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As I understand it, the Lord gave Israel a couple of ways that they were supposed to take care of the poor:

Everybody was supposed to not strip their crops totally bare so that the vulnerable ones who had no way to make a living (widows and orphans) could harvest what was left in the field. That’s how Ruth provided for Naomi.

If a woman was widowed without having children the brother of her husband was to take her in and provide for her to have a child.

Every 50th year the land was to be returned to the tribe to whom the Lord had given it.

None of that involved stealing from one person and giving to another. It was about families providing for their own and the society as a whole leaving enough crumbs/jobs available so that those who were willing to work could provide for themselves.

Jesus noted how the Pharisees gave great gifts to the Lord that allowed them to think they were real hot stuff - at the expense of caring for their families. They took what was supposed to go to care for their parents and declared it Corban - for the Lord. So they gave their gifts to make themselves appear good but left their own parents in want. And Jesus criticized that. They were supposed to be taking care of their families.

The principle of not muzzling the ox while it works because the worker deserves his wages applies equally to rich and to poor. If you starve your workers they do bad work. If you overtax the wealthy they stop creating jobs for others. Either way you’re shooting yourself in the foot.

As somebody else mentioned here, Jesus said that the person who had been able to make more wealth from what he was made steward over was given more money by his master - because he had been faithful in a little and could be trusted with a lot. The one who hid the money in a hole - thereby robbing the master of even getting any interest on that money - because he presumed to know what a “hard” man his master was, had even what he had taken away from him, because he was unfaithful with a little and couldn’t be trusted with a lot.

That is talking about the Kingdom, but I’ve seen the same thing happen with money as well. Dave Ramsey talks about how most self-made millionaires don’t drive a fancy car, don’t live in a fancy house, and live modestly. They made their money because they lived within their means. By contrast, the lottery, paycheck advances, etc are primarily used by people who are poor - and what he means by “poor” is not the same thing as somebody who is temporarily broke. Poor is somebody who acts like a poor person; they’re always looking for a magic pill to make all their problems go away, wanting things that will make them appear successful whether they can afford it or not, etc. They have no self-control. And like it or not, people like that end up with even what they have being taken away, because they don’t know how to manage it and use it correctly.

And THAT describes the US government. Buying what they can’t afford and then looking for a magic pill to make it all better so they can do it all over again and run us all into the poor-house. I am not the person spending hundreds of thousands of dollars of other people’s money on in-flight booze. Nancy Pelosi the millionaire Congress-critter is the person doing that. Robbing us for drinks like the lowest street scum would do. They are wolves in very thin sheep’s clothing. Even when they use the money to “help others” most of it goes into administrative costs rather than actually helping “the poor”.

And it’s bad enough when they do it for secular reasons, but now that Obama is pretending to do it in the name of Christ.... all I can do is spit him out.