God’s Concern for the Fatherless

We should remind orphans that God wrote special provision for them in His Word.  The fatherless are mentioned 43 times in the Bible - that's a lot!  His command to “Love one another” appears only 12 times even though having His people love each other is extremely important to God.  His command, “Love the LORD thy God” appears only 9 times.  Is God is more concerned that His people treat the fatherless properly than whether they love each other or love Him?

God mentions “orphan” only once.  Being fatherless is nearly as bad as having no parents at all!  God also understands that widows have a hard time:

We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows.  Lamentations 5:3

God knows that being fatherless is very hard:

Being made fatherless was a curse:

And my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.  Exodus 22:24

Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.  Psalm 109:9

Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children.  Psalm 109:12

We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows.  Lamentations 5:3

Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.  Hosea 14:3

God loves everyone (Jn 3:16) with special attention to the fatherless:

Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand: the poor committeth himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless.  Psalm 10:14

A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.  Psalm 68:5

The LORD preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down.  Psalm 146:9

Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in me.  Jeremiah 49:11

The fatherless should rejoice in the Lord along with everyone else

They are specifically included in His blessings and concerns:

And thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you, in the place which the LORD thy God hath chosen to place his name there.  Deuteronomy 16:11

And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates.  Deuteronomy 16:14

When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands.  Deuteronomy 24:19

When thou beatest thine olive tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.  Deuteronomy 24:20

When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it afterward: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.  Deuteronomy 24:21

When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thine increase the third year, which is the year of tithing, and hast given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be filled;  Deuteronomy 26:12

Then thou shalt say before the LORD thy God, I have brought away the hallowed things out of mine house, and also have given them unto the Levite, and unto the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all thy commandments which thou hast commanded me: I have not transgressed thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them.  Deuteronomy 26:13

Neglecting or abusing the fatherlessness is evil

Job's friends accused him of not taking care of the fatherless:

Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless, and ye dig a pit for your friend.  Job 6:27

Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.  Job 22:9

They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge.  Job 24:3

They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.  Job 24:9

Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him.  Job 29:12

Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof;  Job 31:17

If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate:  Job 31:21

 

They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.  Jeremiah 5:28

If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt:  Jeremiah 7:6

In thee have they set light by father and mother: in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the stranger: in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow.  Ezekiel 22:7

And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.  Malachi 3:5

Everyone must look out for the fatherless and care for them

Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child.  Exodus 22:22

He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.  Deuteronomy 10:18

And the Levite, (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest.  Deuteronomy 14:29

Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; nor take a widow's raiment to pledge:  Deuteronomy 24:17

Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the people shall say, Amen.  Deuteronomy 27:19

To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress.  Psalm 10:18

Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.  Psalm 82:3

They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.  Psalm 94:6

Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:  Proverbs 23:10

Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.  Isaiah 1:17

Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.  Isaiah 1:23

Therefore the LORD shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.  Isaiah 9:17

To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!  Isaiah 10:2

Thus saith the LORD; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.  Jeremiah 22:3

And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.  Zachariah 7:10

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.  James 1:27

God also has special concern for widows

Care for widows is generally included in verses about taking care of the fatherless.  These verses about widows don't mention the fatherless:

The evil entreateth the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow.  Job 24:21

The LORD will destroy the house of the proud: but he will establish the border of the widow.  Proverbs 15:25

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.  Matthew 23:14

Which devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation.  Mark 12:40

Which devour widows' houses, and for a shew make long prayers: the same shall receive greater damnation.  Luke 20:47

Honour widows that are widows indeed.  1 Timothy 5:3

Recent History shows that God’s Concerns are Valid

Fatherlessness is a great burden on society as a whole:

Confronting studies[1] in the United States reveal that in the 1980s, 60 percent of rapists grew up in fatherless homes, as did 72 percent of adolescent murderers, and 70 percent of long-term prison inmates.[2]

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[1] https://www.ncpathinktank.org/pub/st267?pg=3

[2] https://www.theepochtimes.com/opinion/when-will-we-stop-the-radical-feminists-abuse-of-women-5420623?utm_source=share-btn-copylink