It has been said that this country was
founded on Judeao/Christian principals. I tend to agree, though I
don't think that all of the men involved were necessarily religious,
as we think of religious, yet they knew that the best laws to be
found were found in the Hebrew scriptures and ,as a result, many of
our original laws and rights, as found in the constitution,were based
on those laws. Yet somewhere along the way, especially in the last 50
years or so, we have lost our way and have forgotten those laws. In
particular the laws of G-d that pertain to how we treat each other.
I realize that for many of you, when
you think of the laws of G-D, think of the 10 big ones, known as the
10 commandments, not realizing perhaps that there are another 603
laws that follow. Many of those laws, in all fairness, have to do
with the sacrifices and the duties of the priests in the temple or
are to be only done in the land of Israel, but there are a whole set
of laws that deal with domestic issues such as slavery, idol worship
and how to treat the poor , orphans and widows.
As an example, farmers were told to leave the edges of their fields
for the poor “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not
wholly reap the corners of your field, nor shall you gather the
gleanings of your harvest. And you shall not glean your vineyard, nor
shall you gather every grape of your vineyard; you shall leave
them for the poor and the stranger: I am the Lord your God.
Lev.19:9. Elsewhere( in Exodus 23 )he tells them to leave the fields
to rest during the 7th year sabbatical year and to let the
poor harvest whats there. The point of it was that the needy were to
be taken care of by those that were better off. It did come with a
blessing as well that if they did this they would prosper even more.
This is especially emphasized in
Deut.15 when Israel is receiving the laws concerning debts. G-d is
essentially telling them to not be stingy with their resources. Even
if the 7th year ( when all debts were forgiven ) was
almost upon them, that they should still freely give to those in
need. Verse 10 “Give to him readily and have no regrets when you do
so, for in return the Lord your God will bless you in all your
efforts and in all your undertakings.
They were not to hold back or even
question the timing, just simply give and again there would be a
blessing.
These laws were not just given to
individuals but to the nation of Israel as a whole. See Deut 4.
They collectively heard these words
that G-d gave to Moses and the collectively agreed to follow them. To
this day, if you visit Israel you will find that they take care of
all their people and services aren't based on ability to pay.
So what has happened here in the United
States? We are supposed to be a nation that was based on these very
same laws as the ancient Hebrews yet we tend to treat the poor with
scorn rather then compassion, we worship at the altar of the wealthy
while mocking and shaming the old and the poor, condemning them for
being so.
We could feed the world and bring it
healing but instead we worship profit even when it destroys people.
We could easily fee the poorest of nations in the world but there is
no money to be made so we don't.
Do you know why G-d actually destroyed
Sodom and Gomorrah and ancient Israel? It wasn't their sexual
practices, as some try to suggest, it was their refusal to worship
G-d and their lack of hospitality and caring for the poor. See Isa
3:8-9, Jeremiah 23:13-14 and especially Ezekiel 16:49-50.
Does any of this sound familiar?
We claim to be a nation that follows
the book, yet our actions,(collectively not necessarily
individually) would seem to suggest otherwise.
I have read and have seen clips
showings cities and communities destroying tents that housed
otherwise homeless people because it didn't look good or wasn't in
some approved place, you know out of sight and mind, or read of
church groups no longer being allowed to feed the homeless because
suddenly they needed expensive paperwork to get approval to do the
very things that G-d has commanded them to.. Time and again cities
seem to be going out of their way to suppress the homeless rather
then help them, so that they might attract more tourists. Time and
again politicians seem to be bent on ripping the carpet out from
under the neediest in our society while they are living high on the
hog and giving massive breaks to big corporations. This is wrong and
goes against the very laws of G-d that we are claiming to be based
upon
Our sins are no different than those of
ancient Israel or Sodom. We have tossed G-d under the bus as well as
Israel. We have turned a blind eye to the poor and needy, not just
here but around the world, and have, collectively, turned to
worshiping at the altar of money, greed and power.
We need to get back to the real
biblical principals. Love G-d with all your heart, keep His commands
and take care of the poor and needy. If we do these things, just as
Israel, we will be blessed again.
Deut. 15:11 “For there will never
cease to be needy ones in your land, which is why I command you: open
you hand to the poor and needy kinsman in your land.”