“You must not harden your heart or be closefisted toward your poor brother.”

Deut. 15:7.

How inappropriate, then, for an Israelite having gained some material means not to help his financially weak brother, thus failing to imitate his God! Wisely he would fear God, knowing Jehovah’s response to the course he took toward the weak: If a closefisted course was observed, then it would become sin on his part.