כי יהיה בך אביון, "If there will be a destitute person amongst you, etc.⁠" Why does the Torah have to write בך, "amongst you,⁠" when it already wrote "amongst one of your brethren?⁠" Perhaps Moses alluded to something we have learned in Baba Batra 10 where the Talmud said that the reason God chooses to afflict some people with economic hardship in this life is to afford their wealthier fellow Jews the opportunity to assist such a destitute person to support himself in dignity. The words בך אביון may be read together meaning: "on your account, i.e. for your sake,⁠" there will be a destitute person.⁠" The Torah writes מאחד אחיך, "amongst one of your brethren" to remind you not to evaluate people on the basis of their economic prosperity. The fact that he is destitute does not make him a lesser person, He is still your brother. This is quite independent of the explanation of our sages (Baba Metzia 71) that the reason the Torah mentions different levels of poverty is to teach you to attend first to the local poor before tending to those elsewhere.

One may also see in these various levels of poverty described as עני, אביון in verse 12, different degrees of God's decrees against the poor. We have dealt with this subject on Exodus 22,24 where the Torah told us to extend loans to the poor. We explained there that sometimes the portion which is the due of the poor has been entrusted by God to the rich instead and that all his riches are in truth a collection of what originally had been allocated to the poor. When the rich man keeps this in mind he will never begrudge any support he extends to the poor as he is only giving to the poor what was his in the first place. Sometimes the poor finds someone physically close to him who will support him; other times he may have to travel to find someone who helps him sufficiently. This is what the Torah means when it speaks of מאחד אחיך, amongst one of your brethren. Alternatively, the benefactor may not even qualify for the description "your brother" but must be described as באחד שעריך, "someone in one of your cities.⁠" He may not even be found in one of your cities but merely בארצך, in your land but not in a Jewish city.

Alternatively, the word מארצך means that though there is general prosperity in your country this does not preclude the fact that some Jew will be destitute.

A moral/ethical approach to the whole paragraph sees in the words מאחד אחיך, "one of your brethren,⁠" an allusion to the one who is special amongst your brethren, the one to whose coming we all look forward to with longing, i.e. the Messiah. The Messiah has been portrayed as a poor man when the prophet Zachariah 9,9 describes him as riding on a donkey. The Torah also hints at the cause of his poverty when it says בך, "because of you,⁠" meaning that if the redemption would be orchestrated by God because the Israelites had attained spiritual maturity the Messiah would arrive in advance of God's final date for the redemption and he would be able to ride in style to show that the Israelites had qualified for redemption by their own efforts. As it is, by describing him as בך, Moses portrays him as a destitute person who waits anxiously for a handout. The story is told that when Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi once encountered the Messiah, the latter asked him what the Israelites were doing at that time. The Rabbi replied that they were awaiting the arrival of the Messiah. Upon hearing this the Messiah let out a long wail showing his anxious desire to reveal himself and to redeem the Jewish people. The Torah alludes to this when writing מאחד אחיך, "amongst one of your brethren,⁠" meaning "amongst the unique one of your brethren, the Messiah (compare Targum Yonathan ben Uzziel on Genesis 26,10 who renders the words אחד העם, "one of the people" as "a unique one, a king"). The words באחד שעריך may be understood as "one who is unique amongst the Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court, as we know from Isaiah 11,4 that the Messiah will judge the poor fairly, not relying on external appearances. The word בארצך means that the arena for the Messiah's activities will be ארץ ישראל.

We may also approach this verse from a different perspective. Zohar Chadash on Noach discussing Genesis 8,8, states in the name of Rabbi Eliezer that if the leaders of one synagogue or one entire congregation were to become true penitents the Messiah would arrive immediately. Accordingly we must understand the word אביון as anyone who yearns for אחד שעריך, "one of your congregations" becoming true penitents. When this happens the "destitute" Messiah will be able to fulfill his desire to arrive joyfully. The Torah writes בארצך "in your land,⁠" in order to define the place the Messiah yearns for "the land which the Lord your God is about to give you.⁠" He is anxious to find out when תפקוד העיר היונה חמדת הלבבות, "the city of the dove will be redeemed,⁠" the city to which all hearts aspire (compare Tzefaniah 3,1). God commands all of Israel לא תאמץ את לבבך ולא תקפץ את אחיך האביון "not to be stubborn but to do everything to help your brother, the destitute one,⁠" i.e. the Messiah to realise his ambition. The single most potent מצוה which will hasten the arrival of the Messiah is charity as we have been taught in Isaiah 54,14: בצדקה תכונני, "you shall be established through righteousness.⁠" The paragraph concludes with the words מאחיך האביון, "from your brother who is destitute,⁠" referring to the cause of why your brother the Messiah is destitute, unable to realise his mission.