Everything and Everyone Needs A Rest -- Exodus 23:10-12:

“And you shall sow your land for six years and gather in its yield, but on the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, so that the needy of your people may eat; and whatever they leave the beast of the field may eat.  You are to do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.  Six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you shall cease from labor; in order that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female slave, as well as your stranger, may refresh themselves.”
 

At face value, this instruction is addressed to those who farm the land. But does that excuse the majority of us who today find ourselves otherwise occupied? I don’t think so. This “6 and 1” rhythm seems to have been established earlier in scripture.  Back in Genesis we noted that God Himself worked six days and then rested on the seventh. Earlier in Exodus (chapter 20) we are told we must do all our work in six days and then rest on the seventh. And now here, God says that “6 and 1” rhythm is good for the land as well. Farm it for six years, reap the harvest that it yields, and then let it rest. If God rested, and if He requires that His creation (the earth) rests, how much more important is it for our working animals and us to rest?

And then God interweaves a key principle into this direction. He is in essence saying, “Don’t be so fanatical about this to the point where you do not allow others with real need to gather what I provide naturally as you allow the land to lie fallow (tilled but not seeded).” Directly or indirectly, God is saying, while you have food in your stockrooms and silos for this year of rest, you still have to be conscious of the needs of others; you still need to take care of widows and orphans.

God also shows His care for animals, for as we leave our farmland to lie fallow allowing the needy to be taken care of, so too, what they leave, will take care of the beast of the field. It never fails to amaze me how well things would work if we were to follow God’s plans in every detail. In this case, the needy, as well as the beggar on the street would be fed and so would our four-legged friends.

This passage deals with years – allowing the land to rest on the seventh after it was worked for six. The “6 and 1” rhythm principle is not to be limited to those among us who till the ground and grow our food. It is a principle that can, and should, be transferred to all of our labor activities – in the office, in the classroom, on the professional sports arena, and so on. We can transfer the idea of “years” to days in keeping with God’s other commandments. Failure to apply the principle is at our own risk. I have recently started speed walking daily with my wife but we both realize that our bodies need rest each week. If we don’t take that rest, we do not make it through the next week.

Ask yourself “Am I maximizing on the rhythm that God established for the physical aspect of my life? Am I taking the rests that I need? Am I giving my family, my workers, and my staff that rest? Am I thinking creatively about those in need?” I cannot vouch whether or not “Things Go Better With Coke!” but I can tell you “Life Is Better In God’s Rhythm!”

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Justice, Bribes, and Oppression -- Exodus 23:6-9

“You shall not pervert the justice due to your needy brother in his dispute.  Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent or the righteous, for I will not acquit the guilty. And you shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of the just. And you shall not oppress a stranger, since you yourselves know the feelings of a stranger, for you also were strangers in the land of Egypt.”

The first sentence tells us not to skew justice either against or for a needy brother’s actions or disputes just because he is poor. It is really an extension of verse 3 earlier in the chapter where we are told not to be partial to a poor man in his dispute. The idea being that everyone is entitled to his/her fair day in court.

And then God warns His people to stay away from (have nothing to do with) a false charge. If you know someone is being falsely accused, there is no excuse whatsoever for us as Christians to be supportive of that accusation.  Sometimes we do so for convenience, sometimes because we want to show we are part of the team, or we want to be in support of the person bringing the false charge forward (especially if they are our boss or someone whom we need for our own goals to be achieved).  God says don’t even think about it. This matter becomes even worse if in the process of litigating a false charge, the innocent or righteous person is killed or put to death (or falsely imprisoned). If we become party to that, we become the guilty ones and God will not acquit us in His justice system. Matthew Henry suggests that this also means we are not to be a false witness against a person we believe is not guilty. And he even takes it one step further outside the courtroom or the justice system and into everyday common conversation. He reminds us that, “A man's reputation lies as much at the mercy of every company as his estate or life does at the mercy of a judge or jury; so that he who raises, or knowingly spreads, a false report against his neighbor, especially if the report be made to wise and good men whose esteem one would desire to enjoy, sins as much against the laws of truth, justice, and charity, as a false witness does-with this further mischief, that he leaves it not in the power of the person injured to obtain redress.” Enough said.

