Grossly unfair and Morally wrong

Isaiah 10:1-4

“Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees, and the writers who keep writing oppression, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey!  What will you do on the day of punishment, in the ruin that will come from afar?  To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth?  Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners or fall among the slain.  For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.” 

It is early morning and I awoke with pains in my chest, and fear began to fill my mind, what if, could this be, and so I arose to seek the peace only found in Jesus.  My pastor/teacher had ask us to read John 4:1-43 before class today, and after praying, I looked once more into Jesus’ encounter with a woman of Samaria.  The following are key works to an upside down world: “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.”  (John 1:23)  My desire is to lead you and I into that kind of worship, as we look to the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth.

Chapter ten of the book of Isaiah begins with a “Woe” and to whom is the “Woe” directed?  It is directed at those who make iniquitous decrees and the writers of oppression.  When I began to feel the call to write, I asked Tommy Martin a friend of many years and a great writer and storyteller, for help, and one part of his council was to look up the meaning of words.  So lets begin with the word iniquitous: grossly unfair and morally wrong.  Isaiah may be addressing two groups, one the leaders of the people, for only someone in authority can make decrees and the second group is the writers who keep writing oppression.

The needy, the poor, the widow, and the fatherless are those the attack is directed at by the iniquitous decrees and the writers who keep writing oppressive attacks.  And then and also today those who degree iniquitous decrees and the press or writers that support such injustice can look forward to God’s judgment.  This was what God had arranged for such people of Isaiah’s time; “What will you do on the day of punishment, in the ruin that will come from afar?  To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth?  Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners or fall among the slain.  For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.” 

One would be wise to look into the Scripture to see what God has stated on any subject, 

and He has said a lot about widows and the fatherless; “You shall not mistreat any widow 

or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their 

cry, and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become 

widows and your children fatherless.”  (Exodus 22:22-24 ESV)

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice