Ex 22:22-24, 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. 
We have just concluded a short study on the heart of God with reference to children honoring their mothers and fathers. We saw that God invested Himself into this commandment with the truth that He is our Heavenly Father and is to be honored as the One Who has given us the gift of the parents to whom we were each born. To question that is to question God and His Sovereignty and His Omniscience in action.
Now we will consider the fact that God invests Himself into the care and the protection of the orphan and the widow, those people who are without a husband or parents from whom to receive care and support and guidance and necessities. God fully instructed His people to take care of the widows and the orphans and to regard them with the special covering of the Lord’s protection upon them. 
They were to be considered as sheltered within their communities, protected by the Hand of God and not to be abused or afflicted as some easy targets of prey or sordid financial gain. Many times, these were women and children who had nothing of their own. They were left without any means of support so they had to glean from the fields, as we will consider. Sometimes, they would be sold into servitude to pay off the debts of the deceased. They would be considered as burdens on the social order and were often neglected and abused as simply chattel and free sources of labor.
    	The righteous treatment of the orphans and widows is an aspect of God that gives us another glimpse of His Character and His Nature. As we read in Deut 10:17+18, Deut 10:17+18, For the Lord your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality, nor take a bribe. He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the alien by giving him food and clothing. 
	God identifies Himself, personally, with those who have no other source of protection or provision. He is not like the gods manufactured throughout the realms of humanity, who look for the brave and the strong, the warrior and the mighty. All the social orders who devised their own deities imagined that it took skill and power and endurance to be associated with their imaginary entities. There was no place for the poor or the down-trodden or the lonely. That was anathema and such people were to be avoided as social outcasts. Those manufactured deities weren’t associated with anyone without power or strength or property or wealth or fame as constructs of what this age values and demands.
	God, The One True and Living Lord God Almighty, displays no such loathing or spurning of those in utter and abject need. He rather places Himself at the very forefront as the Defender and the Protector of the helpless and the Judge of those who would choose to subjugate or belittle or take advantage of the widow or orphan. 
God is the God of the needy, not just the powerful and wealthy. He is the God of those who are outcasts and helpless and forlorn. He does not hesitate to place Himself as the earnest Savior of the hopeless and the deprived and the lame and the pitiable and the sick and the desperate. There is no lack of His compassion and working on the behalf of those who have no other means of survival on this earth. Unlike the societies of humanity who disparage and ridicule and abandon those who are considered as the dregs and the abnormal and the repulsive and the filthy and the repugnant, God, in His Omnipotence and Omniscience, aligns Himself to their plight and offers them the full treasury of Himself.
We see this in the fact that He sent His Only Begotten Son to die for such as these. Jesus, during His earthly ministry was criticized, as we read in Matt 9:10-13, for the manner in which He showed this heart after those who were in need by associating freely with those whom the religious leaders considered as unworthy and the useless of society.
Matt 9:10-13, And it happened that as He was reclining at the table in the house, behold many tax-gatherers and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, "Why is your Teacher eating with the tax-gatherers and sinners?" But when He heard this, He said, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick." But go and learn what this means, 'I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,' for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners." 
God’s salvation is for those who know they need to be saved. It is for those who are desperate and lost and without any hope in the world. This often eludes those who feel that they are capable of making it on their own, rich in the eyes of the world and powerful in their own estimation. It is to the disadvantaged and weak and vulnerable and forlorn that God makes Himself very real and very magnificent through His saving grace. 
As the Apostle Paul so thrills us in Rom 5:6-8, Rom 5:6-8, For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 
	We are loved by the Lord God Creator of Heaven and earth and you and me, Who cares for and upholds those without any earthly means of survival. He aligns Himself absolutely with the people whom the social order discards as useless and without purpose and completely undesirable. In so doing, He reminds us that we all are lost and without hope, slaves to the old nature and doomed to eternal death apart from Him. Therefore we should look upon those who are in such despair with eyes that see their value and their place under God’s protection and grace and love. We should have the same heart that sees the need for them to receive the opportunity of dignity in the care and feeding and provisions afforded to them.
This is reinforced for us in Deut 24:17-22, if you would please follow along. Deut 24:17-22, "You shall not pervert the justice due an alien or an orphan, nor take a widow's garment in pledge. But you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and that the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I am commanding you to do this thing. "When you reap your harvest in your field and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow, in order that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat your olive tree, you shall not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not go over it again; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow. And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I am commanding you to do this thing. 
	Please note that God did not tell the people to just give these widows and orphans the food as a means of even more subjugating them as the dregs and a drain upon the community. Rather, they were to be enabled to go through the fields after the harvest. They were to be allowed to work for the fruits of their labor with what remained after the harvesters had done the initial gathering of the crops. This afforded to those without property and without other sustenance the opportunity to gather and to glean for their provisions. 
