The Old Testament takes family claims for granted and stresses the claims of the needy, but as far as I can ascertain, it sheds no light on the respective strength of these claims. On this issue the New Testament, a surer source of Christian belief, looks more interesting. True, with the possible exception of a single text, which I shall examine below, the New Testament does not directly address our problem. No author or text considers the weight to accord preference for the nearest versus preference for the neediest, much less takes sides in Ewing's specific case. Nonetheless, interpretations have been advanced which, if valid, would enlist the New Testament more or less decisively on the side of the neediest; and other indications point in the same direction, albeit less decisively. I shall start with the interpretations.

THE NEW SOLIDARITY

No work of scriptural interpretation I have encountered has as much to say about the issue that concerns us as does Albert Nolan's Jesus Before Christianity, especially a chapter entitled “The Kingdom and Solidarity.” “Solidarity,” Nolan acknowledges, “is not a Biblical word but it expresses better than any other word I know one of the most fundamental concepts in the Bible – the concept frequently referred to by scholars as the Hebrew notion of collectivity.” The corresponding reality pervaded Hebrew society. In particular,

The basic unit that lived together as one corporate being was the family – the extended family including all one's relatives.