Alms, Almsgiving
Alms, Almsgiving
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 Churchs alms led to the institution of the diaconate (Act 6:1 ff.). The provision of a poors 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 Gods poor continued to be the almost exclusive privilege of the Christian Church.
A. R. S. Kennedy.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Alms, Almsgiving
ams, ams-giving: The English word alms is an abridged form of the Greek word, , eleemosune (compare eleemosynary), appearing in gradually reduced forms in German Almosen, Wyclif’s Almesse, Scotch Aw’mons, and our alms.
The later Jews often used righteousness cedhakah as meaning alms, that being in their view the foremost righteousness. (Compare our modern use of charity to denote almsgiving.) This use is seen in the Talmud and in the frequent translations of the Hebrew word for righteousness (cedhakah) by alms (eleemosune) in the Septuagint, though nothing warranting this is found in the Hebrew Old Testament, or in the true text of the New Testament. This notion of righteousness as alms being well-nigh universal among Jews in Jesus’ day, and spreading even among Christians, accounts for alms in Mat 6:1, where the true text has righteousness: Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before men, to be seen of them (the Revised Version (British and American) with Codex Vaticanus, Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Bezae, the Latin versions, etc.). The oriental versions which generally read alms may be accounted for on the supposition that alms was first written on the margin as explaining the supposed meaning of righteousness, and then, as according with this accepted oriental idea, was substituted for it in the text by the copyists.
Dikaiosune and eleemosune are both used in the Septuagint to translate hesedh, kindness, and are also both used to translate cedhakah, justice. Almsgiving was regarded not merely as a plain evidence of righteousness in general but also as an act of justice, a just debt owing to the needy. No one refuses directly, Mackie says, hence, possibly, Christ’s teaching in Luk 11:41, Let your righteousness (charity) be from within, Give your hearts to almsgiving.
In the course of time the impulse and command to give alms in a true human way, out of pity, such as is found expressed in Deu 15:11 the King James Version, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land, gave place to a formal, meritorious practice, possessing, like sacrifice, as men came to think, the power of atoning for man’s sins, and redeeming him from calamity and death. For instance, Pro 11:4 (compare Pro 16:6 : Pro 21:3) was expounded: Water will quench blazing fire; so doth almsgiving make atonement for sins (Ecclesiasticus 3:30). Lay up alms in thy storehouse; it shall deliver thee from affliction (Ecclesiasticus 29:12). The story of Tobit is especially in point: it is simply a lesson on almsgiving and its redeeming powers: Alms delivers from death and will purge away all sin (Tobit 1:3, 16; 2:14; 4:7-11; 12:8, 9. Compare Sirach 29:11ff). Kindred teaching abounds in the Talmud: Alms-giving is more excellent than all offerings, is equal to the whole law, will deliver from the condemnation of hell, will make one perfectly righteous, etc. According to Rabbi Assi, Almsgiving is a powerful paraclete between the Israelites and their Father in heaven, it brings the time of redemption nigh (Babha’ Bathra) Talmud 10a).
The Roman Catholics, holding the books of Tobit and Sirach to be canonical, find in them proof-texts for their doctrine of almsgiving, and likewise attach great value to the gifts to the poor as atoning for sins. Protestants, by a natural reaction, have failed to hold always at its true value what was and is an important Christian duty (see Luk 12:33 the King James Version, and, compare Mat 6:19-24 : Sell that ye have and give alms, etc.). It seems to have been so regarded and kept up in the Christian communities until the beginning of the 4th century (Apos Const II 36; Cyprian, De Opera and Eleemos. xiv).
The teaching of Jesus on the subject is important, first, as bearing upon Jewish ideas and practices, and second, as bearing upon present-day Christian ideas and practices.
