Tag: correct oppression

43.p. “Wilderness” – 7.w. Sojourner, widow, and Orphan

 

Exodus 22:21  “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child.  If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry,  and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.

 Leviticus 19:33    “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong.

 Deuteronomy 10:19   Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

 Jeremiah 22:3   Thus says the LORD: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.

 Malachi 3:5   “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts.

 Deuteronomy 10:18     He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.

 Isaiah 1:17   learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.

 Zechariah 7:10   do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.”

 James 1:27     Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Governments have the right and responsibility to control borders and immigration; yet there is no doubt of the individual’s responsibility to neither mistreat a stranger nor oppress him.  It is fair to examine how accommodating we are to the strangers among us. The widow and fatherless child were the weakest and most vulnerable members of society. In an unrestrained, survival-of-the-fittest society, they would be the first to suffer abuse and destruction. (Guzik)

The laws against oppression with three crimes of the deepest dye seems intended to indicate that oppression is among the sins which are most hateful in God’s sight. The lawgiver, however, does not say that it is to be punished capitally, nor, indeed, does he affix to it any legal penalty. Instead of so doing, he declares that God Himself will punish it “with the sword”. (Ellicott)

Ye shall not afflict the widow, or fatherless child — That is, ye shall comfort and assist them, and be ready upon all occasions to show them kindness. In making just demands from them, their condition must be considered who have lost those that should protect them; and no advantage must be taken against them, nor any hardship put upon them, which a husband or a father would have sheltered them from. (Benson)

It is good for us to take heed of these words from God. All we have has been given to us by God. Oh, that our hearts and minds would be sensitive to the quiet whispers of the Holy Spirit leading us to show God’s grace, mercy, and love.

190. “If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them”

2 Kings 21:1  Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. For he rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he erected altars for Baal and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem will I put my name.” And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. And he burned his son as an offering and used fortune-telling and omens and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. And the carved image of Asherah that he had made he set in the house of which the Lord said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. And I will not cause the feet of Israel to wander anymore out of the land that I gave to their fathers, if only they will be careful to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the Law that my servant Moses commanded them.” But they did not listen, and Manasseh led them astray to do more evil than the nations had done whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel.

Leviticus 26:3-13    “If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them,  then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.  Your threshing shall last to the time of the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall last to the time for sowing. And you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely.  I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And I will remove harmful beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go through your land.  You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.  Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.  I will turn to you and make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you.  You shall eat old store long kept, and you shall clear out the old to make way for the new.  I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you.  And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people.  I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.

Jeremiah 17:20-27     Yet they did not listen or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck, that they might not hear and receive instruction.

Hezekiah reigned 25 years as King and did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.  He destroyed all of the idols and put God first.  He brought the people back to God.  He was a leader who led the people in worship of God by what he said and the actions he took against anything that was a substitute/replacement for God.  He did what was right in the eyes of God by humbly serving, honoring, following, trusting, relying upon, and obeying God.

However, his son did not.  He replaced everything that Hezekiah removed that was an abomination to God.  He led the people for 55 years down paths away from God and to the place where it says they were “doing more evil than the nations had done whom the Lord destroyed”  Can you imagine it?  In one generation Hezekiah brought the people back to God and in one generation his son led them astray.    

We can not assume the people too are not to blame as well.  They willingly followed.  “Yet they did not listen or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck, that they might not hear and receive instruction.”  We need to be mindful of how we view things in and around us and have God’s word richly dwelling deep within our heart, mind, and soul so that we can discern what is right and acceptable according to it rather than what is acceptable to the world.

Who am I to Judge

“Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.”

““Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near;”

“Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?”

John 8:2  Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst  they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.  Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?”  This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.  And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”  And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.  Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”  She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

Isaiah 1:16    Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil,  learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.  “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

Ezekiel 18:30    “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord GOD. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin.  Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel?  For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live.”

It is easy to judge others isn’t it?  We see the outward sins of others and make judgement.  Yet we to often look on the outside and make these judgements forgetting it is what is in the heart, mind and soul (the unseen) condemns or frees a person.  Scripture is clear in stating that only God knows the heart, mind, soul and intent of man and is the One who judges in truth and righteousness.