The Economic Thermometer
Israelite landowners who left gleanings for the poor tangibly demonstrated an internalized understanding of what the LORD their God had done for his people in the exodus. As God had been kind and generous with the Israelites when Pharaoh oppressed them, so they in turn should beneficently treat the less fortunate in their midst. Elsewhere in the Old Testament, Yahweh affirmed his protection of widows, orphans, and aliens, who were often more susceptible to deprivation and want.
God’s provision for his people frees them to look out for the interests of others and thereby treat others as God has treated them.
Thus, economics had a missional outlook and so functioned as a “covenantal thermometer” to measure the vitality of Israel’s love for God and neighbor.
A healthy community would have the opportunity and mind - set to serve as a channel of God’s redeeming grace to its unbelieving neighbors who could not help but notice the difference between a redeemed society on the one hand and their own painfully dysfunctional alternatives on the other.
All of the above quotes are from Dean R. Ulrich’s commentary on Ruth, From Famine to Fullness: The Gospel According to Ruth. Together, they highlight a key application point that we did not visit in Sunday’s message. In the Old Testament, provision was made in the covenant for the poor, the widow, the orphan and the resident alien. Especially when one contrasts the systems set up in Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy with other ancient law codes and economic practices, the differences are startling. We would probably describe other ancient cultures as ruthless toward the less fortunate. Often though, it was a matter of survival. You either took all you could get, leaving no thought for the poor or you yourself may not have enough to feed your family. However, the people of God were to behave differently. Their economic system was to be based on the key reality of who their God was and how their God had acted toward them when they were a nation of poor slaves, “resident aliens” in a land where no one else looked out for them. In other words, God’s gracious provision and His promise to be the provider for His people was to be worked out in how the poor, widow, orphan and resident alien were treated. Rather than a selfish and greedy mindset, the people of God should’ve had an eye to making sure that among the people of God the less fortunate and powerful were cared for, such provision was a sign of covenant faithfulness to the watching world. And I might add a powerful practical help to the recipients of such kindness. Further, that kindness would become a hard to argue with apologetic for the kindness of God Himself.
In the New Testament (Covenant) these very realities about God are not downplayed but even more emphasized. “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.” (Acts 11:18b, emphasis mine) In Jesus, there are no more outsiders. Anyone who comes to repent and believe can be saved. So, it makes more sense that from the Jerusalem church forward, there is practical, economic impact on how the people of God will treat the less fortunate, both among them and those not yet in the community of faith (remember James 1:27). As our culture becomes increasingly post-Christian, one of the inevitable and definitely underappreciated realities is the inverse of this kind of thinking. We are quickly becoming a society where despite lip-service otherwise, we are increasingly selfish, ruthless, and greedy. A society in which ‘outsiders’ or ‘others’ are treated without compassion or welcome. The opportunity then exists, maybe like it has not in some time, for the people of God to show the difference between a “redeemed society on the one hand and their own painfully dysfunctional alternatives on the other.” I guess what I am saying here practically is that in our personal lives our economics are still a “covenantal thermometer.” They take, in a very tangible way, our deepest beliefs about the God we serve and His treatment of us and put it on display. So, what’s the temperature in your life? How are you doing welcoming the outsider?