There are largehearted men and women who are seriously concerned about the condition of the poor and what can be done for their relief. How the unemployed and the homeless can be helped to secure the common blessings of God’s providence and to live the life He intended them to live is a question to which many are earnestly endeavoring to find an answer. But there are few, even among educators and statesmen, who comprehend the causes that underlie the present state of society. Those who hold the reins of government are unable to solve the problem of poverty, pauperism, and increasing crime. They are struggling in vain to place business operations on a more secure basis.
If politicians and business leaders would give more heed to the teaching of God’s Word, they would find a solution to these problems that perplex them. Much might be learned from the Old Testament in regard to the labor question and relief of the poor.
God’s Plan for Israel
In God’s plan for Israel every family had a home on the land with sufficient ground for cultivating. Thus were provided both the means and the incentive for a useful, industrious, and self-supporting life. And no human devising has ever improved upon that plan. The world’s departure from it has caused, to a large degree, the poverty and distress that exist today.At the settlement of Israel in Canaan, the land was divided among the whole people. The Levites only, as ministers of the sanctuary, were excepted from the equal distribution. The tribes were numbered by families, and to each family, according to its size, was apportioned an inheritance.
And although a family might for a time dispose of its possession, it could not permanently barter away the inheritance of the children. When able to redeem the land, the original owner was at liberty at any time to do so. Debts were forgiven every seventh year, and in the fiftieth, or year of jubilee, all landed property reverted to the original owner.
“‘The land shall not be sold permanently,’” was the Lord’s direction, “‘for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me. And in all the land of your possession you shall grant redemption of the land. If one of your brethren becomes poor, and has sold some of his possession, and if his kinsman-redeemer comes to redeem it, then he may redeem what his brother sold. Or if the man ... himself becomes able to redeem it, ... he may return to his possession. But if he is not able to have it restored to himself, then what was sold shall remain in the hand of him who bought it until the Year of Jubilee.’” Leviticus 25:23-28.
“‘You shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family.’” Verse 10.
Thus every family was secured in its possession, and a safeguard was afforded against the extremes of either wealth or poverty.
Industrial Training
In Israel, industrial training was regarded as a duty. Every father was required to teach his sons some useful trade. The greatest men in Israel were trained to industrial pursuits. A knowledge of the duties pertaining to housewifery was considered essential for every woman. And skill in these duties was regarded as an honor to women of the highest station.Various industries were taught in the schools of the prophets, and many of the students sustained themselves by manual labor.
Consideration for the Poor
These arrangements did not, however, wholly do away with poverty. It was not God’s purpose that poverty should be totally eliminated. It is one of His means for the development of character. “‘The poor,’” He says, “‘will never cease from the land; therefore I command you, saying, “You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land.”’” Deuteronomy 15:11.“‘If there is among you a poor man of your brethren, within any of the gates in your land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother, but you shall open your hand wide to him and willingly lend him sufficient for his need, whatever he needs.’” Verses 7, 8.
“‘If one of your brethren becomes poor, and falls into poverty among you, then you shall help him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you.’” Leviticus 25:35.
““‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field.”’” “‘When you reap your harvest in your field, and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. ... When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over the boughs again. ... When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow.’” Leviticus 19:9; Deuteronomy 24:19-21.
None needed to fear that their liberality would make them poor. Obedience to God’s commandments would surely result in prosperity. “‘For this thing,’” God said, “‘the Lord your God will bless you in all your works and in all to which you put your hand.’” “‘You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow; you shall reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over you.’” Deuteronomy 15:10, 6.
