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What's more look at how God managed when He was King of Israel, prior to Israel requesting an earthly King, King Saul.

Not only was every third or fourth year of the levitical tithe given. But the corners of the fields were to be left for the poor, any spillage was to be left for the poor, and not everything was to be harvested and was to be left for the poor. In addition, the fields were to be left fallow for the poor every seven years.

That worked in a farm economy, but in the modern economy we can't do all of that. So what do you suggest we do to make up for that?

"We the People" are the rulers of the land. If we wish to remain so, we must consider the "cause of the Poor".

I 100% agree that we are to give to charity and be merciful with the poor. God's Word commands this, and in the Old Testament it even gave certain guidelines, like the one you listed.

HOWEVER, and follow me real close on this one, because it is the absolute critical distinction, there were no civil penalties for failure to do any of the things you listed. There were no civil penalties attached for failure to bring the levitical tithe, or for failing to leave the corners of one's fields for the poor, or for any of those other measures of compassion that God commanded.

Let me repeat that, because it is an important distinction. God never authorizes the state to punish people for not being charitable. He does command indivduals to be charitable, but you will not find a single instance where He authorizes the government to punish people for failure to give to chairity.

God commands individuals to do lots of things. The key here is what does He authorize GOVERNMENT to use force to do?

There are PLENTY of laws in the Old Testament in which God ordained civil penalty for failure to comply with the law. In NO CASE do ANY of the chairity laws come with attached civil penalties. These were commands from God to individuals, not to the GOVERNMENT.

All sorts of pernicious evil follows by putting the state in charge of what God has ordained as an individual, family, and church matter. Such evil is copiously documented in "The Tragedy of American Compassion".

I agree that God wants a king who is the type that will rescue the children of the needy. I do not agree that He wants it done under complusion with other people's money.

I respect your willingness to use the scripture as your guide. I hope that you will follow them to the philosophy of government that they support.