Politicizing Poverty
Many of us watch what we eat because we are trying to lose weight or keep our cholesterol down, but have you ever had to ration your food because you did not know when you would eat another meal? Have you ever gone to bed not knowing whether you would find food to eat the next day?
The Bible is full of stories of food insecurity. Drought and famine motivate Elimelech’s journey from Judah to Moab, where Ruth marries into the family that eventually produces King David. At different times, the capitals of both the northern and southern kingdoms are besieged until food becomes so scarce that their residents are forced into abominable practices that only starving people could understand. The kings of Israel and Judah repeatedly face food shortages, which plague their administrations and for which they often blame the Lord’s prophets.
None of the monarchical dynasties has as much trouble with food insecurity as the Omrides of 1 and 2 Kings. “Is it you, O troubler of Israel?” King Ahab says to Elijah when he comes out to meet the prophet. Normally, we would expect protocols of state to demand that a prophet approach a king, but the famine in Israel has become so severe that the king’s position among his people has been weakened until ruler has become the supplicant. Even though the drought that has crippled the national economy was announced by the prophet, Elijah replies, “I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father's house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals.”
To a casual reader, encounters like this one leave the impression that God is punishing the entire nation because its king has abandoned the traditional worship of Israel’s God in favor of worshipping other deities like Baal, but the stories of moral failure associated with kings like Ahab go far deeper than a proclivity for idol worship. Take, for example, the story of Naboth’s vineyard from 1 Kings 21. When Queen Jezebel sees that her husband Ahab is sullen because Naboth has refused to sell the king his ancestral land, she orchestrates a scheme to have Naboth murdered so that Ahab can take possession of it. The king’s willingness to benefit from his wife’s ungodly behavior becomes a recurring symbol of the entire dynasty’s wickedness—of their willingness to sacrifice the basic principles of their faith because of their greed.
As the prophetic record understands it, by forsaking the ways of the Lord, the kings have exchanged fundamental scriptural morality for self-serving ends. It may not be a fair representation of Canaanite cultic practices, but, as far as the prophets were concerned, a king who bows down to Baal has also exchanged the true God’s preference for the poor, the widow, and the orphan for a life of monarchical luxury enshrined in the temples of those false gods. In other words, faithless kings are reckoned as faithless not only because of the gods to which they pray but also because of the godless policies they enact, which, in turn, have a devastating effect on the entire nation.
Right now, we face a political crisis that has dire consequences for the poor. The government shutdown and the decision to withhold emergency funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) means that 240,000 people in Arkansas will not have money for food starting next week. In our state, 1 in 13 people relies upon that funding. Among Arkansas households with children under 18, 6.5% receive SNAP benefits, and 24.7% of households led by single-female-parents receive them. (Data are from usafacts.org.)
At St. Paul’s, the demand on Community Meals is directly related to the availability of SNAP funding. Typically, by the end of the month, when individuals and families have exhausted their resources, the number of people who come to Community Meals climbs. Now, with no funding available, we expect those needs to skyrocket. Other programs and agencies that provide food to those in need are preparing to be overrun, and traditional food banks are being forced to find new sources for donations.
As a member of the clergy and as a follower of Jesus, I feel morally obliged to state that any decision by local, state, or national leaders to deny people the food they need to survive is, in any circumstance, a political and moral failure. When those decisions arise from a political battle between Republicans and Democrats who are trying to leverage the poor to score points with the electorate, it is an abomination.
There is no political calculus that can justify a nation’s neglect of the poor. Sometimes deficit hawks argue that we should pass a law that no members of Congress get paid if the budget has a shortfall, but I think the prophets would rather us decide that those leaders should be required to live on whatever public assistance is offered to the most vulnerable members of society. As the prophet Amos declared, God’s punishment upon those who “sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals, who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth and turn aside the way of the afflicted” will not be revoked (2:6-7).
I do not know how long SNAP benefits will be delayed or if they will be restored retroactively. I have asked the staff and vestry of St. Paul’s to begin thinking of ways that we can help bridge the gap and make sure our neighbors have enough to eat. Grace Cleghorn is exploring the possibility of expanding our usual Monday and Wednesday meal offerings to include a to-go soup option on Fridays. Because we do not have the facilities to store large amounts of food, I plan to buy a stack of Walmart gift cards, which I can give to people who need food assistance. You can put items in the Little Free Pantry or in one of our Friendly Fridges every time you come by the church, and you can donate to St. Paul’s or to any local food bank, where the need is certain to be great.
You can also take a moral stand against the politicization of poverty. You do not have to agree with one party or the other in order to let your leaders know that hungry people need food. Write to your congressional leaders and ask them to work across the aisle to be sure that SNAP funding is restored. Ask your governor to take steps to use state funding to make up the shortfall. Caring for the poor, the widow, and the orphan is not work that belongs to some of us. All of us, regardless of political affiliation, are called to protect the vulnerable and to use our resources—financial, relational, and political—to make sure that everyone has enough to eat.
A nation’s success is reflected in how it treats its poorest people. That was true in biblical times, and it remains true today.
Yours faithfully,
Evan D. Garner