Next, God warns us about taking bribes. Good, honest, moral, business transactions and other relational interactions do not require bribes. Once a bribe is accepted, the transaction/interaction loses all its respectability. The receiver of the bribe then sees everything from a different perspective, exerting great effort and feeling great fear, to keep others from discovering he/she has taken a bribe. God says that is no way to live.

And finally God tells us not to “oppress a stranger” or in today’s world, an “immigrant” to our lands for the His people were to remember they too were once “strangers” in the land of Egypt. That seems to be a general theme that applies to us as Christians. In one sense, we were, prior to our conversion, strangers to the family of God, but by His Grace, we have become adopted sons and daughters. We are not to forget that in our relationship with strangers among us. However, with respect to immigrants, it is fair to consider the direction in light of some questions we can pose:
1. To what extent and under what circumstances should Christians be supportive of open immigration policies?
2. How do we translate God’s direction of not “oppressing a stranger” with respect to their own cultural behaviors, their own justice system, their own faiths, etc., especially where those run counter to both our secular society (albeit ever-evolving) and the faiths of the majority of a country’s existing citizens?

I personally cannot find any support in Scripture for translating “do not oppress a stranger” in a way which includes the possibility of giving one a free pass to practice behaviors or customs or beliefs that put others – individuals, groups, or the nation as a whole, in any danger or real justified fear, whatsoever. Our job is to treat strangers fairly and justly.

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You Need "Sacred Space"

You Need “Sacred Space”

 If you are an observer of global, North American, national, state/provincial, and/or local news, you would likely agree with my own conclusion that we live in a very restless society. But go deeper than that – get down to our neighborhoods, our churches, our families, our marriages, and even just our own lives, and most of us would say, “We too are very much active participants in that agitated state in which the world and most everyone in it are struggling, doing our best just to survive.”

That is the setting for John D. Duncan’s book, Sacred Space: The Art of Sacred Silence, Sacred Speech, and The Sacred Ear in the Echo of the Still Small Voice of God, published by Austin Brothers Publishing, Fort Worth, Texas, 2014. It’s a setting that Duncan considers dangerous to our physical, social, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Writing from personal experience, he argues we need to slow down and renew our damaged souls.

Sacred Space describes one man’s formula for doing just that in three most dangerous steps. Dangerous because each one is capable of changing a person, changing how one faces life each day, and changing one’s impact on everything and everyone they interact with. Duncan first makes the case, backed solidly by scripture, of the need for moving out of noise into quietness through ‘sacred silence’. Only when we have mastered our ability to get there, does he push us on to ‘sacred speech’ whereby in communion with God we can turn our personal chaos into peace. And finally, Duncan shows us how to use what he calls our ‘sacred ear’ to both hear and obey God.

The author shares his personal experience finding himself, in essence, being told he needed to move on from a pastoral calling he loved. He shares how he struggled to know when it was the right time for him to make a choice about what came next. And he agonized wondering why God was allowing this to happen to him. What had he done wrong? And then it hit him like a train coming down a track.  He writes, “I had not taken time to create the sacred space in my mid-life that I did in my younger life both as a pastor and a human being.” Life goes amuck all too often because we have not sat alone in a quiet room, being silent, speaking to God, and hearing God.

In the book, Duncan describes each of the three steps of the process with great details and examples. He then asks us if we’re ready to practice each one. And not just as a passing moment of our day, but as a conscious ‘priority’.  I found myself saying ‘yes’ audibly. There was no argument that would come to mind for any other response.

