Exodus 22:21-27

21.
"You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
22.
"You shall not afflict any widow or orphan.
23.
"If you afflict him at all, and if he does cry out to Me, I will surely hear his cry ;
24.
and My anger will be kindled, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.
25.
"If you lend money to My people, to the poor among you, you are not to act as a creditor to him; you shall not charge him interest.
26.
"If you ever take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge, you are to return it to him before the sun sets,
27.
for that is his only covering ; it is his cloak for his body. What else shall he sleep in? And it shall come about that when he cries out to Me, I will hear him, for I am gracious.

As I read these chapters, I was reminded of the popular opinion that Christianity is “just a list of do’s and don’ts.” People tend to have a negative view of the laws God gave His people. Even Christians tend to see that law negatively, as a list of rules that seems impossible to keep. We boast that we are now under grace and that the law has passed away.
But as I read this particular set of verses, I am reminded of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. My Sunday school class has been studying the Sermon on the Mount for months, and we are studying it in my Gospels class as well. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus goes beyond the external requirements of the law and tells us that the state of one’s heart is the true indication of whether one is righteous or unrighteous. As I read Exodus 22:21-27, I see some of what Jesus said about the heart’s motivation. In vs. 21, God tells the Israelites not to oppress strangers- because they had been stranger in the land of Egypt. In this case, God gives the reason for the rule- He wants them to remember their oppression as strangers in Egypt and to have right hearts toward strangers in their midst. In vs. 22-24, we can see God’s heart for widows and orphans. It seems to me He gives the Israelites this rule about afflicting the helpless because He wants them to be like Him- having a right heart towards the needy. Again, in vs. 25-27, God reveals His heart towards the poor. He is gracious and He instructs the Israelites to be gracious to the poor by not charging interest and returning a pledge before the end of the day. Even in the giving of the law, God was interested in the motive of the heart.