“If a King Judges the Poor with Fairness, His Throne is Established Forever”: Approaching Proverbs 29:14 with African Interpretive Resources

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Knut Holter
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
The Poor

With Proverbs 29:14 as a textual case, the article discusses how three African Old Testament scholars—Philippe Dinzolele Nzambi, Lechion Peter Kimilike, and Dorothy BEA Akoto-Abutiate—allow examples from the African proverbial heritage to serve as interpretive resources in their interpretation of texts and motifs from the book of Proverbs.

scholarly journals The Lord's Prayer

1920 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 124-135
Author(s):  
George Herbert Palmer
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
New Testament ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Inner Life ◽  
Lord's Prayer ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Ten Commandments ◽  
Love Song ◽  
The New Testament

In both the Old Testament and the New there is a climactic point, a passage, I mean, which so epitomizes all the teaching of that section of our Bible that we should be eager to save it were all else to be destroyed. In the Old Testament it is the Ten Commandments, which form a foundation for civil society. Society would go to pieces were not the Ten Commandments understood and usually obeyed. In the New Testament it is the Lord's Prayer, which lays foundations for the harmonious inner life as the Ten Commandments do for the outer. Here speaks the aspiring spirit to its Maker. This is the love-song of the Christian world. Few precepts of our Master, I suppose, have been more widely observed than that we are to “pray in this manner.” For most of us that day would lack something in which the Lord's Prayer had not been repeated. It fits all circumstances. It is the chant of the saint in his most exultant moments, his refuge and solace when most depressed. The poor sinner, who through walking in the ways of vice has almost lost the power of aspiration and can no longer formulate for himself his better desires, finds in these sacred phrases his appropriate utterance.

The Old Testament and the Poor

1987 ◽  
Vol 99 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-14
Author(s):  
Richard J. Coggins
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
The Poor

Luke and Isaiah

1981 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 252-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Seccombe
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Contextual Understanding ◽  
Different Parts ◽  
The Way

In the course of an inquiry into the origins of Luke's understanding of the poor I was forced to ask the question how far Luke might have been influenced not only by certain texts in Isaiah but also by wider themes. In answer to this question one is often referred to C. H. Dodd's According to the Scriptures, where he concluded that when NT authors quoted small OT texts they often did so with knowledge of larger passages or collections of passages from which the text was drawn. This principle has become a commonplace and is frequently used illegitimately to find ideas in the NT which are not otherwise discernible.1 The recent study of B. Lindars (‘The Place of the Old Testament in the Formation of New Testament Theology: Prolegomena’, N. T. S. xxiii (1977), 59–66) argues that NT writers had no interest in the meaning of the OT for its own sake, but simply quarried texts to support and illustrate a pre-existing NT theology. Both these views need to be kept in mind. It may be that each is correct in different places. What is needed is a closer study of the practice of individual authors and their use of different parts of the OT. Only then will it be possible to give any confident judgement of how much an NT author may have carried in the way of related ideas, theology and contextual understanding when he quotes or alludes to the OT.2

Reflections on 'The Poor' and the Old Testament

1989 ◽  
Vol 100 (8) ◽  
pp. 291-294
Author(s):  
T.R. Hobbs
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
The Poor

The Writing on the Wall

Renascence ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
pp. 173-185
Author(s):  
Terry W. Thompson ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Charles Dickens ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Sixth Century ◽  
Poet Laureate ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Two Cities ◽  
Life Itself ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The Many ◽  
Moral Themes

Charles Dickens, considered by many the poet laureate for the poor and downtrodden of his time, had a great fondness for "religious and moral themes." As a result, "one does not have to read very far in either the major or minor works of Dickens to learn lessons contained in both the New and Old Testaments." Among his favorite biblical allusions are examples of the many hard "lessons" visited upon the rich and the powerful by a just God. One of the author's most resonating Old Testament references is to the "great feast" of King Belshazzar, the sixth century B.C. ruler of Babylon who loved gold and silver more than people, more than life itself. Allusions, subtle and otherwise, to this self-destructive tyrant appear—with telling effect—in several of Dickens's best-known novels, from A Christmas Carol to A Tale of Two Cities.

scholarly journals An Analysis of Economic Wealth of God’s People from Nomadic to Post Exilic Era

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 155
Author(s):  
Halim Wiryadinata
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
People Of God ◽  
Economic Wealth ◽  
The Real ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The People ◽  
God's People ◽  
Promise Land ◽  
Wrath Of God