While teaching us about the second step of his three-part formula, he points out that “stress, the mind, and the tongue can combine to form a lethal combination: chaos.”  Then he shows us how ‘sacred speech’ “like one coin with two sides includes, first, God’s Word speaking to you and second, you speaking to God.” He explains how every book of the Bible has it’s unique role to play as ‘sacred speech’ from God to help us “experience renewal, restoration, even salvation and the glory of a new day with a new outlook . . .” Duncan goes on to teach his readers how to elevate ‘sacred speech’ as prayer, which he says, quoting Frank W. Moyle, in The Book of Uncommon Prayer, is “the elevation of the mind to God.” And there are other appealing tidbits throughout the book like, “Stop the worry is the first step in prayer.”

Finally, in the portion of the book dealing with the ‘sacred ear’ he describes how it enables us to experience a “feast of joy thrusting us into life with God’s peace.” And in the process of doing so, he points out how many of us really miss the implication of Luke 18:11 for us today. Jesus says the “Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself . . .” Duncan points out how so many of us miss this. Too many of us use our imagination wrongly, he contends, praying with ourselves instead of with God or turning our mirrors inward to reflect upon ourselves instead of outward to reflect His image. The art of the ‘sacred ear’ allows us to turn that situation around, reflecting on Christ, “and listening with our ears and heart for what God has for us in that moment or in future days.” He shows us how the ‘sacred ear’ helps us keep balance in our lives during our falls and rises, learning the necessary wisdom at the feet of God.

I personally enjoyed his description of what happens to terrain after a volcanic eruption covers it with its spewed lava and dust. There is in due time a rebirth after the ashes. So it is, says Duncan, with the ‘sacred ear’ that transforms us renewed and prepared for greater future service for Christ and to people.

Near the end of the book, Duncan quotes from William Law’s book entitled A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life in which Law warns us, “then how poorly must they perform their devotions, who are always in a hurry; who begin them in haste and hardly allow themselves to repeat their very form with any gravity or attention!” This is indeed a dangerous book, just as we were warned in its forward, for time and again each one of us can find our own reflection among many of its pages.

I recommend it to anyone who knows there’s something wrong with life as he/she is living it and believes there’s something more. Duncan has found what that is and in his book he shares it clearly and directly, pulling no punches.

    -- Ken B. Godevenos, http://www.accordconsulting.com , Toronto, 15/04/07

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A Time to Help Your Enemy -- Exodus 23:4-5

Exodus 23:4-5: “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey wandering away, you shall surely return it to him. If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying helpless under its load, you shall refrain from leaving it to him, you shall surely release it with him.”

For most of us, unless we travel to a second or third world country, the chances of seeing an ox or a donkey are very slim.  For us, these verses have to be considered in two ways: First, what was God saying to His people in the dessert after they had fled from Egypt and second, what are we to do with these verses today?  I cannot help but feel that God’s direction is congruent to both the Israelites and us.

Here is the bottom line: Yes, an individual or a group may be your enemy. But if you come across something of theirs that is where it should not be because they left it behind, or lost it, or had it stolen from them, or however else it got there – you are to return it to them.

If I am negotiating a collective agreement with a union on behalf of a company client and someone on the union team leaves their personal notes or strategy behind, I believed it is my responsibility to return it to them without looking at the content. I remember once that I was sending a strategic email on negotiations to my client, but had accidently included the union in the distribution. Fortunately, when the union administrative secretary received the email, she knew it was not meant for them, and called me. It turned out she was a wonderful Christian lady from our church who knew me. She assured me the email was not sent on to the union negotiators. She did the right thing.

God expects us to take corrective action. He says, if you come across some property belonging to your enemy that is not where it should be, “go out of your way and return it to him”.  How many of us would do just that?  How many of us would more likely rejoice in knowing that our enemy is getting his just desserts?  “He deserves this,” many of us would say.  There is much that we may feel our enemies deserve. But God is saying, “Look, this is not about your enemy. This is about you doing the right thing. I will take care of your situation with your enemy, but you need to do the right thing.” Many of us have had to do just that in our lives when it comes to dealing with our enemies. Trusting God to take care of our situation, our position, and our need – but in the process being careful to do the right things.

