“Surplus goods that one did not need were to be given as alms rather than to be stored up as treasure…It must have been a constant pull, for those who were marginal economically, to want to “lay up treasures on earth” (surplus goods, wealth). To share those “treasures” with needy community members, however, in keeping with covenant principles, would be “laying up treasures in heaven,” that is, with God, whose covenantal will was supposed to be done.” (cf. Matthew 6:19-21)
Richard Horsley in Covenant Economics: A Biblical Vision of Justice for All (Louisville, KY: WJKP, 2009) 155.