(2) The .Judqei and the Early Monarchy. — During this period the clan and family system lii.-iintained a great, though perhaps diminishing, vitality ; and its influence, as we have said, was against the growth of poverty. The great majority
of free Israelite families held land ; they might suffer from bad seasons, and from invasion, oi the oppression of powerful fellow-countrymen : ' whole families might be swept away by plague or famine, carried away captive by the enenij-, or reduced to slavery by native oppressors ; but with certain exceptions (see below) there was little permanent poverty. Gideon says (Jg 6") ' My clan (lit. 'thousand') is the poorest (S-n) in Manasseh, and I am the least in my fatlier's house ' ; but the context shows that Gideon was fairly well off. It is probabl}' not a mere accident that the first mention in history of a class of poor freemen comes soon after the establishment of the Monarchy. 1 S 22- tells us that there resorted unto David 'every one that was in distress (»'!< pinD), or in debt, or discontented.'
In this period, however, certain classes of land- less poor seem to have arisen. AVhen the frontier receded through the successful attack of a neigh- bouring tribe, the Israelite refugees would seek shelter amongst their brethren. They could not always be provided with land, and probably formed a large portion of the gerim, the gcr in this case being an Israelite settled in a strange tribe. In this period, too, the Levites are apparently both landless and poor, e.g. Micah's Levite, Jg 17. 18, and the Levite of Jg 19, both of whom were gcrhn ; cf. Levi. The scant references to the poor in the older (JE) legislation, the Ten Commandments, the Book of the Covenant, etc., e.g. Ex 22;'* 23", indicate that poverty was not very widespread in this period.
(3) The Later Monarchy. — We learn from the prophets of the 8th cent, that as the Israelite kingdoms advanced in wealth and civilization,
Eauperism developed. The rich added ' house to ouse, and field to field' (Is 5"), and the landless poor multiplied.
The growth in luxury led to an increase of the artisan class and the town population generally. When the tide of prosperity ebbed, these classes bore the brunt of bad times. The prophets tried to keep the land for the peasant farmers, but their efforts were futile. Deuteronomy shows that poverty was a serious and widespread evil (10""" 14ffl.ai 15 23"*- =°24i''--i26i--i5), and frequently refers to the Levites as an impoverished class (12"- " 18). The Deuteronomic legislation attempted to remedy the evil, but it came too late.
(4) Ajfter the Exile. — The community in Pales- tine was poor as a whole, and Neh 5 shows that the nobles and priests profited by the misfortunes of tlie peasants to absorb their land. The general tone of tlie Psalms, and the use of the term 'dndw, ' lowly,' for the pious Jews, suggest that the bulk of the people were permanently poor. See art. Poor. The Priestly Code shows great considera- tion for the poor (Lv 5' " etc. ig"""* 23-^ 25).
As the Jews passed from the rule of the Persians to that of the Greek kings of Egypt and Syria, the bulk of the people, whether in the Dispersion or in Syria, became subject, in a measure, to the general conditions of social life ; and the information a.s to the poor in the ancient classical world will apply to that extent to the scattered Jews. But in most cities, as in Alexandria, and in many country districts, the Jews formed communities bound by racial and religious ties. Such ties are very real, especially in small societies, when those who own them are in the midst of aliens of another faith. Poverty might be prevalent, but would be much alleviated by mutual helpfulness. In Jewish Galilee and Judali there were the agricultural settlements, where social conditions were com-
Saratively simple; and the intensely Jewish city of erusaleni, whose size implies a large poor popula-
• Cf. Nathan's parable, in which the rich man robbed his pool neighbour (2 S 12i-«).
POVERTY
POWER
'J9
tion. The Bk. of Sirach, the work of a Jenisalem Jew, implies a measure of poverty and emphasizes the helplessness of the poor before the oppression of the rich (7** lO*"- " 13^- ^« 21» 29- 35" 41-) ; biit con- veys the impression that the wronj^s and sullorinfis of the poor about B.C. 200 were far less grievous than in the time of Amos and Isaiah.
As ris'^.nds jirurision for the poor, there was first of all, perhaps mostetiiracious of all, the pos.sihility of tiniliiij; sustenance in slaverj', a fate probably rcjjaided with less horror, and carrying with it less dis;.'race, than the modem workhouse. Before this, the poor mifiht Iiave recourse to their family or clan. In early times, when each clan inhabited its own district, the claims of poorer members com- manded recognition ; but as time went on, and the clan sj'stem broke up, this resource became less and less to be relied on. The successive codes sou^'ht to remedy the evil by various enactments. In Ex 22^''^ loans are to be without interest, so also Dt 15'- ' 24'"- ", Lv 25=^ '■" ; cf. Ps 15" etc. ; and in Kx 23" the poor are to have the produce of the land in Sabbatical years, so also Lv 2'/'. In Deuteronomy tithes are to be given to the poor (H-"* 2G^"- ") ; who are to be entertained at the great Feasts (lO"' "; cf. Ni'h S'") ; to be allowed to glean, and to have sonic-tiling left to glean, to have the right to take what giew in the comers of fields, and any sheaves that might be forgotten (24'»-i); cf. Lv lO"-'", Ku 2-. The most serious attempt to deal with poverty was the Law of the Jubilee Year in the Priestly Code (Lv 25^-" ; cf. Dt lo''^'"), which, if carried out, would have secured the periodical restoration of the landless poor to freedom and their return to the land, but this law remained an ideal. These various provisions were supplemented by Almsgiving (which see).