Judge The Fatherless And Plead For The Widow
Isaiah 1:10-19 reads,
1:10
Hear the word of Yahweh, you rulers of Sodom!1:11
"What are the multitude of your sacrifices to me?," says Yahweh.1:12
When you come to appear before me,1:13
Bring no more vain offerings.1:14
My soul hates your New Moons and your appointed feasts;1:15
When you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you;1:16
Wash yourselves, make yourself clean.1:17
Learn to do well.1:18
"Come now, and let us reason together," says Yahweh:1:19
If you are willing and obedient,The Unrighteous Do Not Judge The Fatherless Nor Receive The Cause Of Widows
Isaiah 1:21-26 reads,
1:21
How the faithful city has become a prostitute!1:22
Your silver has become dross,1:23
Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves.1:24
Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of Hosts,"Ah, I will get relief from my adversaries,
And avenge myself of my enemies;
1:25
And I will turn my hand on you,1:26
I will restore your judges as at the first,Afterward you shall be called ‘The city of righteousness,
A faithful town.’
The Unrighteous Prey Upon Widows And The Fatherless
Isaiah 10:1-4 reads,
10:1
Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers who write perverseness; 10:2to turn aside the needy from justice, and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey! 10:3What will you do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? To whom will you flee for help? And where will you leave your glory? 10:4They shall only bow down under the prisoners, and shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.Widowhood And Loss Of Children Is A Punishment Yahweh Effects Upon A Wicked Woman
Isaiah 47:8-11 reads,
47:8
Now therefore hear this, you who are given to pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, I am, and there is none else besides me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children: 47:9but these two things shall come to you in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood; in their full measure shall they come on you, in the multitude of your sorceries, and the great abundance of your enchantments. 47:10For you have trusted in your wickedness; you have said, None sees me; your wisdom and your knowledge, it has perverted you, and you have said in your heart, I am, and there is none else besides me. 47:11Therefore shall evil come on you; you shall not know the dawning of it: and mischief shall fall on you; you shall not be able to put it away: and desolation shall come on you suddenly, which you don't know.It should be noted that among the punishments that Yahweh brings upon wicked women is widowhood and the loss of children.
The Wicked Do Not Plead The Cause Of The Needy Nor Judge Their Right
Jeremiah 5:19-31 reads,
5:19
It shall happen, when you shall say, Why has Yahweh our God done all these things to us? Then shall you say to them, Like as you have forsaken me, and served foreign gods in your land, so shall you serve strangers in a land that is not yours. 5:20Declare you this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying, 5:21Hear now this, foolish people, and without understanding; who have eyes, and don’t see; who have ears, and don’t hear: 5:22Don’t you fear me? Says Yahweh: won’t you tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it can’t pass it? And though the waves of it toss themselves, yet they can’t prevail; though they roar, yet they can’t pass over it. 5:23But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone. 5:24Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear Yahweh our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season; who preserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest. 5:25Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good from you. 5:26For among my people are found wicked men: they watch, as fowlers lie in wait; they set a trap, they catch men. 5:27As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and grew rich. 5:28They are grew fat, they shine: yes, they overpass in deeds of wickedness; they don’t plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and the right of the needy they don’t judge. 5:29Shall I not visit for these things? Says Yahweh; shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? 5:30A wonderful and horrible thing is happen in the land: 5:31the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will you do in the end of it?That Yahweh avenges himself on those who do not plead the cause of the fatherless nor judge the right of the needy shows that it is unrighteousness not to so do. Righteousness therefore entails pleading the cause of the needy and judging their right.
Jeremiah 7:1-20 reads,
7:1
The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, 7:2Stand in the gate of Yahweh’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of Yahweh, all you of Judah, who enter in at these gates to worship Yahweh. 7:3Thus says Yahweh of Hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. 7:4Don’t you trust in lying words, saying, The temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh, are these. 7:5For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings; if you thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbor; 7:6if you don’t oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, and don’t shed innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your own hurt: 7:7then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, from of old even forevermore. 7:8Behold, you trust in lying words, that can’t profit. 7:9Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known, 7:10and come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered; that you may do all these abominations? 7:11Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it, says Yahweh. 7:12But go you now to my place which was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel. 7:13Now, because you have done all these works, says Yahweh, and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you didn’t hear; and I called you, but you didn’t answer: 7:14therefore will I do to the house which is called by my name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh. 7:15I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brothers, even the whole seed of Ephraim. 7:16Therefore don’t you pray for this people, neither lift up a cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me; for I will not hear you. 7:17Don’t you see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 7:18The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink-offerings to other gods, that they may provoke me to anger. 7:19Do they provoke me to anger? says Yahweh; do they not provoke themselves, to the confusion of their own faces? 7:20Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, my anger and my wrath shall be poured out on this place, on man, and on animal, and on the trees of the field, and on the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.The people among whom Yahweh dwells, even forevermore, are those who are righteous, including those who don't oppress the sojourner, the fatherless and the widow - the needy.
