The Widow, the Orphan & the Stranger · The Symbolism of Scripture
The Widow, the Orphan & the Stranger
Three categories named together again and again — and what they share is not poverty. It is that nobody will go to court for them, so God announces Himself in the empty office.
What It Stands For
a legal condition, not an income bracket
Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. And do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.’Note that 'the poor' is listed as a fourth item. The first three are not simply poor people.
That detail is easy to walk past and it decides the whole page. Poverty is on the list as well. So the first three are grouped by something else, and John Gill, working through the verse, says what:
Such as have no husband to provide for them, nor father and mother to care for them, and are in a strange land, where they have no friends or acquaintance, and are poor, and can not help themselves.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament, 1763Particular Baptist
Zechariah 7:10
No husband to provide, no parents to care, no friends in the land. In a society where your legal weight came from your household, that is a description of three people who cannot get a hearing. Matthew Henry says the same thing from the judge’s side: “Judges must be advocates for those that cannot speak for themselves and have no friends to speak for them.”
The Missing Advocate
and the office God announces Himself in
| Who | What is missing | The office God announces Himself in |
|---|---|---|
| The widow | No husband. Her standing in a dispute went through him. | “a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation”Psalm 68:5 |
| The orphan | No father. Nobody to inherit through, and nobody to speak. | “A father of the fatherless”Psalm 68:5 |
| The stranger | No clan. A resident with no kin in the land he lives in. | “loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment”Deuteronomy 10:18 |
He executes justice for the fatherless and widow, and He loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing.The verb is not 'pities' or 'provides for'. It is 'executes the judgment of': a courtroom word.
A father of the fatherless, and a defender of the widows, is God in His holy habitation.Two titles, and both of them are roles a missing relative would have filled.
It is his honour to help the helpless, and to succour those that most need relief and that men are apt to do injury to, or at least to put a light upon.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710Nonconformist
Deuteronomy 10:18
No persons are more liable to be oppressed and wronged than widows. They are regarded as incapable of defending or vindicating their own rights, and are likely to be deceived and betrayed by those to whom their property and rights may be entrusted.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments, 1851Presbyterian
Psalm 68:5
Tertullian, in the third century, states the principle the whole arrangement runs on — that God’s defence of them is in proportion to their being destitute of human aid:
The Father defends these two types of people [widows and orphans] through divine mercy in proportion to their being destitute of human aid. Look how the widow's benefactor is put on a level with the widow herself, whose champion shall "reason with the Lord."
Tertullian· To His Wife 8, 220Latin, third century
Isaiah 1:17
Learn to do right; seek justice and correct the oppressor. Defend the fatherless and plead the case of the widow.”Count the courtroom verbs in one verse: seek judgment, judge, plead.
The word judgment - משׁפט mishpâṭ - here means justice. The direction refers particularly to magistrates, and it is evident that the prophet had them particularly in his view in all this discourse. Execute justice between man and man with impartiality.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments, 1851Presbyterian
Isaiah 1:17
Learn - Begin to live soberly, righteously, and godly. Judgment - Shew your religion to God, by practicing justice to men. Judge - Defend and deliver them.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, 1765Methodist
Isaiah 1:17
The One Law With No Judge Attached
Exodus 22, and who hears the complaint
You must not mistreat any widow or orphan.A prohibition, and then, unusually for this section of the law, no court, no fine, no procedure.
If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to Me in distress, I will surely hear their cry.Instead the cry goes straight up, and God says He will hear it Himself.
Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child - It is remarkable that offenses against this law are not left to the discretion of the judges to be punished; God reserves the punishment to himself, and by this he strongly shows his abhorrence of the crime.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible, 1832Wesleyan
Exodus 22:22
Clarke has spotted the structural oddity, and it fits the rest of the symbol exactly. These are the people the courts will not reach, so the law routes their case around the courts. Albert Barnes notes how wide the offence is drawn: “Afflict - A word including all cold and contemptuous treatment. See Deu 10:18. Contrast the blessing, Deu 14:29.” — not violence only, but cold and contemptuous treatment.
My anger will be kindled, and I will kill you with the sword; then your wives will become widows and your children will be fatherless.And the sentence, which is worth reading slowly: the punishment is that the oppressor's own household joins the list.
