During

the Great Depression in the 1930s, when many people didn’t know

where their next meal was coming from, they sometimes had to bring

their last valuable possession (perhaps a memento from their parents)

to get cash at a pawn shop. They would receive a pawn ticket as a

voucher, and then, later, if they could scrape together enough money,

they could redeem their precious item, buying it back “out of

hock.”

As

far as I know, there were no pawn shops in Bible times. But the Bible

tells of people who fell into poverty and had to sell the family

farm, or sell themselves into service, and they desperately needed a

way out. Often it was up to a relative to redeem them (see Leviticus

25:25-55).

My

wife’s grandmother used to tell us of destitute people who would

knock on her door, begging for something to eat. Thank God, she had

enough flour to bake a few extra loaves of bread each week to give to

people who were hungry.

It

is not just sentimentality to say that people who have never felt the

pinch of poverty are sometimes poorer for their constant comfort.

Rich or poor, we are all, in a sense, “in hock.” Our plight is

desperate until we knock on God’s door and beg for his mercy. There

we will find redemption. We will find that Jesus, our Redeemer,

bought us back, at the cost of his precious blood, by dying on the

cross.