Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Social Justice and Radical Resistance Throughout the Bible

The Bible is filled from cover to cover with a steady theme of economic and social justice for the poor and the oppressed (most commonly called the widow, orphan, and alien or foreigner). This list is only a sample of what can be found between Genesis and Revelation, giving a strong example of this, a central message of the entire Bible.
Exodus 3:9-10
9 And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

Exodus 22:21
"Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt. 

Exodus 23:9 
"Do not oppress an alien; you yourselves know how it feels to be aliens, because you were aliens in Egypt.

Leviticus 23:22
" 'When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God.' "

Leviticus 25:22-24 
While you plant during the eighth year, you will eat from the old crop and will continue to eat from it until the harvest of the ninth year comes in. 
23 " 'The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants. 24 Throughout the country that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land.

Numbers 9:14
And if a stranger sojourns among you and would keep the Passover to the Lord, according to the statute of the Passover and according to its rule, so shall he do. You shall have one statute, both for the sojourner and for the native.”

Numbers 15:16
One law and one rule shall be for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you.

Deuteronomy 10:17-19
For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes.
He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing.
And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt.

Deuteronomy 23:15-16
If a slave has taken refuge with you, do not hand him over to his master. Let him live among you wherever he likes and in whatever town he chooses. Do not oppress him.

Deuteronomy 24:17-22
"You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless, or take a widow's garment in 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. "When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over them again. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not strip it afterward. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this. 

Deuteronomy 27:19
"Cursed is the man who withholds justice from the alien, the fatherless or the widow." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

1 Samuel 8:10-22
10 Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. 12 Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. 16 Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle[c] and donkeys he will take for his own use. 17 He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. 20 Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”

21 When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the Lord. 22 The Lord answered, “Listen to them and give them a king.”

Psalm 10:12-18
 12 Arise, LORD! Lift up your hand, O God.
       Do not forget the helpless.
 13 Why does the wicked man revile God?
       Why does he say to himself,
       "He won't call me to account"?
 14 But you, O God, do see trouble and grief;
       you consider it to take it in hand.
       The victim commits himself to you;
       you are the helper of the fatherless.
 15 Break the arm of the wicked and evil man;
       call him to account for his wickedness
       that would not be found out.
 16 The LORD is King for ever and ever;
       the nations will perish from his land.
 17 You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted;
       you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,
 18 defending the fatherless and the oppressed,
       in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.

Psalm 12:5
"Because of the oppression of the weak and the groaning of the needy, I will now arise," says the LORD. "I will protect them from those who malign them."

Psalm 82:1-3
God has taken his place in the divine council; 
    in the midst of the gods he holds judgement:
2 “How long will you judge unjustly 
    and show partiality to the wicked? Selah
3 Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; 
    maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.

Psalm 99:4 
The King in his might loves justice. 
    You have established equity; 
you have executed justice 
    and righteousness in Jacob. 

Psalm 103:6
The LORD works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.

Psalm 140:12
I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, 
    and will execute justice for the needy.

Psalm 146:5-9
5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, 
    whose hope is in the Lord his God,
6 who made heaven and earth, 
    the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps faith for ever;
7     who executes justice for the oppressed, 
    who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free;
8     the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; 
    the Lord loves the righteous.
9 The Lord watches over the sojourners; 
    he upholds the widow and the fatherless, 
    but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

Isaiah 1:15-17
15 When you spread out your hands, 
    I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers, 
    I will not listen; 
    your hands are full of blood.
16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; 
    remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
17     learn to do good;
seek justice, 
    correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless, 
    plead the widow's cause. 

Isaiah 3:13-15
13 The Lord has taken his place to contend; 
    he stands to judge peoples.
14 The Lord will enter into judgement 
    with the elders and princes of his people:
“It is you who have devoured the vineyard, 
    the spoil of the poor is in your houses.
15 What do you mean by crushing my people, 
    by grinding the face of the poor?”
declares the Lord God of hosts.

Isaiah 26:5-7
5 For he has humbled 
    the inhabitants of the height, 
    the lofty city.
He lays it low, lays it low to the ground, 
    casts it to the dust.
6 The foot tramples it, 
    the feet of the poor, 
    the steps of the needy.”
7 The path of the righteous is level; 
    you make level the way of the righteous. 

Isaiah 30:12-13
 12 Therefore, this is what the Holy One of Israel says:
       "Because you have rejected this message,
       relied on oppression
       and depended on deceit,
 13 this sin will become for you
       like a high wall, cracked and bulging,
       that collapses suddenly, in an instant.

Isaiah 58:6-10
 6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
       to loose the chains of injustice
       and untie the cords of the yoke,
       to set the oppressed free
       and break every yoke?
 7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
       and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
       when you see the naked, to clothe him,
       and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
 8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
       and your healing will quickly appear;
       then your righteousness will go before you,
       and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
 9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
       you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
       "If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
       with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
 10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
       and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
       then your light will rise in the darkness,
       and your night will become like the noonday.

Isaiah 61:1-3
 1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
       because the LORD has anointed me
       to preach good news to the poor.
       He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
       to proclaim freedom for the captives
       and release from darkness for the prisoners,
 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor
       and the day of vengeance of our God,
       to comfort all who mourn,
 3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
       to bestow on them a crown of beauty
       instead of ashes,
       the oil of gladness
       instead of mourning,
       and a garment of praise
       instead of a spirit of despair.
       They will be called oaks of righteousness,
       a planting of the LORD
       for the display of his splendor.