Men that have a sense of justice and honour will espouse the injured cause of the weak and helpless; and shall not the righteous God do it? Observe the equity of the sentence here passed upon those that oppress the widows and fatherless: their wives shall become widows, and their children fatherless; and the Lord is known by these judgments, which he sometimes executes still.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710Nonconformist
Exodus 22:24
Note, It is a great comfort to those who are injured and oppressed by men that they have a God to go to who will do more than give them the hearing; and it ought to be a terror to those who are oppressive that they have the cry of the poor against them, which God will hear.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710Nonconformist
Exodus 22:23
‘Cursed is he who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’And the offence named exactly: not neglecting them, but perverting their judgment. A courtroom crime.
A Rule About Harvesting
what the law commands instead of charity
If you are harvesting in your field and forget a sheaf there, do not go back to get it. It is to be left for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.Read it as an instruction to a farmer at work. Nothing is given; something is not retrieved.
- GrainA sheaf left in the field is not fetchedDeuteronomy 24:19
- OlivesThe branches are beaten once, and not gone over againDeuteronomy 24:20
- GrapesThe vineyard is not gleaned after the vintageDeuteronomy 24:21
When thou cuttest down thine harvest - This is an addition to the law, Lev 19:9; Lev 23:22. The corners of the field, the gleanings, and the forgotten sheaf, were all the property of the poor. This the Hebrews extended to any part of the fruit or produce of a field, which had been forgotten in the time of general ingathering, as appears from the concluding verses of this chapter.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible, 1832Wesleyan
Deuteronomy 24:19
When thou beatest thine olive tree,.... With sticks and staves, to get off the olives when ripe: thou shall not go over the boughs again; to beat off some few that may remain; they were not nicely to examine the boughs over again, whether there were any left or not: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow; who might come into their oliveyards after the trees had been beaten, and gather what were left.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament, 1763Particular Baptist
Deuteronomy 24:20
Adam Clarke says the decisive word about it: the gleanings were the property of the poor. Not a gift the owner might extend, but a portion of the crop the law had already assigned. Which is why nobody has to ask for it, and nobody has to be thanked for it, and why the person who needs it walks in and works.
When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field--The grain, pulled up by the roots or cut down with a sickle, was laid in loose sheaves; the fruit of the olive was obtained by striking the branches with long poles; and the grape clusters, severed by a hook, were gathered in the hands of the vintager. Here is a beneficent provision for the poor.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871Scottish, nineteenth century
Deuteronomy 24:19-22
What is actually left behind, and Matthew Henry answering an objection nobody makes out loudolives, grapes, and the reason given for the whole arrangement
"Say not, 'What should the poor do with grapes and olives? It is enough for them to have bread and water;' for, since they have the same senses that the rich have, why should not they have so me little share of the delights of sense?" Boaz ordered handfuls of corn to be left on purpose for Ruth, and God blessed him. All that is left is not lost.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710Nonconformist
Deuteronomy 24:19-22
Notice what the law leaves: not scraps, but olives and grapes: the delicacies of the table. Henry answers the objection directly, and points at the one story in Scripture where the arrangement is shown working, with a landowner who chose to make it generous.
And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt,.... When they would have been glad to have enjoyed the like favours, as small as they might seem to be, even to glean in their fields, vineyards, and oliveyards: therefore I command thee to do this thing; to suffer the poor to take the forgotten sheaf, and to come into their oliveyards and vineyards, and gather what olives and grapes remained after the first beating of the one, and the ingathering of the other.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament, 1763Particular Baptist
Deuteronomy 24:22
It appears also that one who does not give back his pledge to a poor man stands condemned with God, for the following threat is directed against such a one: "He who does not receive back his pledge will cry to me," says the Lord, "and I will hear him because I am compassionate."
Basil of Caesarea· Commentary on Exodus, 379Cappadocian, fourth century
Exodus 22:27
So you also must love the foreigner, since you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.And the ground of the command, which is not an ethical principle at all.
Love ye therefore the stranger,.... Because the Lord loves him; and another reason follows, particularly binding on the Israelites: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt; and therefore should sympathize with such, and show them compassion, relieve them in distress, and afford them whatever they want, and is in the power of their hands to communicate to them; remembering their own condition in Egypt, and how welcome such a treatment would have been to them then, as well as the kind and careful providence of God towards them at that time.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament, 1763Particular Baptist
Deuteronomy 10:19
The reason Israel is given is a memory of being on the other side of it. Gill’s phrasing is exact: how welcome such treatment would have been to them then. The command is not built on how deserving the stranger is. It is built on what the people asking already know.
Where It Points
the same three, and a definition
Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.Not 'part of religion' or 'a mark of it': this IS pure religion, in the sentence's own grammar.
The only true religion in the sight of God, is this, to visit - With counsel, comfort, and relief. The fatherless and widows - Those who need it most.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, 1755Methodist
James 1:27
If you must visit someone, prefer to pay honor to orphans, widows and those in want rather than those who enjoy reputation and fame.