Business Principles
God’s Word does not approve of any policy that will enrich one class by the oppression and suffering of another. It teaches us to put ourselves in the place of those with whom we are dealing in all our business transactions. We are to look out not only for our own interests but for those of others. Anyone who would take advantage of another’s misfortunes in order to benefit self, or who seeks to profit through another’s weakness or incompetence, is a transgressor both of the principles and of the precepts of the Word of God.“‘You shall not pervert justice due the stranger or the fatherless, nor take a widow’s garment as a pledge.’” “‘When you lend your brother anything, you shall not go into his house to get his pledge. You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you lend shall bring the pledge out to you. And if the man is poor, you shall not keep his pledge overnight.’” “‘If you ever take your neighbor’s garment as a pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down. For that is his only covering. ... What will he sleep in? And it will be that when he cries to Me, I will hear, for I am gracious.’” “‘If you sell anything to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor’s hand, you shall not oppress one another.’” Deuteronomy 24:17, 10-12; Exodus 22:26, 27; Leviticus 25:14.
“‘You shall do no injustice in judgment, in measurement of length, weight, or volume.’” “‘You shall not have in your bag differing weights, a heavy and a light. You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small.’” “‘You shall have honest balances, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin.’” Leviticus 19:35; Deuteronomy 25:13, 14; Leviticus 19:36.
“‘Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.’” “The wicked borrows and does not repay, but the righteous shows mercy and gives.” Matthew 5:42; Psalm 37:21.
“‘Take counsel, execute judgment; make your shadow like the night in the middle of the day; hide the outcasts, do not betray him who escapes. Let My outcasts dwell with you, ... be a shelter to them from the face of the spoiler.’” Isaiah 16:3, 4.
The plan of life that God gave to Israel was intended as an object lesson for the entire human family. If these principles were carried out today, what a different place this world would be!
Within the vast boundaries of nature there is still room for suffering and needy people to find a home. Within her bosom there are resources sufficient to provide them with food. Hidden in the depths of the earth are blessings for all who have the courage, will, and perseverance to gather her treasures.
Cultivating and working the soil—the employment that God appointed to Adam in Eden—opens a field in which there is opportunity for multitudes to gain a subsistence.
“Trust in the Lord, and do good;Thousands and tens of thousands might be working on the soil who are crowded into the cities, watching for a chance to earn a trifle. In many cases this trifle is not spent for food but is put into the coffers of the liquor seller, to obtain that which destroys soul and body.
Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.”
Psalm 37:3.
Many look upon a regular job as drudgery, and they try to obtain a livelihood by scheming rather than by honest work. This desire to get a living without work opens the door to wretchedness, vice, and crime almost without limit.
The Inner City
In the great cities are multitudes who receive less care and consideration than are given to dumb animals. Think of the families herded together in miserable tenements, many of them in dark basements reeking with dampness and filth. In these wretched places children are born and grow up and die. They see nothing of the beauty of natural things that God has created to delight the senses and uplift the soul. Ragged and half-starved, they live amid vice and depravity, molded in character by the misery and sin that surround them. Children hear the name of God only in profanity. Foul speech, threats, and revilings fill their ears. The fumes of alcohol and tobacco, sickening stenches, moral degradation pervert their senses. Thus multitudes are trained to become criminals, enemies of a society that has abandoned them to misery and degradation.Not all the poor in the inner city are of this class. God-fearing men and women have been brought to the depths of poverty by illness or misfortune, often through the dishonest scheming of those who live by taking advantage of others. Many who are upright and well-meaning become poor through lack of industrial training. Through ignorance they are unfitted to wrestle with the difficulties of life. Drifting into the cities, they are often unable to find employment. Surrounded by the sights and sounds of vice, they face powerful temptations. Often indiscriminately classed with the vicious and degraded, it is only by a superhuman struggle, a more-than-finite power, that they can be prevented from sinking to the same depths. Many hold fast their integrity, choosing to suffer rather than to sin. This class especially demands help, sympathy, and encouragement.
If the poor now crowded into the cities could find homes on open land, they might not only earn a livelihood but find health and happiness now unknown to them. Hard work, simple fare, close economy, often hardship and privation might be their lot, but what a blessing would be theirs in leaving the city, with its enticements to evil, its turmoil and crime, misery and foulness, for the country’s quiet and peace and purity.
