![]() ![]() Sound business practice must embrace justice, compassion, and generosity. The application of these ancient laws for modern-day business is that the powerful are not to exploit the powerless the “haves” are to be concerned for the “have-nots” and business must not be driven solely by the profit motive. Our concern for the vulnerable and needy does not stem from political ideology, as we in the modern world might be tempted to assume, but from a profound theological conviction that all people, made in God’s image, must be treated with respect, biblical love, and compassion. Even hard-nosed business should have a smiling face. The restriction on keeping a man’s cloak overnight simply meant that even interest-free loans required collateral, but if the only collateral available was a poor man’s “poncho” he should not be deprived of it during the long, cold night. ![]() ![]() The ban on charging interest on loans, for instance, was designed to ensure that the poor were given a chance to escape their poverty it probably did not refer to commercial loans. The principles outlined here, forbidding exploitation and mandating justice, apply to our situation today-even if the specific instructions do not apply. These vulnerable people were in dire straits for a variety of reasons, but in each case they were to be treated with justice and love, because they, too, were people with dignity, made in God’s image. These people-the poor, the widows, the orphans, and the foreigners-were extremely vulnerable to the exploiter and had to be protected from those who would callously make their sad situations worse. But once they were freed from bondage and were headed for the land of promise, it was time for them to remember their social obligations to those not so fortunate as they. The children of Israel had been in the underprivileged category for many years during their Egyptian slavery. Social scientists theorize about the reasons for this sociological phenomenon, but the ancient Scriptures spend less time theorizing and more time giving instructions to the privileged regarding their responsibilities to the underprivileged. Remember your own experience in the land of Egypt.” - Exodus 23:6, 9Īn underclass seems to emerge in every culture. You know what it is like to be a foreigner. Do not oppress the foreigners living among you. “Do not twist justice against people simply because they are poor. ![]()
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