Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 64:4 (Dec 2021)
Article: Social Justice And Social Outliers In Ancient Israel, Part 2: Provision For Widows, Orphans, And Resident Aliens
Author: Michael A. Harbin

JETS 64:4 (December 2021) p. 681

Social Justice And Social Outliers In Ancient Israel, Part 2: Provision For Widows, Orphans, And Resident Aliens

Michael A. Harbin*

* Michael A. Harbin is Professor Emeritus of Biblical Studies, Taylor University, Upland, Indiana, and resides at 629 W. South St., Upland, IN 46989. He may be contacted at [email protected].

Abstract: The Torah interweaves guidelines for social justice throughout. While covering all of Israelite society, three groups considered social outliers—widows, orphans, and resident aliens—are addressed collectively with special provisions because they had common needs. This two-part article examines how the community structure of ancient Israel’s agrarian culture produced key social norms for each interdependent community (part 1) and then shows how the three groups fell outside of those norms and thus needed special provisions (part 2). Part 1 describes the agrarian structure of a typical Israelite community, drawing on anthropological studies of analogous modern cultures in the same area. Part 2 clarifies the nature of the outliers and explains how the provisions of levirate marriage, gleaning, third-year tithes, and Sabbath-year garnering provided essential welfare support for those who needed it.

Key words: social justice, widows, orphans, resident aliens, immigrant, glean, tithe, inheritance, Ruth

The first part of this article looked at Israelite culture during the Late Bronze Age (LBA), drawing from the OT text, archaeology, ethnoarchaeology, and somewhat from comparative cultures.1 We observed that the Israelite culture of that period primarily consisted of villages (called “cities” in the text) of closely clustered dwellings surrounded by a common “field” or agricultural area that was divided into individually owned portions. Our premise was that this social structure produced the cultural norms that underlie many of the OT narrative accounts, noting especially the account of Ruth.

While God promised to bless the nation so that it would prosper, he also made it clear from the beginning that the nation would never reach that status—there would be always be outliers who struggled economically. This point of tension is exemplified by Deuteronomy 15 and its discussion of the Sabbath year, which both promises that “there will be no poor among you” (15:4),2 albeit with the caveat that the people had to obey, and warns that “the poor will never cease to be in the land” (15:11, italics original...