Generosity, Stewardship, and Faithfulness
A Core Tradition
Throughout the literature of the Hebrew Bible, later Jewish Hellenistic texts, Christian texts, and on into Rabbinic tradition, its authors and exegetes emphasize a similar theme: acts of generosity to the poor and hospitality towards the sick and neglected are portrayed as consistent signs of faithful living or devotion to God. This common language, much of it rooted in the Torah, appears across centuries of writing, from Sirach, to the Gospels and epistles, and into the Talmud and Midrash, where feeding the hungry, helping the poor, and visiting those in prison become markers of faithfulness to God. These aren’t presented as useful suggestions or interesting ideas, but as essential duties that demonstrate proper stewardship of one’s resources and relationships.
This framework has a well-known expression at the end of Matthew 25, where these acts of mercy become the criteria for divine evaluation. Matthew’s presentation, however, doesn't emerge from nowhere, it draws from ideas throughout the Torah and also established wisdom traditions such as the book of Sirach. Written roughly two centuries before Matthew’s Gospel, Sirach (also known as the ‘Wisdom of Ben Sira’ from an original Hebrew version) similarly instructs readers to show mercy to the poor, visit the sick, and be hospitable and gracious to all, connecting these actions to ‘loving’ and ‘fearing’ God. Matthew was very likely aware of this specific literary tradition and adapted this language from it1, highlighting how the Gospel was participating in an ongoing conversation about what constituted proper service to God and others. The connections between these texts and their continued expression in Rabbinic tradition demonstrate how Hellenistic Jewish, Christian, and Rabbinic theologians and exegetes, all rooted in the Hebrew Bible, built upon and developed this central theme.
With all your might love your Maker, and do not neglect his ministers. Fear the Lord and honor the priest, and give him his portion, as you have been commanded: the first fruits, the guilt offering, the gift of the shoulders, the sacrifice of sanctification, and the first fruits of the holy things. Stretch out your hand to the poor, so that your blessing may be complete. Give graciously to all the living; do not withhold kindness even from the dead. Do not avoid those who weep, but mourn with those who mourn. Do not hesitate to visit the sick, because for such deeds you will be loved. In all you do, remember the end of your life, and then you will never sin. (Sirach 7:30-36)
All the nations will be assembled before him, and he will separate people one from another like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘I tell you the truth, just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did it for me.’ (Matthew 25:32-40)2
The placement of the discussion of judgment immediately after the parable of the talents in Matthew 25 creates a natural progression that connects it with the imperatives for generosity and hospitality.3 The parable presents servants entrusted with resources, with the faithful ones being those who actively multiply what they’ve been given rather than hiding it away. This image of productive stewardship connects to the succeeding criteria for judgment, where those who are said to inherit the Kingdom are those who used their resources to feed the hungry, be generous to the poor, and show hospitality to the vulnerable, using much of the same language and theme from Sirach. The literary connection at the end of the chapter suggests that proper stewardship isn’t merely about financial shrewdness and turning a profit but about using one’s resources to address human need.
Rav said: Anyone who visits the ill is spared from the judgment of Gehenna, as it is stated: “Happy is he that considers the poor; the Lord will deliver him in the day of evil” (Psalms 41:2). In this verse, the term poor [dal] means nothing other than ill, as it is stated in the prayer of Hezekiah when he was ill: “He will cut me off from the illness [middalla]” (Isaiah 38:12). Alternatively, it may be derived from this verse in which Jonadab asked his sick friend Amnon, son of King David: “Why, son of the king, are you so sick [dal] from morning to morning?” (Babylonian Talmud, Nedarim 40a)4
The Rabbinic traditions that continued to work with and develop this theme after the New Testament period highlight these same themes with notable consistency. The Babylonian Talmud, for instance, also directly links care for the poor and hospitality towards the sick with divine judgment, teaching that those who do so are spared from Gehenna or the ‘day of evil’, with the association of human acts of mercy and divine acts of mercy relating to Matthews thematic structure.5 The Talmudic discussion draws on the Psalms to establish this principle, also drawing on examples from Isaiah and elsewhere to show that vising the ‘ill’ is equivalent to caring for the poor, demonstrating how different strands of tradition were brought together to reinforce the obligation of caring for the vulnerable.
If one encounters a poor person, one is obligated to fulfill that person’s needs, as it says: ‘sufficient.’ If the giver doesn't have enough, they should give according to their ability. How much? Up to one-fifth of one's property, the choicest form of the commandment; one-tenth of one's property, average; less than that, selfish. Thus: God says to Israel, ‘My Sons, whenever you give sustenance to the poor, I impute it as though you gave sustenance to me, for it says, My Bread.’ Does then, God eat and drink? No, but whenever you give food to the poor, God accounts it to you as if you gave food to Him. (Midrash Tannaim)6
Similarly, early Midrashic literature operates with this same understanding of generosity and hospitality. Where tractate Nedarim connects with Matthew 25 in regard to divine judgment, midrash Tannaim connects with Matthew 25 in regard to vicarious generosity. At the end of the chapter in Matthew, the king declares that feeding the hungry and welcoming strangers is treated as service given to him personally. The Midrash articulates this same concept, teaching that whenever someone feeds the poor, God treats it as if they had fed him, a picture all the more compelling in this tradition, given the usually intense avoidance of any language that may make God look or act human.7 This shared interpretation of what it means to love and be faithful to God, that serving the poor and vulnerable is equivalent to serving God, demonstrates how important such a core principle is, and how it remained central across different forms of Jewish and Christian expression.
Jefford, Clayton N. “The Wisdom of Sirach and the Glue of the Matthew–Didache Tradition” in Bingham, D. Jeffrey, editor. Intertextuality in the Second Century (pp. 8-23) Brill, 2016
Pilch, John J., and Bruce J. Malina (eds.) Biblical Social Values and Their Meaning: A Handbook (pp. xviii-xix) Hendrickson, 1993
Stern, Frank A Rabbi Looks at Jesus’ Parables (pp. 251-252) Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2006
Montefiore, C. G. A Rabbinic Anthology (p. 414) Cambridge University Press, 2012