Teaching
תּוֹרָה
The command, line upon line
From the Torah through the Prophets to the Messianic writings, the call never changes.
Shemoth (Exodus) 22:22-24 · Debarim (Deuteronomy) 10:18
Justice at the gate
Yahweh binds Himself to the cause of the widow and orphan. To afflict them is to provoke His own response.
“Do not afflict any widow or fatherless child. If you do afflict them at all – if they cry out to Me at all, I shall certainly hear their cry, and My wrath shall burn and I shall kill you with the sword, your wives shall be widows and your children fatherless.”
“He executes right-ruling for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and a garment.”
Debarim (Deuteronomy) 24:19-21
Leave the gleanings
The harvest was never only for the owner. The edges of the field, the forgotten sheaf and the last olives belong to the stranger, the fatherless and the widow.
“When you reap your harvest in your field, and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, do not go back to get it. Let it be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow, so that יהוה your Elohim might bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat your olive trees, do not examine the branch behind you. Let it be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, do not glean behind you. Let it be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.”
Debarim (Deuteronomy) 14:28-29
The third-year tithe
A tithe set aside so that the Lĕwite, the stranger, the fatherless and the widow 'come and eat and be satisfied' — and Yahweh blesses the work of your hands.
“At the end of every third year you bring out all the tithe of your increase of that year and store it up within your gates. And the Lĕwite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the sojourner and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates, shall come and eat and be satisfied, so that יהוה your Elohim does bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.”
Tehillim (Psalms) 68:5
Father of the fatherless
Yahweh names Himself a Father and Judge for those without one, and He sets the lonely in families.
“Father of the fatherless, And Right-ruler of widows, Is Elohim in His set-apart dwelling.”
Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 1:17
Learn to do good
The prophets call Israel back: seek justice, defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.
“Learn to do good! Seek right-ruling, reprove the oppressor, defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.”
Ya'aqov (James) 1:27
Pure and undefiled
Ya'aqov, a servant of Messiah, says plainly that true worship visits orphans and widows in their distress.
“Clean and undefiled religion before the Elohim and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”