Lessons to Live ByՕրինակ
Do Not Forget What God Has Done For You
At first glance, Exodus 22 seems like a bunch of outdated and irrelevant rules. Not many people in my nation, Australia – to my knowledge – are stealing oxen or giving pieces of silver to neighbours for safekeeping. There are also some commands in the mix that might seem offensive, and some that perhaps should be shielded from the eyes of a child. But right in the middle, we read one command that isn’t isolated to this chapter – in fact it is repeated in Exodus 23:9, as well as in Deuteronomy.
God commands His Israelites, following their freedom from slavery in Egypt, to treat foreigners well. Other translations use the word sojourner: someone who lives in a country away from their native home. Often sojourners are coupled together with other vulnerable groups: widows, orphans, and the poor. The original audience of this text were freed slaves: they weren’t to forget their own displacement.
Foreign residents don’t have a real sense of home in the land in which they live. We see this today with displaced people around the world, and there are plenty of sojourners in our own midst. As I write this, there’s a humanitarian crisis at hand with residents of Afghanistan fleeing their home country as the Taliban takes control. It’s devastating to see, and yet God’s command is clear – we are to care for, and pray for, the sojourner.
After all, we were once foreigners, dead in sin. And by the grace of Jesus, we were rescued and welcomed in. May we never forget all that He has done for us.
Written by SAM ROBINSON
Want more? Check out the Real Hope Conversations Podcast and listen to Dwayne Jeffries delve deeper into the topic of Lessons to Live By. Available wherever you listen to podcasts.
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A week long study of Exodus 8-22. There are so many lessons hidden in the words of Exodus. As we navigate Exodus 18–22, our hope is that you’ll not only be reminded and inspired by passages like the Ten Commandments, but will also see the lessons hidden in the passages that surround this well-known scripture. Lessons to live by.
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