The Year of Remission

“When one of your fellow-countrymen in any of your settlements in the land which the Lord your God is giving you becomes poor, do not be hard-hearted or close-fisted with your countryman in his need.  Be open-handed towards him and lend him on pledge as much as he needs.  See that you do not harbor iniquitous thoughts when you find that the seventh year, the year of remission, is near, and look askance at your needy countryman and give him nothing.  If you do, he will appeal to the Lord against you, and you will be found guilty of sin.  Give freely to him and do not begrudge him your bounty, because it is for this very bounty that the Lord your God will bless you in everything that you do or undertake.  The poor will always be with you in the land, and for that reason I command you to be open-handed with your countrymen, both poor and distressed, in your own land.”  —Deut. 15.7–11.

Old Testament

Book Five:  Deuteronomy

God’s Laws Delivered by Moses (cont’d)

Chapter 15:  The sabbatical year

Okay, this is amazing.  The Israelites are commanded to be generous to the poor.  This chapter is amazing, and so utterly at odds with everything that happens today, and indeed insightful as to why it should be the way it is described here.  It says that there will always be poor, so you must always be generous to the poor with your bounty.  What this means is, basically, there but for the grace of god goes you.  Unfortunately it doesn’t say this explicitly, but it’s what it means.  Don’t be stingy or judgmental with the poor, because it is simply a human condition; someone will always be poor, so the idea that they are less than you is ridiculous.

What this chapter is really about is the “year of remission.”  Every seventh year, you are commanded to forgive all your debtors!  You must give back to the debtor any pledge he has made to you, and even if he can’t pay you off, you must not judge him for his failure!  What an utterly amazing economic system this would be!  It simply forces a reset every seven years.  That would go a huge way toward ending inequality—it’s even better than the idea of ending inheritance.

—bibletoenail