For Jehovah your God is the God of gods, and the Lord of lords, the great God, the mighty and the terrible, who regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward;
Moses has just told Israel to deal with their stubborn hearts, and here is his reason. The God above every power cannot be bought, yet He bends toward the weakest people in the land.
The titles stacked in this verse are not decoration. They measure God against everything else that claims authority.
Whatever people may call "gods," all of them are completely under the one living God. And whoever may be "lords," holding authority in some small realm, they too are under the supreme authority of the one Lord of the universe. Revelation 19:16 uses a similar expression of the Lord Jesus: "King of kings and Lord of lords."
Much of Deuteronomy recounts what God did for Israel. Here the focus moves to who He is — and it lands on the people who have no one to protect them.
Here Moses speaks not merely of God's doings and dealings and ways, but of Himself, of what He is. He is high over all — the great, the mighty and the awesome God. But He has a heart for the widow and the fatherless. They are helpless, stripped of every earthly and natural support: the poor bereaved and broken-hearted widow, and the desolate orphan. God thinks of such and cares for them in a very special way; they have a claim on His loving heart and mighty hand.
"Takes no bribe" is courtroom language. Set it beside the way human courts often work.
This great God of Israel, who shows no partiality and takes no bribe, instead administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and shows love toward strangers. How totally different are most rulers in the world today! Law courts too often show a sad disregard for justice. The poor often suffer gross injustice. The wealthy use their money to twist court decisions in their own favour. Believers may well be deeply thankful for a God who is perfectly just and faithful.
Ruth was a foreign widow who gathered leftover grain in someone else's field. She is exactly the kind of person this verse names.
Ruth had proved for herself that day how good a thing it is for a poor stranger to trust in the God of Israel, who "is not partial and takes no bribe. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing" (Deut. 10:17-18).
Centuries later one of Jesus' closest followers still had to unlearn the idea that God plays favourites.
Peter's opening words are precious: "Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him." Clearly he had once thought that God shows partiality. His upbringing gave Israelites a higher place in God's sight than all other nationalities. In the church of God all of this must be completely levelled, and God used this miraculous way of impressing that truth on Peter.
Israel knew this God from experience, and that knowledge came with a demand.
They knew God in His wonderful work for them, and in the commandments which displayed His character. They were called to imitate Him. If He cared for the fatherless and widows, and for the stranger, they too must care. And had they not known what it was to be strangers in the land He rescued them from with an outstretched arm?
The same test reaches us in how we treat the people who walk through our door.
In the world, apparent dignity and wealth always win a person preferential treatment. It must not be so among those who know the Lord Jesus Christ. It is still a test for us today: what would we do if one obviously wealthy and another clearly poor came into a meeting? Would we be as considerate of the one as of the other? And is it so in our daily dealings with people?
- Supreme. Every other "god" and every other "lord" holds only a small borrowed realm; all of them sit under the one Lord of the universe.
- Impartial. No one can outrank Him and no one can pay Him — unlike the courts where money still bends the verdict.
- Tender. The God who takes no bribe bends toward the widow, the orphan and the foreigner. They have a claim on His loving heart and mighty hand.
- Proven. Ruth, a poor foreign widow, trusted this God and proved for herself how good He is.
- Imitated. God called Israel to copy what they had received. The test now: do the rich and the poor get the same welcome from us?
who executeth the judgment of the fatherless and the widow, and loveth the stranger, to give him food and clothing.
Moses has just described a God who shows no partiality and takes no bribe. Here he shows that same God bending down to three people who own nothing and can repay nothing: the orphan, the widow and the foreigner.
This is not a report of what God once did. It says what He is like.
Here Moses speaks not merely of God's doings and dealings and ways, but of Himself, of what He is. He is high over all, the great, the mighty and the awesome. But He has a heart for the widow and the fatherless. They are helpless people, stripped of every earthly and natural support — the poor widow, bereaved and broken-hearted, and the orphan left all alone. God thinks of, and cares for such, in a very special way; they have a claim upon His loving heart and mighty hand.
God acts here as judge. Human courts rarely match Him.
This great God of Israel shows no partiality and takes no bribe. He gives justice to the fatherless and the widow, and shows love to strangers (v.18). How unlike Him most rulers in the world are today! Law courts too often show a sad disregard for justice. The poor often suffer terrible injustice, while the rich use their money to bend the courts in their own favor. Believers can be truly thankful for a God who is perfectly just and faithful.
The widow and the orphan have lost the people who provided for them. Commentators say God's care can be better than what it replaces.
What a rich provision is here for widows and orphans! How many widows are much better off than when they had their husbands! How many orphans are better cared and provided for than when they had their parents! God looks after them! This is enough. Thousands of husbands and thousands of parents are far worse than none. But God never fails those who throw themselves on Him. He is always true to His own name, whatever relationship He takes.
That promise only helps someone who knows the One who made it.
But we must know Him before we can trust Him... People who do not know God would much prefer an insurance policy or a government annuity to His promise. But the true believer finds in that promise the unfailing support of his heart, because he knows, and trusts, and loves the Promiser. He delights in the thought of having God alone to fall back on, wholly dependent upon Him.
A sojourner is a foreigner living among a people not his own. God's love reaches him in two ways.