The terminology of the economic wealth is not actually related to the poor in terms of poverty and wealth in the Bible. The terminology of wealth and poverty is not a matter of relationship to the business or economy, but they are rather to have relationships to seek the righteousness of God. Thus, one should clarify the meaning of wealth and poverty in order to seek the real meaning of the Old Testament theology. The eras of Nomadic to Post Exilic give the idea of how God dealt with the people of God in term of sinful nature. It is not the matter of the economic situation, but it is blessedness for the people who seek Him with all their heart. Nomadic era gives an idea of how God gives the promise land to the people of Israel as long as they can keep the covenant. However, throughout the history the Israelites never entered into the promise land, except Caleb and Joshua. The picture of Babylonia is the wrath of God to the people of Israel who never listen to the command of God. In conclusion, seeking God with full heart will find ‘rest’ forever and keep the promise forever more. Keeping the righteousness of God will bring justice to the poor and let the poverty be away from the poor.

scholarly journals Scheffler’s autopsy of poverty in the biblical text: Critiquing land expropriation as an elitist project

2019 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Temba T. Rugwiji
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Land Reform ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Fast Track ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Land Expropriation ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Reform Programme

The theme of poverty has recently dominated various scholarly platforms, including academic presentations and public debates. Nevertheless, it has emerged that the rhetoric about poverty reduction seems to be the project of the elite who apparently write and speak on behalf of the poor. The plight of the majority of the poor is problematised so that transformation is superficially democratised with the ultimate aim of benefitting the elite. The present study reflects on Eben Scheffler’s contributions on poverty and the poor in the Old Testament books of the Pentateuch, the Psalms and the Proverbs. Although this study refers to Scheffler’s other works on poverty from time to time, particular attention is paid to four of them, namely, (1) ‘The poor in the Psalms: A variety of views’; (2) ‘Of poverty prevention in the Pentateuch as a continuing contemporary challenge’; (3) ‘Poverty in the Book of Proverbs: Looking from above’; (4) ‘Pleading poverty (or identifying with the poor for selfish reasons): On the ideology of Psalm 109’. Scheffler points out that it was the ancient Israelite elite who played the role of writing and speaking on behalf of the poor. It is essential to note that Scheffler’s thrust is not an appropriation exercise, although in some places he makes reference to the ‘contemporary world’. Thus, the present study attempts to explore the land debate in our contemporary world, with a special focus on South Africa’s (SA) land expropriation without compensation (LEWIC) debate and the foiled fast-track land reform programme in Zimbabwe, as elitist projects. The Zimbabwean Fast-Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP) was a prototype of LEWIC in SA. It is argued that the poor rural communities in Zimbabwe continue to languish in poverty in a country endowed with abundant natural resources, including land. The study argues that land allocation in Zimbabwe benefitted the elite.

‘Justice and Right’: Biblical Ethics and the Regulation of Capitalism

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 7-21
Author(s):  
Walter Houston
Keyword(s):  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Near East ◽  
The State ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Ideal

The Hebrew expression in the Old Testament mishpat u-tsedaqa, conventionally translated ‘justice and righteousness’, has a particular application to the social responsibility of the king. The state, in the person of the king, is seen in the Old Testament as having an obligation to exercise its power on behalf of the most vulnerable. This may be illustrated by the widespread evidence from the ancient Near East of administrative and judicial action undertaken by kings to cancel debts, provide for the release of debt slaves, remit taxes, order the return of distrained property, and so forth. Although the impact of such measures would have been limited, and the tradition is attenuated in later levels of the text, the ideal of the state as the protector of the poor may be applied to the state’s relationship with the modern capitalist economy. It demands that the economy should be regulated to protect the most vulnerable against the impoverishment resulting from its transformation by globalized capitalism. The reality, however, especially in the UK and the US, is that the state colludes with capitalism to increase inequality and deepen poverty.

scholarly journals Psalms 69:33-34 in the light of the poor in the Psalter as a whole

2007 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 425-441
Author(s):  
A Groenewald
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
High Concentration ◽  
Prayer Book ◽  
The Poor

The Psalter has very often been regarded as the prayer book of the poor. In the Psalms God is portrayed as the saviour of the poor, their hope, their stronghold and liberator – whether these are prayers of an individual or prayers of the community. The high concentration of the term(s) for the “poor” in the Psalter, in relation to the rest of the books of the Old  Testament (OT), indeed indicates a profound affinity for the “poor” in the Psalter , which is an indication that the Psalter underwent a redaction of the “theology of the poor”. In this article the focus will be on Psalm 69, as it seems to have undergone a “redaction of the poor”. The main focus will be on the verses 33 and 34, as they, specifically, contain terminology of the “poor”. Special attention will also be given to the different terms used for the poor in this text.

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