Loving by lending

The books of the Law give many indicators of how are to fulfill the two great commandments of loving God supremely, and our neighbors as ourselves:

“If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the Lord against you, and you be guilty of sin. You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’" (Deuteronomy 15:7-11, emphasis mine)

In the previous chapter, God had commanded the tithe for the poor:

“At the end of every three years you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in the same year and lay it up within your towns. And the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance with you, and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your towns, shall come and eat and be filled, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do." (Deuteronomy 14:28-29)

Thus on a triennial basis, the people were to care for the poor by bringing the tithe of their produce for those in need: the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widows (and the Levites, who had no inheritance). The thrust of the command in chapter 15 is to show that the normal way of loving one's poor neighbor is not through the tithing every third year, but through lending regularly. He does not mean lending to the poor in order to profit from them; the Scripture is very clear that exacting usury of the poor is wicked (e.g. Exodus 22:25) - and in this very passage, lenders are warned against hardening their hearts because the year of release is near.

What ought to draw our attention is that the way in which God provided for the poor among His people was primarily through the ordinary laws of not gleaning the edges of the field (Leviticus 23:22) that the poor might gather the fruit, and through generous lending to those in need (Deuteronomy 15:8). The tithe at the end of every third year was bounty for the poor, but could not possibly sustain them for the intervening years. The regular provision for the poor required them to work (in gleaning the edges of the fields), and to repay loans (except in the year of release).

What difference does it make what laws God had for His people Israel, now that we live not in the theocracy of Israel, but as Christians? Jesus said that the law and prophets were summed up in this: To love the LORD with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Thus, the law is to us an instructor in how to love our neighbors, even though it does not govern us in the way that it did the people of Israel.

We desperately need this instruction in our day. I have witnessed the destruction of cultures through handouts in Uganda and in the United States. Well-intentioned people (including Christians!) have provided for the poor in ways that did not require or enable them to work, and in ways that did not affirm and maintain their responsibility. The effect of this well-intentioned charity was to plunge those cultures into ruin, not to lift them from poverty. If we would seek how to truly love the poor, we must heed the wisdom of God.

This teaching is not confined to the Old Testament law. Jesus, I think, was alluding to this particular kind of lending when he said:

"And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount." (Luke 6:34)

Jesus could have said, "Give to the poor" (as he does elsewhere), but instead here he commends lending in which we assume the risk of the poor. We reflect to the world His righteousness and mercy when we lend to the poor, who may not be able to repay.

It is at precisely this point that our citizenship in the Kingdom of heaven is manifest in the world, and the Kingdom of heaven itself comes to bear on the world. We lend to the poor not because the laws of the land require it, but because our King has commanded it. As such, by our commerce, we show forth the foolishness of the gospel and the righteousness, wisdom and mercy of our King in a way that does not destroy cultures but renews them through the Gospel.