Bible’s concern for the weak

‘The whole map of Europe has been changed...but as the deluge subsides and the waters fall short we see the dreary steeples of Fermanagh and Tyrone emerging once again’.
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So wrote Winston Churchill after the carnage of the First World War, as the nation was forced to address the vexed problem of drawing the boundary between the new statelet of Northern Ireland, and what was then

called the Irish Free State.

Similarly, when the pomp and ceremony associated with the death and funeral of her Majesty has passed, the new King’s government will confront, among other huge challenges, the rising cost of living. It is a problem felt most keenly by the least well-off in our society.

Rev David ClarkeRev David Clarke
Rev David Clarke

We often remark how ‘the weakest go to the wall’ in the struggles of life. Strangely enough, the phrase itself comes from a gesture of concern and thoughtfulness towards the weak. In nineteenth century Britain, the only seating on offer were pews for which the wealthy paid ‘pew rents’.

Everyone else had to stand or kneel throughout the service. Some more enlightened parsons insisted on having benches placed along the wall for the weak and infirm. Hence the phrase, ‘the weakest go to the wall’.

The saying is true, however, in the sense that the weak are often pushed aside while the strong work their will. In a lengthy war 400 years before Christ, the city of Athens faced a battle for Greek supremacy with the city of Sparta. Melos, a small island in the Aegean Sea, remained neutral in the conflict. The leaders of Athens were not best pleased, and confronted the Melians with the stark alternative, war or slavery.

‘Rights’, the Athenians said, ‘were only relevant between those equal in power’. ‘In reality’, they said, ‘the strong actually do what they can and the weak suffer what they must’. So it has been all through history.

This is where the Bible message stands in rebuke of the way of the world. A Hebrew prophet heroically confronted powerful King David, after David had stolen the wife of Uriah, and arranged for Uriah’s death on the field of battle. Nathan told the king a simple parable about a rich man taking a poor man’s pet lamb in order to prepare a meal for a visitor. David was outraged, and said that such a man should die.

Nathan then drove home the point of his parable; ‘Thou art the man’(2 Samuel 12:7). All who abuse their power are condemned by Scripture. As a verse in Proverbs has it;’ A ruler who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain that leaves no crops’ (Proverbs 28;3).

In our society, where the gap between rich and poor grows wider each year, the government’s so-called ‘levelling -up’ agenda has a long way to go. But there should be no doubt on which side Christian people stand.

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