LFISHNESS IN CANAAN

Another and different kind of temptation which the Hebrews met in
Canaan was the tendency to forget their own tribal brothers as they
scattered here and there and settled down, each family with its own
little farm. There were some, naturally, who were more successful as
farmers than others. And those who were unfortunate were not always
the lazy or thriftless. Sickness or accident or some pest which
attacked the grain or the cattle would sometimes wipe out the entire
property of one of those little peasant farmers and leave him and his
children face to face with starvation and death. Now, in the old days
in the desert, as long as the tribe had a crust of bread or a drop of
water, the weakest and poorest could count on a share. But here in
Canaan the poor, the widow, the orphan, did not always feel so surely
the sheltering arms of kindness and brotherhood.

=Humane laws enacted.=--Yet the spirit of Moses still lived and made
its power felt. Certain laws gradually came to be accepted during this
period when the Hebrews were learning to be farmers which were a
special protection to the poor and helpless, just as the great leader
would have chosen. We can imagine how these laws were first proclaimed
by the chiefs of the clans and the elders of the villages wherever
there were men who remembered how, years before, the whole nation had
been poor and oppressed and enslaved. Here are some examples:

="Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. If
thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I
will surely hear their cry."=

="If thou lend money to any of my people with thee that is
poor, thou shalt not be to him as a creditor; neither shall
ye lay upon him usury. If thou at all take thy neighbor's
garment to pledge, thou shalt restore it unto him before the
sun goeth down; for that is his only covering, it is his
garment for his skin: wherein shall he sleep? And it shall
come to pass when he crieth unto me, that I will hear; for I
am gracious."=

="Thou shalt not oppress thy neighbor, nor rob him; the wages
of a hired servant shall not abide with thee all night until
the morning."=

There is one law which illustrates especially well how the best men
among the Hebrews tried to meet the new temptations of Canaan in the
spirit of kindness and justice which they had learned from Moses.

="When ye reap the harvest of you