I spent some time over the past few days and I ran across Dewi Hughes' book entitled Power and Poverty. I read the first few chapters and I figured I would drop some off the thoughts that he and I had at the academic public pool if you will, so you folks can tear them apart if need be.
Gen. 1-11 (The Book of Origins)
-Hughes builds much of his argument on this proposition: "Poverty has to do with the way in which human beings use the power that God gave us when He created us."
Hughes begins with the creation story and its implications for God's economy:
-Humans are the dominant species on earth. (is Hughes implying theistic evolution?)
-Our amazing abilities are used in such a way as to bring about amazing wealth for some and abject poverty for others.
-God's assurance of provision comes through His command to multiply and rule.
-The use of the soil is one aspect of domination (Gen. 3:17b-19).
-Adam was told that he would always work the "dust" (infertile, risky soil) which would always remind him of his eventual end---death. "Dust to dust".
He then shifts to the story of Cain and Abel:
-Cain perhaps did not bring the best of his crop, implying that he saw his own needs as more important than what God desires. (Gen. 4:4)
-Referring Cain's murder of his brother: "Cain's act is typical of all self-centered acts that result in the suffering and death of the innocent, including the oppression of the poor by the powerful..." (22)
-Abel's blood cried up to God for vengeance:
- Life is in the blood: Lev. 17:11: "For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life."
- Hebrew word for cry: the desperate cry of men without food (Gen. 41:55), the cry of the Israelites expecting to be killed by the Egyptians (Ex. 14:10), the cry of men being oppressed by their enemies (Judg. 4:3), the scream of a woman being raped (Duet. 22:24, 27)
- Passages that also deal with God's hearing the desperate cries of his people in need of help: Isa. 19:20, Ps. 34:18, Ps.107:6, 28, 1 Kings 21
- Isa. 19:20: Oracle about Egypt
- Psalm 34:18
- Psalm 107
"He turns rivers into a desert, springs of water into thirsty ground, a fruitful land into a salty waste, because of the evil of its inhabitants. He turns a desert into pools of water, a parched land into springs of water. And there he lets the hungry dwell, and they establish a city to live in; they sow fields and plant vineyards and get a fruitful yield. By his blessing they multiply greatly, and he does not let their livestock diminish.
When they are diminished and brought low through oppression, evil, and sorrow, he pours contempt on princes and makes them wander in trackless wastes; but he raises up the needy out of affliction and makes their families like flocks. The upright see it and are glad, and all wickedness shuts its mouth.
Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things; let them consider the steadfast love of the LORD."
These verses amaze me. God really does care for the downtrodden, regardless of whether they worship Him or not. That kind of mercy and steadfast love must not only be considered, but it should be praised forever.
- 1 Kings 21 simply reveals the story of Naboth's Vineyard and how Ahab wickedly pilfered from Naboth and oppressed and killed him out of his wicked need to possess his land.
-Hughes then shifts his focus to the flood: "Animals and men were meant to fill the earth (Gen. 1:22, 28), instead, violence fills it." (24) Violence here is often accompanied by oppression. Exploitation of the weak by the powerful, or the poor by the rich (Amos 6:4-8) or the naive by the clever (Pro. 16:29).
- Amos 6:4-8: "'Woe to those who lie on beds of ivoryand stretch themselves out on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall, who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp and like David invent for themselves instruments of music, who drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph! Therefore they shall now be the first of those who go into exile, and the revelry of those who stretch themselves out shall pass away.' The Lord GOD has sworn by himself, declares the LORD, the God of hosts: 'I abhor the pride of Jacob and hate his strongholds and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.'" God was disgusted with the pride and revelry that these wealthy Israelites were participating in: they should have cared for those who were suffering: "the ruin of Joseph".
- Proverbs 16:29: "A man of violence entices his neighbor and leads him in a way that is not good." A man of violence is described as a deceiver: is the deception of the impoverished an action of a "man of violence"?
-We must consider power and how it relates to the earth itself---we could produce mass poverty for a large proportion of the human population by mistreating the natural resources we have been given.
