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why as we move through it. So 
I'll read beginning in chapter 22 at verse 16. If a man entices 
a virgin who is not betrothed and lies with her, he shall surely 
pay the bride price for her to be his wife. If her father utterly 
refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money according to 
the bride price of virgins. You shall not permit a sorceress 
to live. Whoever lies with an animal shall surely be put to 
death. He who sacrifices to any God except to the Lord only, 
he shall be utterly destroyed. You shall neither mistreat a 
stranger nor oppress him, for you are strangers in the land 
of Egypt. You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child. 
If you afflict them in any way, and they cry at all to me, I 
will surely hear their cry, and my wrath will become hot, and 
I will kill you with the sword. Your wives shall be widows and 
your children fatherless. If you lend money to any of my 
people who are poor among you, you shall not be like a money 
lender to him. You shall not charge him interest. 
If you ever take your neighbor's garment as a pledge, you shall 
return it to him before the sun goes down, for that is his only 
covering. It is his garment for his skin. 
What will he sleep in? And it will be that when he cries 
to me, I will hear, for I am gracious. You shall not revile 
God nor curse a ruler of your people. You shall not delay to 
offer the first of your ripe produce and your juices. The 
firstborn of your sons you shall give to me. Likewise you shall 
do with your oxen and 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. You shall not eat 
meat torn by beasts in the field. You shall throw it to the dogs. 
Amen. Well, as we saw last week, as 
we got to this particular section, it is miscellaneous laws concerning 
society. So last time we looked at the 
law concerning the seduction of a virgin. in verses 16 and 
17, and then three capital offenses in verses 18 to 20, a prohibition 
against witchcraft, a prohibition against bestiality, and a prohibition 
against idolatry. Those were capital offenses. 
They were revolutionary in terms of the civil order in Old Covenant 
Israel. It was an act of treason to engage 
in such wicked and abominable practices. Now we move on. to the laws prohibiting the abuse 
of neighbors in verses 21 to 27, and then the laws preserving 
the honor of Yahweh in verses 28 to 31. As we look first at 
the laws prohibiting the abuse of neighbors, there are various 
categories represented here. It's not exhaustive. It is a 
representative section of Holy Scripture. But those societies 
that abuse the powerless will certainly be punished by God 
Most High. So we look at aliens, widows 
and orphans, and poor people. A society can be judged and measured 
by their treatment of or mistreatment of those vulnerable people groups. Obviously an alien is vulnerable. 
He doesn't have the rights of citizenship. A widow is vulnerable 
because her husband is dead and she does not have that provision. 
An orphan is obviously vulnerable because he or she does not have 
parental authority in his or her life. And certainly the poor 
are vulnerable because they don't have the money that the powerful 
people have. And so when we look at a society 
like our own, where children are held in disregard, where 
babies are aborted, children are increasingly being given 
permission and even encouraged to mutilate themselves in terms 
of transgenderism, when we see the marginalization of our elderly 
people, when we see an increasing state-promoted euthanasia program, 
these things do not bode well in terms of our future. We see 
that God takes notice with reference to the powerless and he will 
bring judgment to bear upon the powerful. And it's intriguing 
because in our society you often hear the media say we speak truth 
to power. Our media is on the side of power. They are against the powerless. 
So I think this passage does hold for us a great deal of concern 
in terms of our modern situation in the application of biblical 
law and God's will concerning man's behavior. So we notice 
in verse 21, the alien, verses 22 to 24, you've got the widow 
and the orphan, and then in verses 25 to 27, you've got the poor. 
So let's look first at the alien. Again, the alien was powerless 
as the alien did not possess the rights of citizenship. He 
or she did not have that full badge of authority or identity 
with reference to the body politic in Israel. So the law demands 
that Israelites were morally responsible to treat image bearers 
with respect. Even though they weren't citizens, 
they were still image bearers of the living and true God, so 
therefore they deserve respect. I think I've shown you many times, 
Deuteronomy chapter 25, there is respect shown and dignity 
provided for even a criminal that is being punished corporally 
for his crimes. And when we look at this particular 
passage, notice in verse 21, Now, before we move on to that 
rationale or reason, you'll probably notice today that passages like 
these are invoked to justify open borders in the United States 
and certainly in Canada. I think the biblical argument 
is offered up by leftists in the US far more than I've heard 
it in Canada. They invoke the Bible to try 
to prove that lawlessness is perfectly acceptable. The text 
does not mean that Israel was morally responsible to allow 
illegal immigration. It doesn't mean that anybody 
and everybody could come in. You can't make the Bible say 
anything that you want it to say. Now, they're trying to be 
funny here. This is bad when the God-hater 
takes our Bible and tries to use it against us. They have 
jettisoned any moral standard whatsoever, except insofar as 
they want to try to make us look bad. So they use our moral standard 
against us. And more often than not, Christians 
allow that kind of behavior. We need to shoot back at them. 