And then God says there will be times when we have to go beyond the little effort of returning a lost oxen or donkey, or cat or dog, which is not too difficult or onerous. We may actually notice that something belonging to our enemy is in trouble, not just lost.  His animal or pet may be caught in a fire or trapped or injured.  His automobile may have skid off the road on a patch of ice or suffered a flat tire (and yes, even with our enemy or one of his family members driving it). God is basically saying, “Get out of your house; get out of your own carriage, and help your enemy deal with his animal or his car.” Can you do that? That’s what God is telling us to do.

You see, by doing that, you are not condoning what your enemy has done (he may even have been drunk while driving) or what he thinks or what he says about you or God or anything else. You are simply doing what you are called to do.

I love the last phrase of this passage “you shall surely release it with him.” You are to do it with him. God says you can work with your enemy to do what is right for you to do.  Who knows, maybe because you have worked with him, he will see you in a different light or maybe he will see the God you worship and serve in a different light. That does not mean you have to give in to his wrongdoing or beliefs, or to condone his actions. It simply means you have to do for your enemy what God expects you to do for all human beings.

Can God’s instructions get any more difficult? Blessed is the person who can work with that philosophy of “working with one’s enemy”.  There will be times when your enemy is hungry – feed him.  There will be times when your enemy is thirsty – give him drink. If you are a doctor, you may even be called upon to save his life. All of that is not about your enemy and his or her wrongdoing; it is about your right doing before God.  That is what the Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Romans in chapter 12, verses 20 and 21 calls us to do.  We are to overcome the evil of someone else’s actions with the good of our actions – because of our relationship with God.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

How Not To Be A Witness or Protester -- Exodus 23:1-3

“You shall not carry a false rumor; do not join your hand with a wicked man to be a malicious witness. You shall not follow a multitude in doing evil, nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after a multitude in order to pervert justice; nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his dispute.”

This passage begins with pretty clear and direct instruction to those who are the children of God – do not spread false rumors, period. Which of course, begs the question of whether or not we can or should spread rumors that are not false. Well, here’s the rub: by definition a rumor is a story or statement that is without confirmation or certainty as to facts; gossip; hearsay. Based on that, and given that elsewhere in Scripture, we are called upon to have our ‘yes’ mean ‘yes’ and our ‘no’ mean ‘no’, I would surmise that spreading any rumor at all is not a domain that Christians should visit.

I am fairly sure, however, that this does not mean we cannot hypothesize, based on “some” input, what may or may not come to pass on a particular issue. For example, a jubilant mother telling her friends that, based on what she observes, a certain young man is going to propose to her daughter soon is not necessarily a false rumor, especially if she adds, “but of course, we will have to wait and see.” For her friends to then tell the neighbors that “Bob has proposed (or even ‘will propose’) to Alice” is spreading a false rumor.

Next, God tells us not to be party to anyone who is putting forth a false statement. Chuck Smith says, “don’t be a party to perjury (lying or misrepresenting, especially under oath).” David Guzik is much stronger on this passage.  He says, “The only way to obey this command is to put a stop to a false report. Doing nothing or remaining ‘neutral’ is to allow the false report to circulate.” We have to ask and demand “proof from the person bringing the report, and proof as required in the Bible – from two or three witnesses.” The reference to a “wicked” man is there because in one sense he who spreads the false rumor and he who accepts it, are equally evil.

Next, God turns to protesting, but more specifically “rioting”. It is in our human nature to follow a crowd. It started with Adam following Eve. (I personally like to follow fire engines to get to the action, but my passengers won’t let me.) God says, “don’t join a mob that intends to do evil.” You can speak up against what you believe is wrong. Maybe even protest peacefully to show that support. But God outlaws rioting and looting and throwing stones. Unfortunately some of us take this to an extreme and stay home and watch television rather than make our voices heard at all.