Jeremiah 7:4-8
4 Do not trust in deceptive words and say, "This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!" 5 If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, 6 if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, 7 then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers for ever and ever. 8 But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless.

Jeremiah 22:3-5
3 This is what the LORD says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place. 4 For if you are careful to carry out these commands, then kings who sit on David's throne will come through the gates of this palace, riding in chariots and on horses, accompanied by their officials and their people. 5 But if you do not obey these commands, declares the LORD, I swear by myself that this palace will become a ruin.' "

Jeremiah 22:13-19
13 “Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, 
   and his upper rooms by injustice,
who makes his neighbour serve him for nothing
    and does not give him his wages,
14 who says, ‘I will build myself a great house
    with spacious upper rooms’,
who cuts out windows for it,
    panelling it with cedar
    and painting it with vermilion.
15 Do you think you are a king
    because you compete in cedar?
Did not your father eat and drink
    and do justice and righteousness?
    Then it was well with him.
16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy;
    then it was well.
Is not this to know me?
    declares the Lord.
17 But you have eyes and heart
    only for your dishonest gain,
for shedding innocent blood,
    and for practising oppression and violence.”
18 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:
“They shall not lament for him, saying,
    ‘Ah, my brother!’ or ‘Ah, sister!’
They shall not lament for him, saying,
    ‘Ah, lord!’ or ‘Ah, his majesty!'
19 With the burial of a donkey he shall be buried,
    dragged and dumped beyond the gates of Jerusalem.” 

Ezekiel 22:6-8,12
 6 " 'See how each of the princes of Israel who are in you uses his power to shed blood. 7 In you they have treated father and mother with contempt; in you they have oppressed the alien and mistreated the fatherless and the widow. 8 You have despised my holy things and desecrated my Sabbaths. 
12 In you men accept bribes to shed blood; you take usury and excessive interest and make unjust gain from your neighbors by extortion. And you have forgotten me, declares the Sovereign LORD.

Ezekiel 45:9
“Thus says the Lord God: Enough, O princes of Israel! Put away violence and oppression, and execute justice and righteousness. Cease your evictions of my people, declares the Lord God. 

Ezekiel 47:13-14, 21-23
This is what the Sovereign LORD says: "These are the boundaries by which you are to divide the land for an inheritance among the twelve tribes of Israel, with two portions for Joseph. 14 You are to divide it equally among them. Because I swore with uplifted hand to give it to your forefathers, this land will become your inheritance.
21 "You are to distribute this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel. 22 You are to allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the aliens who have settled among you and who have children. You are to consider them as native-born Israelites; along with you they are to be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. 23 In whatever tribe the alien settles, there you are to give him his inheritance," declares the Sovereign LORD.

Amos 5:21-24
21 “I hate, I despise your feasts,  
    and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,  
    I will not accept them;
and the peace offerings of your fattened animals,  
    I will not look upon them.
23 Take away from me the noise of your songs;  
    to the melody of your harps I will not listen.
24 But let justice roll down like waters,  
    and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Micah 6:4-8
4 For I brought you up from the land of Egypt  
    and redeemed you from the house of slavery,
and I sent before you Moses,  
    Aaron, and Miriam.
5 O my people, remember what Balak king of Moab devised,  
    and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,
and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal,  
    that you may know the saving acts of the Lord.”
6 “With what shall I come before the Lord,  
    and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,  
    with calves a year old?
7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,  
    with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,  
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
8 He has told you, O man, what is good;
    and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,  
    and to walk humbly with your God?  

Zechariah 7:8-12
8 And the word of the LORD came again to Zechariah: 9 "This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. 10 Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.'
11 "But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears. 12 They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the LORD Almighty was very angry.

Zephaniah 31:4 (New International Version)
 1 Woe to the city of oppressors,
       rebellious and defiled!
 2 She obeys no one,
       she accepts no correction.
       She does not trust in the LORD,
       she does not draw near to her God.
 3 Her officials are roaring lions,
       her rulers are evening wolves,
       who leave nothing for the morning.
 4 Her prophets are arrogant;
       they are treacherous men.
       Her priests profane the sanctuary
       and do violence to the law.

Luke 1:46-55
46 And Mary said,
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
47     and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. 
    For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me, 
    and holy is his name.
50 And his mercy is for those who fear him 
    from generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with his arm; 
    he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones 
    and exalted those of humble estate;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things, 
    and the rich he has sent away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel, 
    in remembrance of his mercy,
55 as he spoke to our fathers, 
    to Abraham and to his offspring for ever.” 

Luke 4:14-21
 14Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
 16He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. 17The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
 18"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
      because he has anointed me
      to preach good news to the poor.
   He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
      and recovery of sight for the blind,
   to release the oppressed,
    19to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
20Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, 21and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

Acts 2:42-47
42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Acts 4:32-35
32 Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. 33 And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. 34 There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold 35 and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. 

Hebrews 11:13
All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.

James 2:1-5
My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. 2 For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, 3 and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place”, while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there”, or, “Sit down at my feet”, 4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? 

James 5:1-6 
Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. 2Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 3Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. 4Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. 5You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. 6You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you.

No comments:

Post a Comment