This teaching appears most conspicuously in the Sermon on the Mount. While showing what is required of the subjects of the Messianic reign, He avowedly sets forth a higher and more spiritual morality than that which was taught and practiced by the scribes and Pharisees: Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven (Mat 5:20). There, too, He lays down the general principle embodied in the words of Mat 6:1 : Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before men, to be seen of them, and illustrates it by applying it to the three exercises most valued among the Jews (commended together in Tobit 12:8), namely, almsgiving (Mat 6:2, Mat 6:4), prayer (Mat 6:5-15), and fasting (Mat 6:16-18). Jewish writers claim that these are the three cardinal disciplines which the synagogue transmitted to the Christian church and the Mohammedan mosque (compare Koran, Sura 2 40, 104; 9 54).
Clearly what Jesus here forbids in general is not publicity in performing good deeds, which is often necessary and proper, but ostentatious publicity, for the purpose of attracting attention. (The Greek conveys distinctly this idea of purpose, and the verb for to be seen is the one from which comes our word theater.)
Jewish writers, as also Greek and Roman philosophers, have many notable maxims upon the beauty and importance of being unostentatious in virtue, especially in deeds of benevolence. The Essenes had their treasury in a chamber of their own in the temple that both the giving and the taking should be unobserved (Mishnah, Shek., v.6). Rabbi Eleazer said, Alms-giving should be done in secret and not before men, for he who gives before men is a sinner, and God shall bring also the good deed before his judgment (B.B. 9a; compare Ecc 12:14).
In applying this principle to almsgiving Jesus teaches His disciple: When … thou doest alms, sound not a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do (Mat 6:2). The conjecture of Calvin, followed by Stier and others, and mentioned as early as Euthymius, that it was a practice among Jews for an ostentatious almsgiver literally to sound a trumpet, or cause a trumpet to be sounded before him, in public places to summon the needy is without foundation (Lightfoot); as is also the notion, made current by the rabbis and accepted by Edersheim (The Temple, etc., 26), that by sounding a trumpet Jesus was alluding to the trumpet-like receptacles of brass in the temple treasury. There is no proof that these were found in the synagogues, or in the streets. Sound a trumpet, according to the Greek commentators, and the best modern authorities, is merely a figurative expression common to many languages, for self-parade – efforts to attract notice and win applause (compare our vulgar English saying about blowing your own horn). The contrast with the common practice instituted by Jesus is the significant thing: But when thou doest alms – thou is emphatic by position in the Greek – let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, etc., i.e. So far from trumpeting your almsgiving before the public, do not even let it be known to yourself. Jesus here, Calvin well says, silently glances at a kind of folly which prevails everywhere among men, that they think they have lost their pares if there have not been many spectators of their virtues. (The traditional saying of Mohammed, In almsgiving, the left hand should not know what the right has given, is evidently borrowed from this saying of Jesus.) It is worthy of note that, despite popular practice, to give alms with right motives, and only to those who were worthy to receive, was a matter of special solicitude and instruction with the best among Jews as well as among Christians. The words of the Psalmist, Blessed is he that considereth the poor, are construed to be an admonition to take personal interest in him and not simply give him alms (Lev. R. xxxiv). When thou wilt do good, know to whom thou doest it. Give unto the good and help not the sinner (Ecclesiasticus 12:1-6; compare Didache 1:5, 6). He that gives a free offering should give with a well-meaning eye (Yer. B.D. Mat 4:11). Jesus’ words concerning the single and the evil eye (compare Luk 11:34-36), and Paul’s teaching, God loveth a cheerful giver (2Co 9:7-9) have their counterparts in Jewish teaching. Rabbi Eleazer, referring to Hos 10:12, taught this high doctrine. The kindness displayed in the giving of alms decides the final reward (Suk. 49b). Other kindred teaching in a way anticipated Jesus’ supreme lesson, that thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father who seeth in secret shall recompense thee (Mat 6:4).
Literature
Commentaries at the place Rabbinical literature in point. D. Cassel, Die Armenverwaltung des alten Israel, 1887.