In the latter part of the second verse, God warns us against being persuaded by the crowd (perhaps our friends or even our families) to side with wrongdoing or untruth in a way that prevents and perverts justice. It is often so convenient to side with those with whom we have associated for years. Not doing so causes us to be shunned or ridiculed or at best, tolerated. It takes a strong person to be able to withstand the crowd that has been a crucial part of his/her life to this point. Most of us are not that strong and only by the power of God indwelling in us can it be done. For this reason, Matthew Henry informs us “among the Jews, the junior upon the bench voted first, that he might not be swayed nor overruled by the authority of the senior.” Henry goes on to imply that our job is to inquire of God as to what we individually are to do, not to see what the majority is doing because while we may be asked to judge a matter, He is judging our choices.

Finally, God who loves the poor to no end as we have seen His constant warnings for us to take care of them throughout Scripture, allows His value of truth and justice to trump their needs.  Here in verse 3 of this passage, He tells us not to show any partiality to a poor person who has a dispute. The fact that he/she is poor is no reason for unfair or inappropriate preference when it comes to what is right or wrong. This came home to me recently when I read the story of a 14-year old girl in Africa that had been stolen from the hospital just three days after she was born. A poor woman who raised her had taken her. The girl’s identity was discovered when she joined a high school were her birth sister was attending and later DNA proved the real connection. Interestingly some psychologists and social workers have implied that we needed to be fair to the poor lady that stole her given the fact that she had raised her up all these years. First, I find it difficult to be fair in this case of pure theft and greed, albeit under some difficult circumstances of the woman who did the stealing. Second, I think this is the kind of thing God had in mind in this verse.

Bottom line is that God expects His people to speak the truth, challenge those who do not, and always and only support the truth. This is not only when it comes to cases before the law but in our everyday conversations and interactions with others – at home, at work, at church. How are you doing, especially when it hurts to do so because it involves a friend or a relative, or worse still, you?

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Giving God Our First-Borns -- Exodus 22:29-31:

--> “You shall not delay the offering from your harvest and your vintage. The first-born of your sons you shall give to Me. You shall do the same with your oxen and with your sheep.  It shall be with its mother seven days; on the eighth day you shall give it to Me. And you shall be holy men to Me, therefore you shall not eat any flesh torn to pieces in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.”

Interestingly, these three verses follow the one about how we are not to curse God or our rulers (see comments on vs. 28). So it appears not only are we not to curse our leaders (both God and those who rule our people), but also we are to give them what they require from us in a timely fashion.

For the Israelites that meant two things: They needed to present to the priests the first gatherings from their harvests and these were dedicated to God. Secondly, they needed to dedicate their first-born sons to God and His service. The statement is very direct – “The first-born of your sons you shall give to Me.” If you are a parent of a son in particular, have you thought about that instruction of God’s? It reminds me of hearing one parent of our grandchildren saying to them, in a strong tone, “Give me that right now!”  Well, if we know what is good for us (as my grandchildren do when they hear their mom or dad say that), then we need to hear it just like that from God while recognizing we have a choice not to obey.  So I ask, have you in your heart and mind settled once and for all that your son has been given to God for Him to keep and to use as His very own no matter what that means for you? That is the requirement. We either fulfill it or we do not.

And after we get that hard thing settled, then God says you are to do likewise with your possessions (the first-born of one’s oxen and sheep in the days of the Israelites).  Wait, maybe that is harder than giving our first-born son to God. I mean we are talking about real things here – things I have worked hard to attain. And many will feel exactly that. But God says, “I want your first-born son, and the best of all your possessions. I want you to know they are mine because you have given them to Me and that I am free to use them as I see fit – no ifs, buts, or whys.” In fact, it appears that God is saying, “Go ahead, enjoy them for a few days when you first get them – take that yacht down to the Caribbean, have a party at your cottage, invite friends to your box at the arena, do not let anyone drive that brand new car for a few days, but ultimately, figure out a way to use all of these things for Me and for the Kingdom.”

Then God makes another one of His logical connections: Do not curse God or rulers; give both God and rulers what they require in a timely fashion; and that will go a long way to make you “holy men to God”.  So far so good, I follow the argument.