This was one manner in which God demanded that His people preserve and provide for those less capable. They were to see these less auspicious individuals as God sees them, worthy of love and grace and help. They have intrinsic value in the eyes of God and should have that same value in the eyes of God’s chosen people.
That is why, later in Deuteronomy 27:18, as the people are accepting and agreeing to abide by the Laws of God, they, in chorus, upheld the fact that any who would defame or persecute or take advantage of the widow or the orphan would be cursed. Those violators would be set outside the protection of the community and the law. Deut 27:18, 'Cursed is he who distorts the justice due an alien, orphan, and widow.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.'
This was an open assent to the fact that the orphan and the widow needed to be held in greater esteem within the populace of the Chosen People of God than they were in any other of the nations surrounding them. The people of God were to recognize the truth that even as the orphans and the widows were created in the image of God, so were they to be viewed as worthy to be protected and sustained. 
This attitude, unfortunately, was distorted in the same manner as the people set aside their consideration and reverence for God. As He became diminished in their estimation, so did the provision concerning the orphans and the widows. The nation of Israel soon began to treat these forlorn souls as did the rest of the nations from whom they also adopted the Baals and the various other gods of human imagination and defilement.
The Psalmist, in Ps 94, gave voice to this despicable situation as he asked The Lord God how long God would suffer the reproach and the evil intent of those who were so going against God’s dictates and holiness. Please follow along with the travail of his heart for the fact that the people are doing the most despicable things within the community of those who belonged to the Lord. 
Ps 94:3-15, How long shall the wicked, O Lord, How long shall the wicked exult? They pour forth words, they speak arrogantly; All who do wickedness vaunt themselves. They crush Thy people, O Lord, And afflict Thy heritage. They slay the widow and the stranger, And murder the orphans. And they have said, "The Lord does not see, Nor does the God of Jacob pay heed." Pay heed, you senseless among the people; And when will you understand, stupid ones? He who planted the ear, does He not hear? He who formed the eye, does He not see? He who chastens the nations, will He not rebuke, Even He who teaches man knowledge? The Lord knows the thoughts of man, That they are a mere breath. Blessed is the man whom Thou dost chasten, O Lord, And dost teach out of Thy law; That Thou mayest grant him relief from the days of adversity, Until a pit is dug for the wicked. For the Lord will not abandon His people, Nor will He forsake His inheritance. For judgment will again be righteous; And all the upright in heart will follow it. 
	After this detailing of the oppression of the wicked against the redeemed of the Lord, the Psalmist declares that God will not withhold His judgment forever. He will arise for the sake of His name and His glory as it is invested in His people. That knowledge occasions thanksgiving in the fact that the Lord will not forsake or abandon those in such desperate need of His salvation. Ps 109:30+31, Ps 109:30+31, With my mouth I will give thanks abundantly to the Lord; And in the midst of many I will praise Him. For He stands at the right hand of the needy, To save him from those who judge his soul. 
	In Proverbs 23:10-12, we are again encouraged with the renewed hope and trust in God as the Redeemer of the orphans, the fatherless. The people are to protect their fields as if they had a father because God makes Himself to be their Redeemer and Provider. The boundaries of their care and keeping are from of old and not to be moved or hindered in any fashion. Prov 23:10-12, Do not move the ancient boundary, Or go into the fields of the fatherless; For their Redeemer is strong; He will plead their case against you. Apply your heart to discipline, And your ears to words of knowledge. Anything done against these, His protected ones will be met with the judgment of the Most High, Whose righteous holiness will always be proven and maintained. There will be no injustice with Him and none can argue in relation to His Omniscience in the manner in which He knows every course of action and deception committed against those who belong to Him.
	 We will continue, when next I share, concerning this manner of the Lord holding forth the reality that He puts Himself into the immediate role of defender and provider of those who are weak and powerless and forlorn. He makes Himself their shield and protector and is vitally concerned with the care given to these precious ones. It is indicative of the fact that He is the Heavenly Father to the fatherless and the Keeper and Comforter of the widow. He has very much to instill into the hearts of those who call forth unto Him for His saving love to become the very life that they live. 
While many of these elements are from the Old Testament, they still represent and manifest the very same heart which serves to make the Lord God Almighty, the One Who seeks out and reveals the fullness of Himself to those in need. This is as true in our current and modern times as it was in the days of old. We are to honor Him in our service to those in need now as were the Children of Israel to do then. So be it.
Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Acts 20:32, "And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. Amen.