I'm not talking about with a .45 or with a 9 mil. I'm talking 
about with the truth of God's holy word. So when you look at 
this passage and it says, you shall neither mistreat a stranger 
nor oppress him, that does not legitimize an open southern border 
and five million people lawlessly basically invading a country. The presence of aliens assumes 
a citizenship. Paul's words to the Ephesians 
in Ephesians chapter 2 in verse 12 assumed citizenship. The Gentiles were aliens from 
the commonwealth of Israel. Again, I don't think or I'm not 
convinced they had the sorts of, you know, border patrol and 
the sorts of things that we have in terms of our immigration process. 
But that there were aliens tells us there was, in fact, a citizenship. So the presence of aliens assumes 
citizenship. The presence of borders assumes 
citizenship. And many times, in Scripture, 
it is specified that amount of land that is given to Israel. You see it expand. Say, for instance, 
under Solomon, you see that border territory expand. And so all 
of these things argue that there was a citizenry within the body 
politic. So a passage like this, where 
it says, you shall not neither mistreat a stranger nor oppress 
him, doesn't mean let him in and give him everything until 
the day that he dies. That is pressing the text way 
too far and way too hard. I cannot mistreat a stranger 
and not oppress him without having to put him on the government 
welfare role. I cannot do these things that 
are harmful to him as an image bearer without justifying or 
legitimizing criminal behavior. And to enter somebody's sovereign 
nation unlawfully is, in fact, a crime. And criminals should 
be dealt with. So the law here is not legitimizing 
an open border policy where the Hittites and the Hibbites and 
the Jebusites and whateverites want to come in among you, just 
put them on the welfare list, put them on the medical healthcare 
system, put them in your schools, and just care for them from cradle 
to grave. Brethren, that's not what the 
text is calling us to, that's not what the text is legitimizing. 
And then in terms of the rationale, notice in 21b, for you were strangers 
in the land of Egypt. So the reminder here is probably 
in the sense of you went through this yourself, so you should 
not do unto others as you had done unto you. But notice, God 
doesn't leave it at the, you know, reminder stage. This is 
a law and a prohibition. In other words, it's not just 
a, remember how bad it was for you in Egypt, so don't make it 
bad for any present stranger or alien in Israel. No, this 
is a law. This is a prohibition. This is 
a mandate for them. He's not leaving it up to the 
goodness of their heart in terms of their reflection upon their 
past status. And I think that Stuart is right 
on. He says, because every member of the Israelite nation hearing 
these words for the first time had been in the situation of 
aliens in Egypt only months prior, it might be assumed that they 
would all automatically loathe any form of discrimination against 
aliens and would seek naturally to avoid the sorts of practices 
of which they themselves had painfully been victims. He says, 
You can see that, right? I mean, the thought is, you know, 
we had it bad, so therefore let's not make it bad for others. We'd 
like to think that of ourselves in some altruistic, 
virtuous way, but more often than not, we'd say, you know, 
we had it bad. Let's punish these slobs that come in amongst us. 
The law is stipulated so that they will not give in to that 
inclination of the human heart. And so there is legislation on 
how to deal with the powerless vis-a-vis the alien, those who 
have come in amongst the body politic that do not enjoy the 
full rights of citizenship. Notice in the second situation, 
you've got widows and orphans in verses 22 to 24. There is 
a prohibition in verse 22, the promise in verse 23, and then 
finally the punishment stipulated in verse 24. But notice the prohibition 
in verse 22, you shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child. You shall not afflict any widow 
or fatherless child, or orphan, we might say. Robert Alter says, 
throughout biblical literature, and particularly in the prophets, 
these are paradigmatic cases of powerless members of society 
who are vulnerable to exploitation. Again, these are persons that 
don't have any protection, or the sort of protection that just 
about everybody else has. Most of us, or many of us, have 
husbands and wives, many of us have parents, and all that sort 
of thing. With the widow and orphan, they're 
basically left to fend for themselves. Now, obviously, there's a New 
Testament counterpart to this particular verse. You can turn 
there, James chapter 1. where James deals with practical 
religion and where James deals with integrity before our God. 
And in chapter 1 at verse 26, he deals with the tongue and 
then he deals with action. Verse 26, if anyone among you 
thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives 
his own heart, this one's religion is useless. Pure and undefiled 
religion before God and the Father is this, to visit orphans and 
widows in their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the 
world. So this old covenant stipulation, 
you shall not, or prohibition, you shall not afflict any widow 
or fatherless child. But positively stated by James, 
he says that pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father 
is this, to visit widows and orphans in their trouble. Now, 
this verb, visit, is similar to the verb, remember, in Hebrews 
chapter 13, 4. It's not just to have some conscious 
knowledge that somebody somewhere is in prison. But it's remember 
with a view to doing something to alleviate the situation. Same 
with the visit. It's not just a, hey, I paid 
my dues, I checked my box, I fulfilled my obligation. but visit with 
a view to actually render some aid to try to alleviate the problems 
that this person has. Calvin says to visit in necessity 
is to extend a helping hand to alleviate such as are in distress. Now going back to the book of 
Exodus, we see several places where this prohibition and this 
positive remedy are applied to the case of the widow and the 
orphan. There's many, we're just going to look at a few. Deuteronomy 
chapter 10. Deuteronomy chapter 10, widow and orphan, care for 
those vulnerable, those powerless among us. So in Deuteronomy chapter 
10 at verse 18, he administers justice for the fatherless and 
the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing. 