Yahweh Punishes The Households Of The Wicked With Widowhood And Fatherlessness
Jeremiah 15:1-9 reads,
15:1
Then said Yahweh to me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind would not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth. 15:2It shall happen, when they tell you, Where shall we go forth? Then you shall tell them, Thus says Yahweh: Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for captivity, to captivity. 15:3I will appoint over them four kinds, says Yahweh: the sword to kill, and the dogs to tear, and the birds of the sky, and the animals of the earth, to devour and to destroy. 15:4I will cause them to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.15:5
For who will have pity on you, Jerusalem? Or who will bemoan you? Or who will turn aside to ask of your welfare? 15:6You have rejected me, says Yahweh, you are gone backward: therefore have I stretched out my hand against you, and destroyed you; I am weary with repenting. 15:7I have winnowed them with a fan in the gates of the land; I have bereaved them of children, I have destroyed my people; they didn't return from their ways. 15:8Their widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas; I have brought on them against the mother of the young men a destroyer at noonday: I have caused anguish and terrors to fall on her suddenly. 15:9She who has borne seven languishes; she has given up the spirit; her sun is gone down while it was yet day; she has been disappointed and confounded: and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, says Yahweh.Among the punishments that Yahweh effects against the wicked is to kill the men among the wicked, thereby leaving widows and fatherless children, with all the reproach that comes from being without a husband!
Yahweh Makes Widows Of The Wives Of The Wicked
Jeremiah 18:11-23 reads,
18:11
Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says Yahweh: Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return you now everyone from his evil way, and amend your ways and your doings. 18:12But they say, It is in vain; for we will walk after our own devices, and we will do everyone after the stubbornness of his evil heart. 18:13Therefore thus says Yahweh: Ask you now among the nations, who has heard such things; the virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing. 18:14Shall the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field? Or shall the cold waters that flow down from afar be dried up? 18:15For my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to false gods; and they have been made to stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths, to walk in byways, in a way not built up; 18:16to make their land an astonishment, and a perpetual hissing; everyone who passes thereby shall be astonished, and shake his head. 18:17I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.18:18
Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.18:19
Give heed to me, Yahweh, and listen to the voice of those who contend with me. 18:20Shall evil be recompensed for good? For they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away your wrath from them. 18:21Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and give them over to the power of the sword; and let their wives become childless, and widows; and let their men be slain of death, and their young men struck of the sword in battle. 18:22Let a cry be heard from their houses, when you shall bring a troop suddenly on them; for they have dug a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet. 18:23Yet, Yahweh, you know all their counsel against me to kill me; don't forgive their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from your sight; but let them be overthrown before you; deal you with them in the time of your anger.Childlessness and widowhood are among the punishments that Yahweh brings upon those who disobey his word, even after he has repeatedly warned them off the way of iniquity and taught them the way of righteousness.
Deliver The Needy From The Clutches Of Their Oppressors
Jeremiah 22:1-5 reads,
22:1
Thus said Yahweh: Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word, 22:2Say, Hear the word of Yahweh, king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter in by these gates. 22:3Thus says Yahweh: Execute you justice and righteousness, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence, to the sojourner, the fatherless, nor the widow; neither shed innocent blood in this place. 22:4For if you do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people. 22:5But if you will not hear these words, I swear by myself, says Yahweh, that this house shall become a desolation.Execution of justice and righteousness demands delivering from the hands of the oppressor those whom he oppresses, such as the needy. In other words, not only must one protect and provide for the needy, one must also deliver these needy when they are under the clutches of oppressors.
Yahweh Punished Sinning Jerusalem With Widowhood
Lamentations 1:1-9 reads,
1:1
How does the city sit solitary, that was full of people!She has become as a widow, who was great among the nations!
She who was a princess among the provinces is become tributary!
1:2
She weeps sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks;Among all her lovers she has none to comfort her:
All her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they are become her enemies.
1:3
Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude;She dwells among the nations, she finds no rest:
All her persecutors overtook her within the straits.
1:4
The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn assembly;All her gates are desolate, her priests do sigh:
Her virgins are afflicted, and she herself is in bitterness.
1:5
Her adversaries are become the head, her enemies prosper;For Yahweh has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions:
Her young children are gone into captivity before the adversary.
1:6
From the daughter of Zion all her majesty is departed:Her princes are become like harts that find no pasture,
They are gone without strength before the pursuer.
1:7
Jerusalem remembers in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that were from the days of old:When her people fell into the hand of the adversary, and none did help her,
The adversaries saw her, they did mock at her desolations.
1:8
Jerusalem has grievously sinned; therefore she is become as an unclean thing;All who honored her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness:
Yes, she sighs, and turns backward.
1:9
Her filthiness was in her skirts; she didn't remember her latter end;Therefore is she come down wonderfully; she has no comforter:
See, Yahweh, my affliction; for the enemy has magnified himself.
The lamentations of a widow fallen from a previous high estate.
Lamentations Of The Fatherless
Lamentations 5:1-18 reads,
5:1
Remember, Yahweh, what has come on us:Look, and see our reproach.
