Yeshua, the Torah, and the True Meaning of Wealth and Responsibility

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There’s a misconception floating around that Yeshua (Jesus) once told a crowd of people to sell everything they owned and hand out the money to the poor. Let’s set the record straight: that never happened. It’s a fabrication, a twist on a very specific moment in Scripture. What Yeshua actually did was give personal guidance to one individual—a rich young man—telling him to sell his possessions and give to the poor. This wasn’t some sweeping socialist decree; it was a tailored challenge exposing where this man’s heart truly lay. If this story teaches us anything, it’s that the wealthy have a specific responsibility to care for the poor—a duty the young man wasn’t living up to.

The verse in question is Matthew 19:21: “Jesus said, ‘If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you’ll have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’” Context matters here. The rich man approached Yeshua seeking perfection, boasting that he’d kept all the commandments. Yeshua, in response, pointed out a gap: the Torah’s call for the wealthy to support the poor. This wasn’t a universal rule for everyone to abandon their possessions—it was a personal correction rooted in Torah principles, directed at someone with means. Yeshua didn’t demand the man liquidate every last asset, nor was this a public rally cry to a crowd. It was a private, one-on-one exchange.

The Torah’s Perspective on Wealth and Poverty
The idea that Yeshua’s words align with a Greek Socialist Statist lens couldn’t be further from the truth. Yeshua wasn’t a statist—he operated within the framework of the Torah, which assigns clear roles to individuals, not governments. The poor exist for a reason: their presence provides the wealthy an opportunity to fulfill a divine mandate. God could wipe out poverty in an instant if He willed it, but He allows it to persist because it’s through this dynamic that the rich are called to act responsibly.

The Torah lays this out explicitly. Take Deuteronomy 15:7-8: “If a poor man is among your brothers in any town of the land the Lord your God gives you, don’t be stingy or cold-hearted. Open your hand and freely lend him what he needs.” Generosity isn’t optional—it’s a command. Or consider Leviticus 19:9-10: “When harvesting your land, leave the edges of your field and the fallen gleanings unreaped. Don’t pick your vineyard clean—leave some for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God.” Here, landowners—those with wealth—are instructed to ensure resources reach the needy. And then there’s Deuteronomy 14:28-29, which mandates a tithe every third year for Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows, securing support for the vulnerable from those who have abundance. These aren’t suggestions; they’re directives. The Torah doesn’t envision a centralized state stepping in to redistribute wealth—it places the onus on individuals with means to act.

The Statist Misadventure
Contrast this with the approach of those who lean on statist, collectivist ideologies—whether you call them Satanist, Greek, socialist, Gnostic, Hermeticist, or idealist. They’ve tried to play God, aiming to eradicate poverty through top-down systems, forced taxation, and centralized control. These methods clash with the Torah’s design, and the results speak for themselves: widespread hunger, economic collapse, and hardship. Why? Because God doesn’t bless attempts to usurp His authority. The Torah calls Him a jealous God, and when the state is elevated to a divine role—when taxation is twisted into a perverse mimicry of tithing—it’s idolatry, plain and simple.

The rich young man in Matthew 19 dodged his personal responsibility, and statists do the same today. They defend their systems as a solution to poverty, but they’re just propping up a counterfeit deity—the State. If you want to align with God’s will, the Torah’s clear: stop idolizing the state and start taking personal accountability.

Capitalism and the Torah
Lastly, let’s address the definition of capitalism as ownership of capital. There’s nothing inherently wrong with it—quite the opposite. The Torah fully endorses capital ownership, as seen in the verses above. Landowners, tithe-givers, and lenders all possess wealth and resources, and they’re expected to use them responsibly. The problem isn’t capital itself; it’s when those who hold it shirk their Torah-mandated duty to the poor, or when others try to replace that duty with a statist framework.
The lesson here isn’t about abandoning wealth—it’s about wielding it as God intended. The rich young man didn’t need to lose everything; he needed to act rightly with what he had. That’s the Torah way, and it’s a far cry from the statist distortions we see today.

What do you think? The Torah’s vision of wealth, poverty, and responsibility offers a framework that’s both practical and divine—something no state can replicate.

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