#Definition of orphan code#

There are only two certain references to orphans. But they could at the same time hope for salvation, for in Yahweh 'the fatherless find compassion' ( Hosea 14:4 ). If Yahweh judged the people, it was as if they had become orphans without a father ( Lam 5:3 ).

Ezekiel described Israel as an infant abandoned to die by its parents Yahweh, however, had mercy and adopted her into his family (chap. A fatherless Israel was adopted by Yahweh and became his firstborn son ( Exod 4:22 ). Israel used the metaphor of an orphan to describe its own origins. True repentance meant justice for the orphan ( Isa 1:17 Jer 7:6 22:3 Zech 7:10 ). Consequently the yardstick by which Israelite society is measured in the prophetic critique is its concern to protect and provide for the totally dependent, a prime example of which was the orphan ( Isa 1:23 10:2 Jer 5:28 Ezek 22:7 Mal 3:5 ). To have compassion on the powerless, represented by the orphan, is to have the same zeal as God, who is known especially as 'the helper of the fatherless' ( Psalm 10:14 ), the helper of the helpless ( Job 29:12 ). My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword your wives will become widows and your children fatherless' ( 22:22 ). If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. In this text, given to a group of recently liberated slaves, the Lord passionately desired the protection of the orphan: 'Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan.

#Definition of orphan code#

The first reference to orphans in the Bible is found in the earliest law code of ancient Israel, the Covenant Code (Exod 21-24). Consequently in the Bible, and in the ancient Near East, orphans and widows are usually mentioned together as the epitome of the poor and deprived of society, the personae miserabiles. The meaning is clearly demonstrated in Lamentations 5:3: 'We have become orphans and fatherless, our mothers like widows.' Since the father was the main means of economic support for the family unit in the ancient Near East, his absence left his wife and children in a particularly vulnerable condition ( 2 Kings 4:1-7 ).