But then God says “because you will be holy men, do not eat any flesh torn to pieces; give it to the dogs instead.”  Wow, and thus ended the chapter.  But what is the meaning of this last instruction here? David Guzik suggests that this simply is God’s way of saying, “As holy men of God, we are to act differently in all ways of our lives; in all of our behavior.”  Matthew Henry on the other hand seems to be implying that the statement is a call for the Israelites (and those in the body of Christ today) to be different in their diets than their neighbors. He suggests that one mark of our holiness is our distinction from others in what we eat and may I add, what we drink. And if not that, perhaps how we view our ‘food’ and ‘drink’.

[An Aside: I must admit I find it very strange and somehow troublesome when I consider how absorbed many Christians in North America, and perhaps elsewhere in the world, are with food dishes and recipes and gourmet this and that, and vintage wines, etc. I am not suggesting at all that food is to be drab and boring and I really appreciate the special efforts my daughters and wife go to in order for us to have most interesting meals. But I believe we need to do all of this in moderation, keeping in mind others that may not have a thing in their stomachs as they try to sleep tonight.]

The bottom line message in these last few verses of this chapter is clear: Honor God, Give Him what is His, be holy, and be different. How we do that in our personal lives is between God and us unless the Scripture is crystal clear on a matter of behavior or thought.

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Cursing Leadership -- Exodus 22:28

“You shall not curse God, nor curse a ruler of your people.”
 

 It is interesting that this verse with its two distinct thoughts consists of only one sentence spoken by God. A closer look is warranted.

I like the Free Dictionary’s definition of the word ‘curse’:

·       An appeal or prayer for evil or misfortune to befall someone or something

·       A source or cause of evil

·       A profane word or phrase; a swearword

·       Ecclesiastical – A censure, ban, or anathema; to excommunicate.

God is saying, “Do not pray or wish for evil to harm Me – that’s a non-starter. And do not use profanity or swear in conjunction with My name. And do not try to excommunicate me from your life as that is not in your power to do.”

Many today try to do some or all of these things. Satan worshippers live their lives trying to defeat God in the power of the Devil not unlike how those of us who believe in God want Him to defeat Satan or to help us defeat him, at least in our lives. Many get very angry at God thinking He is the root cause of their woes and swear at Him.  (You will remember that later on in the Old Testament, Job’s wife encouraged him to “curse God and die” – that is, “Blame Him for all your calamities and then just die.”) And of course, entire societies or cultures have tried to ban God from their presence today – we have taken Him out of our politics, our education system, our legal system, and our moral foundational basis – in short, we have tried to cut Him off.

But God is saying, to use the modern phraseology I hear from my grandchildren, “Not going to happen.”  He is in charge and He has the last word.  Take any of these actions at your own peril.

And then this sole sentence in this verse continues, “nor curse a ruler of your people.”  What may God be saying here by joining these two possible “curses” in the same sentence?  I believe He is making a statement about authority.  He is the ultimate authority. But He has also set up authorities for us down here on earth.

We can debate the grammatical purpose of the phrase “of your people”. Is it that we are not to curse “rulers” (if they are bad) or is it that we are not to curse “rulers of our people”? And does “our people” refer to “the children of God” – the Israelites in those days and those who are part of the Body of Christ today, i.e. the Church?  Or is it the political leaders that we have in place regardless of their own relationship with God?

We do know that in the New Testament, there is more written on this.  In I Timothy 2:2 it is clear we are to pray for kings and all those in authority over us.  There’s no avoiding that.  So while this may have referred to the magistrates and judges and perhaps priests that were in authority under Moses and Aaron during Exodus, today, through the New Testament, God has expanded this to mean all rulers that are in authority over us.

