Alms, Almsgiving

VIEW:56 DATA:01-04-2020

ALMS, ALMSGIVING.—‘An alms’ (Act_3:3) is something freely given, in money or in kind, to the needy, from motives of love and pity for the recipient, and of gratitude to the Giver of all. Hence what is given or paid to the poor under the authority and compulsion of law, as the modern poor rate, is not alms. For such legal provision in OT times see Poor. Much might be of the humane spirit which pervades the whole of the Hebrew legislation, and in particular the legislation of Dt, of which, in this respect, Deu_15:1 may be taken as the epitome: ‘Thou shalt surely open thine hand unto thy brother, to thy needy and to thy poor’ (RV [Note: Revised Version.] ). The writings of the prophets, also, are full of generous advocacy of the rights of the poor. In the later pre-Christian centuries almsgiving became one of the most prominent of religious duties (Psa_112:9, Pro_14:21; Pro_19:17; Pro_31:20, Job_29:12 f.). The sentiment of the 2nd cent. b.c.—by which time it is significant that the Hebrew word for ‘righteousness’ had acquired the special sense of almsgiving as in the true text of Mat_6:1 (see RV [Note: Revised Version.] )—is fully reflected in the Books of Sirach (Sir_7:10; Sir_17:22; Sir_29:11 ff.) and Tobit (see esp. Tob_4:7-11). From this time onwards, indeed, almsgiving was considered to possess an atoning or redemptive efficacy (Sir_3:30 ‘alms [RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘almsgiving’] maketh an atonement for sins,’ Tob_4:10; Tob_12:9 ‘alms delivereth from death,’ cf. Dan_4:27). After the cessation of sacrifice, almsgiving appears to have ranked among the Jews as the first of religious duties, more meritorious even than prayer and fasting. Arrangements were made by the Jewish authorities for the systematic collection and distribution of the alms of the people. An offertory for the poor also formed a recognized part of the synagogue service.
Almsgiving occupies a prominent place in the teaching of our Lord, who rebukes the ostentatious charity of His day (Mat_6:1-4), emphasizes the blessedness of giving (Act_20:35), its opportunities (Mat_25:35 ff.), and its highest motive, ‘in my name’ (Mar_9:41). In the early Christian community of Jerusalem the needs of the poor were effectively supplied, for its members ‘had all things common, neither was there among them any that lacked’ (Act_4:32; Act_4:34). The need for careful distribution of the Church’s alms led to the institution of the diaconate (Act_6:1 ff.). The provision of a poor’s fund for the behoof of the mother Church was much in the thoughts of the Apostle of the Gentiles (1Co_16:1 ff., 2Co_9:1 ff.), and until a period within living memory the care of God’s poor continued to be the almost exclusive privilege of the Christian Church.
A. R. S. Kennedy.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909

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