Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

ORPHAN

A fatherless child (Heb. yāṯôm, from the root “to be alone, deprived”; cf. Lam. 5:3). In cultures throughout the ancient Near East, orphans (along with widows and resident aliens) were among the personae miserabilis, with a special claim on a community’s justice and care because they were often under divine protection. In a social system where the male head of the family safeguarded the welfare of its members, orphans were particularly vulnerable. Without a voice to advocate on their behalf within the clan, these fatherless children were outsiders and their property an easy mark for the greedy.

Within the community constituted by the Sinai covenant, the treatment of orphans determines Israel’s fate before the Lord. This Lord is their father (Ps. 68:6), watching over them (Ps. 146:9) and executing justice for them (Deut. 10:18; Ps. 10:14, 18). This protection extends even to Edomite orphans whom the Lord promises to keep alive (Jer. 49:11). Consequently, if the Israelites deprive orphans of justice (Deut. 24:17) or oppress them (Zech. 7:10), the Lord will kill them and make their own children orphans (Exod. 22:23-24). If the people of Judah care for orphans as the Lord cared for the Hebrew slaves in Egypt, the Lord will remain with them (Jer. 7:6) and Davidic kingship will continue (22:3). Job invokes his regard for orphans as evidence that he suffers unjustly (Job 29:12; 31:17, 21). Isaiah, however, observes that Israel’s evil is so great that it smothers the Lord’s concern for orphans (Isa. 9:17[16]). Similarly, angered at God’s refusal to answer him directly, Job declares that God casts lots for the life of orphans (Job 6:27).

The wicked snatch orphans from their mother’s breast and make them slaves (Job 24:9); driving away their donkeys (v. 3), they victimize (Isa. 10:2) and kill them (Ps. 94:6). Israel is evil because it does not allow orphans to prosper (Jer. 5:28). Thus, Eliphaz thinks Job’s suffering stems from his having “crushed the arms of the orphans” (Job 22:9).

Jesus of Nazareth promises the Johannine community that he will not leave them orphans (John 14:15-24), i.e., unprotected amid the evils of this world; he will send them an advocate to aid them in their struggles. The Letter of James argues that loving attention to the needs of widows and orphans, often the silent and the invisible within the community, is necessary for a faith-filled relationship with the Lord (Jas. 1:26-27).

Kathleen S. Nash

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

ORPHAN

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)