The Targum Jonathan on (Deuteronomy 15) contains a bleak prophecy hidden inside a law about debt forgiveness. The Hebrew says "the poor will never cease from the land." The Targum explains why: "forasmuch as the house of Israel will not rest in the commandments of the law, the poor will not cease in the land." Poverty is not inevitable. It is a consequence of disobedience. If Israel kept the Torah perfectly, there would be no poor. But the Targum already knows they will not.
This creates a striking theological paradox. The same chapter promises that "if you will only be diligent in the precepts of the law, there will be no poor among you." Then it adds: but since you will not be diligent, here are the rules for when poverty happens anyway. God legislates for both the ideal and the inevitable failure. The Targum turns this from a contradiction into a system.
The sabbatical year law gets a crucial addition. Every seven years, debts are released. The Hebrew says a creditor "shall not press his neighbor." The Targum says "the beth din hath published the Release before the Lord"—the court publicly announces the forgiveness. This is not a private act between debtor and creditor. It is a communal institution, overseen by judges.
The laws of slavery receive a remarkable expansion. When a Hebrew slave refuses freedom because "I love thee and the men of thy house," the master pierces his ear with an awl. The Hebrew says he serves "forever." The Targum says "until the Jubilee"—limiting "forever" to a maximum of fifty years. And for the female servant, the Targum adds something the Hebrew never mentions: "for thy handmaid also thou shalt write a certificate of release, and give it to her." Women get a formal document of liberation.
The chapter warns against hard-heartedness with unusual psychological precision. "Beware lest there be a word in thy proud heart, saying: The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand." The Targum calls it a "proud heart" where the Hebrew says merely "your heart." Pride is the specific sin—calculating how to avoid generosity by timing loans to expire before the release year.
The blessing for generosity is comprehensive: "the Lord your God will bless you in all your works that you put your hands unto." Giving freely is not just moral. It is economically profitable. The Targum presents charity as the best investment strategy available.
At the end of seven years you shall make a Release.
And this is the indication of the custom of the Release: Every man who is master of a loan, who lendeth to his neighbour, shall give remission. He shall not have power to coerce his neighbour in demanding his loan, nor of his brother, a son of Israel; because the beth din hath published the Release before the Lord.
From a son of the Gentiles thou mayest exact, but the lawful right (dina) which is thine with thy brother thou shalt release with thine hand.
If you will only be diligent in the precepts of the law, there will be no poor among you; for, blessing, the Lord will bless you in the land which the Lord your God will give you for a possession to inherit;
if, obeying, you will only obey the Word of the Lord your God, to observe and do all these commandments which I command you this day.
For the Lord your God blesseth you, as He saith to you (that) you shall take from many nations, but they will not take from you; and you will have power over many nations, but they shall not have power over you.
But if you be not diligent in the precepts of the law, and there be among you a poor man in one of thy cities of the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor hold back thy hand from thy poor brother;
but thou shalt open thy hand to him, and lend to him according to the measure of his want through which he is in need.
Beware lest there be a word in thy proud heart, saying: The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand, and your eye become evil toward your poor brother, so as to be not willing to give to him, and he cry against you to the Lord, and there be guilt upon you.
Giving you shall give to him, nor shall your heart be evil when you give to him; for on account of this matter the Lord your God will bless you in all your works that you put your hands unto.
But forasmuch as the house of Israel will not rest in the commandments of the law, the poor will not cease in the land: therefore I command you, saying: You shall verily open your hands toward your neighbours, to the afflicted around you, and to the poor of your country.
If your brother, a son of Israel, or if a daughter of Israel, be sold to you, he shall serve you six years; and when the seventh comes, thou shalt send him from you free.
And when thou lettest him go away from thee at liberty, thou shalt not send him away empty.
Comforting thou shalt comfort him out of your flocks, your floors, and your wine presses; as the Lord hath blessed you ye shall give to him.
And be mindful that you were servants in the land of Mizraim, and that the Lord your God set you free; therefore I command you today that you do this thing.
But if he say to thee, I will not go out from thee, because I love thee and the men of thy house, and because it hath been good for him to be with thee,
then thou shalt take an awl, and bore (or apply) it through his ear, and that to the door of the house of judgment, and he shall be thy serving servant until the Jubilee. And for thy handmaid also thou shalt write a certificate of release, and give it to her.
It must not be a hardship in thy eyes when thou sendest him away from thee; for double the hire of an hireling hath he been of service to thee six years; and on his account the Lord thy God hath blessed thee in all that thou hast done.
Every firstling male that cometh of thy herd and flock thou shalt consecrate before the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not work with the firstlings of your herd, nor shear the firstlings of your flocks;
you shall eat thereof before the Lord your God from year to year, in the place which the Lord will choose, you and the men of your houses.
But if there be any spot in it, if it be lame or blind, or have any blemish, you shall not sacrifice it before the Lord your God:
you may eat it in your cities; he who is unclean, (so) that he may not approach to holy things, and he who being clean may approach the holy, may alike (eat), as the flesh of the antelope or hart.
Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it out upon the ground like water.
