7 “If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother,8 but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. 9 Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the Lord against you, and you be guilty of sin.10 You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. 11 For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’ (Deuteronomy 15)
The Sabbath. It's more than just a day of rest a week. It is a whole concept of remembering Who it all belongs to: God. God gave the land. If a brother is in a bind, we need to lend a helping hand. The paragraph before this one tells us that the seventh year was a year to forgive debts, to start with a clean slate. Knowing this could make a greedy heart decide to hold back on lending a hand to someone, knowing the next year they would forgive the debt. But that is not like God. He has freely given; we have freely received; we should also freely give. What a radical concept. What a way to put an end to perpetual poverty. A new and fresh beginning every seven days, every several years, based on this fact: every good gift comes from the Father above.
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