Exodus 23:1–9

“You shall not circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert justice. You shall not show partiality to a poor man in his dispute.

“If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again. If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its burden, and you would refrain from helping it, you shall surely help him with it.

“You shall not pervert the judgment of your poor in his dispute. Keep yourself far from a false matter; do not kill the innocent and righteous. For I will not justify the wicked. And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the discerning and perverts the words of the righteous.

“Also you shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the heart of a stranger, because you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”

As with the previous passage, these are not laws with specific schedules of punishment, but rules for righteous living.

And, again, these rules hold Israel (and us) to an even higher standard than that. Even your enemy's ox must be rescued in times of trouble. The same rule holds if you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its burden. This pushes people into being better than they usually feel like being.

Also, we must treat the poor fairly. You shall not pervert the judgment of your poor in his dispute. So, how do you apply this in modern America? We don’t have the kind of poor that existed back then.

Extreme poverty, unlike anything we see, exists in many other countries. For example, there’s a “neighborhood” known as “the black hole” in the middle of San Jose dos Compos, Brazil. At night, the black hole is totally dark, and the rest of the town is a lighted ring around it.

The black hole is a valley with no electricity, partly because it’s in a flood plain. The people who live there are poorer than what most Americans can even imagine. They have few possessions and little income. People like these frequently get hit by misfortunes and injustices.

This passage commands us to not add to that. God holds a special place in His heart for the poor.

Our poor may not be as poor as the folks that live in the black hole, but they’re poor enough. We are commanded, in no uncertain terms, to minister to them.

But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? — 1 John 3:17

If we don’t minister to those in need, people won’t be attracted to our message—

nor should they be.

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These weekday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. Saturdays' by Matt Richardson. Subscribe here: https://www.ailbe.org/resources/community

The weekly study guides, which include questions for discussion or meditation, are here: https://www.ailbe.org/resources/itemlist/category/91-deep-studies

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.