Hotly Pursuing the Poor

In Psalm 10, King David bemoans a number of things before the Lord. He begins with an apparent complaint about what David believes is God’s absence and says:

1 Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?

After this he begins to complain about the wicked and says in the very first line:

2 The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.

The word used in the King James is persecute leads to some idea of what the wicked are doing to the poor, but the Hebrew term relates best to “a hot pursuit” instead of just a persecution. “The wicked IN HIS PRIDE doth hotly pursuit the poor.”

What is this hot pursuit of the wicked upon the poor focused upon? David tells us in verse 3, saying:

3 For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth.

Whatever that focus is in the hot pursuit of the poor it’s not only “his hearts desire” but it is a desire that he is not ashamed to boast about. And we also know that in the process of all these things, these wicked “blesseth (praise) the covetous” a characteristic in people that God abhors!

Later, we will read that David generally refers to these wicked types as “the man of the earth.” Who is the “man of the earth?” Thus far, we know that he is one who:

• In his PRIDE hotly pursues the poor.
• That in this pursuit is “his hearts desire”
• That he “boasts” of this desire
• And that he “praises the covetous” (the tenth command we are told to avoid)

After describing the wicked in more depth in verses 4-6, David says

7 His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity.

8 He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent: his eyes are privily set against the poor.

9 He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lieth in wait to catch the poor: he doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net.

10 He croucheth, and humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones.

In this imagery this man of the earth is described as a predator, a conniver, lurking in places waiting for opportunity to pounce upon the innocent . . . and especially the poor.

From this we can see contextually that David’s initial cries (at verse 1)

“Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?”

are on behalf of not only himself but also the poor and innocent who seem to be victims of “these men of the earth.”

At verse 12 David returns to his first pleading query and says:

“12 Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up thine hand: forget not the humble.”

Then at verse 14 David adds:

14 . . . “the poor committeth himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless.

15 Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man: seek out his wickedness till thou find none.”

And then,

17 “LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:

18 To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress.”

So David has laid the principle out –

There are innocent, humble, poor who are hotly pursued by the proud, Godless, coveting wicked of his world. Because David mentions that these “men of the earth” “praise covetousness” we might conclude that the major driver behind these wicked men is gaining material wealth from the poor – something by which David, a man after God’s own heart, is greatly disturbed.

The principle point?

God does NOT like the poor and humble to be taken advantage of. One hundred and sixty three times the English word “poor” is used in the Old Testament alone. These come from several different Hebrew terms all pointing to “the dangling, the destitute, and the depressed.” Scripture is replete with directions to help and treat the poor kindly and generously but never to hotly pursue them to try and capitalize, capture or to put them in bonds.

Now to the application.

Any political movement, religious institution, criminal organization or individual that “hotly pursues the poor” and I will show you the antithesis to the heart of God.

SOCIAL or POLITICAL MOVEMENTS

Any group that looks out over its constituents and places the onus and burden for its survival and success on the backs of the poor ought to be received with great suspicion. Whether top heavy communism, uber-capitalism or fascism, if the poor are weighted down with taxes, duties, and a load too heavy to bear they ought to be seen as the product of “men of the earth” and therefore at odds with the will of God. An extreme of hyper-capitalization upon the poor, humble and needy can be seen in the horrific history of the Third Reich as it took the outcasts, different, and undesirables and hotly pursued them with UTTER RELENTLESSNESS, so much so that they first took their rights, restricted their mobilities, then they took their homes, their material belongings, then their very persons, forcing them into camps and ultimately removing their individual liberty and freedoms. But the acquisition of material capitalization did not stop there. They then took their clothing, their hair, their labor and strength and assigned it to work camps that served their needs and wants. While some were alive they took their health through experimentations, their virtue and their modesty – even when they died they took whatever remained – bones, hair, skin – all the way down to their teeth!

In this example we discover “the heart of men of the earth” who “hotly pursue the poor” – a covetous desire to possess and consume every ounce of their material essence – whether their labor to provide them luxury, their art and artifacts to bless their collections and eyes, or the little money they had to make themselves rich.

CRIMINAL ORGANIZATIONS

Taking people who are “under the gun” (debt, addictions to substances, porn, gambling) and preying upon them in their weakened state is another example of “men of the earth hotly pursuing the poor.” Pandering to addiction through expensive rehabilitation centers, advertising substances to communities of low socio-economic status, offering credit cards to the under-educated, young and inexperienced or doing anything that preys upon the innate weaknesses of others is anathema to the ways of God.

RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS

Throughout the Old and New Testaments God has shown that the widows, the orphans and the poor are to be taken care of, NOT taken advantage of. It is incumbent then that leaders of religious institutions and empires refuse the widows mite, the orphans labors, the poor’s contributions and do all they can to alleviate their needs and not to add to them.

From Catholicism, to Mormonism, to “the little white church down the lane,” if the poor are being pressured to give and serve the machine through any means of compulsion (time, service requirements or demands, tithes, offerings) it is a product of “men of the earth hotly pursuing the poor.” This includes theologies that serve to capture and imprison the minds and hearts of the weak as much as they place demands on their material increase or time. When churches become an end unto themselves, when the church becomes a thing to be supported or served, there is a problem because the church is there to bless and support others – especially the poor and needy – not to pursue them.

God is a God of liberty and freedom, and He sent His Son to “set the captives free, to open the prison doors,” not incarcerate them through laws and requirements. No matter how the theology or practice can or is justified if it leads to imprisoning another person, it is of men of the earth and not of God.