Therefore, love the stranger, for you are strangers in the 
land of Egypt. You shall fear the Lord your God, you shall 
serve him, and to him you shall hold fast, and take oaths in 
his name. Deuteronomy 14 and verse 29. 
Deuteronomy 14 verse 29, and the Levite, because he has no 
portion nor inheritance with you, and the stranger and the 
fatherless and the widow who are within your gates may come 
and eat and be satisfied that the Lord your God may bless you 
and all the work of your hand which you do. So when this triennial 
tithe came in, there were specifications on how that tithe money was to 
be distributed. And it went to those who were, 
to some degree, powerless. Those that were, you know, somewhat 
beholden on the goodness of the people, the Levites, and then 
the fatherless and the widow. They needed to be cared for. 
Turn over to Deuteronomy chapter 24. Deuteronomy chapter 24. All these passages show us why 
James says, this is pure and undefiled religion in the sight 
of God and the Father. I mean, you may say, yeah, I'm 
a religious being. I'm a Christian man. I know my 
confession of faith. I read Burkoff. I do all those 
things. But visiting widows and orphans 
in their distress, helping to alleviate the problems that persons 
have within the context of the church and outside of the church, 
This is the measure of true and undefiled religion. Notice in 
2417, you shall not pervert justice, do the stranger or the fatherless, 
nor take a widow's garment as a pledge. But you shall remember 
that you were a slave in Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed 
you from there. Therefore, I command you to do 
this thing. And then there are specific laws 
concerning how you care for those who are impoverished. Notice 
over in Deuteronomy 27. Deuteronomy chapter 27. And I think this is somewhat 
in the backdrop, I know it's sort of the context, rather, 
of Exodus chapter 22. The language there is similar 
to what you see in the covenant curses. Deuteronomy 27 and 28 
and Leviticus chapter 26. So notice this curse in 27-19. Cursed is the one who perverts 
the justice due the stranger, the fatherless, and widow. Again, 
brethren, when we look at our modern situation with an utter 
disregard for the lives of babies in their mother's womb, with 
an utter disregard for maleness and femaleness in our young children, 
When we see the disregard in terms of euthanasia and the extension 
of it to encompass a whole host of powerless people among us, 
we hold life in contempt. We have a disregard for it in 
spades in the Western world. And if we continue down this 
particular path, we'll see what the punishment is as we move 
through our text in Exodus chapter 22. But notice in Psalm 68, Psalm 
68, again, just a handful of references that we find in the 
Old Testament. Psalm 68, specifically at verses 
5 and 6. A father of the fatherless, extolling 
Yahweh, a defender of widows, is God in His holy habitation. God sets the solitary in families. He brings out those who are bound 
into prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a dry land. Psalm 94, an imprecation concerning 
the godless. an imprecation concerning the 
wretched. Notice in Psalm 94 verse 1, O 
Lord God, to whom vengeance belongs, O God, to whom vengeance belongs, 
shine forth. Rise up, O judge of the earth, 
render punishment to the proud. Lord, how long will the wicked, 
how long will the wicked triumph? They utter speech and speak insolent 
things. All the workers of iniquity boast 
in themselves. They break in pieces your people, 
O Lord, and afflict your heritage. They slay the widow and the stranger, 
and murder the fatherless. Yet they say, The Lord does not 
see, nor does the God of Jacob understand." There's no moral 
governor out there. There's no God to whom we're 
accountable. There's no concern. This is nobody's business. Nobody, you know, sheds a tear 
for these powerless ones that we dispense with so cavalierly. 
Psalm 146. Psalm 146. We sang this at the 
outset of our meeting tonight. 146.9. The Lord watches over 
the strangers. He relieves the fatherless and 
the widow. but the way of the wicked he turns upside down. 
The Lord shall reign forever. Your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the Lord." Isaiah chapter 
1, we won't turn there, but Isaiah chapter 1 sets the stage for 
the judgment to come upon the nation, the southern kingdom 
of Judah. And what is their offenses? Their offenses is to exploit 
and to abuse and to afflict the powerless among them, namely 
the stranger, the widow, the orphan, the poor people. The 
prophet Jeremiah, we see the same sort of emphasis. You see 
it in the prophet Malachi. There are these constant repetitious 
themes throughout scripture, and God has a heart, and he expresses 
it for the alien, for the widow, and the orphan. You have the 
ministry of Jesus. He upbraids the scribes and the 
Pharisees. What do the religious leaders 
do with reference to the widow's fortunes? They embezzle them. They seize them from these poor 
women. As well, you've got the Apostolic 
Church. You've got the Apostle Paul. 
