David Leventhal

At the very beginning of what will the longest book in the Old Testament, a book that will plumb the depths about the nature of God, the rebellion of His people & the hope to come in Messiah, the Lord chooses to distill what it means to be His people.  He lets the nation of Judah know right out of the gate that empty religion – acts of devotion done out of a void & corrupt heart are simply unacceptable.  Their burnt offerings are worthless, their religious festivals are burdensome & their prayers are offered in vain.

What then does God require from His people (vs. 16-17)? He makes it crystal clear right up front.

“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean;

Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight

Cease to do evil

Learn to do good;

Seek justice;

Reprove the ruthless,

Defend the orphan,

Plead for the widow.”

In short – God wanted His people – those He’d entered into a covenant relationship; to engage the heart which would be made evident as they care for the weak & oppressed.  God cares about justice & He cares about those who have no voice (the orphan & the widow).  Though they had been faithful in this area (cf. verses 21ff) the leadership allowed corruption & bribery to saturate their nation & as a result they did “not defend the orphan” nor did they allow “the widow’s plea to come before them” (v. 23).

Yet another classic case of how failed leadership affects the masses.  The saying is a cliché but it’s true – the speed of the leader will be the speed of the team.

And by the way – nothing has changed.  God still requires His people to demonstrate their love for Him by loving other people.  Consider that decades later God would repeat this same message to His people who claimed Jesus, the promised Messiah from Isaiah, as their leader.

Luke 10:25-28 – “On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” He answered: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

The key to this passage is in not confusing the order of these commandments.  Keep the first commandment in the first place.

James 1:27 – “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”

1 John 3:16-18 – “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.  But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.”

1 Timothy 6:17-19 – “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.  Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.”

By the way if you are reading this and live in the U.S. Paul is talking directly to you….you are rich in this present world.

So my prayer today is that I would repent of my empty religious activities, engage my heart in the life-changing message of the gospel and seek the justice of those who have no voice.