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Help for the Unemployed and the Homeless
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When able to redeem his land, he was at liberty at any time to do so.
Debts were remitted every seventh year, and in the fiftieth, or year
of jubilee, all landed property reverted to the original owner.
“The land shall not be sold forever,” was the Lord’s direction;
“for the land is Mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with Me.
And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption
for the land. If thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away some
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of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall
he redeem that which his brother sold. And if the man ... himself be
able to redeem it; ... he may return unto his possession. But if he
be not able to restore it to him, then that which is sold shall remain
in the hand of him that hath bought it until the year of jubilee.”
Leviticus 25:23-28
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“Ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout
all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto
you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall
return every man unto his family.”
Verse 10
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Thus every family was secured in its possession, and a safeguard
was afforded against the extremes of either wealth or want.
Industrial Training
In Israel, industrial training was regarded as a duty. Every father
was required to teach his sons some useful trade. The greatest men in
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Israel were trained to industrial pursuits. A knowledge of the duties
pertaining to housewifery was considered essential for every woman.
And skill in these duties was regarded as an honor to women of the
highest station.
Various industries were taught in the schools of the prophets,
and many of the students sustained themselves by manual labor.
Consideration for the Poor
These arrangements did not, however, wholly do away with
poverty. It was not God’s purpose that poverty should wholly cease.
It is one of His means for the development of character. “The poor,”
He says, “shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command