Although the word “poverty” isn’t used, I think it’s fair to say that it first appears when Cain kills Able. Cain’s punishment includes
- insufficient results from his work
- homelessness, refugee status
- no helpful social relationships (one of Myer’s definitions of poverty in Walking with the Poor)
If this interpretation is accurate, then the first poor person brought poverty upon himself by refusing God’s grace.
What did the first poor person do to relieve his poverty? Built a city: a broken cistern since cities are communities based on need instead of love and require levels of social stratification that exaccerbate poverty.
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