Many of those living in the cities have not a square foot of green grass to put their feet on. Year after year they have looked out upon filthy courts and narrow alleys, brick walls and pavements, and skies clouded with dust and smoke. If these could be taken to some farming district, with green fields, woods, hills, brooks, clear skies, and fresh, pure air, it would seem almost like heaven.
Cut off to a great degree from contact with and dependence upon other people, and separated from the world’s corrupting maxims, customs, and excitements, they would come nearer to the heart of nature. God’s presence would be more real to them. Many would learn the lesson of dependence upon Him. Through nature they would hear His voice speaking to their hearts of His peace and love, and mind and soul and body would respond to the healing, life-giving power.
If they ever are to become industrious and self-supporting, very many must have assistance, encouragement, and instruction. There are multitudes of poor families for whom no better missionary work could be done than to assist them in settling on the land and in learning how to make it yield them a livelihood.
The need for such help and instruction is not confined to the cities. Even in the country, with all its possibilities for a better life, multitudes of the poor are in great need. Whole communities are without education in industrial and sanitary lines. Families live in shacks, with little furniture and clothing, without tools, without books, destitute both of comforts and conveniences and of means of culture. Brutelike souls, bodies weak and ill-formed, reveal the results of evil heredity and of wrong habits. These people must be educated from the very foundation. They have led shiftless, idle, corrupt lives, and they need to be trained to correct habits.
How can they be awakened to the necessity of improvement? How can they be directed to a higher ideal of life? How can they be helped to rise? What can be done where poverty prevails and is to be contended with at every step? Certainly the work is difficult. The necessary reformation will never be made unless men and women are assisted by a power outside of themselves. It is God’s purpose that the rich and the poor shall be closely bound together by ties of sympathy and helpfulness. Those who have means, talents, and capabilities are to use these gifts to bless those who are less fortunate.
Christian farmers can do real missionary work in helping the poor to find homes on the land and in teaching them how to work the soil and make it productive. Teach them how to use the implements of agriculture, how to cultivate various crops, how to plant and care for orchards.
Many who till the soil fail to secure adequate returns because of their neglect. Their orchards are not properly cared for, the crops are not put in at the right time, and a mere surface work is done in cultivating the soil. They charge their poor results to the unproductiveness of the land. False witness is often borne in condemning land that, if properly worked, would yield rich returns. The narrow plans, the little strength put forth, the little study as to the best methods, call loudly for reform.
Let proper methods be taught to all who are willing to learn. If any do not wish you to speak to them of advanced ideas, let the lessons be given silently. Keep up the culture of your own land. Drop a word to your neighbors when you can, and let the harvest be eloquent in favor of right methods. Demonstrate what can be done with the land when properly worked.
Attention should be given to the establishment of various industries so that poor families can find employment. Carpenters, blacksmiths, and indeed everyone who understands some line of useful labor should feel a responsibility to teach and help the ignorant and unemployed.
In ministry to the poor there is a wide field of service for women as well as for men. The efficient cook, the housekeeper, the seamstress, the nurse—the help of all is needed. Let the members of poor households be taught how to cook, how to make and mend their own clothing, how to nurse the sick, how to care properly for the home. Let boys and girls be thoroughly taught some useful trade or occupation.
Missionary Families
Missionary families are needed to settle in the waste places. Farmers, financiers, builders, and those who are skilled in various arts and crafts should go to neglected areas to improve the land, to establish industries, to prepare humble homes for themselves, and to help their neighbors.The rough places of nature, the wild places, God has made attractive by placing beautiful things among the most unsightly. This is the work we are called to do. Even the desert places of the earth, where the outlook appears to be forbidding, may become as the garden of God.
“In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book,By instruction in practical matters we can often help the poor most effectively. As a rule, those who have not been trained to work do not have habits of industry, perseverance, economy, and self-denial. They do not know how to manage. Often through lack of carefulness and right judgment there is wasted that which would maintain their families in decency and comfort if it were carefully and economically used. “Much food is in the fallow ground of the poor, and for lack of justice there is waste.” Proverbs 13:23.
