Exodus 22 Devotional

He Hears When They Cry

“because his cloak is the only covering he has for his body. What else will he sleep in? And if he cries out to Me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.”Exodus 22:27 (BSB)

Exodus 22 deals with ordinary wrongs: stolen oxen, straying livestock, fires that spread into a neighbor's grain. A thief repays more than he took (22:1, 4), and anyone whose carelessness damages another's field must make it good (22:5-6). Justice here aims to make things right for the one who was wronged, not only to punish. The chapter also holds severe laws against sorcery, bestiality, and sacrifice to other gods (22:18-20), a reminder that Israel was to belong wholly to the LORD.

Then God turns to the people with the least protection. Israel must not oppress the foreigner, because they had been foreigners in Egypt (22:21). If a widow or orphan is mistreated and cries out, God will hear, and his anger against the oppressor is fierce (22:23-24). A poor man's cloak held as a pledge goes back before night, because God is compassionate (22:26-27). This is the same God who heard Israel crying out under their oppressors (3:7). His people are to treat the vulnerable the way he treated them.

To think about: Who near you has little protection, and what would it look like to treat them the way God has treated you?