The only thing they wanted us to remember was to remember the 
poor. The thing that we were anxious to do. Galatians chapter 
2, verse 10. You've got the commandment by 
the Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy chapter 5 and verse 3. The emphasis 
on honoring widows. And honoring there doesn't mean, 
oh right, you know, Mrs. Whoever. It means to give them 
money so that they don't starve to death. That's the practical 
emphasis in the context of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
When people are hurting, we're supposed to try to alleviate 
those particular issues. Now, he qualifies it, and he 
works through the various aspects concerning widowhood. He says 
the primary responsibility is on the family. He identifies 
such as are real widows, and then he says that there's a necessity 
of obedience in the description of the disobedient. Those who 
do not provide for their own, including their widows, are worse 
than infidels. And then he says that the church's 
responsibility, in the absence of family members, is to put 
widows on the list and to make sure that they're taken care 
of, that they're honored, that they have food, that they don't 
have to go live out in the cold, that we can tend to them and 
care for them. So going back to the book of 
Exodus, we see the emphasis on God's compassion for those who 
are powerless. So he makes this prohibition 
in verse 22, you shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child. 
And then in verse 23 he makes a promise. If you afflict them 
in any way and they cry it all to me, I will surely hear their 
cry. I believe this kind of harkens 
back to Exodus chapter 2. You can turn there. Exodus chapter 
2, remember in that particular situation we have Israel. in 
bondage. And while Israel is in bondage, 
what do they do? They cry out to Yahweh. So what 
does Yahweh do? He raises up a deliverer in the 
person of Moses and he brings his people out of this house 
of bondage. Notice in Exodus 2 verse 23, 
Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt 
died, then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, 
And they cried out, and their cry came up to God because of 
the bondage. So God heard their groaning, and God remembered 
His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God 
looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them. I'm 
pretty sure when we look back at that particular passage, and 
there's similar passages in the book of Judges, we've got that 
cycle of sin, oppression, repentance, and deliverance. Well, there 
wasn't always repentance. Just because they cried out didn't 
mean they were crying out in terms of repentance. I don't 
think that's what's happening here in Exodus 22. They're not 
saying, oh Lord, we've sinned against you. This is the fruit 
of or the consequences of our rebellion. Please forgive us. 
Give us grace so that we won't sin again. No, they're crying 
out because it hurt. They're crying out because it 
was bondage. They're crying out and groaning because they were 
in dire straits. And nevertheless, even though 
there wasn't repentance, God hears and God delivers. So notice, 
in our passage, if you afflict them in any way and they cry 
out at all to me, I will surely hear their cry. What do the powerless 
frequently lack in civil society? They lack any ear. They lack 
any redress. They lack any sort of help from 
anybody outside of themselves. They don't get to go to the court, 
the Supreme Court. They'll never be able to stand 
there. Sitting in that courtroom yesterday, I'd love for the judge 
just at one time to say, what do you think, Mr. Butler? What 
do you mean, what do I think? You got two hours? Because I 
got lots to tell you what I think. I'll never get that opportunity. 
We're the proles in society. We'll never get to speak truth 
to power. There's always going to be a 
representative. There's always going to be somebody else. We'll never 
get our day in court, at least as I perceive it. Things may 
change. Maybe I'm speaking out of turn. I may see my day in 
court, especially if they put us back in masks or lockdowns 
or anything like that. But with reference to the powerless, 
they don't have redress in the civil courts. They can't hire, 
you know, Johnny Cochran to defend them. They can't hire, you know, 
the expensive lawyers. They have no one except the living 
and true God. And yet, when they cry out to 
the living and true God, He promises, I will surely hear their cry. And then notice the punishment. He says, and my wrath will become 
hot. I will kill you with the sword. 
Your wives shall be widows and your children fatherless. The 
covenant curses of Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 27 and 28 
generally. This is sort of, you know, foreshadowing 
that list of punishments and sanctions that are appended to 
covenant law. You go into the land and you 
live like rebels and you will reap the consequences for your 
rebellion against a holy God. The judgment of God via the sword 
means through enemy invasion. When it says, I will kill you 
with the sword, there's not going to be a big sword that comes 
out of heaven and lops the head off of some guy who's afflicted 
a child or an orphan. He's talking about their loss 
with reference to enemy invaders. The abuse of the powerless would 
render the nation powerless against enemy forces. Look at Leviticus 
26, specifically at verse 25. Leviticus chapter 26, Covenant 
Curses, and verse 25. And I will bring a sword against 
you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant. When you are 
gathered together within your cities, I will send pestilence 
among you, and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. This 
is definitely an allusion. Jesus alludes to this in the 
Olivet Discourse in Luke's Gospel. These are the days of vengeance, 
Jesus says. When you see Jerusalem surrounded 
by armies, you know that its desolation is near. He says specifically, 
these are the days of vengeance. This brings us back to these 
covenant curses. I will bring a sword against 
you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant. And then notice 
in Deuteronomy 32. Deuteronomy 27 and 28 specifically 
are the blessings and curses, but we see remnants of that continuing 
on to the end of the book. Notice in Deuteronomy 32 at verse 
25. Deuteronomy 32 at verse 25, the 
sword shall destroy outside, there shall be terror within 
for the young man and virgin, the nursing child with the man 
of gray hairs. Even the non-combatants in Israel 
are going to be decimated when foreign enemies invade. When 
you carry on in a pattern of oppressing the powerless, you 
will be powerless to fight off enemy invaders. And this is why 
I say this is a very scary section of Scripture. If we continue 
down this path in Western civilization, I'm not suggesting we're a theocratic 
nation, I'm not suggesting we're the Commonwealth of Israel, but 
I'm suggesting that we live in God's moral universe. And when 
people in God's moral universe exploit people, when they abuse 
people, when they mistreat people, and when they misuse people, 
God Most High brings vengeance to bear upon them. And when we 
look at passages like these, we ought to be prayerful in light 
of our civilization. Notice the language of Deuteronomy 
32, verse 42. I will make my arrows drunk with 
blood, and my sword shall devour flesh. with the blood of the 
slain and the captives from the heads of the leaders of the enemy." 
