So the Poor Have Hope, and InjusticeShuts Her Mouth -- Job 5:16
.
The Bible uses a variety of words to describe the poor in ancient Israel. In the OT, the most commonly used word dal refers to people who are weak, gaunt, or helpless (Exod 30:15; Lev 19:15; Judges 16:6; it is even used for malnourished cows in Gen 41:19). The adjective 'oni portrays them as afflicted and oppressed (Exod 22:25; Deut 24:12.14.15; Job 24:4.9), while 'anaw depicts them as humiliated (Isa 32:7; Amos 8:4; Ps 9:19; Job 24:4). The term 'ebyon accentuates the material deprivation they suffer. The verb muk depicts their sinking into indebtedness and slavery, or the deterioration of their economic and social status (Lev 25:35.39). In the NT, the most frequently used word for the poor is ptuchos which means a beggar. Although some of the poor may have worked for a living (Exod 23:11; Lev 19:10; Deut 24:14-15), mendicancy may have been the only means of survival for most of the destitute (Deut 15:7-8.11).
.
The Bible also uses metonyms for the poor. Widows ('almanot / cherai) and orphans (yetomim / orphanoi) are sometimes just substituted for the word poor (Job 22:9; Ps 68:6; Isa 9:16; 10:2; Jer 49:11; 2 Mac 3:10; 8:28.30; James 1:27). In ancient times, when there were no orphanages and homes for the aged, the widows and fatherless children were most vulnerable and helpless. They were the poorest of the poor. Hence, they became the living symbols of the disadvantaged class.
.
Perhaps the most graphic and heart-wrenching illustration of poverty in ancient Israel is Job’s:
.
Behold, like wild asses in the desert they go forth to their toil, seeking prey in the wilderness as food for their children. They gather their fodder in the field and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man. They lie all night naked, without clothing, and have no covering in the cold. They are wet with the rain of the mountains, and cling to the rock for want of shelter. There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast, and take in pledge the infant of the poor. (Job 24:5-9)
.
What was Israel’s response to the cry of the poor? Certainly, there were social legislations enacted to protect the interest of the weak, and provide for the needs of the impoverished. The following were stipulated in the Torah:
.
If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be to him as a creditor, and you shall not exact interest from him (Exod 22:25).
.
You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his suit (Exod 23:6).
.
And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner…. (Lev 18:10; cf. 23:22; Exod 23:11).
.
And if your brother becomes poor, and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall maintain him; as a stranger and a sojourner he shall live with you (Lev 25:35; cf. v. 39).
.
When you make your neighbor a loan of any sort, you shall not go into his house to fetch his pledge…. And if he is a poor man, you shall not sleep in his pledge; when the sun goes down, you shall restore to him the pledge that he may sleep in his cloak and bless you; and it shall be righteousness to you before the LORD your God (Deut 24:10-13).
.
All these laws were meant to lessen, if not to eradicate, poverty. However, as long as the Israelites did not open their hearts in generosity and justice towards their fellow, “the poor would never cease out of the land” (Deut 15:11). Destitution and social inequality would always be part of their situation (cf. Matt 26:11).
.
The Bible does not tell us everything that needs to be done today to stamp out poverty. What it promotes and urges us to attain is the basic life-orientation of helping the indigent and the powerless. How in particular we can help them and raise them up is a matter for ongoing discernment.
.
To help discern our contemporary response, the Seventh Annual Convention of the CBAP dealt with theme Biblical Responses to the Poor and Marginalized. The two main lecturers were Dr. Gale A. Yee, professor at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachussetts, and Dr. Bernardita Dianzon, FSP, professor at the Loyola School of Theology in Quezon City, Philippines. The workshop papers were given by Leander Barrot, OAR; Rustam Sabularse; Renato Repole, SJ; Regino Cortes, OP; Miriam Alejandrino, OSB; and Bienvenido Baisas, OFM. Fr. Cortes’ untimely death prevented the publication of his paper.
.
Felipe Fruto Ll. Ramirez, SJ
.
