Reflections: Deuteronomy 15

This morning I read Deuteronomy 15. It’s one of my favorite chapters in the whole Bible. I was first introduced to the chapter by Christopher Wright––you can listen to a fantastic sermon here.

OVERVIEW OF DEUTERONOMY 15:

The chapter addresses a question: In the nation where YHWH is king, how should citizens live in the space where interpersonal relationships and money intersect? 

As with all of the Bible, the setting of the chapter is important. It is an exhortation by Moses––who sees his eminent end––to an obstinate people. But this obstinate people is YHWH’s people, citizens of the kingdom where YHWH is King. 

THE TENSION OF DEUTERONOMY 15:

(4) However there will be no poor among you

   because YHWH your God will bless you

      In the land 

         that he is giving you to possess as an inheritance 

(5) If only you listen obediently 

      to YHWH’s voice

   to keep

   to do (i.e. to carefully do)

      all these commands which I am commanding you today

…

(7) If one of your brothers is poor among you

      in any of your towns

      in the land 

         that YHWH your God is giving to you

   DO NOT harden your heart

   DO NOT close your hand 

      from your poor brother

Verses 4-6 discuss the ideal: there will be no poor among you. But it gives more than the ideal: it gives the action steps for achieving the ideal: 

1. YHWH’s blessing
2. YHWH’s land––i.e. the material-means of YHWH caring for his people
3. Meticulous obedience
• It’s hard to state this as emphatically as the Hebrew does. 
• LISTEN/OBEY: Here there’s not a separate word for listen and obey––Deuteronomy frequently uses the word for listen (i.e. shema) + a preposition to convey the concept of obedience. I’ll propose a progression: hearing, listening, obeying. We hear stuff all the time. Listening requires cognition––the sounds must camp out in our brains for a bit. Obedience requires our bodies to act. Here Moses emphasizes the obedience with an emphatic construction that doesn’t literally translate. Something like: If only by obeying you will obey the voice of YHWH… 
• IF ONLY: this is a strange and strong construction. I hear Moses pleading with the people. 
• TO KEEP, TO DO: Usually the first verb (to keep) is used as an adverb: carefully or continually. We have a similar use in English: keep doing.  

In light of this ideal, there will be no poor among you, Moses continues with reality: If one of your brothers is poor among you. In other words, “I know that YHWH’s blessing is amazing, I know that YHWH’s land will provide (because it listens to his voice), but I’ve been camping with y’all for nigh on 40 years and I know about your obedience.” 

So, whenever a fellow citizen is poor, here are some instructions:

1. DON’T HARDEN YOUR HEART: The heart in Hebrew isn’t the place where we feel love, but the place where we choose: “the chooser.” This isn’t the same “harden” as Pharaoh but more of a strengthening of the heart. Don’t strengthen your choices against your poor brother. Choices turn into habits and this would certainly be a bad habit. Exercising our heart against the poor makes the “chooser” stronger against the poor.
   Our chooser is the place where listening turns into obedience. If we strengthen our chooser in this way, our meticulous obedience will be compromised. 
2. DON’T CLOSE YOUR HAND: Hearing must result in listening which must result in our bodies, i.e. our hands, engaging. 

DEUTERONOMY 15 AND THE TEACHING OF JESUS

In addition to all of Jesus words about being with and caring for the poor, I hear one statement from Jesus that echoes this passage: “But it shall not be so among you (Mark 10:43).” 

This phrase is the transition point in Mark’s gospel. This is the third and final time that Jesus predicts his death. It’s the place where Jesus begins his trek to Jerusalem. It’s the final episode in Mark’s middle section where the disciples are learning––mostly through failure––what it means to be disciples/followers (8:22-10:52). 

In this section, James and John are jockeying for position in Jesus’ new Kingdom. After asking Jesus about it, the other disciples are jealous and mad. This is the space in YHWH’s Kingdom where interpersonal relationships intersect with power. (There are strong parallels between the big three sins: money, sex, and power.) Jesus’ words of correction are the last of three lessons––where the disciples begin to see more clearly (notice the blind-men bookending this section): It shall not be so among you.

Citizens in YHWH’s Kingdom don’t jockey for power. Citizens in YHWH’s Kingdom care for the other citizens by acting out of compassionate obedience to YHWH’s own actions: giving everything to impoverished people.

A BULLETPROOF ANTIDOTE TO POVERTY

Yesterday I received an advertisement for a new book: The Poverty of Nations: A Sustainable Solution which purports to offer “a new, long-term solution to poverty.” One endorsement calls it “a bulletproof antidote to poverty.” I will say right up front that I haven’t read the book. 

But when people start offering words like “bullet-proof,” “antidote,” and “solution” for a problem such as poverty, I get nervous. I get more nervous when the blurb offers that “These two experts believe the solution lies in a comprehensive development plan that integrates the principles of a free market system with the Bible’s teachings on social ethics.” What makes me nervous is a hope in something other than the work of YHWH in the world.

We don't need a "bulletproof" solution to poverty because bullets aren't the source of poverty. Sin is. And not just the sins of individuals, but the exponential effects of the sins of every person to have ever lived, save one. 

The truth is that the only solution to poverty is a Kingdom where YHWH is King. 

The only solution to poverty is citizens within this Kingdom living into YHWH’s blessing through meticulous obedience. 

The only solution is King YHWH working to unclinch citizen’s fists and soften citizen’s hearts. 

May it be so among us.