And the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness.
The humble also shall increase their joy in the Lord,
And the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.”
Isaiah 29:18, 19.
We may give to the poor and harm them by teaching them to be dependent. Such giving encourages selfishness and helplessness. Often it leads to idleness, extravagance, and intemperance. No person who can earn his or her own livelihood has a right to depend on others. The proverb “The world owes me a living” has in it the essence of falsehood, fraud, and robbery. The world owes no one a living who is able to work.
Real charity helps people to help themselves. If they come to our door and ask for food, we should not turn them away hungry; their poverty may be the result of misfortune. But true beneficence means more than mere gifts. It means a genuine interest in the welfare of others. We should try to understand the needs of the poor and distressed, and give them the help that will benefit them most. To give thought and time and personal effort costs far more than merely to give money. But it is the truest charity.
Those who are taught to earn what they receive will more readily learn to make the most of it. And in learning to be self-reliant, they are acquiring that which will not only make them self-sustaining but enable them to help others. Teach the importance of life’s duties to those who are wasting their opportunities. Show them that Bible religion never makes people idlers. Christ always encouraged industry. “‘Why have you been standing here idle all day?’” He said to the indolent. “‘I must work ... while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.’” Matthew 20:6; John 9:4.
It is the privilege of all to give to the world in their home life, in their customs and practices and order, an evidence of what the gospel can do for those who obey it. Christ came to our world to give us an example of what we may become. He expects His followers to be models of correctness in all the relations of life. He desires the divine touch to be seen upon outward things.
Our own homes and surroundings should be object lessons, teaching ways of improvement, so that industry, cleanliness, taste, and refinement may take the place of idleness, uncleanness, coarseness, and disorder. By our lives and example we can help others to discern that which is repulsive in their character or their surroundings, and with Christian courtesy we may encourage improvement. As we manifest an interest in them, we shall find opportunity to teach them how to put their energies to the best use.
Hope and Courage
We can do nothing without courage and perseverance. Speak words of hope and courage to the poor and the disheartened. If need be, give tangible proof of your interest by helping them when they face difficult situations. Those who have had many advantages should remember that they themselves still err in many things, and that it is painful to them when their errors are pointed out and they are shown an inspiring pattern of what they should be. Remember that kindness will accomplish more than censure. As you try to teach others, let them see that you wish them to reach the highest standard, and that you are ready to give them help. If in some things they fail, do not be quick to condemn them.Simplicity, self-denial, economy—lessons essential for the poor to learn—often seem to them difficult and unwelcome. The example and spirit of the world is constantly exciting and fostering pride, love of display, self-indulgence, extravagance, and idleness. These evils bring thousands to poverty and prevent thousands more from rising out of degradation and wretchedness. Christians are to encourage the poor to resist these influences.
Jesus came to this world in humility. He was of lowly birth. Though He was the Majesty of heaven, the King of glory, the Commander of all the angel host, He humbled Himself to accept humanity, and then He chose a life of poverty and humiliation. He had no opportunities that today’s poor do not have. Toil, hardship, and privation were part of His everyday experience. “‘Foxes have holes,’” He said, “‘and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.’” Luke 9:58.
Jesus did not seek admiration or applause from the people. He commanded no army. He ruled no earthly kingdom. He did not court the favor of the wealthy and honored of the world. He did not claim a position among the leaders of the nation. He lived among the lowly. He repudiated the artificial distinctions of society. He ignored the aristocracy of birth, wealth, talent, learning, rank.
He was the Prince of heaven, yet He did not choose His disciples from among the learned lawyers, rulers, scribes, or Pharisees. He passed these by, because they prided themselves on their learning and position. They were fixed in their traditions and superstitions. He who could read all hearts chose humble fishermen who were willing to be taught. He ate with publicans and sinners and mingled with the common people, not to become low and earthly with them but by precept and example to present to them right principles and to uplift them from their earthliness and debasement.
