The Biblical Illustrator
Psalms 140:12
I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and the right of the poor.
God and the poor
We read in the text that God “maintains the cause of the afflicted and the right of the poor,” and we may think that there is not much evidence of this. If society is under God’s control how is it that it is such a chaos? There seems to be no order. Yet in the midst of the apparent confusion God is ruling. He holds the winds in His fists, and the water in the hollow of His hand. What gave the psalmist this assurance?
I. His knowledge of God’s character. We read of the pity of God, of the compassion and mercy of God in the Old Testament. Hence the numerous passages relating to God and the poor. “He delivereth the poor in their affliction.” “Thou hast prepared of Thy goodness for the poor.” “Whoso mocketh the poor reproveth his Maker.” “Thou hast been a strength to the poor.” “Break off sins by showing mercy to the poor.” Hence also the provision made for the poor. The gleanings of the fields and of the vineyards and oliveyards were always to be left for them. The spontaneous productions of the sabbatical year were also to form a part of their provision. Kindness to them was enjoined as a sacred duty and as a precious privilege.
II. His sense of justice. The psalmist speaks of “the right of the poor.” Some would assert that the poor have no rights, except the right to starve, or get out of the way. The wealthy classes have rights. Oh yes. The sacredness of property is more inviolate than the sacredness of the Sabbath. “The rich man’s wealth is his strong city,” and around this strong city there are walls built by legislators. Let wealth have its rights; and let poverty have its rights too. If it is right to strengthen the weak, to lift up the feeble, to comfort the sorrowful, to heal the afflicted, to provide for the poor, then God will maintain that right. He that implanted in man this sense of justice, shall He not be just? Justice may appear tardy, but “ever the right comes uppermost, and justice shall be done.” “I know that the Lord will,” etc. If they have no other friend, the afflicted and poor have a Friend in heaven, whose righteousness is like the great mountains, whose mercy endureth for ever.
III. His knowledge that God raised helpers for the feeble and oppressed. Charity was exercised then. It was a part of the Jewish religion. The rites of hospitality were then observed, and are in a large measure observed now in the East, with great care and faithfulness. Not an enemy was betrayed who had come into a tent for hospitality. There is a fountain of sympathy in the human heart. God has made the heart, and kindled in it the emotions of love and pity. Love God, and you will be constrained to love man. Keep the first table of the law, and you will be impelled to observe the second. God is not poor, and needing our alms. But around us are men, made in the similitude of God, capable of holding fellowship with God, of thinking upon His name, and loving Him, and love to God can express itself in service to men. This is the essence of religion--love. The apostle says that all is vain without this. (J. Owen.).