Judge The
Fatherless And Plead For The Widow
Isaiah 1:10-19 reads,
1:10Hear
the word of Yahweh, you rulers of
Listen to the law of our God, you people of
1:11"What
are the multitude of your sacrifices to me?," says Yahweh.
"I have had enough of the burnt offerings of rams,
And the fat of fed animals.
I don’t delight in the blood of bulls,
Or of lambs,
Or of male goats.
1:12When
you come to appear before me,
Who has required this at your hand, to trample my courts?
1:13Bring
no more vain offerings.
Incense is an abomination to me;
New moons, Sabbaths, and convocations:
I can’t bear with evil assemblies.
1:14My
soul hates your New Moons and your appointed feasts;
They are a burden to me.
I am weary of bearing them.
1:15When
you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you;
Yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear.
Your hands are full of blood.
1:16Wash
yourselves, make yourself clean.
Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes;
Cease to do evil.
1:17Learn
to do well.
Seek justice,
Relieve the oppressed,
Judge the fatherless,
Plead for the widow."
1:18"Come
now, and let us reason together," says Yahweh:
"Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.
Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
1:19If
you are willing and obedient,
You shall eat the good of the land;
1:20But if you refuse and rebel, you
shall be devoured with the sword;
For the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it."
The Unrighteous Do
Not Judge The Fatherless Nor Receive The Cause Of Widows
Isaiah 1:21-26 reads,
1:21How
the faithful city has become a prostitute!
She was full of justice; righteousness lodged in her,
But now murderers.
1:22Your
silver has become dross,
Your wine mixed with water.
1:23Your
princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves.
Everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards.
They don’t judge the fatherless,
Neither does the cause of the widow come to them.
1:24Therefore
the Lord, Yahweh of Hosts,
The Mighty One of Israel, says:
"Ah, I will get relief from my
adversaries,
And avenge myself of my enemies;
1:25And
I will turn my hand on you,
Thoroughly purge away your dross,
And will take away all your tin.
1:26I
will restore your judges as at the first,
And your counselors as at the beginning.
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,
10:1Woe
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,
47:8Now
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,
5:19It
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,
7:1The
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,
15:1Then
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.
15:5For
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,
18:11Now
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.
18:18Then
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.
18:19Give
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,
22:1Thus
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,
1:1How
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!
1:2She
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.
1:3Judah
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.
1:4The
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.
1:5Her
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.
1:6From
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.
1:7Jerusalem
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.
1:8Jerusalem
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.
1:9Her
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,
5:1Remember,
Yahweh, what has come on us:
Look, and see our reproach.
5:2Our
inheritance is turned to strangers,
Our houses to aliens.
5:3We
are orphans and fatherless;
Our mothers are as widows.
5:4We
have drunken our water for money;
Our wood is sold to us.
5:5Our
pursuers are on our necks:
We are weary, and have no rest.
5:6We
have given the hand to the Egyptians,
To the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.
5:7Our
fathers sinned, and are no more;
We have borne their iniquities.
5:8Servants
rule over us:
There is none to deliver us out of their hand.
5:9We
get our bread at the peril of our lives,
Because of the sword of the wilderness.
5:10Our
skin is black like an oven,
Because of the burning heat of famine.
5:11They
ravished the women in Zion,
The virgins in the cities of Judah.
5:12Princes
were hanged up by their hand:
The faces of elders were not honored.
5:13The
young men bare the mill;
The children stumbled under the wood.
5:14The
elders have ceased from the gate,
The young men from their music.
5:15The
joy of our heart is ceased;
Our dance is turned into mourning.
5:16The
crown is fallen from our head:
Woe to us! for we have sinned.
5:17For
this our heart is faint;
For these things our eyes are dim;
5:18For
the mountain of Zion, which is desolate:
The foxes walk on it.
Oppressing The
Needy Is An Abomination
Ezekiel 22:1-16 reads,
22:1Moreover
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,
7:8The
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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