ATTITUDES AND BEHAVORS TOWARD THE POOR
The sayings below are paraphrases of scripture, but they should still be interpreted as God’s commands about how people should relate to the poor. Only a hard-hearted fool would ignore the following commandments: If more people had these attitude in their hearts, the world would be a better place.

• Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.
• Do to others as you would have them do to you.
• Do not oppress the wage earner in his wages, the widow or the orphan.
• Do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the stranger or the poor.
• Do not mistreat or do violence to the stranger, the orphan, or the widow.
• Do not shed innocent blood.

• “When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner.
• “Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.”
• “If any of your fellow Israelites become poor and are unable to support themselves among you, help them as you would a foreigner and stranger, so they can continue to live among you. Do not take interest or any profit from them, but fear your God, so that they may continue to live among you.”
• “If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them. Rather, be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need.”
• “Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.”
• “Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
• “I know that the Lord secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy.”

• “It is a sin to despise one’s neighbor, but blessed is the one who is kind to the needy.”
• “Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.”
• “Whoever mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker; whoever gloats over disaster will not go unpunished.”
• “Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done.”
• “Whoever shuts their ears to the cry of the poor will also cry out and not be answered.”
• “Do not exploit the poor because they are poor and do not crush the needy in court, for the Lord will take up their case and will exact life for life.”
• “The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.”
• “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
• “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.”
• “Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, ‘Here’s a good seat for you,’ but say to the poor man, ‘You stand there’ or ‘Sit on the floor by my feet,’ have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?”
• “If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”

• Do not send widows away empty.
• Do not crush the strength of orphans.
• Give to strangers, orphans and widows, that they may eat and be  satisfied.
• Do not afflict widows or orphans.
• Protect strangers.
• The poor are shunned even by their neighbors, but the rich have many friends.
• It is a sin to despise one’s neighbor, but blessed is the one who is kind to the needy.

• They have treated father and mother lightly. The alien they have oppressed.  They have wronged the fatherless and the widows.
• Do not mock the poor. He who rejoices at somebody else’s destruction will not go unpunished.
• Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.
• He who despises his neighbor sins; But he who has mercy on the poor, happy is he.
• Kindness to the poor is a loan to the LORD, and He will repay the lender.
• The poor man is hated even by his neighbor, but many are those who love the rich.

• Job 22:2-11 Can a man be of benefit to God? Can even a wise person benefit him? What pleasure would it give the Almighty if you were righteous? What would he gain if your ways were blameless? Is it for your piety that he rebukes you and brings charges against you? Is not your wickedness great? Are not your sins endless? You demanded security from your relatives for no reason; you stripped people of their clothing, leaving them naked. You gave no water to the weary and you withheld food from the hungry, though you were a powerful man, owning land—an honored man, living on it. And you sent widows away empty-handed and broke the strength of the fatherless. That is why snares are all around you, why sudden peril terrifies you, why it is so dark you cannot see, and why a flood of water covers you.

COMMENTARY: The Book of Job is often considered to be a confusing book. There is nothing confusing about this passage. Obviously Job is not really a righteous man. He is self-righteous but not blameless. This passage explains why Job experienced so much trouble. The “flood of water” refers to all the trouble Job experienced.

• Heb 13:1-3 Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. 2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. 3 Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.

COMMENTARY: Jews and Christians proudly count themselves among the sheep — not the goats — even though they do not do feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, invite strangers in, clothe the naked, or help sick prisoners. Because their religious doctrines convince them that they are righteous and deserving of eternal life, they somehow imagine that Jesus’ warnings do not apply to them.

• Luke 14:7-14  Now He [began] telling a parable to the invited guests when He noticed how they had been picking out the places of honor [at the table,] saying to them, 8 “Whenever you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him, 9 and the one who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give [your] place to this person,’ and then in disgrace you will proceed to occupy the last place. 10 “But whenever you are invited, go and take the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are dining at the table with you. 11 “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” 12 Now He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, “Whenever you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor wealthy neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you [to a meal] in return, and [that] will be your repayment. 13 “But whenever you give a banquet, invite people who are poor, who have disabilities, who are limping, [and] people who are blind; 14 and you will be blessed, since they do not have [the means] to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

COMMENTARY: See Prohibitions Against Giving and Receiving Bribes, Do Not Judge with Favoritism and Partiality, and Choosing Friends Making Alliances and Voting for insights about this scripture.