Click this link to hear an audio version of the below text narrated by SOTH member Jerry Rhinehart:
Exodus 22:22-27 (NIV)
22 “Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless. 23 If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. 24 My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless. 25 “If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not treat it like a business deal; charge no interest. 26 If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, return it by sunset, 27 because that cloak is the only covering your neighbor has. What else can they sleep in? When they cry out to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.
While giving laws to the people of Israel, God’s character is revealed. God warns the people that He will get angry at them! But for what reasons? Mistreatment of the poor, widowed, and orphaned. In a way, God is a teacher, warning the big kids not to bully the little kids on the playground. The revealing of what makes God angry helps us, also. We know that God is not fickle, capricious, unpredictable, or whimsical. God is not just “toying” with us, but has good reason for His judgment upon us. Have you ever thought of God getting angry? Does that fit with your understanding with a loving God? Do you get angry at abuse, violence, injustice, and oppression? While God’s anger is kindled over these things, the way that He fights against them is the forgiveness and justification given to us at the cross.