Distributive Justice – The Eighth Commandment

Distributive Justice

Exodus 20:15; Deuteronomy 5:19

“You shall not steal.”

Deuteronomy 5:11

“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.’”

We are our brother’s keeper.

There are many reasons why people become poor, and only one of them involves their being unwilling to provide for themselves. People become poor because of failed health, sudden calamity, emotional distress, abuse, oppression, and a wide range of other reasons. Every community in Israel was expected to make provision for the poor. This began with the laws concerning gleaning. The poor could go into the fields and vineyards after the harvesters and gather up whatever was left. Thus they not only provided for their needs but preserved their dignity by working. Every three years the tithe of Israel was devoted to the poor and the Levites. And people were expected to loan or make gifts to the poor in their own communities, wherever people had fallen on hard times for legitimate reasons. We might call this form of righting the scale of justice distributive justice. In this kind of justice the community acts proactively to care for those in its midst who are suffering or having a hard time caring for themselves. Such laws are meant not only to provide for the poor but to guard the community from thinking ill of them, resenting their presence, or leaving their care to someone else. Distributive justice is every person’s responsibility, and most communities and churches offer a range of charitable ways to accomplish the requirements of this form of justice.

How do you participate in distributive justice in your community? Why is it important that you do?

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“In the Gates” is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001,2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.