Jesus sought to correct the world’s false standard of how to judge the value of people. He took His position with the poor so that He might lift from poverty the stigma that the world had attached to it. He has stripped from it forever the reproach of scorn by blessing the poor, the inheritors of God’s kingdom. He points us to the path He trod, saying, “‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.’” Luke 9:23.
Christian workers are to meet the people where they are and educate them, not in pride but in character building. Teach them how Christ worked and denied Himself. Help them to learn from Him the lessons of self-denial and sacrifice. Teach them to beware of self-indulgence in conforming to fashion. Life is too valuable, too full of solemn, sacred responsibilities, to be wasted in pleasing self.
Life’s Best Things
Men and women have hardly begun to understand the true object of life. They are attracted by glitter and show. They are ambitious for worldly preeminence. To this the true aims of life are sacrificed. Life’s best things—simplicity, honesty, truthfulness, purity, integrity—cannot be bought or sold. They are as free to the ignorant as to the educated, to the humble worker as to the honored statesman. For everyone God has provided pleasure that may be enjoyed by rich and poor alike—the pleasure found in cultivating pureness of thought and unselfishness of action, the pleasure that comes from speaking sympathizing words and doing kindly deeds. From those who perform such service, the light of Christ shines to brighten lives darkened by many shadows.While helping the poor in temporal things, keep always in view their spiritual needs. Let your own life testify to the Savior’s keeping power. Let your character reveal the high standard to which all may attain. Teach the gospel in simple object lessons. Let everything with which you have to do be a lesson in character building.
In the humble round of toil, the very weakest, the most obscure, may be workers together with God and may have the comfort of His presence and sustaining grace. They are not to weary themselves with busy anxieties and needless cares. Let them work on from day to day, accomplishing faithfully the task that God’s providence assigns, and He will care for them. Through the apostle Paul He says:
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6, 7.
The Lord’s care is over all His creatures. He loves them all and makes no difference, except that He has the most tender pity for those who are called to bear life’s heaviest burdens. God’s children must meet trials and difficulties. But they should accept their lot with a cheerful spirit, remembering that for all that the world neglects to bestow, God Himself will make up to them in the best of favors.
It is when we come into difficult places that He reveals His power and wisdom in answer to humble prayer. Have confidence in Him as a prayerhearing, prayer-answering God. He will reveal Himself to you as One who can help in every emergency. He who created us, who gave us wonderful physical, mental, and spiritual faculties, will not withhold that which is necessary to sustain the life He has given. He who has given us His word—the leaves of the tree of life—will not withhold from us a knowledge of how to provide food for His needy children.
How can wisdom be obtained by one who holds the plow and drives the oxen? By seeking her as silver, and searching for her as for hid treasure. “For He instructs him in right judgment, his God teaches him.” Isaiah 28:26. “This also comes from the Lord of hosts, who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in guidance.” Verse 29.
He who taught Adam and Eve in Eden how to tend the garden desires to instruct us today. There is wisdom for one who drives the plow and sows the seed. For those who trust and obey Him, God will open ways of advance. Let them move forward courageously, trusting in Him to supply their needs according to the riches of His goodness.
He who fed the multitude with five loaves and two small fish is able today to give us the fruit of our labor. He who said to the fishers of Galilee, “Let down your nets for a catch,” and who, as they obeyed, filled their nets till they broke, desires His people to see in this an evidence of what He will do for them today. The God who in the wilderness gave the children of Israel manna from heaven still lives and reigns. He will guide His people and give skill and understanding in the work they are called to do. He will give wisdom to those who strive to do their duty conscientiously and intelligently. He who owns the world is rich in resources and will bless everyone who is seeking to bless others.
We need to look heavenward in faith. We are not to be discouraged because of apparent failure, nor should we be disheartened by delay. We should work cheerfully, hopefully, gratefully, believing that the earth holds in her bosom rich treasures for the faithful worker to garner, stores richer than gold or silver. The mountains and hills are changing, the earth is growing old like a garment, but the blessing of God, which spreads for His people a table in the wilderness, will never cease.