If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted towards your needy neighbor. You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be. Be careful that you do not entertain a mean thought, thinking, ‘The seventh year, the year of remission, is near’, and therefore view your needy neighbor with hostility and give nothing; your neighbor might cry to the Lord against you, and you would incur guilt. Give liberally and be ungrudging when you do so, for on this account the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.’

”

—

Deuteronomy 15.7-11

Again, the Deuteronomist appeals to the people of YHWH to act in their God’s compassionate ways. It is also an urgent warning to the covenant community to not succumb to their new sense of wealth and view their neighbor of lower socioeconomic status in contempt. 

So the Deuteronomist asks us, what are your attitudes towards the poor, the vulnerable, and the needy? More poignantly, what are your attitudes towards the homeless — even the “homeless” — who persistently ask for help in your daily routine? And finally, the Deuteronomist asks, how do you respond?  

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