As the coffin of Anthony Ashley-Cooper, the seventh Earl of Shaftesbury, was being carried to Westminster Abbey, a poor labourer shouted, ″Our Earl's gone! God A'mighty knows he loved us, and we loved him. We shan't see his likes again.″ The Earl of Shaftesbury (1801-1885) was an evangelical social reformer who was responsible for enacting important legislation in Britain that brought relief to the poor, the oppressed, and the mentally unwell. He exemplified to us how God's people should always be thinking about how they can respond to the needs of the poor, a key lesson found in Deuteronomy 15:1-18.

In the richly blessed promised land ″there need be no poor among″ the Israelites (v. 4). Unfortunately, since we live in a fallen world, ″there will always be poor people in the land″. God thus issued a command for His people ″to be open-handed towards″ the ″poor and needy″ (v. 11), especially poor believers (Galatians 6:10).

Poverty drives people to take desperate steps for survival. Some Israelites got into debt; others resorted to selling themselves as slaves.

Deuteronomy 15 outlines three main ways the Israelites could help the poor. First, they were to cancel the debts of poor Israelites every seventh (sabbatical) year (vv. 1-2). These debts were different from the business loans given to foreigners, which would ″require payment″ (v. 3).

Second, they were to ″freely lend [fellow Israelites] whatever they need″ (v. 8). Some wisdom is required in this form of giving. Finding out what people's real needs are requires some effort. It would be better, for example, to give provisions to the wife of an alcoholic rather than to give him the loan he asked for. Likewise, it would be more beneficial to help a poor youth by finding him a job or supporting him in learning a trade than by merely giving handouts.

Third, if the poor had been desperate enough to sell themselves as slaves, the Israelites were to release them from slavery every seventh year (vv. 12-18). Moreover, they were not to leave ″empty-handed″ (v. 13). They were to be supplied ″liberally″ with produce of the land, in proportion to the bounty with which God had blessed that household (v. 14). This would help them along the path to economic self-sufficiency. God's blessing is promised many times in return for generosity (vv. 4, 6, 10, 18). Generosity is not a big burden, but a gateway to blessing.

The poor have such a special place in God's heart that it is a ″wicked thought″ to try to escape from this responsibility (v. 9). Helping the poor is not an optional extra but an essential aspect of obedience to God. As the early church father Tertullian wrote, ″It is our care of the helpless, our practice of loving kindness that brands us in the eyes of many of our opponents. 'Only look,' they say, 'look how they love one another!'″