Author: Christian Channel

Daily Bible Study
We live in a fallen world and therefore we all have trials and hardships, and at times some are worse than others. And because of those trials and hardships we should have developed a heart of compassion for one another. We through our trials should have learned to have mercy, kindness and a heart tender to those in need. In other words, because we have suffered, we should have compassion and empathy for those who are suffering. Therefore, when a poor person comes into power, a person who has shared in the hardships of the people. Someone who shares in the trials and losses that their fellow countrymen have suffered. They more than most should have compassion and rule with fairness, mercy and kindness. They most of all should have a heart of compassion toward those in need.

And God tells us when they don't, when someone who was poor comes into power and oppresses those who were like they once were, it is especially grievous in God's eyes. Their oppression is like a driving rain, like a hurricane which strips the land bare of food. The Hebrew word used for driving is "sachaph" which means to scrape off, to scour off the surface of something. So the word picture painted here is of a rain so hard and violent it strips bare all the vegetation from the surface of the ground, leaving desolation in its wake. And God in these passages is saying so to is the heart of a poor person who themselves oppresses the poor. Moreover, it's important to remember God will not hold such a person blameless. Such a person opens themselves up to God's discipline here and now, as well as God's wrath in the eternal state to come.