care about the poor

You shall not oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns. You shall give him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets (for he is poor and counts on it), lest he cry against you to the LORD, and you be guilty of sin.

Deuteronomy 24:14-15

God cares how people treat one another. And economic advantage of the poor is an ill treatment God despises. The Law spoke up for the poor and the lowliest day laborer. All hired hands were expected to be treated respectfully by their employers with fair wages never withheld regardless of whether they were natural born citizens or immigrants. Oppressing labor is a sin in the eyes of God. He expects those with the means to employ others to treat those who work for them honestly, forthrightly, and respectfully. Wages were expected to be paid on time every time. This was to keep poverty at bay.

But money has a way of corrupting our view of people. When the rich look down on the poor, it is wrong. When a wealthy person or business puts profit ahead of the poor, it is seen as an awful sin (See Deuteronomy 24:10-13). Those who administered justice were to enforce law without partiality to every person in society, regardless of their wealth or status (Deuteronomy 24:17-18). Farmers were to allow the poorest to glean from fields and orchards so that they too could work to sustain themselves with dignity and respect (Deuteronomy 24:19-22).

From a New Testament perspective, there is kingdom opportunity everywhere if we refuse to sin by discriminating against the poorest among us. Jesus too cared for the poor. He did not like the systems that abused them. Read again very carefully the story of the “Widow’s Mite” in context: Luke 20:14-21:4. After warning His disciples not to be like the Jewish leaders who “devoured” widow’s houses for personal gain, Jesus immediately looked up to see a widow drop her two copper pennies in the offering box — vividly illustrating the evil He had just condemned, giving all she had to live on to a corrupt system. God hates economic manipulation of the poor. HE HATES IT. Jesus hates it. We should never tolerate it either.