The Poor and Oppressed in the Psalms and Wisdom Literature

Many Christians’ understanding of poverty is truncated and sorely lacking. This really should not be the case given the enormous amount of scripture that is available to inform how we think about poverty. For one of my classes, I am writing a paper on the Psalms and wisdom literature’s treatment of the poor and oppressed and I thought I would publish some of my findings here for your thoughts and reflection. A few caveats are in order:

First, There are many words used in the scriptures to describe those who are poor and oppressed. To capture this, I also included verses that used the words hungry, weak, fatherless, orphan, widow, needy, and helpless. Second, I have done this study in the English language, which is not as thorough as if I were studying the Hebrew, however, I still think it is constructive. I’ll leave the Hebrew study as something to aspire to for another day–not to mention looking at what other parts of scripture have to say (like the prophets!)

As I studied the Old Testament Psalms and wisdom literature (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Job, and Lamentations), I was able to inductively pull out several recurring themes, which are listed below. Obviously, these ten themes overlap and are intertwined. However, it is helpful to list them distinctively because almost every single verse found in the Psalms and wisdom literature that addresses poverty can be categorized according to these ten themes.

Themes:
1. Many who are poor and needy are oppressed victims of injustice. Injustice causes and perpetuates poverty. God hears and sees the plight of the poor and needy and defends their cause. His people ought to do likewise. (Psalm 9:9; 10:14,17-18; 12:5; 14:6; 35:10; 68:5-6; 72:4,12-14; 82:2-4; 102:17; 103:6; 107:8-9,41; 113:7-9; 140:12; 146:7-9; Proverbs 13:23; 22:22-23; 31:8-9; Job 5:15-16; 34:28 )
2. Poverty can also be a spiritual or emotional condition. (Psalm 40:17; 70:5; 86:1; 109:22; 24:33-34)
3. Laziness can be a cause of poverty. (Proverbs 10:4; 14:23; 20:13; 21:17; 28:19)
4. The poor lack resources, friends, and relational networks – they are destitute, ignored, invisible, and abandoned, which perpetuates their poverty. (Proverbs 10:15; 13:8; Proverbs 14:20; 19:4,7)
5. Those who are kind and generous to the poor are promised blessing. (Psalm 41:1; Proverbs 11:24; 19:17; 22:9; 28:27)
6. Those who refuse generosity to the poor will themselves be refused generosity. (Proverbs 21:13; 28:22, 27)
7. Rich and poor operate on a level playing field, because the Lord is the creator of them both. This is the ultimate equalizer. (Proverbs 14:31; 17:5; 22:2; 29:13; Job 34:19)
8. The amount of care someone has for justice for the poor is a measure of his/her righteousness. This is especially applied to rulers. (Proverbs 28:3, 29:14,6; 31:4-5; 31:20; Job 29:12,13,16; 30:25; 31:16-23)
9. Oppression of the poor—or turning a blind eye and deaf ear to the poor—is the mark of a wicked person who ultimately faces punishment. (Psalm 10:2,9; 14:6; 37:14; 94:3-6; 109:16; Proverbs 22:16; 29:6; 30:14; Job 20:19; Job 24:3-5,9,14,21)
10. It is better to be a righteous poor person than a wicked rich person. (Proverbs 16:19; 19:1; 28:6, 11; Ecclesiastes 4:13-14)

I was going to list all of the Psalms and wisdom literature verses that mention poverty in this post, but in a word document the list is eleven pages, so that would be overkill. Instead, I published them on a new page on this blog called “Psalms and Wisdom.” Check it out

What are your thoughts about this list of themes? What do you think this means for the people of God today?