God and the Poor

I have been reading and learning on my own a lot about God and the poor. I recently went to a conference on faith and international development where my knowledge grew and was challenged. I was able to hear a man named Ron Sider who I refrence later speak out on God and the poor. I had to write a paper on Biblical Theology and focus on the Old Testament and since this is something im passionate about and have been studying I thought it would be appropriate to write on. For once this was an enjoyable 5-7 page paper. well I have attached it here below I thought I would share it with the rest of you. understand that I did not proof read this paper much and that there is much more to say about this topic and... in the two books that I refrence you can find a much better and fuller understanding of this topic. None the less I will leave you with this read its a bit long but keep with it. Its powerful truth, so keep and open mind.

God and the Poor
I find it interesting that even thought I had grown up in the church, as a pastors kid none the less, that it was not until I reached college that I realized the importance of loving others. Now do not get me wrong, I knew that helping people was important. That is the reason I started my college career off in the nursing field i was in search of a way to others but as I switched from nursing to, my current major, youth Ministry I began to learn and be challenged by the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament. His teachings on love overwhelmed me and a large amount of me was upset that it wasn’t till I was nearly 20 years old that I learned and understood what verses like 1 John 3: 17, “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” (1 John 3: 17) really meant. This love that I learned about was not just any love and the direction that Jesus gives His followers was not just an ordinary one. I began to truly understand and read the bible with a different light, that His followers were to love other and more specifically love and take care of the poor. Now, I am a senior in college, a semester away from graduating and my knowledge on this matter has grown significantly. I continue to be challenged by theologians, my peers, and God to Love and take care of the poor and not to lord over them with my “riches”. What is so beautiful about this direction we have been given is that it is embedded not only in the New Testament but its rooted and intertwined all throughout the Old Testament as well.
How do we define the poor? In the book Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, Ronald Sider gives five Hebrew words for the poor, “ani, anaw, ebyon, dal, and ras” and then one Greek word “ptochos” (R. Sider, pg 41). We are told that ani and anaw are very similar in meaning both referring to someone who is “’wrongfully impoverished or dispossessed’” (pg 41). Ebyon on the other hand is directed toward someone who is a beggar petitioning for help. Dal is a word that is understood as “a thin, weakly person such as an impoverished, deprived peasant” (pg 41). Ras is a unique because it is basically a neutral word. In the New Testament we have the Greek word ptochos. This word is directed toward someone that is “like a beggar, who is completely destitute and must seek help from others” (pg 41). Sider also states how Greek ptochos is the reciprocal of the Hebrew words ani and dal. So, as we see when the phrase “the poor” is used in the Bible it is dealing with people with low economic status because of disaster, misfortune, or oppression. Looking further into defining the poor we must also look at Isaiah, “…because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor…” (Isaiah 61: 1-2)
God’s dealings with the poor stems way back as we see God dealing with the poor by lifting up the poor. We can see in Exodus how God came to the rescue of the slaves in Egypt. Many cried out to God for deliverance and for justice like we see in Deuteronomy 26: 7 “Then we cried out to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression” (Deuteronomy 26: 7). In the book When Helping Hurts: how to alleviate poverty without hurting the poor and yourself, Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert bring to our attention that this event with the Israelites in the Old Testament is not simply an example of God’s dealings with the poor but also a foreshadowing of things to come. This event foreshadowed the coming of Jesus and what he would do on earth as seen in Matthew 5:17; John 5: 37-39, 45-46; Colossians 2: 16-17 (Corbett, Fikkert pg 38).
As we follow this story further we see God giving Israel the law and not to bind them up but to give them peace and justice. Soon after that we see the freed Israelites being put back into captivity. We often look at this and blame it solely on the Israelites spiritual fall with idolatry but that was not all that took place the message of the prophets explains that the exile of the Israelites was due to mistreatment of the poor. (Isaiah 1: 10-17, 58: 1-10)
Corbett and Fikkert ask the question of why the Israelites were exiled why was God so disappointed and furious? They said that it was due to their “failure to care for the poor and the oppressed” (pg 40). They go on and explain that “He wanted His people to ‘loose the chains of injustice,’ and not just go to church on Sunday. He wanted His people to ‘clothe the naked,’ and not just attend midweek prayer meeting[s]. He wanted His people to ‘spend themselves on behalf of the hungry,’ and not just sing praise music” (pg 40). God wanted the Israelites, which he freed and came to the rescue of, to be an example to others of who He is both in word and in deed. God wants us now to be that very same thing, the full embodiment of Jesus.