So in the punishment appended, or attached to this prohibition, 
my wrath will become hot, I will kill you with the sword, your 
wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless. Now notice 
that sort of specification in Deuteronomy 28. Why is it that 
your children will be fatherless and your wives will be widows? 
Yeah, you'll be dead. Or, this could speak to exile. 
Notice in 28-41, which we know exile was a particular punishment 
inflicted upon both kingdoms in Israel. And Deuteronomy 28 
is very extensive on that. Everything you see in the prophets, 
everything you see in, say, 2 Kings 17, in the fall of the northern 
kingdom, and then in 2 Kings 24, the fall of the southern 
kingdom, don't go, I can't believe this happened. Or when the prophets 
come to throw down with the nation of Israel, I can't believe this 
is happening. Deuteronomy 28 makes it crystal 
clear what's going to happen. And notice in 28-41, you shall 
beget sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours, for 
they shall go into captivity. Locusts shall consume all your 
trees and the produce of your land. So when we go back to this 
passage in Exodus chapter 22 and we compare later revelation, 
we see that the reason why Israel reaped the judgment of God Most 
High was at the level of the mistreatment and the affliction 
of the powerless among them. It's not rocket science, brethren. 
It's not, wow, I can't believe the fall of Israel. I can't believe 
the covenant people. They got sacked by Assyria and 
then Babylon. You should believe it because 
God promised that such would be the case if they continued 
down this path of wretchedness. Stuart says, the threat implied 
here is that God will allow Israel's enemies to attack and exterminate 
them if they did not uphold social justice. I mentioned this on 
Sunday too. God's word is pro-social justice. The problem with social justice 
warriors today isn't social justice, it's their version of it. It's 
Marxism, it's critical race theory, it's an inversion of what's right 
and wrong. You can't read the Bible, both 
testaments, without seeing an emphasis on social justice. James 
sounds like a minor prophet when he comes to deal with the professing 
people of God that he's dealing with. Who could, you know, evade 
the clear teaching of Jesus in Matthew 25? When I was in prison, 
you visited me. When I was poor, you fed me. When I was naked, you clothed 
me. Of course the Bible emphasizes a horizontal element in terms 
of our religion. Pure and undefiled religion in 
the sight of God and the Father is this, to visit widows and 
orphans in their distress. There's not a problem with social 
justice. The problem is social justice 
warriors who are serving Karl Marx and not Jesus Christ. The Geneva Bible at this passage 
says the plague or the just plague of God upon the oppressors. So this punishment reflects the 
nature of God, the perfections of God, the being of God at the 
level of righteousness and justice. And then let's move on to the 
poor in verses 25 to 27. Again, there's a prohibition, 
there's a pledge, and then there's a promise. Notice the prohibition 
in verse 25. If you lend money to any of my 
people who are poor among you, you shall not be like a moneylender 
to him. You shall not charge him interest or what we call 
usury. It was lawful to charge the pagans 
interest. That was legit. You go ahead 
and charge those pagans, you know, up to whatever for interest. You can turn to Deuteronomy 23. 
Deuteronomy 23, 19 and 20 shows us the specific limitations, 
the specific qualification concerning loaning money. 23, 19, you shall 
not charge interest to your brother, interest on money or food or 
anything that is lent out at interest. To a foreigner you 
may charge interest, but to your brother you shall not charge 
interest, that the Lord your God may bless you and all to 
which you set your hand in the land which you are entering to 
possess. So going back to our particular 
passage, it was lawful to charge interest to pagans. It was unlawful 
to charge interest in the covenant community to your brother. Now 
there is this assumption built into the text that you will lend. 