5:2
Our inheritance is turned to strangers,Our houses to aliens.
5:3
We are orphans and fatherless;Our mothers are as widows.
5:4
We have drunken our water for money;Our wood is sold to us.
5:5
Our pursuers are on our necks:We are weary, and have no rest.
5:6
We have given the hand to the Egyptians,To the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.
5:7
Our fathers sinned, and are no more;We have borne their iniquities.
5:8
Servants rule over us:There is none to deliver us out of their hand.
5:9
We get our bread at the peril of our lives,Because of the sword of the wilderness.
5:10
Our skin is black like an oven,Because of the burning heat of famine.
5:11
They ravished the women in Zion,The virgins in the cities of Judah.
5:12
Princes were hanged up by their hand:The faces of elders were not honored.
5:13
The young men bare the mill;The children stumbled under the wood.
5:14
The elders have ceased from the gate,The young men from their music.
5:15
The joy of our heart is ceased;Our dance is turned into mourning.
5:16
The crown is fallen from our head:Woe to us! for we have sinned.
5:17
For this our heart is faint;For these things our eyes are dim;
5:18
For the mountain of Zion, which is desolate:The foxes walk on it.
Oppressing The Needy Is An Abomination
Ezekiel 22:1-16 reads,
22:1
Moreover the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 22:2You, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Then cause her to know all her abominations. 22:3You shall say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: A city that sheds blood in the midst of her, that her time may come, and that makes idols against herself to defile her! 22:4You have become guilty in your blood that you have shed, and are defiled in your idols which you have made; and you have caused your days to draw near, and are come even to your years: therefore have I made you a reproach to the nations, and a mocking to all the countries. 22:5Those who are near, and those who are far from you, shall mock you, you infamous one and full of tumult. 22:6Behold, the princes of Israel, everyone according to his power, have been in you to shed blood. 22:7In you have they set light by father and mother; in the midst of you have they dealt by oppression with the sojourner; in you have they wronged the fatherless and the widow. 22:8You have despised my holy things, and have profaned my Sabbaths. 22:9Slanderous men have been in you to shed blood; and in you they have eaten on the mountains: in the midst of you they have committed lewdness. 22:10In you have they uncovered their fathers’ nakedness; in you have they humbled her who was unclean in her impurity. 22:11One has committed abomination with his neighbor’s wife; and another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law; and another in you has humbled his sister, his father’s daughter. 22:12In you have they taken bribes to shed blood; you have taken interest and increase, and you have greedily gained of your neighbors by oppression, and have forgotten me, says the Lord Yahweh. 22:13Behold, therefore, I have struck my hand at your dishonest gain which you have made, and at your blood which has been in the midst of you. 22:14Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? I, Yahweh, have spoken it, and will do it. 22:15I will scatter you among the nations, and disperse you through the countries; and I will consume your filthiness out of you. 22:16You shall be profaned in yourself, in the sight of the nations; and you shall know that I am Yahweh.Among the abominations that Yahweh punishes against are oppressing the sojourner and wronging the fatherless and the widow. Righteousness therefore demands that one loves and demonstrates love for the needy, not only protecting and providing for them, but also delivering them from the hands of those who oppress and wrong them.
Execute True Judgment And Show Kindness And Compassion To The Needy
Zechariah 7:8-14 reads,
7:8
The word of Yahweh came to Zechariah, saying, 7:9"Thus has Yahweh of Hosts spoken, saying, ‘Execute true judgment, and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother. 7:10Don’t oppress the widow, nor the fatherless, the sojourner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart.’ 7:11But they refused to listen, and turned their backs, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear. 7:12Yes, they made their hearts as hard as flint, lest they might hear the law, and the words which Yahweh of Hosts had sent by his Spirit by the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from Yahweh of Hosts. 7:13It has come to pass that, as he called, and they refused to listen, so they will call, and I will not listen," said Yahweh of Hosts; 7:14"but I will scatter them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they have not known. Thus the land was desolate after them, so that no man passed through nor returned: for they made the pleasant land desolate."Malachi 3:1-6 reads,
3:1
"Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, behold, he comes!" says Yahweh of hosts. 3:2"But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like launderer’s soap; 3:3and he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver; and they shall offer to Yahweh offerings in righteousness. 3:4Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant to Yahweh, as in the days of old, and as in ancient years. 3:5I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don’t fear me," says Yahweh of Hosts. 3:6"For I, Yahweh, don’t change; therefore you, sons of Jacob, are not consumed.It should be noted that Yahweh's nature does not change. Just as he punished in the past those who oppressed the needy, so also will he punish in the day of the coming of the messenger of the covenant those who oppress the needy. To avoid Yahweh's punishment Yahweh's people should be showing love, mercy, justice and compassion upon the needy, fearing Yahweh even as they do these things.
Some Hypocrites Prey Upon Widows
Matthew 23:13 reads,
23:13
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses, and as a pretense you make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.There are those who sexually exploit widows, on account of their lacking the protection and provision of a husband.
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