Leviticus 25:35, commentary and pictures

When a brother grows poor and sinks into need so he cannot sustain himself, his neighbors are required to relieve and uphold him so he can continue to live among them. That same kindness is owed even to the stranger and temporary resident, who is not to be despised or oppressed but treated so that he may know and honor God. No interest or profit is to be taken on money or food lent to a poor brother in distress, and no one is to rule over him harshly or take advantage of his strait place in business. True relief is active brotherly love that lifts the needy back to self-support and settles his debts on the most merciful terms possible, even by forgiving the claim altogether rather than pressing what he cannot pay. This law spoken by Christ Himself to Israel belongs to Christians now as practical gospel work, and keeping it brings life, peace and God's blessing while refusal brings guilt and loss of His favor.

Meaning and Setting

When a brother grows poor and falls into decay and cannot sustain himself, his neighbors are commanded to relieve and sustain him so that he may continue to live with them. The duty applies when a fellow member of the community becomes unable to support himself through hardship and poverty. Relief means help that keeps him living on with his neighbors and among the people, rather than casting him out.

That help must be given even though he be a stranger or sojourner, a foreigner, temporary resident, or resident alien. The poor and the foreigner are to be treated kindly, not looked down on or oppressed. Such welcome was to make it possible for strangers to know and honor God. The same care is applied to a faithful servant fallen into adverse circumstances, whose family needs are to be earnestly met by the community.

The verse belongs to the provision for the poor in the sabbatical year, when every seventh year agricultural work and cultivation of the soil were forbidden. In that year the land's spontaneous growth was left for the benefit of the poor, with free access for all including strangers and resident foreigners, along with flocks and herds. This was practical missionary work and the gospel of the Old Testament.

That arrangement taught that God is the Householder and owner of the land and the people are His tenants. It taught that the land has its own sabbath and that He makes it productive by His blessing when they obey. Under His supervision the sixth year was caused to yield provision enough for three years. By this special interposition the Lord took care of the poor, encouraged liberality, and overcame stinginess.

The command was spoken by Christ Himself when enshrouded in the pillar of cloud to Moses for Israel. He is the same Teacher who spoke the Sermon on the Mount. On the mount of beatitudes He presented the same principles given on Mount Sinai. It is therefore a lesson Christ Himself gave to the people in the Old Testament, revealing the Spirit and character of the Heavenly Father in His dealings with men and showing how tenderly the Lord regards those suffering and in want.

The duty is grounded in God bringing Israel out of Egypt to give them Canaan and to be their God. It is to be kept out of fear of God, taking no usury or increase of money or food and ruling over the poor brother with no rigor. It expresses the same requirement as loving God with all the heart and the neighbor as self, on which hang all the law and the prophets. In this it reveals God as judge of the fatherless and widow and lover of the stranger who gives food and clothing.

Justice and Application

Lending to a poor brother must be without usury on money and without increase on food, with no ruling over him with rigor and no oppression, out of fear of God. This duty belongs to the seventh year of release from debt, when unpaid principal could not be recovered, and it applies at all times, requiring help even when release is near. It expresses the same requirement as loving God with all the heart and the neighbor as self, and reveals God as judge of the fatherless and widow and lover of the stranger who gives food and clothing. Oppression of the poor is actual robbery that God never tolerates and marks with His disapprobation even when human courts do not punish it, and injustice in withholding money or depriving any man of his right brings His condemnation.

Interest may be taken from unbelievers and strangers, but never from a poor brother or fellow believer in distress. Using his distress through greed and advantage-taking to increase already abundant wealth breaks the command and brings God's displeasure. Wealthy believers must not exploit poor fellow believers in difficulty but must relieve and support them so they can continue to live among them.

Taking advantage of a brother in business transactions and charging exorbitant interest when he is in a close place where he must have help proves lack of the principles of the gospel of Christ. Such taking advantage of another's necessities is recorded in heaven as fraud and dishonesty, keeps out the blessing of the Lord, and bears the mark of the great adversary rather than the Spirit of God. God wants His people to be more considerate, merciful and helpful to one another, each tenderly regardful of the interests of others when the love of Christ is in the heart.

Relief means active brotherly love that puts a needy fellow laborer who has spent his means back on his feet and helps him into a place where he can support himself. It forbids leaving him in strait places with cold-hearted indifference or passing by on the other side, for God thereby tests hearts and requires truth and justice through decided and immediate help. Cold-hearted indifference hardens the heart and makes it unimpressible, and disobeying God's special directions brings the result back upon the disobedient, so it must be firmly settled in the conscience that whatever dishonors God in conduct cannot bring benefit. Working on these correct principles secures life, peace and covenant blessing, grounded in God bringing Israel out of Egypt to give them Canaan and to be their God.

For an indebted brother this means finding out how much he owes, getting settlement on as reasonable terms as possible, and joining together with all who are able helping a little, each willing to do a full share, the work done understandingly to settle his debts and release him. It requires compassion and mercy toward one who through loss and misfortune can barely live, not hardening the heart, not judging harshly, and not urging payment he cannot possibly command, but opening the hand wide and lending sufficient for need. It means rather than pressing a money claim severely to write a receipt, forgive the debt altogether, and release the claim, forgiving freely as the debtor wants the Lord to forgive his own indebtedness to Him. Just as a man deals with his brethren so God will deal with him.

It is just to provide for faithful laborers for God who gave up worldly prospects and chose poverty rather than pleasure or riches, when through age, sickness, infirmity, inability to labor, or adverse circumstances they are left without means for their own support and for those dependent on them. They are not to be left to struggle through life in poverty as paupers or be burdened with anxiety over what will become of wife and children, and the community must act earnestly to meet the family's needs. Obedience requires raising a fund especially for ministers unable to labor and making every reasonable effort without delay, and failure leaves guilt before God.

The command comes down to the present time as practical missionary and home missionary work and the gospel of the Old Testament, requiring dealing justly and mercifully, opening the hand wide and giving sufficient for need. Those well acquainted with the law of God must be doers of the Word and unite with others in responsible positions to see the work done. It reveals the Spirit and character of the Heavenly Father in His dealings with men, shows how tenderly the Lord regards those suffering and in want who are to be helped not oppressed, and is a lesson churches should read in their assemblies.

Obedience and liberality in this duty carry the promise of prosperity and of God's blessing and favor, and without doing right in this matter that blessing and favor cannot be had. Refusal to hear brings sin and guilt, the cry of the poor against the refusers before the Lord, prayers not coming up as sweet incense, the Lord placing the charge against His people and possibly removing their prosperity, and perplexity and harassment of mind for pressing a claim. God looks upon the mental suffering of pressed and afflicted brethren, who are His children, with tender compassion. Only those transformed by divine grace, pure in heart and life with symmetrical characters, will finally inherit the heavenly kingdom.

Zacchaeus carried out its spirit when, yielding to the Holy Spirit before he saw Christ, his first response to Christ's love was compassion to the poor and suffering by giving half his goods to the poor. This made him manifest as a true penitent, putting into practice the teaching to help sustain one who becomes poor and falls into hardship so he can live among his people. The same duty given to ancient Israel, forbidding oppressing one another and taking usury or increase and calling for fear of God because God brought Israel out of Egypt to give them Canaan and to be their God, belongs to Christians now.