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Chapter 27OdoC.3.27

Caput XXVI

The Sin of Failing to Defend the Poor

Those who oppress the poor and those who silently permit it both sin greatly, for God identifies himself with his servants and is burdened in their affliction.

But those who feed themselves on the plunder of the poor must be opposed more severely. For even those who do not themselves afflict the poor, yet take no care to resist their oppressors, are certainly sinning greatly. Let these people know, then, that they are withdrawing from God the comfort of his help, so long as they do not defend his poor. For just as he is burdened in his own servants, so also he is refreshed in them. Hence it is written: "And he will be comforted in his servants" (2 Mac. 7:6); and "Whoever is not with me is against me" (Matt.✦ 12:30). And Paul: "We are God's helpers" (1 Cor.✦

God Is Afflicted in His Poor

Scripture warns that harming the poor is harming God himself, for Christ declared that what is done to the least is done to him, and he still suffers persecution in his members.

III, 9). And the prophet: You have not risen up from the opposing side, nor have you built a wall for Jerusalem (Ezek.✦ XIII, 5). Let plunderers consider this: that while they harm the poor, they stretch out their hands to the injury of God himself. For his voice is: What you did to one of these least ones, you did to me (Matt.✦ XXV, 40). So when they afflict the poor, they surely afflict God, as he himself bears witness, saying: Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?✦ (Act.

Christ Speaks and Suffers in His Servants

Even after his ascension Christ continues to suffer in his members, speaking through the afflicted and torn apart in the humble, so that exploitation of the poor is an affront to God himself.

(Ezekiel 22:7)✦ He had already ascended to heaven, and yet here the persecution of Saul was still touching his own members.✦ For just as he speaks through good people, the same Paul says: Do you seek proof of the one who speaks in me, Christ?✦ (2 Corinthians✦ 13:3.)✦ So he himself is torn apart in the affliction of the humble, with Malachi saying: If a man afflicts God — because you pierce me — cursed are you, the whole nation that pierces me (Malachi✦ 3:9.)✦ And not only those who afflict the poor sin, but even those who are richer and have sold their own possessions at too high a price certainly sin as well.

Prophetic Woes Against the Oppressive Rich

The prophets Amos and Micah pronounce woe upon the wealthy who crush the poor, cast out widows, pervert justice, and live in luxurious excess, warning of God's curse and the hiding of his face.

And so Amos says: Hear, you who crush the poor, who say, "Let us take possession of the needy, and sell off the scraps of grain."✦ The Lord has sworn: I will not forget these things until the very end. I will turn all your songs into lamentation, and your final days into a bitter day (Amos 8:4, 5, 6, 10). Likewise he himself says: Woe to you who are wealthy, chief men, heads of the peoples, entering in pomp, who sleep on ivory beds and are wanton on your couches, drinking wine from cups (Amos 6:1, 2) — because, you see, you scorn to drink from simple vessels — and what follows: The Lord has sworn by his own hand, "I detest the pride of…" (ibid., 8).✦✦ , 8).✦ And Micah: Are not my words good, and with the one who walks rightly? But on the contrary, my people have risen up as an adversary.✦ You have cast widows out of their homes, and from the little ones you have taken my praise (Micah…).✦ 2, 7–9).✦ And again: Hear, you princes who abhor justice and pervert all that is right — I will hide my face from you, just as you have done evil (Micah…).✦

The Lord's Counsel to the Rich and the Reversal to Come

God shows through Job that he endures all adversity in his servants, and through James he warns the rich of coming miseries, while Isaiah promises a great reversal where God's servants feast and the oppressors hunger.

(Job III, 9, 4). And to show that it was he who endured all adversity in his servants, he says to blessed Job: Will the rush of waters overwhelm you?✦ (Job XXXVIII, 34.) Understand this — that through the preaching of the saints the wicked indeed hear me speaking, but do not understand; and through the afflicted they see me suffering, but do not consider it. Therefore let them hear the counsel of holy James, who says: Come now, you rich, weep and wail in the miseries that are coming upon you.✦ Your riches have rotted, and your garments are moth-eaten, your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will stand as testimony against you, and it will devour your flesh like fire (James V, 1-3).✦ (V, 1-3). Otherwise, when this shadowy and fleeting delight of theirs has flown by, and the affliction of the poor has come upon them, then for both sides what Isaiah said will come to pass: Behold, my servants will eat, and you will hunger; behold, my servants will drink, and you will thirst; behold, my servants will rejoice, and you will be put to shame (Isaiah LXVI, 13).✦

A Final Call to Repentance

All the threats of Scripture are directed at the oppressors of the poor unless they repent.

