In the bible context, who were the poor? 

Jesus quotes Isaiah and says that the gospel (good news) is for the ‘poor’. Isaiah uses the word ‘afflicted’.

The creation songs in Genesis depict a garden where the land sustains a plentiful life. Adam is a gardener, Cain and Abel farmers of crops and animals. Poverty is not an issue at this time. However, the curse resulting from sin includes toil, unproductive work that predicts the poverty to come.

When we move forward in time to the birth of Israel the nation we find the people in poverty, slaves condemned to a life of hard labour, toiling for the benefit of others.

Once released, when the people were travelling through the wilderness, they were all equal, relying on God for food and drink and with few possessions. They had a promise of a new land of plenty, ‘flowing with milk and honey’, providing sufficient for all.

The challenge on entering the new land was how to address wealth and avoid poverty. The foundation was land ownership. The word poor comes from being fearful, crouched together. The poor are destitute, dependent on others, i.e. they have no land. The rich were those who owned land and property. It is land that enables productivity and sustenance.

The nation was established with an apportionment of land by lot to everyone. Each person and family therefore had the means to sustainability.

Inheritance becomes a crucial element, setting up a process where the land remains in the family.           

The poor are those who are disinherited. There is often an association of poverty with widows and orphans, those without an inheritance. The link of the poor with the afflicted is a reference to the illegal removal of inheritance. The opposite of the poor is often seen to be the violent, those who oppress and illegally seize land, and therefore the call to God is to protect the poor.

The poor are therefore viewed as people who have suffered from injustice rather than through their own self-inflicted actions.

The Old Testament law requires the release after 6 years of someone who becomes a servant through lack of means, sets out property rights, rules for borrowing and lending, and the protection of widows and orphans.

The Sabbath year (7th year), as with the Sabbath day, celebrates God’s rest and is a time for resolving needs and the balancing of means.

The Jubilee (50th year, following 7x7 Sabbaths) brings about restoration and the removal of poverty and affliction. It allows a new beginning for each new generation.  It includes an environment of being satisfied and secure. There is an opportunity of returning to family and a restoration of land and property.

Jubilee is a reminder that the land is leasehold, ultimately belonging to God. Jubilee introduces redemption, allowing the restoration of land and inheritance. Sabbath and Jubilee therefore provides a framework for society that involves enterprise through commerce and trade but re-balances fortune and misfortune on a generational basis.

Sadly, there is no evidence to suggest that Israel fulfilled the Sabbath and Jubilee years. The prophets such as Micah speak against this failure. In Isaiah, the prophet equates the bringing of good news to the poor/afflicted with proclaiming the favourable year of the Lord, the year of Jubilee. 

In Luke chapter 4, when Jesus quotes Isaiah he is proclaiming good news to the poor, those who are afflicted, have suffered violence and oppression, those who have lost their inheritance. He is proclaiming the principles of Jubilee to be part of the Kingdom of God, and that these are to be established through redemption.