There is an assumption built into the text that you will be 
generous, that you're not going to be cavalier, that you're not 
going to hoard your dough, that you're not going to watch your 
brother starve to death. You're going to try to be there 
to alleviate his particular problems and to be able to help him. Everybody 
falls on hard times from time to time within the body politic, 
within the covenant community. Go ahead and lend money to your 
brother, but don't charge him usury. Don't get money, don't 
make money off of his back. Now, the prohibition against 
charging interest to fellow Israelites is not only here, but you see 
it in Leviticus 25, 36, and 37, Proverbs 28, 8, and then in Ezekiel 
18, which speaks about responsibility for sin. Each person's own responsibility 
for sin. One of the particular aspects 
is money, loaning, or lending money with usury appended. You 
see it in 18.8, 1813, 1817, and then in 22, chapter 22, verse 
12, speaks condemningly against charging usury with reference 
to loans to your brethren. Now Ezekiel 22 is quite informative 
or instructive because it explains to the people of Israel why they're 
in Babylon. You're in Babylon because you 
have broken my law. You're in Babylon because you 
violated and profaned the Sabbaths. You're in Babylon because you 
have taken the covenant law and you have rejected it. One of 
the particulars is that they charged interest to their brethren. So going back to our passage, 
the prohibition is simple. You're not supposed to charge 
interest to your brother. Verse 26, if you ever take your 
neighbor's garment as a pledge, you shall return it to him before 
the sun goes down. For that is his only covering. 
It is his garment for his skin. What will he sleep in? Now the pledge is collateral 
to secure the loan. So while you're to be generous, 
you're not to be frivolous. There's responsibility. And you're 
not doing your brother any good by just handing him money. That's 
never a good thing, ultimately. I was intrigued recently. I saw 
Bono finally make that observation. You know, he's been a big humanitarian. 
He's gone all over the globe to help the downtrodden and the 
poor. You know what he said a couple weeks ago? It doesn't do anybody 
any good to give them free stuff. Capitalism. Capitalism. People 
need to work. People need to be able to provide 
for themselves. We could have told you that 40 years ago before 
you ever went globetrotting to help the downtrodden and poor. 
It is a very simple principle. There ain't no such thing as 
a free lunch. If people get a free lunch, they will come to expect 
that free lunch. And God does not take that lightly. That is a bad thing. So with 
reference to lending, you be generous but not frivolous. So 
as Stewart says, normally a lender's incentive to grant a loan is 
the confidence that if the borrower defaults, the lender can then 
take the property as his own in compensation for the unrecovered 
money. It's just simple economics. And 
the borrower knows that. The borrower goes into that. 
He produces a pledge. He produces his collateral. But 
the point is, is if you're taking his collateral or pledge causes 
him to freeze to death, that's not good. You're not supposed 
to do that. That's the emphasis. If you ever 
take your neighbor's garment as a pledge, it's not like us 
where we have, you know, five different jackets hanging in 
our closet. It's a light breeze out, so I'll put on my light 
jacket. you know, frigid, I'll put on my big coat. It wasn't 
like that. You had one outer garment and 
you wore it and you slept in it. If you didn't have it, you 
froze to death. That's just the bottom line. 
So if you ever take your neighbor's garment as a pledge, you shall 
return it to him before the sun goes down. You hold his pledge, 
you hold the collateral, but you don't do it at night when 
the guy's going to freeze. You give it back to him. Notice, 
for that is His only covering. It is His garment for His skin. 
What will He sleep in? Now notice the promise, and it 
will be that when He cries to me, I will hear. Notice the perfection 
specified, for I am gracious. It will be that when He cries 
to me, I will hear, for I am gracious." Again, with reference 
to the powerless. They don't have redress in terms 
of civil court. They don't have lawyers that 
they can hire. They don't have judges on their 
iPhone that they can call up. They don't have persons in high 
places that will vindicate them. But they have the person of God 
Most High. They've got the being of God 
Most High, rather, in heaven, who when they call upon Him, 
He will hear. And I love this. It says, "...and it will be that 
when he cries to me..." What are we talking about here? We're 
talking about the poor. The guy who can't live without 
a coat at night. The poor guy. The man that doesn't 
have, you know, everything else. And yet, he's got a direct line 
to God. It will be that when he cries 
to me, I will hear, for I am gracious." Now, it doesn't specify 
what he will do. I'll throw a coat down from heaven 
and cover the man. I think if we take it on balance 
with what we saw in the previous section in terms of orphan and 
widow, he will hear and he will vindicate that man, and he will 
bring punishment upon that man who keeps his coat or garment 
as a pledge. So God is active, God is involved 
in the civil polity, and He will vindicate the powerless even 
when they are exploited by the powerful. And then in terms of 
Yahweh, the laws preserving the honor of Yahweh. Notice the authority 
of God in verse 28. We uphold the dignity of God's 
authority in verse 28. You shall not revile God, we 
know that from the Commandments, nor curse a ruler of your people. So it's obviously a prohibition 
against blasphemy, but it's also a challenge to God's authority. God establishes His authority 
in the family. Look at 2117. 2117, he who curses his father 
or his mother shall surely be put to death. Well, why is that? 
