EXODUS 22 Lesson # 20
THE TREATMENT OF STRANGERS.
I. Greetings:
II. Introduction:
A. The Issue: Power
Note: Today we are going to look at the issue of “power” and how it is handled.
Q Can you give me an example of something you have seen that was a misuse of power?
Q Has anyone in power hurt someone you know well, someone in your family or extended family?
Q Is it hard to handle power properly? What makes it difficult?
An = Many people yearn to have power over others, to be more important, to have more influence, etc. What a few people do understand is that with power comes a great responsibility.
B. Jesus’ Example: serve with it.
Q Did Jesus have power? What kind of power did He have?
Q What was Jesus doing when He healed and said “tell no man”?
An = Jesus wanted the man to be healed not only physically but socially as well. a quote from Oswald Chambers: “The wonder is not that Jesus showed His marvelous power, but that He did not show it. He continually covered it up.” (If Thou Wilt Be Perfect, p. 109.) There are a variety of reasons for Jesus hiding His power, but one thing all the reasons had in common was the good of those with whom Jesus dealt. Jesus’ healing ability gave Him power in those situations, but He always used it in a servant oriented manner.
C. Our “Power-Positions.
Q Do we have power in certain situations? Give examples?
Q Are all of us in a power position in some situation?
An = You may not consider yourself a significantly powerful person in your world, but in some relationships you do hold the upper hand. Some of the relationships we have are ones of equality, and some are of them are when we are in the inferior position, but in other situations we are in the “power-position”. It could be at work, or in your marriage, or over your younger brothers or sisters, or in a dating relationship.
D. Handling Power Properly Is Essential To Holiness. Leviticus 19:1,2,33,34.
>>>> Have someone read Leviticus 19:1-2
Q What do you think this chapter is going to be about?
An = “How to be holy”. We are to be like Him. What I find quite refreshing is that little is said about being religious or being ordained or being a monk or nun, etc. What is listed here in this chapter is of the most practical nature. Let me read two more verses out of this very practical chapter.
>>>> Have someone read Leviticus 19:33-34.
Q How does one be “holy” according to these verses?
An = Treat the strangers in your community well. What does this mean? Well, it goes back to a key word in this passage: the word ger. It means resident alien and refers to someone who lives in the town or village who is “not Jewish”. It means being a minority. It means being a black in an all white society, or white in an all black society. It is like being new in the office and not having the connections everyone else has. It is like being a new kid on the block, or the new kid at school. It means being “a stranger”.
How we treat such people indicates the depth of our holiness.
III. The Necessity of Fair Play. Exodus 23:1-9.
Note: This emphasis on treating the weak well is a great one in the Old Testament. For example, in the book of Job there is part where Job demonstrates his righteousness by telling how he would go into town and see if any of the weaker members of his town had not received a fair shake in court and then throw the massive influence of his wealth behind them to bring them justice. Justice was to be for all.
>>>> Have someone read Exodus 23:1-3.
Q What are the three instructions (one in each verse) for being just?
An = You are not join hands with wicked in 23:1, or follow the crowd when under peer pressure in 23:2, nor are we even to favor the poor in 23:3.
Q Which of these three is the hardest for you to follow and why?
An = Some may choose 23:3 but make sure you bring up 23:2. Whether we want to admit it or not, this is a key issue in most of our lives. Peer pressure deeply affects us all (and in most cases that is not bad).
>>>> Have someone read Exodus 23:6-8.
Q What are the three instructions given (one in each verse) in these verses?
An = We are not to hurt the poor in 23:6, condemn the innocent in 23:7, or let money turn our heads in 23:8. Let me read one more verse.
Q Give a negative example you have personally seen that illustrates one of these verses?
Q Give a positive example that you have seen that illustrates one of these verses?
>>>> Have someone read Exodus 23:9.
Q What is the issue here?
An = Here again we have the issue of not hurting those who do not have the same social standing as ourselves.
>>>> Have someone read Micah 6:8.
Q What does this mean to us who live in the 21st century? How would this be lived out today?
An = How just we are and how we treat those with whom we have power over is a key issue in being “holy” or in pleasing God. Last week we looked at the necessity of mercy (23:4-5) and today we see the necessity of justice (23:1-3,6-9). Being just and being merciful is to be part of our daily walk and both are to be characterized with humility.
IV. The Motivation for Bringing Justice to Strangers.
A. Remembering Your Past Oppression. Exodus 22:21 and 23:9.
Q Why are we to be kind to strangers? Look back to Exodus 23:9
An = We are to look back into our personal or national past and remember what it was like to be a stranger. Some of you, like myself, have parents or grandparents that were emigrants and deeply needed some help when they first came to this country. I have been the new kid at school, the new person at work, etc. I remember deeply those feelings and how I was treated.
Q Have someone of you ever been the “ger” or stranger? How did you feel?
Note: The key is the issue of memory!!!. As Israel remembered what it is like to be the underdog, on the bottom of the totem-pole of Egyptian society, she could avoid oppressing strangers herself and “violate her own history”. They had to be careful, by exercising their memory, not to violate the memory of what it is like to be freed by God’s grace.
>>>> Have someone read Exodus 22:21.
Note: Here it is again repeated. The first motivation is memory.
B. Fear of the Wrath of God. Exodus 22:22-24.
>>>> Have someone read Exodus 22:22-24.
Q What would you call the motivation expressed here not to hurt the weak?
An = The Wrath of God. Because there is a God, what goes around comes around. There will be payback. You might say this is harsh or spiritually inferior but if you have ever been pushed around then you will not think so. You will thank God that He will bring justice. Lets look at this further….
Q I believe there are three steps here, do you see them?
An = Step one: the act of oppression 22:22,23a. Step two: the prayer of the oppressed 22:23b. Step three: God’s intervention or the arousing of His wrath. The King James Version puts it: the kindling or igniting of His wrath. You will be treated as you were treated.
Note: Notice the second step.
Q Who is the most dangerous type of person to oppress?
An = It is to oppress a believer that will pray. Those of you who know how to pray when we are hurt are some of the most dangerous people in the world. For if, in your weakness, you forego anger and just pray, then God help the person that has hurt you. Never oppress the weak! It is dangerous to do so.
C. The Example of The Lord.
Q Who is the most powerful force in the world?
Q How did God use His power in Egypt?
An = God is unbridled power and majesty and when He saw Israel in bondage in Egypt He acted with great power but used that power to redeem the weak. If we are to be like Him then we are to be redeemers in the world and not oppressors. The Lord says “you are to be holy, because I am holy.” We are to be like Him: in a word: we are to be “godly”, “like God”. When we oppress the stranger in our midst we deny the Lord. When we redeem, we are godly.
Q When Egypt had power what did they do to Israel’s male children in chapter 1?
QQ When Pharaoh did not repent but hardened his heart what did God do to the first born of Egypt?
Q Was their payback?
V. Application:
Note: Let me apply this in some specific situations with a series of questions?
RQ If we know Jesus Christ as personal savior and know what it is like to be totally unworthy of His gracious forgiveness, do we have a right to oppress the non-believers, the non-born again with a “holier than thou attitude”?
RQ Are we impressed with the powerful and talented or are we impressed with the powerful who help others?
RQ Are we impressed with the wealthy or those who use whatever wealth they have for others.
RQ Are we impressed with those with education or those who use any knowledge they have to help others?
Note: In short, we need to be impressed with what God is impressed with: we need to just. We need to be like Jesus when He looked at the poor widow in Luke 21: and saw the poor widow who gave a few cooper coins and said that she out-gave all the rich that day.
>>>> Have someone read Matthew 25:31-33, 37-40.