God’s Welfare System

Deuteronomy 15:

11 For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.

Many on the Right expound upon The Proper Role of Government. “Government exists to protect people from force and fraud.” “Production should be done by the private sector.” “Charity is the job for churches, individuals, businesses and foundations.” Given that Fundamentalist Christianity is usually associated with the political Right, I presume that most Fundamentalist Christians would agree that the core role of government is protection and contract enforcement, that the critical branches of government are the military, the police and the courts.

From Anarchy to Monarchy

Living without government is not easy. A great deal of civic virtue is required to preserve order and defend the nation. Eventually, the Israelites tired of the responsibility that comes with freedom and demanded a king. The prophet Samuel complied and gave them a king, along with a curse which rings true to this day:

1 Samuel 8:

10. And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people that asked of him a king.

11. And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots.

12. And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots.

13. And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers.

14. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants.

15. And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants.

16. And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work.

17. He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants.

18. And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the Lord will not hear you in that day.

Ironically, the Bible says the exact opposite! Look in the books of the Law. See how the Law played out in the Book of Judges. After conquering Canaan, the Israelites had no king, no legislature, no police, no standing army and no tax collectors. Law enforcement resembled the American Wild West more than any modern civilized country. Even national defense was left up to informal militias of private citizens – the ultimate NRA fantasy. Ancient Israel between the death of Joshua and the crowning of Saul was the closest approximation of the anarchocapitalist ideal of any civilized nation not surrounded by water.

Yet these ancient Israelites had a welfare system – one mandated by law. The poor had a right to free food, land, and capital. Mandatory funds for taking care of the poor far exceeded military spending or policing. Ancient Israel during the days of the Judges was thus a strange mix of extreme conservative, libertarian and liberal ideas. It was conservative in that certain immoralities were punishable by death, libertarian in that there were no taxes, police or standing army, and liberal in that they had an extensive welfare system and laws preventing excess accumulation of wealth by the few.

In the following chapters we will study the components that made up this ancient welfare system: a system designed to work without taxes or welfare bureaucracy, a system designed to work in a state of borderline anarchy.

Relevance of God’s Welfare System

The U.S. Congress has no authority to mandate the dictates of any church or religion. Furthermore, God’s Welfare System has provisions that many today would find unpleasant. Finally, the New Testament mandate for individual charity supersedes the old system. So, I am not proposing wholesale legislation of the ideas which follow.

Times have changed. Technology and literacy have expanded enormously. The United States is not the Holy Land. The U.S. is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-religious set of republics. But though times have changed, it still behooves us to study the welfare system given to Moses. Designing a good welfare system is no easy task; the economics are subtle and mistakes lead to grave social ills. Consider the objections of the Right to the modern welfare state:

Welfare aimed at the truly needy encourages neediness; it pays people to be lazy, while punishing thrift and marriage.
Welfare for everyone is socialism, which corrupts the government, leading to tyranny and poverty.
High taxes on the rich take capital out of the hands of the most productive and place it in the hands of the least productive.
Income taxes are expensive to assess, violate privacy, reduce incentives to produce, harm small businesses, and give legislators an easy tool for mischief.
Forcing one group to give to another is theft, no matter how benevolent the intent.

These objections have merit. But so do the rebuttals of the Left. Without welfare we have malnutrition, illiteracy, and wage slavery. God’s Welfare System addresses the concerns of both sides. In the chapters which follow you will learn how to provide for the needy without unduly encouraging need, how to prevent wage slavery, how to prevent the rich from becoming parasitic aristocrats without discouraging productive enterprise, and more.

Many of the objections to government welfare apply to private charity as well! Privatization does not make all problems magically go away. Charitable programs aimed at just the needy can encourage neediness. Inefficient charity can lead to budget shortfalls. Excessive charity on the part of the productive can stifle innovation and economic growth. So whether you are a legislator working at welfare reform, a deacon managing your church’s relief programs, or an individual choosing which charities to support, you will find useful wisdom in the Biblical welfare system.

Next: Tithes vs. Taxes

In this Series:

God's Welfare System
Tithes vs. Taxes
The Gleaner Laws
The Land Belongs to God
Capital for All
A Biblical Solution to the World's Problems

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