Because in Exodus chapter 20 at verse 12, we have honor your 
father and your mother that your days may be long upon the land 
which the Lord your God is giving you. They are the authority that 
represents God in the family. So in verse 17 of chapter 21, 
he who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to 
death. It's a challenge to God's authority. So you've got God, 
don't blaspheme him. You've got parents, don't curse 
them because they represent God's authority. And then you have 
civil authority that represents God's authority and ecclesiastical 
authority. Right? So this is the emphasis 
in 28. You shall not revile God nor 
curse a ruler of your people. Gil says specifically at this 
passage, but civil magistrates, the judges of the land, and the 
like are meant who are powers ordained of God, are in his stead 
and represent him. And therefore respect should 
be shown them, nor should they be treated with any degree of 
slight and contempt, which may discourage and intimidate them 
and deter them from the execution of their office." Earlier in 
the section we saw that they appear before the judges, literally 
the Elohim, the gods. Psalm 82 refers to the gods, 
likely civil authority. And so this passage demands that 
we show respect and that we show a regard for lawful authority 
in the family, lawful authority in the civil sphere, lawful authority 
in the ecclesiastical sphere. If we buck against the authority 
in the family, the authority in the civil sphere, or the authority 
in the ecclesiastical sphere, we are bucking against the authority 
of God. Now, obviously, in fact, you 
can turn to Acts chapter 23. This is not the common interpretation, 
but it is an interpretation, and it's the one I hold to. The 
authority must represent God. properly. In other words, his 
authority is only insofar as he is doing that which is righteous. 
In other words, if a mother and father tell a child to engage 
in wicked behavior or tell a child to do that which is, you know, 
abominable, that child must obey God rather than men, right? If 
the civil authority prohibits the preacher from preaching Christ, 
we must obey God rather than men. So the lawful authority 
of the person in authority that represents God to the inferior 
must execute that authority in a responsible way. So let every 
soul be subject to the governing authority, for there is no authority 
except from God, and those which exist are established by God. 
They are God's servant to you for good. Not for bad. If they're 
telling you to sin, they're telling you to disobey God, they're telling 
you to rebel, they're telling you to engage in lawlessness, 
well, you must obey God rather than men. So there's limitations 
in terms of the authority in family, the authority in civil, 
and the authority in terms of ecclesiastical. If a pastor tells 
you something that is heretical, or a pastor tells you something 
or gives you a command that's not biblical, you must obey God 
rather than men. Now, in Acts chapter 23, the 
apostle is before the Sanhedrin. And if you notice in chapter 
23 at verse 1, then Paul, looking earnestly at the council, said, 
Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before 
God until this day. And the high priest Ananias commanded 
those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. Then Paul said 
to him, God will strike you, you whitewashed wall. For you 
sit to judge me according to the law, and do you command me 
to be struck contrary to the law? And those who stood by said, 
Do you revile God's high priest? Then Paul said, I did not know, 
brethren, that he was the high priest, for it is written, look 
at the text, You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people. 
Brethren, I don't think he's saying, I'm sorry I violated 
the law. I think he's saying, I didn't 
know because you're not acting like the high priest. The high 
priest does not have the authority to arbitrarily and capriciously 
order slaps to be inflicted on a man under examination. That 
is an abuse of authority, just like the Sanhedrin abused their 
authority when they were dealing with the Lord Jesus Christ. Brethren, 
they didn't have, you search the law of God, you go through 
Genesis to Malachi and you find one place where the Sanhedrin 
or the religious council in Israel had the right before man was 
convicted to start slapping him and beating him and engaging 
in the sorts of things that the Sanhedrin does in that first 
century. Both to our Lord Jesus Christ, to Stephen as we saw 
in Acts 7 on Sunday night, they did not have lawful authority 
to execute him at And neither does the high priest here have 
the authority to tell his henchmen to slap the Apostle Paul. So 
when he says, I didn't know, some say, well, it's because 
he had malaria and his eyesight wasn't good. I believe his eyesight 
wasn't good. At the end of Galatians, see 
with what large letters I write these words. He had bad eyesight. He told the Galatians, you treated 
me like an angel. You would have given me your 
own eyes. Why would he say that? Why would they want to give him 
their eyes? Probably because he had bad eyesight. 
So some say, well, he had bad eyesight. He couldn't really 
tell it was the high priest. No, he couldn't tell. He said 
it was that the high priest didn't function according to the high 
priestly office. I did not know, brethren, that 
he was the high priest. For it is written, you shall 
not speak evil of a ruler of your people. So this particular 
passage is a heavy passage. Nor curse a ruler of your people. 
Family authority, civil authority, ecclesiastical authority. They're 
supposed to be revered, they're supposed to be honored, they're 
supposed to be respected, they're supposed to be obeyed. But when 
they overstep their boundaries, when they engage in that which 
is not lawful, we have a higher authority, and it's God himself. 
So if a parent tells a child to do something vicious or vile, 
or if the state tells a person to do something contrary to the 
word of God, or if the church tells somebody to do something 
that is contrary to the word of God, we must obey God rather 
than men. So earthly authority, while it 
represents God, is always restrained or qualified by the ultimate 
authority of God Almighty. And then the final section, service 
given to God. Verses 29 to 30 deals with sacrifice, 
and then verse 31 deals with sanctity maintained before God. 
