Exodus 23:6,10-11

Now we will start examining each of the first list of scriptures and see how they reflect on God's attitude towards treatment of the poor. I think its important to note that while this is the Old Testament, Jesus and Paul both said in the New Testament that the new law of love did not erase these statutes, it just made covered all of the laws with one. If you love your neighbor, you will obey the heart of the laws of the Old Testament. Because some of use have lost sight of these old laws, that is why I am examining each reference.


Exodus 23:6,10,11 "Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits."
vs 10. "For six years you are to sow your fields and harvest the crops,
vs 11. but during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove."

Verse 6:This would point to the establishment of a judicial system without built in preference to the rich. At least in the United States of America we need some work on this. Its commonly reported that court appointed lawyers have way too many cases to give their poorer clients proper representation. Those with the money for lawyers do have the advantage.

Verse 10-11: This points to making resources available to the poor. Since Israel was mainly an agrarian society, everyone was commanded to leave food for the poor to gather. But there was a responsibility to those that needed assistance; they had to go and gather the food out of the fields, and convert it into flour, or wash it, and then prepare it.

Here's a question that we may try to answer in the future: Would there have been homeless people in Israel during the period after they settled in Palestine after fleeing Egypt, at least in the same way that they exist here in the United States or Canada?

AC