(Isaiah 65:13)—and why say more? Every threat in all of Scripture is hurled against them, unless they repent.

Read the original Latin

Illis vero qui rapinis pauperum pascuntur severius obviandum est. Nam et illi qui pauperes quidem non affligunt, sed tamen afflictoribus eorum resistere non curant, vehementer utique peccant. Isti ergo noverint quia solatium sui adjutorii Deo subtrahunt, dum pauperes ejus non defendunt. Sicut enim in suis gravatur, ita et in ipsis refovetur. Unde scriptum est: Et in servis suis consolabitur (II Mac. VII, 6); et ipse qui non est mecum adversum me est (Matth. XII, 30). Et Paulus: Adjutores Dei sumus (I Cor.

III, 9). Et propheta: Non ascendistis ex adverso neque opposuistis murum pro Hierusalem (Ezech. XIII, 5). Raptores vero cogitent quia dum pauperes laedunt, usque ad Dei ipsius laesionem manus extendunt. Vox enim ipsius est: Quod uni ex his minimis fecistis, mihi fecistis (Matth. XXV, 40). Cum ergo affligunt pauperes, utique Deum affligunt, sicut ipse testatur dicens: Saule, Saule, quid me persequeris? (Act.

XXII, 7.) Coelum jam ascenderat, et adhuc Sauli persecutio hic sua membra tangebat. Sicut enim per bonos loquitur, dicente eodem Paulo: An experimentum quaeritis ejus qui in me loquitur Christus? (II Cor. XIII, 3.) Sic ipse in afflictione humilium laceratur, dicente Malachia: Si affliget homo Deum, quia vos configitis me, maledicti estis gens tota qui configitis me (Malac. III, 9). Et non solum qui affligunt, sed etiam si nimis sua qui ditiores sunt vendiderunt, utique peccant.

Unde et Amos: Audite qui conteritis pauperem, qui dicitis: possideamus egenos, et quisquilias frumenti vendamus. Juravit Dominus, si oblitus fuero usque ad finem, et convertam omnia cantica vestra in planctum, et novissima in diem amarum (Amos VIII, 4, 5, 6, 10). Item ipse: Vae qui opulenti estis optimates, capita populorum, ingredientes pompatice, qui dormitis in lectis eburneis, et lascivitis in stratis vestris, bibentes vinum in phialis (Amos VI, 1, 2), quia videlicet dedignantur bibere in rusticanis vasis, et quod sequitur: Juravit Dominus in manu sua, detestor ego superbiam (Ibid. , 8). Et Micheas: Nonne verba mea bona sunt, et cum eo qui recte graditur, et e contrario populus meus in adversarium consurrexit? Viduas ejecistis de domo, et a parvulis tulistis laudem meam (Mich. II, 7-9). Et item: Audite, principes, qui abominamini judicium, et omnia recta pervertitis, abscondam faciem meam a vobis, sicut male egistis (Mich.

III, 9, 4). Et ut ostenderet se esse qui in servis suis omnia adversa pateretur, ad beatum Job ait: Nunquid impetus aquarum operiet te? (Job XXXVIII, 34.) Subaudi, ut me, quoniam iniqui per praedicationem sanctorum loquentem quidem audiunt, sed non intelligunt, et per afflictos patientem vident, sed non considerant. Quapropter audiant consilium sancti Jacobi dicentis: Agite nunc, divites, plorate ululantes in miseriis quae supervenient vobis. Divitiae vestrae putrefactae sunt, et vestimenta vestra a linea comesta sunt, aurum et argentum vestrum aeruginavit, et aerugo eorum vobis in testimonium erit, et manducabit carnes vestras sicut ignis (Jac. V, 1-3). Alioquin cum haec illorum umbratilis delectatio et transitoria pauperum pervolaverit afflictio, fiet utrisque illud Isaiae: Ecce servi mei comedent, et vos esurietis, ecce servi mei bibent, et vos sitietis, ecce servi mei laetabuntur, et vos confundemini (Isa.