So with reference to the sacrifice, the timely sacrifice of your 
first fruits. Look over at 2314. Three times you shall keep a 
feast to me in the year. You shall keep the feast of unleavened 
bread. You shall eat unleavened bread seven days as I commanded 
you at the time appointed in the month of Abib. For in it 
you came out of Egypt. None shall appear before me empty. You bring sacrifice to God, not 
because God has need, but because God is worthy, God is given, 
and this is the means by which you present your sacrifice to 
God. You don't come empty-handed when 
you go before Yahweh. As Gary North once said, people 
in the Western world, they want their religion, but they want 
it cheap. And God says, nope, you don't show up empty-handed. 
So the timely sacrifice of your firstfruits and then the firstborn 
son given to God. This is a monetary payment we 
know from a parallel in Exodus chapter 13. And then verse 31 
is interesting. You shall be holy men to me. 
You shall not eat meat torn by beasts in the field. You shall 
throw it to the dogs. There are laws in the Old Testament 
regarding the killing of animals. You've heard it called kosher 
killing, they drain the blood. And there were specifications 
on how to kill it, how to eat it, where to eat it, when to 
eat it. And so you are not supposed to 
eat that which was torn by another animal. That was carrion and 
that was fitting only for the dogs. Dogs don't get great treatment 
in much of the Bible. But I don't think they're like 
the little ones that sat on your lap. They were probably more 
vicious scavenger type things. But the point here was they were 
to be separate from the pagan nations. You shall be holy men 
to me. Separate men, sanctified men. You shall not eat meat torn by 
beasts in the field. That's the way the pagans do 
it. You take it rather and you throw it to the dogs. It's fitting 
for them. So in conclusion, we do see an 
emphasis on biblical justice. Biblical justice, probably the 
better choice of words to modify justice than social because we 
get so many strange interpretations of social justice. And then the 
protection of the powerless people. Aliens, widows, orphans, and 
the poor. They're not to be taken advantage 
of. They're not to be exploited, they're not to be misused or 
abused, but rather they are to be treated as image bearers of 
the living God. And yea brethren, in a situation 
where we have the power to help the powerless, we ought to be 
generous in the means or the way that we go about that. I 
don't think it's not, it isn't, you know, we look at the balance 
of scripture. So negatively, or the prohibition, you know, 
don't afflict them. Positively, visit them, care 
for them, render aid to them, give to them, help them, try 
to alleviate the suffering of the downtrodden and poor. And 
then finally, the promotion of the holiness of God. So, these 
laws preserving the honor of Yahweh at the level of His authority 
and at the level of the service given to Him. That's the emphasis 
in these miscellaneous laws pertaining to society. Well, I'll close 
in a word of prayer. Our Father in heaven, we thank 
you for your word. We thank you for its clarity. 
We thank you so very much for the perfections of God revealed 
in passages like these, that you are gracious, that you are 
compassionate, that you hear the prayers of those who are 
afflicted and those who are suffering. And may you encourage us, God, 
to be those who are faithful in terms of pure and undefiled 
religion. We pray for our nation. We pray for the Western world. 
We pray for the world at large. and the things that concern us 
in terms of crimes committed against those vulnerable among 
us. We pray that in your wrath you would remember mercy. We 
pray that you would remove vicious and vile and wicked political 
leaders and put in their place men that are committed at least 
to some degree to natural law, to those principles that are 
found in God's world that uphold those things of justice and righteousness 
and things that make for a decent body politic. We just pray, God, 
that you'd bless our local church and help us to glorify you, and 
we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen. Well, any questions or 
comments on that section? Just a comment that we are all 
strangers and covert, as Peter says. Yep, we are passing through, 
that's for sure. Citizenship is in heaven. a notion of you wouldn't want 
to have a society that is known for being so inward-looking that 
it just treats everyone else poorly by virtue of not being 
from that country. You see this in many societies, 
both contemporaneously and historically, in inwardness, where it's like 
an isolationism, almost like Japan prior to that American 
guy at the turn of the 1800s. That's not really the best way 
to live. But I think if you have a proper 
immigration process, I mean, if somebody is a citizen, it 
doesn't matter what their ethnicity is. It doesn't matter, you know, 
where they come from. But if they're lawbreakers, they 
should be treated by lawbreakers. You violate the law of the land 
to get into a country, you shouldn't be reported for that. I don't 
see the equity there. Other righteousness. I hate to 
use the word equity anymore. Exactly means the exact opposite 
in modern speech, new speech. I know when we were down south 
we were talking to Pastor Campbell about how illegal immigrants 
will become members of churches, or want to become members of 
churches down there, and how exactly the churches should deal 
with brothers who are in the US illegally, and exactly what 
course of action ought to be taken. Because if they do it 
right, they're going away, and they're probably not coming back. 
Oh, yeah. Right? So I thought that was their figure. They're working on that. But 
I thought that was a very any black from any two countries 
upon return.