God loves the stranger. Deut. 10:18. He loves the poor, friendless stranger, with the love of pity and of grace, and provides for him. But there is also the separated stranger, who has turned his back on this polluted world. God links His name and His honour with him, and owns him without shame. Heb. 11:13-16.
God gives the stranger food and clothing — not land, not wealth. That short list is the whole provision, and the apostle repeats it to Timothy.
But let us specially note the provision which God makes for the stranger. It is very simple — "food and clothing." This is enough for a true stranger. As the blessed apostle says to his son Timothy, "we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content."
Taken seriously, that measure reshapes ordinary daily life:
What a cure for restless ambition is here! What an antidote against greed! What a blessed rescue from the feverish rush of business life, and from the grasping spirit of our age! If we were only content with the provision God appoints for the stranger, what a different story we would tell! How calm and even the current of our daily life would be! How simple our habits and tastes!
The next verse turns this description into a command. Israel's own past is the reason given.
The Lord "loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt." This is very touching. They were to keep God's own example before their eyes. They were also to remember their own past history and experience, so that their hearts would go out in sympathy and compassion toward the poor homeless stranger. It was the binding duty and high privilege of God's people Israel to put themselves in other people's circumstances and enter into their feelings.
- Who He is. This describes God's character, not just His actions. The One high over all has a heart for the widow, the orphan and the foreigner.
- What He does. He judges as no human court does — no partiality, no bribe, and justice for those who cannot buy it.
- What He gives. Food and clothing — the stranger's portion, and the measure the apostle told Timothy to be content with.
- Who receives it. Those with nothing left to lean on. His promise comforts only those who know and trust the Promiser.
- What follows. Israel was to copy Him and remember Egypt. They had felt what the stranger feels.
And ye shall love the stranger; for ye have been strangers in the land of Egypt.
Just before this command, Moses describes God: He shows no partiality, and He loves the stranger — the sojourner, in the ESV — giving him food and clothing (v. 18). Israel must now love the same people, and the reason given is not a rule but a memory: Egypt.
Two things were to shape Israel's conduct: God's example, and their own past.
Notice the way Moses sets the divine example before the people as their model. It is both interesting and instructive. The Lord "loves the stranger, in giving him food and raiment. Love the stranger therefore; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt." This is very touching. They were not only to keep the divine model before their eyes. They were also to remember their own past history and experience, so that their hearts would go out in sympathy and compassion toward the poor homeless stranger. It was the binding duty and high privilege of the Israel of God to put themselves in the circumstances of others and enter into their feelings. They were to be the moral representatives of the One whose people they were, and whose name was called on them.
One writer treats that likeness to God as the whole point of the law:
But the love of God necessarily implies the desire to become morally like Him; and so the law becomes a means to this. In His commandments we learn Himself... Despite this, the law plainly requires the imitation of God Himself.
Verse 18 also says God takes no bribe. One writer holds that up against the courts we know.
This great God of Israel shows no partiality and takes no bribe. Instead He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and He shows love toward strangers (v. 18). How totally unlike this are the great majority of rulers in the world today! Law courts too often show sad disregard for justice. The poor often suffer gross injustice. Meanwhile the wealthy use their money to twist judicial action in their own favour. Believers may well be deeply thankful for a God who is perfectly just and faithful.
Israel did not have to imagine what being a stranger felt like. They had lived it, and God kept them in that position even in their own land.
Israel themselves had known "the heart of a stranger" by bitter experience. More than that, they were still taught to count themselves as strangers even in their own land, and so to prove to themselves that love of His to strangers of which He speaks: "The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is Mine: for you are strangers and sojourners with Me."
The provision named in verse 18 is food and clothing — modest, and later picked up as a measure of contentment.
God loves the stranger (Deut. 10:18). He loves the poor, friendless stranger with the love of pity and of grace, and provides for him. But there is also the separated stranger, who has turned his back on this polluted scene. With him God links His name and His honour, and owns such a person without shame. Hebrews 11:13-16.
Circumcision of the heart means an inward change, not just an outward mark. One writer makes love to the stranger the sign that it has happened.
Had Israel circumcised their hearts, a second thing would have marked them. They would have shown love to the stranger who might be among them. We are to display the love that has reached us by seeking others with the Gospel of the grace of God.
Commentators differ in emphasis: one writer points out what such a command exposed.
They were also urged to follow the example of the Lord in loving the stranger (Deut. 10:18-19). But the law demanded, and it gave no power to obey. So it only showed how completely unable man in the flesh is to meet its requirements.
One writer carries this on to believers: love must not stop at the front door.
Nor should their love confine itself within the house. The God of their worship is a lover of the stranger (Deut. 10:18-19). In His gracious kindness to people He had helped them when they were strangers. He had clothed them in their nakedness and had given them His living bread to eat. What they had freely received they should be ready to share.
- Model — The command copies God. He loves the stranger, so His people are to be "the moral representatives" of the One they belong to.
- Memory — Egypt is the argument. Israel had known "the heart of a stranger," so they could enter into the feelings of others.
- Measure — God's love is concrete: food and clothing. He takes no bribe, and He judges for the fatherless and the widow.
- Motive — A circumcised heart shows itself in this love. Without that inward work, the command only exposes how unable man in the flesh is.
- Multiplication — What they freely received, they freely give, so this love reaches past the household to outsiders.