The Dignity of Work – The Law of God and Public Policy: Responsibility for the Poor (5)

The Dignity of Work

The Law of God and Public Policy: Responsibility for the Poor (5)

The poor are expected to work for their sustenance.

“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 the sojourner: I am the LORD.”

God created human beings to work. Through their work men and women bring out the goodness of God’s creation, for His glory and to meet their own needs and to share with their neighbors (cf. Eph. 4:28). Work is thus inherent to being human and a source of dignity, inasmuch as it allows us to participate with God in His project of glorifying Himself and blessing humankind.

The poor must not be deprived of the dignity of work simply because they are poor. In the Law of God the poor are expected to work in order to overcome their impoverished condition, whether that condition is for a short or long term.

Gleaning fields was the most common form of labor for the poor. It could also be highly productive, as we see in the case of Ruth (Ruth 2). Israelite society was based in agriculture. Every community would have had plenty of fields and gardens, and each landowner was responsible to make sure that, when the harvest came in, food was left on the stalk or vine for the poor to glean. These resources were not distributed to the poor by local governments. The poor were expected to go and retrieve them through the dignity of honest labor. In our day, when communities are no longer so directly based on agriculture, policies must be adopted which provide other means whereby the poor can work to provide for their needs. The practice of indiscriminately giving “hand-outs” to the poor may not fulfill the principal of gleaning but may, instead, only serve to foster a mindset of dependency, if not entitlement.

One who had become poor might choose to “sell” himself into the service of another, especially, it seems, a close relative (Lev. 25:39-43). This was not slavery but more a form of indentured servitude in which, for a specified period of time, one who had fallen on hard times would contract with another to serve in whatever ways might have been needed. During the tenure of such contracts the one serving was to be treated with love and respect, as unto the Lord (Lev. 25:43). He was not to be treated scornfully or in a manner that assaulted his dignity as an image-bearer of God.

A just society requires all members to contribute love for their neighbors, whether they are poor or wealthy. Work and service are ways poor people can fulfill the demands of neighbor-love. These also provide contexts in which those with means can practice neighbor-love toward those without.

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