48-9; Lev 17:8; 16:29; Deut 5:14)
Cannot/do not own land – land not for sale
Distinguished from foreigner (Hb. nokri; Deut 17:15; 29:22)
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From another country, no relationship to covenant community; different religion
 Status of resident alien somewhere b/w native and foreigner
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I
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Resident alien different from “temporary resident (Hb. toshaw)”
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Sometimes synonymous other times distinguished (Ps 32:11; Num 35:15)
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Temporary resident NOT allowed to celebrate Passover (Ex 12:45-48)
May be enslaved (Lev 25:45)
Cannot worship in assembly & doesn’t possess legal equality (Lev 16:29;
24:16, 22)
 Difficult to find a proper English equivalent for Hb. ger
 Suggestions: sojourner, stranger, immigrant, refugee, ethic minorities
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I

Covenant Code on resident aliens
21 “You
shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in
the land of Egypt. (Ex 22:21)
“You shall not oppress a stranger, since you yourselves know the feelings of
a stranger, for you also were strangers in the land of Egypt. (23:9)

No oppression or wronging – Exodus as a rationale

Protection in everyday life and legal proceedings
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I

Holiness Code

Social equality
33 ‘When
a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him
wrong.34 The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native
among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the
land of Egypt; I am the LORD your God. (Lev 19:33-34)


RA (=resident alient) treated as natives
Love RA as oneself – divine authority of the Law

Remarkable statement to “love” in ANE
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I

Legal equality
22 There
shall be one standard for you; it shall be for the stranger as well as
the native, for I am the LORD your God.’” (24:22)


RA have same rights and responsibilities
Not identical privileges and obligation

Same prohibitions but not same performative obligations
 Passover mandatory for Israelites, voluntary for RA (Ex 12:47-8)
 Laws of slaughtering applies to both (Lev 17)
 Prohibition to eat blood applies to all (17:10-14)
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I

Deuteronomic Code
17 “You
shall not pervert the justice due an alien or an orphan, nor take a
widow’s garment in pledge. 18 But you shall remember that you were a slave
in Egypt, and that the LORD your God redeemed you from there; therefore I
am commanding you to do this thing. (Deut 24:17-18; cf. 16:18-20; 19:15-21)
17 For the LORD your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great,
the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality nor take a
bribe. 18 He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His
love for the alien by giving him food and clothing. (10:17-19)

Principle of just lawsuits for all – Exodus experience as motivation

God is not partial – justice and provision to RA & other vulnerable groups

RA are classified with other vulnerable groups

See also 1:16; 10:17-19; 27:19
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I

RA as counted among the poor and vulnerable (Lev 19:20; 23:22)

Often together w/ widows, orphans, hired workers (Deut 24:14)
Recipient of charity – may prosper but unlikely (Lev 25:47; Deut 28:43)
Landless, lack sustenance, no family/clan support to help in crisis

Beneficiaries of many laws like


Holidays, gleaning rights, wages, cities of refuges
 Details in the next sections (along with orphans and widows)

Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I

Widows and orphans

Position & condition of widows and orphans



Vulnerable group – w/o sustenance and protector
Sometimes able to live on husband’s land & be provided by (distant)
relatives
ANE law codes – main concern is justice, not charity/sustenance
Uru-inimgina made a compact with the divine Nin-girsu that the powerful
man would not oppress the orphan or widow (Reforms of Uru-inimga, c. 2300BC)

Code of Hammurabi – “in order that the mighty not wrong the weak, to
provide just ways for the waif and the widow”


Widows entitled to her dowry & to live husband’s estate (CH #150, 171-2)
Middle Assyrian law codes


Widow may return to father’s house/stay w/ husband’s family (A#25; 28)
Provision for widow for up to two yrs. if husband taken as POW (A#45)
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I


King’s responsibility to render just judgment (Sumerian Hymn to Nanshe)
Amenomope of Egypt


allow gleaning w/o hindrance & not to steal widow’s land
Covenant Code
22 You
shall not afflict any widow or orphan. 23 If you afflict him at all, and if
he does cry out to Me, I will surely hear his cry; 24 and My anger will be
kindled, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become
widows and your children fatherless. (Ex 22:22-24)

Emphatic warning w/ three inf. abs. “afflict, cry, hear”


Divine retribution to oppressor
As God heard Israelites in Egypt, He’ll hear orphan & widow (Ex 2:23-5)
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I

Deuteronomic Code
17 “You
shall not pervert the justice due an alien or an orphan, nor take a
widow’s garment in pledge. 18 But you shall remember that you were a slave
in Egypt, and that the LORD your God redeemed you from there; therefore I
am commanding you to do this thing. (Deut 24:17-18; 10:17-8; 27:19)


Justice as priority to widows, orphans & RA
Widow’s garment as pledge (Hb. beged)


Two purposes of the law code



More general word than “cloak” (Hb. shalmah)
Widow would possess few clothing
Protect the dignity of the widow (Sifre 281)
Theological motivation clause

God’s redemption from Egypt
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I

Gleaning rights for widows & orphans


ANE has few parallels but little explicit laws
Practice of gleaning common in ANE
I fill the storehouses of Mankind; even the orphan and the widows and the
destitute take their reed baskets and glean my scattered grains (Sumerian
“Disputation between the Hoe and the Plough”)

Also Amenomope (COS 1.181 lines 48-51)
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I

Deuteronomic Laws
19 “When
you reap your harvest in your field and have forgotten a sheaf in the field,
you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the
widow, in order that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your
hands. 20 When you beat your olive tree, you shall not go over the boughs again; it
shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow. 21 “When you gather the
grapes of your vineyard, you shall not go over it again; it shall be for the alien, for
the orphan, and for the widow. 22 You shall remember that you were a slave in the
land of Egypt; therefore I am commanding you to do this thing. (Deut 24:19-22; Lev 19:910; 23:22)



Grain: prohibition to pick a forgotten sheaf  blessing (future)
Olive: go through once – usually done by beating the tree (Isa 17:6)
Grapes: go through once during main harvest – leave unformed
clusters for the vulnerable people
 Compassion to marginalized due to Exodus experience (past)
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I

Gleaning rights reflect balance of generosity and dignity



“donors” did not pick the recipients
Ruth 2 tells ohow she gleaned the fields of Boaz who protected and
sustained her (Ruth 2:8-14)
Other provisions to widows and orphans


Triennial tithes & holidays
True religion by James (1:27)
27 Pure
and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this:
to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself
unstained by the world.
Wealth and Poverty in Pentateuch I

Humane