Exodus 22:21 “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. 22 You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. 23 If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, 24 and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.
Having just completed our study on the Minor Prophets, we saw that God had good reason to exile His people Israel (and Judah). The exile happened because they had violated His heart and His laws going back to their founding as a people. Whether it was the majority of these prophets who warned them of impending judgment, or those who were sent to help them pick up the pieces after the exile, there were repeated charges God brought against them which led to the exile. One of those charges was their mistreatment, their injustices toward these three groups of people: sojourners, widows, and the fatherless. Over the next few weeks we will look at what God had to say about them and why He was so upset about their behavior. Why did His "wrath burn"? Why did He "kill them with the sword"? Why did He make their "wives become widows and their children fatherless."? It's no shallow wade into the heart and ways of God. May we have more of His Spirit concerning them when we're done.
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