How must Israel treat a poor brother when the seventh year of remission is near?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

It must not use the coming remission as a reason to refuse his loan request. The hand must be open to lend what he needs, without crafty dealing. Moses warns that the brother may cry to the Lord and the refusal become a sin, and states that poor people will not be lacking in the land.

Chapter breakdown

In the seventh year Israel must make a remission—a release from demanding what is owed. Anyone owed something by a friend, neighbor, or brother cannot demand it again, because this is the Lord’s year of remission. It may be demanded from a foreigner or stranger, but not again from a countryman and neighbor. The text says there shall be no poor or beggar among them, so the Lord may bless them in the land he will give. Challoner’s separate note explains that this is not a promise that Israel will have no poor. Verse 11 shows that people needing charity will not be lacking. The note calls it an ordinance to make every effort to keep their brothers from suffering poverty and want. Hearing the Lord’s voice and keeping all he has ordained and commands that day accompany his promised blessing. Israel will lend to many nations and borrow from no man. It will rule very many nations and none will rule it.

If a brother within the city gates in the future land becomes poor, Israel must not harden its heart or close its hand. It must open its hand and lend what it sees he needs. It must beware of the wicked thought that the seventh year is near, followed by turning away from the poor brother and denying what he asks to borrow. He may cry against the lender to the Lord, and this may become a sin for the lender. Israel must give and do nothing crafty in relieving his needs, so the Lord may bless it at all times and in everything it puts its hand to. Poor people will not be lacking in the land; therefore Moses commands an open hand to the needy and poor brother living there.

When a Hebrew man or woman is sold to the person addressed and has served six years, the servant must go free in the seventh year. He must not be sent away empty. He must receive provisions for his way from the flocks, threshing floor, and winepress with which the Lord blesses the owner. Israel must remember having been a bondservant in Egypt and being freed by the Lord. Moses gives this as the reason for the command.

If the servant says he will not depart because he loves the owner and household and finds that he is well there, the owner must take an awl, a pointed tool, and bore through his ear at the house door. He shall serve forever; the same is to be done for the womanservant. The owner must not turn his eyes away from servants when freeing them: the servant has served six years according to a hired worker’s wages. The stated purpose is that the Lord may bless all the owner’s works.

Every male firstborn of the herds and sheep must be set apart to the Lord. The firstborn bullock must not be put to work, and firstborn sheep must not be shorn. The person addressed and his household must eat them each year before the Lord in the place he chooses. If an animal has a blemish, is lame, blind, disfigured in any part, or feeble, it must not be sacrificed to him. It may be eaten within the city gates by clean and unclean persons alike, as the roe and hart are eaten. The blood must not be eaten but poured on the earth like water.

The story inside

The remission rule is followed by a warning against using that rule to avoid helping someone. A creditor may not demand again what the specified countryman owes in the remission year. The next case addresses a poor brother needing a loan as that year draws near. Moses names the thought about the calendar, the turning away, and the denied request, then warns of the brother’s cry to the Lord and sin for the lender. The direction is instead to give and lend without craftiness. The servant rules then address freedom after six years and provisions for departure, grounded in Israel’s own freedom from Egyptian bondage. A servant’s stated wish to remain has separate directions. These laws describe cases and commands, without recording a particular creditor’s loan or a servant’s release.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The approaching remission does not excuse refusing the poor brother. Moses names that very thought and directs an open hand to lend what the brother needs. The warning includes his cry to the Lord and sin for the lender.
2
Freedom must not mean an empty-handed departure in this rule. The owner gives from flock, threshing floor, and winepress after six years of service, remembering that Israel was a bondservant whom the Lord freed.
3
The poverty statement must be read with its actual note. Challoner rejects a promise that poverty will disappear and explains an obligation to make every effort to prevent a brother’s hardship. The chapter itself says poor people will not be lacking.

Test your recall

Why does Moses ground the command concerning a servant’s release and provisions in Israel’s experience in Egypt?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 20203–20234
Deuteronomy Chapter 15 The law of the seventh year of remission. The firstlings of cattle are to be sanctified to the Lord. 15:1. In the seventh year thou shalt make a remission, 15:2. Which shall be celebrated in this order. He to whom any thing is owing from his friend or neighbour or brother, cannot demand it again, because it is the year of remission of the Lord. 15:3. Of the foreigner or stranger thou mayst exact it: of thy countryman and neighbour thou shalt not have power to demand it again. 15:4. And there shall be no poor nor beggar among you: that the Lord thy God may bless thee in the land which he will give thee in possession. There shall be no poor, etc.... It is not to be understood as a promise, that there should be no poor in Israel, as appears from ver. 11, where we learn that God’s people would never be at a loss to find objects for their charity: but it is an ordinance that all should do their best endeavours to prevent any of their brethren from suffering the hardships of poverty and want. 15:5. Yet so if thou hear the voice of the Lord thy God, and keep all things that he hath ordained, and which I command thee this day, he will bless thee, as he hath promised. 15:6. Thou shalt lend to many nations, and thou shalt borrow of no man. Thou shalt have dominion over very many nations, and no one shall have dominion over thee.
Lines 20236–20255
15:7. If one of thy brethren that dwelleth within thy gates of thy city in the land which the Lord thy God will give thee, come to poverty: thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor close thy hand, 15:8. But shalt open it to the poor man, thou shalt lend him, that which thou perceivest he hath need of. 15:9. Beware lest perhaps a wicked thought steal in upon thee, and thou say in thy heart: The seventh year of remission draweth nigh; and thou turn away thy eyes from thy poor brother, denying to lend him that which he asketh: lest he cry against thee to the Lord, and it become a sin unto thee. 15:10. But thou shalt give to him: neither shalt thou do any thing craftily in relieving his necessities: that the Lord thy God may bless thee at all times, and in all things to which thou shalt put thy hand. 15:11. There will not be wanting poor in the land of thy habitation: therefore I command thee to open thy hand to thy needy and poor brother, that liveth in the land.
Lines 20257–20270
15:12. When thy brother a Hebrew man, or Hebrew woman is sold to thee, and hath served thee six years, in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free: 15:13. And when thou sendest him out free, thou shalt not let him go away empty: 15:14. But shall give him for his way out of thy flocks, and out of thy barnfloor, and thy winepress, wherewith the Lord thy God shall bless thee. 15:15. Remember that thou also wast a bondservant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God made thee free, and therefore I now command thee this.
Lines 20272–20282
15:16. But if he say: I will not depart: because he loveth thee, and thy house, and findeth that he is well with thee: 15:17. Thou shalt take an awl, and bore through his ear in the door of thy house, and he shall serve thee for ever: thou shalt do in like manner to thy womanservant also. 15:18. Turn not away thy eyes from them when thou makest them free: because he hath served thee six years according to the wages of a hireling: that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the works that thou dost.
Lines 20284–20301
15:19. Of the firstlings, that come of thy herds and thy sheep, thou shalt sanctify to the Lord thy God whatsoever is of the male sex. Thou shalt not work with the firstling of a bullock, and thou shalt not shear the firstlings of thy sheep. 15:20. In the sight of the Lord thy God shalt thou eat them every year, in the place that the Lord shall choose, thou and thy house. 15:21. But if it have a blemish, or be lame, or blind, or in any part disfigured or feeble, it shall not be sacrificed to the Lord thy God. 15:22. But thou shalt eat it within the gates of thy city: the clean and the unclean shall eat them alike, as the roe and as the hart. 15:23. Only thou shalt take heed not to eat their blood, but pour it out on the earth as water.