But what if that ruler is our worst nightmare? I honestly do not know. I must admit that we are called to love all men and women and to pray for their salvation. We must separate the individual from what he/she proposes or does. To me that means that I believe I can openly speak out against what a prime minister or a president does or proposes, but I cannot stop loving him/her as an individual sinner, just like me. The more important issue is whether or not I am allowed to say that individual is not suited for his/her position, as one would with an employee’s performance review.  I believe I am.

My wise son pointed out to me that God’s direction in this verse comes in the context of His magistrates and judges acting in good conscience and under His leadership, and thus to oppose them in their actions against evil people or things, would reflect upon God Himself who placed them there – a thought that Matthew Henry shared in his commentary on this verse. And God is warning us against that. 

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Lending Money, Terms and Conditions -- Exodus 22:25-27

--> “If you lend money to My people, to the poor among you, you are not to act as a creditor to him; you shall not charge him interest.  If you ever take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, you are to return it to him before the sun sets, for that is his only covering; it is his cloak for his body.  What else shall he sleep in? And it shall come about that when he cries out to Me, I will hear him, for I am gracious.”
 

We note there is no commandment to lend anyone money here.  More specifically the instructions are intended for the times God’s people do lend to God’s people.  And it basically covers lending which is intended to help the poor get up on their feet.  And such lending shall be without interest.  (Some commentators who have studied the Hebrew text carefully argue that this was only a prohibition on “compound” interest, or extortion in lending, as compared to “simple” interest.  I prefer to go with the literal translation of “no interest period”.)

But what about lending to non-Christians?  How about lending to the rich?  This passage does not forbid it, but it appears to leave us at our own discretion of whether or not to charge interest, and how much, and how to deal with the risk and/or consequences involved in any non-repayment.  So, lenders beware.

Returning to our passage, it appears that pledges may be taken in exchange for a loan at no interest. Working much like how a pawnshop works. But here’s the catch – we must not accept a pledge that exposes the borrower in a harmful way.  The example God gives can be thought of us follows: You cannot withhold a person’s coat as collateral for a loan when it is his only outer garment and he would otherwise freeze because it’s cold outside.  If we take that kind of a pledge from someone, we are to realize our mistake and make things right before the sun goes down that same day.

And I love how God reasons with His people here as He does elsewhere in Scripture.  But this passage is special because it gives us another glimpse of God’s character that we do no think of very often – His logical mind.  He basically says, “Look, if you take the man’s coat and it’s cold, and he has nothing else to keep him warm, what else will he sleep in?  How will he survive?”  I love that.  God wants us to be logical too.  We are not to “kick a person when he is down”.  It is sad enough that he is in this state of needing to borrow to survive, so we must be careful not to take advantage of him.

We would do well to think about all our lending activities from God’s perspective.  Lending to our children, our families, the church, and friends.  Under what conditions and expectations do we lend money?  Some of our so-called investments are indeed a form of lending to someone so they can do something that will bring them and the lender financial rewards – commercial ventures.  We need to be careful of how and why we do that.

The last sentence of the passage is related to the logic He outlines just before it.  God is saying three things with it.  First, He cares for the poor.  Second, He will hear their cry for help.  And third, we must remember that we ourselves either have cried, or will someday cry, to God for relief.  We are to treat those in need of borrowing with this in mind.

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Don’t Sacrifice to Other Gods and Don’t Oppress Strangers, Widows, Orphans -- Exodus 22:20-24

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Exodus 22:20-24: “He who sacrifices to any god, other than to the Lord alone, shall be utterly destroyed.  And you shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.  You shall not afflict any widow or orphan.  If you afflict him at all, and if he does cry out to Me, I will surely hear his cry; and My anger will be kindled, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.”

As strange as it may seem to me, according to most translations or versions of Scripture, these verses do indeed go together as a single paragraph.  But did God have a special reason for linking “don’t sacrifice to any other god” and “do not oppress stranger or afflict widows or orphans”?  Is it possible that the message that God was getting across here in this first verse of our text, “don’t sacrifice to any god other than the Lord” was really meant to go with the idea of the idolatrous acts of the previous verse (19) dealing with bestiality? Perhaps.

