Week 1 – Lessons from the Law
Day 3 – The Purpose of the Command: Deuteronomy 24:17-18
In the last post, we mentioned God’s purpose for ministry to the fatherless, the widow, and the stranger. Today we will go a little deeper into it. Deuteronomy 24:17, 18 says:
“Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; nor take a widow’s raiment to pledge: But thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee thence: therefore I command thee to do this thing.”
Have you ever poured your life into someone only to have them completely turn around and forget all about you? Forget that you gave them everything you had. Forget the mess that you helped them out of, or the trials that you helped them through. As Christians, it is easy to forget the condition from which God delivered us. It was easy for the Israelites to forget this too. Even as they were within a few days of leaving Egypt, even with that pillar of cloud hanging out in front of them, they quickly forgot. Unfortunately, we often have to see portraits of the awful in order to remember the beauty of the good. God knew His people needed a reminder, and so He built one right into their law.
What did it mean to be a bondsman in Egypt?
A bondman in Egypt was a slave and worked for the Pharaoh. They spent long days making bricks in the hot sun, bearing heavy burdens, and building treasure cities for the Pharaoh. A bondsman was not free. Being a bondsman in Egypt meant beatings and affliction. The Pharaoh could (and did) command your babies to be killed just so there wouldn’t be too many of your people. It meant such sighing and groaning under the weight of the bondage that the cry came up before God.
The same is true for every sinner ever to walk the earth. In John 8:34, Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.” Romans six makes this picture very clear. “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness…for when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death…for the wages of sin is death…” Romans 6:16, 20, 21, 23a. Just as the slavery of Israel most likely ended in death for many Jews the bondage of sin is a bondage unto death.
Deliverance From Bondage
God did not leave Israel in their bondage. He brought them out at great cost. The redemption of Israel from Egypt pictures God’s plan of redemption from the debt and bondage of sin. As God brought His people out of Egypt, He also established the Passover. Each family was to kill a spotless lamb and to put its blood on the doorposts of their house. As the angel of death then came, it would see the blood and pass over them. The blood on the doorposts is a very important part of the picture. Hebrews 9:22 tells us that without shedding of blood there is no remission for sin. This is because, as we find in Leviticus 11:17, the life of the flesh is in the blood and the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). From that point on, we see the system of sacrifices put in place and carried out throughout the history of Israel.
Jesus is our Passover Lamb. His blood was shed on the cross. He paid the penalty, the redemption price, setting us free from the bondage of sin. God doesn’t want us to forget. He wants us to remember both the amazing price that was paid and that from which we were delivered.
God’s Reminder of Our Redemption
God called upon His people to care for the fatherless, the widow, and the stranger because it would remind them of the bondage, oppression, and affliction they had faced before He set them free. His desire is the same for us. Most of us were never physical slaves under some cruel taskmaster, but all of us have been slaves to sin. We may not have felt the affliction that a widow or orphan has felt, but we have felt the cruel affliction of the bonds of sin. All of us have been strangers, alienated from God, and—as citizens of heaven—we are now strangers in this world. God’s command to care for the fatherless, widow, and stranger is not without purpose. It is designed to keep ever before us the amazing redemption that we have in Christ.
Challenge: Take time to think about what God delivered you from through Christ’s work on the cross. How can you extend such love to the fatherless children in your sphere?
Up Next: Day 4: The Pocketbook – God’s Plan for Provision
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