Why do these seem to contradict one another?
Why are they written so close together if they contradict one another?
Nachmanides writes that some commentators write that Moses means that there never will be a time when no one is destitute in the land of Israel, seeing that Moses in his prophetic vision foresaw that the Jewish people would never observe Torah law in their entirety, without exception, so that the presence of a destitute person would be unimaginable. The law not to dun (meaning: make insistent demands on) creditors at the end of the seventh year of the shemittah cycle therefore envisages such situations....
Do you agree with what these commentators say?
...Nachmanides finds this approach difficult, as it is not the custom of the Torah to engage in the kind of prophecy that accuses the Jewish people ahead of time of disloyalty to God without qualifying such a prophecy with a conditional phrase such as “if in the course of time, etc.” introducing such a prophecy. It is uncharacteristic for the Torah to legislate one of the basic commandments as something to be applicable to people who have been labeled beforehand by the Torah as deliberate sinners. He therefore prefers to explain our verse as follows: seeing that in spite of the blessings that accrue to you when you do observe the laws of the Torah, and the resultant affluence in the land it is practically impossible that sometime in the future there will be not be an instance of a destitute person, unable to repay his loan on time, one must not dun such a fellow Jew at the end of the shemittah year to repay his loan, but must forgive it....
Do you agree/disagree with Nachmanides' difficulty with the other interpreters? Do you agree/disagree with Nachmanides' interpretation of the text and its contradiction?
What does this mean for us today?
We should focus on the fact that whether or not there are destititute people, we should be focusing on helping one another. Things can't change unless we be more selfless. This Shabbat, try to help one person in need. Open your hand or your heart. Be there for someone else and let that pass on to others.