Theological Reflection and Application

God commanded His people Israel not to mistreat or oppress strangers, as the Israelites were strangers themselves in Egypt (Ex 22:21-22) and God saved and freed them from Egypt (Deut 15:15); not to afflict widows and the fatherless (Ex 22:22-23); lend to the poor without interests (Ex 22:25); to return the pledges made by the poor for their loans before the end of the day (Ex 22:26); not to claim all their natural blessings to themselves, but leave behind what they were unable to gather, so that the poor and strangers could have these leftovers (Lev 19:9); to store tithes in the form of crops in the town assigned to them by God so that the Levites, who have no property or inheritance, the orphans, the widows and strangers may take these when they came (Lev 19:10); to cancel their debtors' debts every seven years (Deut...
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