Making a sacrifice to a god is indeed worship.  And I believe our God may be saying here, “Look, first of all you are only to worship me.  And secondly, worshipping me is not so much about animal sacrifices as you may think.  It is more about how you live your life with respect to others.  Ministering to others is the worship I really want you to give me.”

So, based on that, God says, “do not wrong a stranger”.   Do not act erroneously, immorally, wickedly, dishonestly, sinfully, unfairly, or criminally towards him/her.  Furthermore, God says, “do not oppress” a stranger.  That means do not coerce, tyrannize, dominate, repress, vanquish, persecute, harass, hound, plague or torment him/her.

No matter what God’s precise intention was, we can be sure of this – strangers in the life of Christian are not to be treated lightly.  There has been much written about that so we do not need to cover it here except to say that perhaps many of us need to do much better in that area than we have to this point – individually, as families, and in our churches.  Each of us can rate ourselves on that score.  God simply reminds the people of Israel, as He reminds us today, we were all strangers at one point – the Israelites were strangers in the land of Egypt, and we were once strangers to the family of God and then being adopted as sons and daughters through the sacrifice of Christ for our sins.

The other group that God tells us not to “afflict” is the group comprised of widows and orphans. That means we are not to trouble, bother, worry, upset, distress, affect, or exasperate them. And we do this, not necessarily so much through our maliciousness, but rather by our sins of omission – the steps and care we do not take to alleviate their distress and exasperation.

God says when we who can, do not help the orphans and the widows, they in their desperation may cry out to Him.  And if they do, He “will surely hear their cry” because that is what our God does.  But guess what?  While we cannot say for sure that when He does, He will address their need in the way we would expect, we do know something else.  We know that if that need could have been addressed by us, God Himself will have His anger sparked against us – the ones who could have met their needs and did not.

And here is the part that is even worse.  It is bad enough for God to be angry with us, but He actually says “He will kill us with the sword” leaving our wives and children to become widows and orphans, respectively, themselves.

What does that say to you and me?  Let me be both blunt and bold.  I believe it says God deals with us based on how we treat orphans and widows and others in need.  I cannot find a way out of that.  There are no ifs, buts, or whys about it.  There are people in the world who have tremendous need through no doing of their own and God says it is our job to “not afflict them” or perhaps it is better read, as “to not let them be afflicted”.  I like the way the Greek Septuagint LXX translates the Hebrew text here saying, “All widows and orphans are not to be injured”.  That is powerful.  God says “I am putting my people in charge of making sure all widows and orphans are not injured in any way – physically, socially, intellectually, sexually, emotionally, spiritually, etc.”  That is your job and mine.

God requires us to do that because they have lost, Matthew Henry suggests, “those that should deal for them, and protect them.”  How often we have an occasion to help someone who is not familiar with the way of business or the law, desperately needing our protection, advice, and help.  They need as Henry says to “be treated with kindness and compassion.”

Matthew Henry also notes that it is a great comfort “to those who are injured and oppressed by men that they have a God to go to who will do more than give them the hearing.”  Many of us have been there and know exactly the value of that knowledge.  But Henry also goes on to say that there is another side to this equation. “It ought to be a terror to those who are oppressive that they have the cry of the poor against them, which God will hear . . . God will severely reckon with those that do oppress them. Though they escape punishments from men, God's righteous judgments will pursue and overtake them.”

And it does not end there.  Henry points out that even men “that have a sense of justice and honor will espouse the injured cause of the weak and helpless”, so how much more would we expect the righteous God to do so.  God has every right to pass upon those that oppress the widows and the orphans the ultimate penalty with the poetic justice it deserves – their own wives becoming widows and their own children becoming orphans. 

As Christians you and I cannot simply live with only the head knowledge of this.  We have a major responsibility in this area.  The God of the Old Testament was known by these judgments, and He is the same God today.  He is just as tough and serious about His love for the oppressed and His demand on us to address the situations He allows us to.  How are we doing?
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