The Harvest of the Seventh Year The Eighth Commandment Here was a special opportunity for the poor to meet their needs. Exodus 23:10, 11 “For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield, but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your ...
A Tithe for the Poor The Eighth Commandment Make sure the poor in your community are loved. Deuteronomy 14:28, 29 “‘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 ...
The Motivation for Neighbor-love The Eighth Commandment We were all at one time poor and slaves. Deuteronomy 24:19-22 “‘When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the ...
Workfare The Eighth Commandment The poor must work to retain their dignity, though poor. Leviticus 23:22 “And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for ...
Lending without Personal Gain The Eighth Commandment Love must guide our concern for our neighbors, not gain. Deuteronomy 15:9-10 “‘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 ...
Care for the Disabled The Eighth Commandment God cares for the disabled, and so must we. Leviticus 19:14 “You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God: I am the LORD.” Communities in ancient Israel were expected to “go the extra mile” with those ...
Loving the Poor The Eighth Commandment We cannot truly help those we neither know nor love. Leviticus 25:35-38 “If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you. Take no interest from him or ...
Justice for the Poor The Eighth Commandment The Law protects the poor in matters of law. Exodus 23:6-8 “You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his lawsuit. Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will not acquit the wicked. And you ...
Widows and Other Needy The Eighth Commandment Neighbor love looks out for the needy. Deuteronomy 24:17, 18 “‘You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless, or take a widow’s garment in pledge, but you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the LORD your God ...
Concerning Sojourners The Eighth Commandment God’s Law requires us to love the strangers in our midst. Deuteronomy 24:17, 18 “‘You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless, or take a widow’s garment in pledge, but you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the LORD ...