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Themes in the Old Testament

The widow, the orphan and the foreigner

  • 3 things to know
  • A2

Overview

The legal protection of the vulnerable, the prophetic demand for justice, and the reasons the texts give for it.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

What do the gleaning laws of Deuteronomy 24:19-22 require?

Key term

What declaration accompanies the tithe in Deuteronomy 26:12-13?

Key term

What does Deuteronomy 27:19 pronounce?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Why are the widow, the orphan and the resident alien grouped together in Israelite law?

    Model answer

    Each of the three lacked the protection of a household head, an inheritance or kinship in the land. Their vulnerability, not their poverty as such, is what the laws address.

  2. 2

    What reason does Exodus 22:21 give for not oppressing a resident alien?

    Model answer

    Israel is told not to wrong or oppress a resident alien because they themselves were aliens in the land of Egypt. Memory of their own experience is made the ground of the obligation.

  3. 3

    What sanction does Exodus 22:22-24 attach to the abuse of a widow or orphan?

    Model answer

    If they are abused and cry out, God declares that he will surely hear their cry and that his wrath will burn. The threatened penalty is that the offenders' own wives will become widows and their children orphans.

  4. 4

    What does Deuteronomy 14:28-29 require?

    Model answer

    Every third year the full tithe of that year's produce is to be stored in the towns. Levites, resident aliens, orphans and widows may then come and eat their fill.

  5. 5

    What do the gleaning laws of Deuteronomy 24:19-22 require?

    Model answer

    A forgotten sheaf is to be left in the field, olive trees are not to be beaten a second time and vineyards are not to be gleaned again. What is left belongs to the alien, the orphan and the widow.

  6. 6

    Why is gleaning a distinctive form of provision?

    Model answer

    The poor gather for themselves from the field rather than receiving a handout at the owner's discretion. The arrangement provides food while leaving the recipient's dignity and initiative intact.

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