Poverty In The Old Testament

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Interestingly one cannot deny the argument of Hughes while saying “the story of humankind begins with God’s assurance of provision for their need linked to the command to multiply and rule. Human beings were made with the ability to have dominion over the rest of creation (Genesis 1: 28-29)” . However, the condition of lack and hopelessness can also be traced to the Bible. Therefore, this section looks in to the biblical perspective of poverty in both the Old and New Testament. 2.2.1 Old Testament Perspective “Poverty” or “poor” occurred more than sixty times in the Old Testament. In such, different words are used to connote poor in Hebrew. Such words includes; ani, dal, ebhyon, and rush. The A person who occupies a lowly position is called…show more content…
The first cause of poverty is oppression and fraud. In the Old Testament (e.g., Prov. 14:31; 22:7; 28: 15) we find that many people were poor because they were oppressed by individuals or governments. Many times, governments established unjust laws or debased the currency, measures that resulted in the exploitation of individuals. The second cause of poverty is misfortune, persecution, or judgment. In the book of Job we learn that God allowed Satan to test Job by bringing misfortune upon him (1:12-19). Elsewhere in the Old Testament (e.g., Ps. 109:16; Isa. 47:9; Lam. 5:3) we read of misfortune or of God’s judgment on a disobedient people. When Israel turned from God’s laws, God allowed foreign nations to take them into captivity as a judgment for their disobedience. The third cause of poverty is laziness, neglect, or gluttony. Proverbs teaches that some people are poor because of improper habits and apathy (10:4; 13:4; 19:15; 20:13; 23:21). The final cause of poverty is the culture of poverty. Proverbs 10:15 says, “The ruin of the poor is their poverty.” Poverty breeds poverty, and the cycle is not easily broken. People who grow up in an impoverished culture usually lack the nutrition and the education that would enable them to be successful in the

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