Keeping Them Down

For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly practice justice between a person and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the stranger, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor follow other gods to your own ruin, then I will let you live in this place, in the land that I…

The Big Squeeze

Be gracious to me, O God, for man has trampled upon me; fighting all day long he oppresses me. Psalm 56:1 NASB He oppresses me – Are you oppressed? Before you say, “Not at all,” consider the Hebrew word lahats. It is a picture of being squeezed into a space too small to fit. Balaam’s…

Sin’s Location

Who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry.  The LORD sets the prisoners free.  The LORD opens the eyes of the blind; the LORD raises up those who are bowed down; the LORD loves the righteous; Psalm 146:7-8  NASB The oppressed – When we read “the oppressed” we are likely to…

The Last Shall Be First

He that oppresses the poor blasphemes his maker, but he who is gracious unto the needy honors Him. Proverbs 14:31 (translation A. Heschel) Blasphemes – What would you think of someone who curses God?  You might be shocked, dismayed or disturbed.  Who would do such a thing?  You might understand the circumstances that would lead…

God’s Social Justice

YHWH enters into judgment with the elders and princes of His people’ “It is you who have devoured the vineyard; the plunder of the poor is in your houses.  What do you mean by crushing My people and grinding the face of the poor?” Isaiah 3:14-15 Grinding – “So the common man has been humbled…