“You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.’
—Exodus 22:21-24
“You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.”
—Exodus 23:9
“‘Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’”
—Deuteronoy 27:19
“The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me.”
—Leviticus 25:23
“In whatever tribe the sojourner resides, there you shall assign him his inheritance, declares the Lord God.”
—Ezekiel 47:23
The reminders of Israel's ancestry as sojourners were not just an intellectual exercise or an arms-length history lesson. They were given to shape the way the Lord's people lived.
A teacher or other adult may correct a child who is treating a playmate or classmate unfairly by asking, "How would you feel if...?" That question is intended to awaken empathy. But a parent or other family member may ask, "Do you remember when you...?" That question, grounded in personal knowledge and shared experience, is intended to awaken memory. Which then kindles empathy.
Those questions can be more effective on children who are willing to recognize what they have felt in the experiences of another, who will use that recognition to guide their actions. (Think of looking forward to the Golden Rule.) Those questions may be less effective on children who can only think of their present wants and feelings, who have forgotten or ignored their own past. (Think of looking back to the Pharaoh of Exodus.)
The Ten Commandments begin with a declaration of who God is. Throughout the Law of Moses, instructions to Israel are punctuated with the same kind of declaration. And the Law is also full of reminders of who the Lord's people are.
And the instructions and commands to the Lord's people include a warning: the power of God that delivered the Israelites from Egypt would also be used to discipline His own people if they forget who He is.
Sojourners (part 2)
“Hear my prayer, O Lord,
and give ear to my cry;
hold not your peace at my tears!
For I am a sojourner with you,
a guest, like all my fathers.”
—Psalm 39:12
“You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.’
—Exodus 22:21-24
“You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.”
—Exodus 23:9
“‘Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’”
—Deuteronoy 27:19
“The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me.”
—Leviticus 25:23
“In whatever tribe the sojourner resides, there you shall assign him his inheritance, declares the Lord God.”
—Ezekiel 47:23
The reminders of Israel's ancestry as sojourners were not just an intellectual exercise or an arms-length history lesson. They were given to shape the way the Lord's people lived.
A teacher or other adult may correct a child who is treating a playmate or classmate unfairly by asking, "How would you feel if...?" That question is intended to awaken empathy. But a parent or other family member may ask, "Do you remember when you...?" That question, grounded in personal knowledge and shared experience, is intended to awaken memory. Which then kindles empathy.
Those questions can be more effective on children who are willing to recognize what they have felt in the experiences of another, who will use that recognition to guide their actions. (Think of looking forward to the Golden Rule.) Those questions may be less effective on children who can only think of their present wants and feelings, who have forgotten or ignored their own past. (Think of looking back to the Pharaoh of Exodus.)
The Ten Commandments begin with a declaration of who God is. Throughout the Law of Moses, instructions to Israel are punctuated with the same kind of declaration. And the Law is also full of reminders of who the Lord's people are.
And the instructions and commands to the Lord's people include a warning: the power of God that delivered the Israelites from Egypt would also be used to discipline His own people if they forget who He is.
And forget that they, too, are sojourners.