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Chapter 12—Help for the Unemployed and the
Homeless
There are largehearted men and women who are seriously con-
cerned about the condition of the poor and what can be done for
their relief. How the unemployed and the homeless can be helped
to secure the common blessings of God’s providence and to live
the life He intended them to live is a question to which many are
earnestly endeavoring to find an answer. But there are few, even
among educators and statesmen, who comprehend the causes that
underlie the present state of society. Those who hold the reins of
government are unable to solve the problem of poverty, pauperism,
and increasing crime. They are struggling in vain to place business
operations on a more secure basis.
If politicians and business leaders would give more heed to the
teaching of God’s Word, they would find a solution to these problems
that perplex them. Much might be learned from the Old Testament
in regard to the labor question and relief of the poor.
God’s Plan for Israel
In God’s plan for Israel every family had a home on the land
with sufficient ground for cultivating. Thus were provided both the
means and the incentive for a useful, industrious, and self-supporting
life. And no human devising has ever improved upon that plan. The
world’s departure from it has caused, to a large degree, the poverty
and distress that exist today.
At the settlement of Israel in Canaan, the land was divided among
the whole people. The Levites only, as ministers of the sanctuary,
were excepted from the equal distribution. The tribes were numbered
by families, and to each family, according to its size, was apportioned
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an inheritance.
And although a family might for a time dispose of its possession,
it could not permanently barter away the inheritance of the children.
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