John Chrysostom· Homilies on 1 Corinthians 23:6, 407Greek, fourth century
Isaiah 1:17
Wesley’s gloss on visit is worth keeping because it refuses to let the word shrink: with counsel, comfort, and relief. Not a call paid, but the three things a missing husband or father would have supplied. James is asking the church to take the vacant office too.
Instead of lands, therefore, buy afflicted souls, according as each one is able, and visit widows and orphans, and do not overlook them; and spend your wealth and all your preparations, which ye received from the Lord, upon such lands and houses. For to this end did the Master make you rich, that you might perform these services unto Him.
The Shepherd of Hermas· Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 1, 160Rome, second century
James 1:27
That is the second century speaking, and it is startling about property: instead of lands, buy afflicted souls. The instruction assumes a Christian will spend on something, and simply redirects the purchase.
In the wilderness the people were like an orphan nation, but God was more than a father to them. As the generation which came out of Egypt gradually died away, there were many widows and fatherless ones in the camp, but they suffered no want or wrong, for the righteous laws and the just administrators whom God had appointed, looked well to the interests of the needy.
Charles Spurgeon· The Treasury of David, on Psalm 68, 1885Baptist
Psalm 68:5
What Scripture says outright
- Deuteronomy 10:18
God is said to execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow. A legal office, named as one.
- Exodus 22:23
The complaint is routed to God directly, and He states that He will hear it. No human court appears in the sentence.
- Deuteronomy 10:19
The reason for the command to love the stranger is given, and it is Israel’s own history rather than a principle.
- James 1:27
Visiting the fatherless and widows in their affliction is called pure and undefiled religion: a definition, not an illustration.
What readers have heard in it
Readings and applications, named as such.
- Deuteronomy 24:19
That the gleaning laws are a model for a particular modern policy. The law describes a harvesting practice in an agrarian society under a specific covenant; what a nation does now is a separate question, and this page does not answer it.
- Zechariah 7:10
That the geris a convert. Jerome renders it “the foreigner”, and older translations sometimes give “proselyte”: a religious word for what is, in the law, a residence status.
- Psalm 68:5
That the titles are only figures of God’s kindness. Both are offices in the ordinary law of the time, and the surrounding legislation treats them as such.
Its Presentation Through Scripture
the three, in the order the Bible names them
You must not mistreat any widow or orphan.
The first mention, and it is a prohibition with no penalty attached: because the penalty is in the next two verses, and it is not the judges'.
If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to Me in distress, I will surely hear their cry.
God takes the complaint directly. There is no court in the sentence at all.
He executes justice for the fatherless and widow, and He loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing.
And the verb is judicial: He EXECUTES THE JUDGMENT of the fatherless and widow. That is an office, not a mood.
So you also must love the foreigner, since you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
The reason given to Israel is not a principle. It is a memory: ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
If you are harvesting in your field and forget a sheaf there, do not go back to get it. It is to be left for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
The mechanism: a rule about harvesting, not about giving. Do not go back for it.
‘Cursed is he who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
And a curse pronounced on the exact offence, perverting their judgment, with the whole nation answering Amen.
A father of the fatherless, and a defender of the widows, is God in His holy habitation.
Two vacant offices filled in one line, and the second one is a legal title: a judge of the widows.
Learn to do right; seek justice and correct the oppressor. Defend the fatherless and plead the case of the widow.”
Five imperatives, and three of them are courtroom verbs: seek judgment, judge, plead.
Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. And do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.’
The same list, centuries later, to a generation that had just come home from exile.
Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
And the New Testament restating it as a definition rather than a duty: this IS pure religion.
The Voices
with the work named
John Gill gives this page its spine twice, once by naming the shared condition (no husband, no parents, no acquaintance), and once by catching what the olive law is actually forbidding: going over the branches a second time. Adam Clarke supplies the two sentences that settle the mechanism and the sanction, the gleanings were the property of the poor, and God kept the punishment for this offence in His own hands rather than the judges’.
Matthew Henry puts the judge’s duty in one line, and answers the objection about grapes and olives that people are too polite to make out loud. Albert Barnes shows how widely “afflict” is drawn. Tertullian names the principle in the third century, and the Shepherd of Hermas, in the second, tells a rich reader what to buy instead of land.
Where to Go Next
The law behind it
Where they appear by name
Nearby in the index
Its neighbours in the index
The Symbolism of Scripture gathers every picture the Bible thinks in. This one sits with: