Exodus 22:21 – 27 “You must not exploit or oppress a foreign resident, for you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt. You must not mistreat any widow or orphan. If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to Me in distress, I will surely hear their cry. My anger will be kindled, and I will kill you with the sword; then your wives will become widows and your children will be fatherless. If you lend money to one of My people among you who is poor, you must not act as a creditor to him; you are not to charge him any interest. If you take your neighbor’s cloak as collateral, return it to him by sunset, because his cloak is the only covering he has for his body. What else will he sleep in? And if he cries out to Me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.”
God cares about vulnerable groups! Here God gives explicit instructions about how to treat foreigners, widows, orphans, and poor people. Notice that God also promises, “If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to Me in distress, I will surely hear their cry. My anger will be kindled, and I will kill you with the sword; then your wives will become widows and your children will be fatherless.” (v. 22- 24) Dennis Prager states “These verses underscore the moral need for ethical monotheism, with the emphasis on ethical as much as on monotheism. Unless we recognize there is a God above us, and His primary demand of human beings is ethical behavior, and a moral God will judges us all, there is nothing to prevent us from oppressing those who are too weak to stop us.”
FOREIGNERS: How to handle immigrants has become an increasingly thorny problem in the last several months as immigration restrictions have been relaxed. It is not the purpose of this particular study to tackle the problem of controlling immigration. But here the Scripture is talking about foreigners who have already settled in the community. Interestingly enough, Prager quotes several authorities on the Torah who indicate that these instructions about foreigners come immediately after the warnings against witchcraft, bestiality, and idol worship. The challenge is to bring a stranger into the Torah’s value system while protecting him because he is a human being.
WIDOWS AND ORPHANS: In Israelite society, husbands and fathers protected their wives and children. If these protectors died, it was possible that nobody else might feel a need to help. Quite recently here in northeastern Ghana, we have been assisting a ten year old girl whose father died a few years ago, leaving her mother and three children. Although there were other relatives in the village, they did nothing to help this girl’s mother, forcing her to send the girl to live with extended family in a remote village. We suspect this orphaned girl was used as a child slave; all we know is that she suffered several catastrophic injuries that have since required two orthopedic operations. The family involved are fetish worshipers who obviously have felt no need to help this woman and her children.
v.23-24 “If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to Me in distress, I will surely hear their cry. My anger will be kindled, and I will kill you with the sword; then your wives will become widows and your children will be fatherless.” God is a God of justice; the way we treat others determines what may happen to us.
THE POOR: The Torah draws a line between poor people who must borrow to keep themselves alive and those who are borrowing money to do business. The idea here is to assist the poor so that they will not be forced to sell themselves into indentured servanthood to pay debts. At the same time, a poor man might have to leave his only cloak as collateral. It gets cold after the sun goes down, so the debtor is allowed to collect back his cloak so that he will have something warm to sleep in.
v. 27 ’…And if he cries out to Me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.” Every tribal language in Ghana has a phrase that means “God is there” or “God sees.” As we deal with the poor, we must remember that at any time, we could find ourselves in a similar situation and we should remember that God sees everything we do. If we fail to be compassionate with others, why should we expect someone else to be compassionate with us?
APPLICATION: The COVID crisis has caused well – established businesses to fail over night. Any of us can suffer a sudden change of fortune. One friend’s son is struggling with the aftermath of a stroke incurred after an immunization. Suddenly this middle – aged computer expert is finding simple daily activities challenging. There are many women throughout the world who have found themselves as widows with their orphaned children after their husbands have died from the pandemic. God cares for widows and orphans, the stranger, and the poor. So must we!
PRAYER: Father God, help us to have hearts of compassion! Help us to be ever – mindful of your commands regarding the most vulnerable in society. And help us to have wisdom, so that our help will be effective and not disabling. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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