Deuteronomy 10:18

My Notes

What Does Deuteronomy 10:18 Mean?

Moses describes God's character with two actions: He executes justice for the fatherless and widow, and He loves the stranger. The Hebrew oseh mishpat yathom v'almanah — He does the judgment of the orphan and widow. Mishpat isn't mercy here. It's justice — the legal verdict, the court ruling, the enforcement of rights that no one else will enforce. God is the judge who takes the case of people the system ignores.

"And loveth the stranger" — v'ohev ger — uses ahav, the word for deep, chosen love. God doesn't just tolerate the stranger. He loves them. The ger (sojourner, immigrant, resident alien) is the person living outside their homeland, without the protections of clan or citizenship. And God's posture toward them isn't charity from a distance. It's ahav — the same word used for God's love for Israel (Deuteronomy 7:8).

The practical expression of God's love for the stranger: "giving him food and raiment" — latheth lo lechem v'simlah. Bread and clothing. The most basic needs. God doesn't love the stranger in the abstract. He feeds and clothes them. And the implication for Israel (v. 19): "love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt." Your treatment of the foreigner isn't just ethics. It's memory. You were the stranger. God loved you when you were. Now do the same.

Reflection Questions

• 1.God loves the stranger with the same love He extends to His covenant people. How does that change the way you view immigrants, outsiders, and people without status in your community?
• 2.God's love for the vulnerable is tangible: bread and clothing. Where does your love for the outsider need to move from sentiment to provision?
• 3.You were strangers in Egypt. How should the memory of your own vulnerability drive your compassion toward the vulnerable around you?
• 4.God executes justice for the fatherless and widow — He takes their case when no one else will. Where might God be asking you to advocate for someone the system ignores?

Devotional

God loves the stranger. Not tolerates. Not manages. Loves — ahav, the same word for His covenant love for Israel. The immigrant. The foreigner. The person without documentation in the system, without family in the community, without the protections everyone else takes for granted. God's love for that person is the same quality of love He extends to His chosen people. That should permanently end any theology that ranks the insider's value above the outsider's.

The love isn't abstract. It's bread and clothing. Food and raiment. God doesn't just feel warmth toward the stranger. He feeds them. He provides covering. The love is expressed in the most basic, tangible, bodily care. Are you hungry? Here's bread. Are you exposed? Here's a garment. God's love for the vulnerable has a grocery list. It has a coat closet. It has hands.

The command that follows (v. 19) is the one that gets personal: love the stranger, because you were strangers in Egypt. Your compassion toward the outsider isn't optional generosity. It's obligatory memory. You were the foreigner once. God loved you when you had nothing — no land, no protection, no standing. He gave you bread and clothing when you were making bricks in someone else's country. And now that you have bread and clothing to spare, the memory of your own vulnerability becomes the engine of your compassion. You don't love the stranger because they earned it. You love them because you remember what it felt like to be one.

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture