SOCIAL SUPPORT SYSTEMS IN ANCIENT ISRAEL: AN OLD TESTAMENT STUDY OF COMMUNITY CARE AND HUMAN WELL-BEING

ABSTRACT: The ancient Israelite social fabric was intricately woven with community-oriented mechanisms designed to sustain human well-being across economic, emotional, and spiritual dimensions. This article investigates the social support systems embedded in the Old Testament texts and examines their relevance to contemporary African and Nigerian communities confronting analogous challenges of poverty, communal fragmentation, and welfare deficits. Drawing upon a qualitative hermeneutical methodology that combines canonical biblical exegesis with socio-anthropological analysis, the study identifies three primary pillars of Israelite community care: kinship solidarity networks, institutionalized religious welfare provisions, and covenantal obligations to marginalised populations. The theoretical framework is anchored in African communalism and Ubuntu philosophy, which illuminates corresponding indigenous social support traditions across sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in Nigeria. Findings reveal that Mosaic legislation governing gleaning rights, the Year of Jubilee, levirate customs, and tithes for the poor constituted a sophisticated welfare architecture that parallels and prefigures modern community development frameworks. The article contends that Nigerian faith communities and policy makers can draw meaningful lessons from these ancient systems to address contemporary social welfare gaps. Recommendations are offered for the integration of covenantal ethics and communal responsibility into Nigerian public policy discourse, faith-based intervention programmes, and social work curricula. Keywords: Old Testament Welfare; Social Support Systems; African Communalism; Nigeria Community Care; Ubuntu Philosophy