Pray the Word with David Platt is a resource from radical.net.

Exodus chapter 23, verse 9,

You shall not oppress a sojourner.

You know the heart of a sojourner,

for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

This verse is one of many places

throughout the Old Testament specifically where God commands his people to care for sojourners in their midst.

People who have been driven away from their homeland.

People who have been separated from their people ethnically, people who have been separated from their

families. He says, care for them. Do not oppress them. Do not abuse them. Do not take advantage of them.

Look for opportunities to care for them. For you know the heart of a sojourner. You are

sojourners in the land of Egypt and you know what it's like. The implication is clear to be

oppressed in a land like that, to be enslaved, to be treated harshly. So care for people in your midst who are like you were, who are sojourning,

away from their homeland, away from their family, away from that which is familiar to them.

We see this all throughout the Old Testament, and then, of course, the New Testament makes

clear you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Jesus saying that command right after talking about a Samaritan woman helping out a Jewish man.

The picture is clear from cover to cover in the Bible.

One, don't oppress others, enslave others, abuse, others take advantage of others, love

others as yourself, lay down your life to love others, and specifically, much like we

saw in Exodus and see all throughout the Bible, God's care for orphans, God's care for widows,

we see God's care for sojourners. So now take this biblical picture that we have from Old

...