Another aspect of God’s dealings with the poor is how He identifies with the poor. Proverbs paints a vibrant picture of this. “He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God” (Proverbs 14: 31). “He who mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker; whoever gloats over disaster will not go unpunished” (Proverbs 17: 5). “He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward him for what he has done” (Proverbs 17: 5). All three of these proverbs are similar in the fact that they compare helping the poor with helping God himself. We see another example of this in the New Testament. In Matthew 25: 31-46 Jesus is talking about people who took care of the hungry, the thirsty, strangers, the naked, the sick, and those in prison and how because of this they did all these things to Him and that they will inherit the kingdom. So again we see God and Jesus identifying with the poor. This also makes it important for followers of Christ to take care of the poor for we are in essence taking care of God himself.
It is also important to note how God has used the poor thought scripture. We can see many times throughout scripture, both Old and New Testament, how God used the poor as special tools to change to world. “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things-and the things that are not-to nullify the things that are…” (1 Corinthians 1: 27-28) A few examples from the Old Testament are the Israelites, as we have already mentioned, as being poor and God using them to further the kingdom. Job ended up poor but God was working in him and using him to glorify himself. We also see in Hosea God using a prostitute as a way to bring glory. The poor are significant people all throughout the Bible. In the New Testament we see Jesus himself poor and being used as the savior of the universe. He was born in a manger not ideal for a king and savior of everything.
God also deals with the poor by pulling down the rich. What is the issue with the rich and poor? Why does God pull down the rich? These are questions that are important to understand. Two things are in common when we see God pulling down the rich; one is when we see the rich getting wealthy by oppressing the poor, and two when we see the rich neglecting the poor. Three verses in particular deal with God’s pulling down of the rich are in Isaiah 3, Ezekiel 16 and in Amos 5. We see in Isaiah 3 the people getting rich but at the expense of the poor. God does not delight in seeing people receive riches when that means others will suffer because of that wealth; “The Lord enters into judgment against the elders and leaders of his people: "It is you who have ruined my vineyard; the plunder from the poor is in your houses. What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the faces of the poor?" declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.” (Isaiah 3: 15-16). Neither does God delight in the neglect of the poor. We see in Ezekiel how God showed mercy lifting the woman in the story giving her wealth and riches but she wasted them away and “So I [God] stretched out my hand against you and reduced your territory; I gave you over to the greed of your enemies, the daughters of the Philistines, who were shocked by your lewd conduct.” There are some that are blessed with wealth but they have a higher responsibility to use that wealth to further the kingdom of God. Like we see in this passage of Ezekiel it is difficult for the wealthy to do this for it often times leads to greed and pride. Which can be understood more fully by the accounts of Matthew, mark, and Luke; “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (Mark 10: 25) Now looking at Amos 5 we get another look at people oppressing the poor. “You trample on the poor and force him to give you grain. Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine.” (Amos 5: 11) Here we see How God feels about people who take advantage of the poor.
God has a heart for the poor, and as I continue to learn more about the Bible and live my life as a follower of Christ and according to His teaching I am able to see the beauty of God. The actions of God can be seen all throughout the Bible from God lifting up the poor, to Him identifying with the poor, the way e uses the poor, and the way he pulls down the rich who lord over the poor. Each of these actions of God not only show his love and mercy for all of His people but it gives us direction as followers of Christ in how to live a life surrendered to God. Even though I got a late start on the understanding of taking care of the poor I continue to grow, learn, and strive to further the kingdom and bring glory to God through serving the poor and using my wealth to help the poor.