-Man is created in God's image and therefor has a very high value---murder can only be paid for by the blood of the murderer. This agreement between God and man on this judgment is stated in the Noahic covenant of Gen. 9:6. "If poverty is primarily the result of oppression, then those who cause the death of the poor through oppression are guilty of murder. The way we live in luxury in the minority world while millions die in poverty could well make us liable for the blood of the poor before God." (26)
-Hughes then shifts his focus to Babel and the development of nations:
-Babel: They had a fundamental insecurity that caused them to congregate instead of spread out. This line of thinking can be found in Cain's thoughts earlier: he desired safety apart from God and that safety was developed through the sinful means of violence.
-Implication: "The security of the few has to be bought with the oppressive sweat of many."(27)
-Security was achieved by grasping at divinity: "Alienated humankind will always have problems with its God-given abilities as long as those abilities are not submitted to the Creator." (27)
-Here is Hughes' conclusion from his study of Gen. 1-11:
-Consequence: human beings become more focused on themselves than God due to the fall. "To be able to murder with impunity is the limit of this narcissism and absolute proof that fallen humanity is endemically preoccupied with self." (28)
-From our depraved perspective---"to walk with God is to walk away from this pathological human longing for self-centered security." (28)
-We are still social beings, yet "our relationships too often become means either to satisfy our ego or to protect us from our fears." (28)
-Food production became an issue of power and control due to the post-Edenic curse.
-Oftentimes, we use our abilities of domination to oppress, secure, and glorify ourselves instead of bringing them to God.
-"In a world alienated from God, poverty and oppression of the excluded is inevitable." (29)
Reflection:
-Within the Genesis account, we certainly do discover the roots of our sin problem.
-God is the creator, and all of creation belongs to Him because He formed it. (1 Chron. 29:14-15)
-Our resources come from the earth that God has made---our money, goods, lands, cars, and wealth in general eventually find their value derived from the earth that God created. John Locke stated that we as human beings could not even originate ideas. Locke states that all of our concepts are merely reflections upon what we have already sensed. If you draw this concept back far enough, you can see that God is truly the Originator of all that man creates, proposes, and thinks. Even sin, in fact, is merely a misuse of what God has already so graciously provided.
-Light (Gen. 1:3) implies the presence of God: darkness and sin is merely an absence, a meaninglessness. There are not two sides to nature, only one: God. All else is a turning away from Deity. If sin is the absence of God and His desires, then it follows that if God cares for the oppressed and we do not, then we are in sin.
-The earth that God created originally was good and very good. This obviously implies that God never desired injustice in the world, because He would have created it that way.
-He also made the planet absolutely bursting with life and beautiful in all ways. There would obviously have been plenty of resources for all who lived in Eden because it was perfect.
-Why are we treating this glorious, all-powerful God as if He has no claim on the planet He created? Why are we exploiting not only His creatures, but also the crown of His creation---mankind?
-Human logic even follows here: why would we ever be a wicked steward with what He so lovingly created? Do we even know who we're dealing with?
- He made light from nothing.
- He divided the sky from the ocean. (that's a lot of water)
- He moved the oceans by His holy word.
- He created, designed, and plotted every ecosystem on earth.
- He made every star, every planet, every galaxy, and all the space in between.
- He made every animal---their beauty, their adaptations, their purposes, etc.
- He made man---with all of his faculties, intelligence, abilities, potential, etc.
- And He made you. You are not your own.
-Ps. 8:3-4: "When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?"
-Job 40:4-5: "'Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth. I have spoken once, and I will not answer; twice, but I will proceed no further.'"
-Rom. 9:20: "But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, 'Why have you made me like this?'"
-Isa. 6:5: "And I said: 'Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!'"
How could we, those He has purchased with His precious blood, oppress and dehumanize those He has so lovingly created? We know there is always forgiveness for our wickedness (I John 1:9) and once we have repented, on of the most glorious promises applies to us: Romans 8:31-39: "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised— who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, 'For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.' No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." If, however, we continue in our sin, regardless of whether it is in ignorance or not, Luke 12:8-9: ("'And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God.'") will apply.
Personally, I feel so small. So insignificant. God is enormous. He's there in the fire, He's there in the thunder. Yet He chose to step down to our level because of His deep love for us. He was slaughtered on our behalf. What more should provoke our love and obedience to Him? Why do we claim to love God...why do I claim to love God...yet I curse, ignore, insult, scoff, mock, and devalue those who are made in His image? Praise be to God for His great mercy, His steadfast love, and His matchless grace.
Lord...forgive me. Forgive the church. Forgive America.
Forgive us all.
-Dan
Guitarist, Generic Music Group
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