The Widow's Might
Bob Wickizer
1 Kings 17:8-16
Winston Churchill once remarked that the further back one can see the further forward you will be able to see. It turns out that how people understand this poor widow slamming her two copper coins in the temple treasury is based upon the economics of 14th century England after the final Black Death ran its course on the island.
When the plague finished its seventh round in Europe nearly one third of the population was dead. This proved to be an economic boom time for landowners, factory owners and merchants but there was one little problem. The plague hit the poor even harder than the middling and upper classes so there were far more jobs than available laborers. For a while labor rates of pay went up but then Parliament fixed the wages at pre-plague levels. Laws were passed forbidding idleness. If a male was able-bodied and not working, the punishment was three days in the stocks with bread and water. Then the idle bum would be returned to the parish where he most recently resided. An English parish was a tract of land around a church. Our so-called Protestant work ethic has its roots in how English society frowned upon idleness. Preachers said that idleness was an affront to God. Of course there were more jobs available than laborers to fill them.
During the reign of Elizabeth, the first ''Poor Laws'' were established to provide support for the ''impotent poor'' - widows, disabled and the elderly. By the late 18th century, an Anglican priest named Thomas Malthus published his theories about food, population growth and economics. Although Malthus never used any quantitative data or mathematics to back up his conjectures, he vigorously criticized the Poor Laws and systems of parish (really government) support. Without offering any alternatives to the Poor Laws, Malthus claimed that supporting the poor only encouraged idleness and dependency.
Now we return to the streets of Jerusalem in the first centu ...
Bob Wickizer
1 Kings 17:8-16
Winston Churchill once remarked that the further back one can see the further forward you will be able to see. It turns out that how people understand this poor widow slamming her two copper coins in the temple treasury is based upon the economics of 14th century England after the final Black Death ran its course on the island.
When the plague finished its seventh round in Europe nearly one third of the population was dead. This proved to be an economic boom time for landowners, factory owners and merchants but there was one little problem. The plague hit the poor even harder than the middling and upper classes so there were far more jobs than available laborers. For a while labor rates of pay went up but then Parliament fixed the wages at pre-plague levels. Laws were passed forbidding idleness. If a male was able-bodied and not working, the punishment was three days in the stocks with bread and water. Then the idle bum would be returned to the parish where he most recently resided. An English parish was a tract of land around a church. Our so-called Protestant work ethic has its roots in how English society frowned upon idleness. Preachers said that idleness was an affront to God. Of course there were more jobs available than laborers to fill them.
During the reign of Elizabeth, the first ''Poor Laws'' were established to provide support for the ''impotent poor'' - widows, disabled and the elderly. By the late 18th century, an Anglican priest named Thomas Malthus published his theories about food, population growth and economics. Although Malthus never used any quantitative data or mathematics to back up his conjectures, he vigorously criticized the Poor Laws and systems of parish (really government) support. Without offering any alternatives to the Poor Laws, Malthus claimed that supporting the poor only encouraged idleness and dependency.
Now we return to the streets of Jerusalem in the first centu ...
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