Exodus 22:25-31: a reflection

25“If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be to him as a creditor. You shall not charge him interest. 26If you take your neighbor’s garment as collateral, you shall restore it to him before the sun goes down, 27for that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin. What would he sleep in? It will happen, when he cries to me, that I will hear, for I am gracious. 28“You shall not blaspheme God, nor curse a ruler of your people. 29“You shall not delay to offer from your harvest and from the outflow of your presses. “You shall give the firstborn of your sons to me. 30You shall do likewise with your cattle and with your sheep. It shall be with its mother seven days, then on the eighth day you shall give it to me. 31“You shall be holy men to me, therefore you shall not eat any meat that is torn by animals in the field. You shall cast it to the dogs.

These laws reveal the heart of God for the vulnerable. If you lend to someone poor, do not act like a hard creditor or pile on interest. If you take a poor man's cloak as a pledge, return it before sunset, because that cloak is his only covering for the night. And then God adds a reason that should stop us: when he cries out to me, I will hear, for I am gracious.

Notice how personally God takes the treatment of the poor. He listens for the cry of the man shivering without his cloak, and he calls himself gracious as the ground of the command. The way you handle someone in need is not a private financial matter to God. He is attentive to it, on the side of the one with less power, ready to hear when they call.

The chapter ends by tying this to holiness: you shall be holy men to me. Holiness, in God's mind, is not only ritual purity but mercy toward the vulnerable. Ask yourself whether there is anyone in your reach whom you could treat more gently, a debtor, an employee, someone dependent on your goodwill. Handle them as one who knows that God himself listens for their cry, and be holy in the way you show mercy.

Lord, you listen for the cry of the poor and call yourself gracious. Make me gentle with everyone who depends on my goodwill, quick to return what they need and slow to press my advantage. Let my holiness show itself in mercy, and let no one in my reach have cause to cry out to you against me. Teach me to reflect your grace. Amen.