He Will Spare The Poor and Needy…
Poor in Spirit shall be blessed, but the poor’ soul will not be saved. This is a contradiction in statement.
In Psalm 72 David speaks of the poor and the needy as two different people.
First we find David speaking of the poor as someone in need of justice
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We love helping others and believe that’s one of the reasons we are chosen as Ambassadors of the Kingdom, to serve God’s children. We look to the Greatest Commandment as our Powering force.
He will judge Your people with righteousness,
And Your poor with justice. ~ Psalm 72:2 NKJB
Then David, again, in verse 4 of Psalm 72 David first mentions the poor and the needy as two different people with two distinctly different attributes.
He will bring justice to the poor of the people;
He will save the children of the needy,
And will break in pieces the oppressor. ~ Psalm 72:4
For He will deliver the needy when he cries,
The poor also, and him who has no helper.
He will spare the poor and needy,
And will save the souls of the needy. ~ Psalm 72:12-13 NKJB
Jesus mentions the poor in Matthew 5:3 in a different manner than David, but is Jesus using the word “poor” in the same context?
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ~ Matthew 5:3 NKJB
David addresses the poor from a different position than Jesus. Once again, almost as if these are two different people altogether. While David, also, addresses the needy as a third person in this discussion. It is very confusing.
After studying the Merriam-Webster definitions of both “poor” and “needy” the picture became a little clearer. This, Psalm 72, is still a bit of a challenge.
A person that is “needy” doesn’t necessarily mean they lack resources. A person could need affection, attention or, simply put, they could need love. Maybe the world has been defining the word “needy” for so long that the true meaning of the word has been lost. Most people, including this writer, probably see these two words as being more alike than different.
As the poor in Spirit are blessed with all the kingdom of heaven they find justice, as the Lord, our God, will save the souls of the needy.
When the vessel, that is our body, is poor in Spirit, our God, blesses us with the kingdom of heaven that we may find justice as we live for Him. When our soul is in need of Living Water the Lord is the wellspring of Life to quench the thirst of the righteous.
Either the Scripture is the divine Word of God teaching us how to live and how to be a reflection of God, or it’s nothing more than a historical account of events.
