Although this section of the Mishnah began with harvest legislation, it defined poverty and set the broad standards for welfare which were to endure through the centuries. It dealt with itinerants and local poor. This revolutionary system was presented as if it had always existed and became the foundation of all future poor relief. This followed the pattern of so much else in the Mishnah which introduced revolutionary changes. We may see this even in the opening section of Berakhot which dealt with the time for reading the shemah without any stipulation that the shemah had to be read at all, nor any statement of how the service was constructed. We may speculate about dating this revolutionary approach, but the texts provide no hints.
Theological foundations for such legislation were provided in many places in the Babylonian Talmud . Rabbinic commentaries on the biblical passages dealing with the poor abound in the talmudic and midrashic literature.
The rabbis of the talmudic period emphasized the temporary nature of human riches since everything belonged to God , so it should be used in part to help others. Thanks for such beneficence should be shown not only through prayers, but through the human act of#zedakah. Human efforts were not discounted, but the transitory nature of life was stressed.
Tzedakah provided a way through which human beings could perfect the world and bring about the Messianic Age. Here was a practical path open to everyone, not dependent upon learning or mysticism. It brought that grand vision within reach.
The talmudic discussion provided further detail, but never question the basic premise, that the market place be governed by communal concerns. They expressed it through controls placed on of the basic necessities, such as food and shelter, which in our time would extend much further.