LXV, 13), et quid multa? omnis totius Scripturae comminatio jaculatur in eos, nisi resipuerint.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Matt.12.30 — The one who is not with me is against me, and the one who does not gather with me scatters.
  2. ↩1Cor.3.9 — For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
  3. ↩Ezek.13.5 — You have not gone up into the breaches, nor built up a wall around the house of Israel to stand firm in battle on the day of the LORD.
  4. ↩Matt.25.40 — And the King will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'
  5. ↩Acts.9.4 — He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?"
  6. ↩Ezek.22.7 — Father and mother are treated with contempt in you; the sojourner is oppressed in your midst; the orphan and the widow are wronged in you.
  7. ↩Acts.9.4-Acts.9.5 — He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" Acts.9.5 — He said, "Who are you, Lord?" And the Lord said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting."
  8. ↩2Cor.13.3 — since you seek proof of the Christ who speaks in me, who is not weak toward you but powerful among you
  9. ↩2Cor.13.3 — since you seek proof of the Christ who speaks in me, who is not weak toward you but powerful among you
  10. ↩2Cor.13.3 — since you seek proof of the Christ who speaks in me, who is not weak toward you but powerful among you
  11. ↩Mal.3.9 — You are cursed with a curse, yet you are robbing Me — this whole nation.
  12. ↩Mal.3.9 — You are cursed with a curse, yet you are robbing Me — this whole nation.
  13. ↩Amos.8.4-Amos.8.5 — Hear this, you who trample the needy and bring to ruin the poor of the land, Amos.8.5 — saying, "When will the new moon be over so that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath so that we may open the wheat, making the ephah small and the shekel great, and cheating with dishonest scales?"
  14. ↩Amos.6.1-Amos.6.2 — Woe to those at ease in Zion and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria, the distinguished leaders of the foremost nation, to whom the house of Israel comes! Amos.6.2 — Cross over to Calneh and see; go from there to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Or is their territory greater than yours?
  15. ↩Amos.6.8 — The Lord GOD has sworn by himself—the LORD, the God of hosts, declares: I abhor the pride of Jacob, and I hate his fortified palaces; therefore I will deliver up the city and all that fills it.
  16. ↩Amos.6.8 — The Lord GOD has sworn by himself—the LORD, the God of hosts, declares: I abhor the pride of Jacob, and I hate his fortified palaces; therefore I will deliver up the city and all that fills it.
  17. ↩Mic.2.7 — O house of Jacob, is the Spirit of the LORD impatient? Are these his deeds? Do not my words do good to the one who walks uprightly?
  18. ↩Mic.2.9 — You drive the women of my people from their pleasant houses; from their children you take my glory forever.
  19. ↩Mic.2.7-Mic.2.9 — O house of Jacob, is the Spirit of the LORD impatient? Are these his deeds? Do not my words do good to the one who walks uprightly? Mic.2.8 — And recently my people rise as an enemy; you strip the robe from those who pass by in confidence, returning from war. Mic.2.9 — You drive the women of my people from their pleasant houses; from their children you take my glory forever.
  20. ↩Mic.3.4 — Then they will cry out to the LORD, but he will not answer them; he will hide his face from them at that time, because they have done evil in their deeds.
  21. ↩Job.38.34 — Can you lift your voice to the clouds, so that a flood of waters covers you?
  22. ↩Jas.5.1-Jas.5.3 — Come now, you rich, weep and wail over the miseries that are coming upon you. Jas.5.2 — Your wealth has rotted, and your garments have become moth-eaten. Jas.5.3 — Your gold and your silver have corroded, and their rust will be a testimony against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up treasure in the last days.
  23. ↩Jas.5.1-Jas.5.3 — Come now, you rich, weep and wail over the miseries that are coming upon you. Jas.5.2 — Your wealth has rotted, and your garments have become moth-eaten. Jas.5.3 — Your gold and your silver have corroded, and their rust will be a testimony against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up treasure in the last days.
  24. ↩Isa.65.13 — Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, my servants shall eat, but you shall hunger; behold, my servants shall drink, but you shall thirst; behold, my servants shall rejoice, but you shall be put to shame.

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