After Pentecost Devotional - Day 35

“Yahweh defends the rights of orphans and widows. He cares for foreigners and gives them food and clothing. And you should also care for them, because you were foreigners in Egypt.” Deuteronomy 10:18-19

This theme of Yahweh defending orphans and widows finds repetition all through the Hebrew Scriptures. It is often interspersed with additions like poor, lepers, strangers, foreigners, crippled, blind, deaf, and so forth. There are over 90 passages making the point here of the need to care for the underclasses of society.

This is not an isolated verse or a sideline concept. It actually forms the basis for the majority concept of justice in the Hebrew prophets. As Yahweh had cared for the Hebrews, freeing them from Egyptian bondage, so the people were to treat the underclass around themselves.

“Widows and orphans” is essentially a shorthand for all the different categories of people who did not have adequate representation in the legal structures of society. Widows and orphans needed someone to step in to speak for them. They needed someone to champion their needs for justice. They needed protection, provision, and some kind of assistance to meet their needs. They could not readily conduct business, enter into contracts, and be assured their voices were heard.

All throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, Yahweh identified the underclasses as being under special protection. It was the duty of Israel to care for widows and orphans. It was one of the standard measurements of one's character and justice. Similar to the offering of hospitality to strangers, caring for the unprotected in one's midst was both required and established as a means to assess the level of one's righteousness. For the prophets, it was also the basis for the condemnation of Israel and Judah in not living up to Yahweh's demands.

Just as Yahweh cared for widows and orphans, the nation itself was to do the same. They were to live up to the highest ideals established for the care of the neediest around them because that was the proper reflection of Yahweh's character. Yahweh's provision through Israel was to provide for foreigners, immigrants living among them, even as Yahweh had provided for them upon leaving Egypt.

Establishing the nation in the Promised Land was not license to seek personal advantage over others. The land was to provide its bounty for all. The nation as a whole shared a responsibility for all of its members, down to the least significant, including the immigrants in their midst. Yahweh's grace and bounty were to be shared without exception.

The same issue of justice in meeting the needs of all is picked up and repeated throughout the Bible. Jesus picks up on the theme, as does the primitive church in Acts and the prophets. This is the test of Abraham's righteousness in treating strangers with hospitality. This is all based on the character of Yahweh which is to flow through us.

Who are those around you in need of someone to speak on their behalf? Determine how God would meet their needs through you.

"Lord, let your grace so flow through me that I might be a vessel of your provision for others in need."

—©Copyright 2016, Christopher B. Harbin

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