As I looked at this chapter and at my post I remembered a quote from What's Wrong with the World― by “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.” This is also true about the social system that God set up for Israel. They never followed it faithfully. The years of resting the land were not followed, resulting in 70 years of exile in Babylon. The Year of Jubilee was also not faithfully celebrated resulting that often Israel looked more like its pagan neighbors in their financial dealings.
I also notice that God commanded that they were to sell to the poor at cost but though I am sure that they did give some away there isn't a command for that. The command was not to make a profit off the poor. This with the ability to get food from the edges of fields and trees meant that no one in Israel should have starved but they also could keep their dignity. The system wasn't designed to make them dependent on one person or group. Christians follow this principle today.
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