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STUDY 336

Text: Proverbs 28
2 December 2007

Dear Parents,

OPPRESSION
The very idea of oppression is evil. The Scriptures condemn the practice of oppression very clearly. Hosea gives a very crisp description of the kind of oppression that was seen in ancient Israel.

… There is no truth or knowledge of God in the land.
By swearing and lying, killing and stealing
And committing adultery, they break all restraint,
With bloodshed upon bloodshed.

Hosea 4:1-2

The expressions of oppression include the following:-

1. Swearing and lying

2. Killing and stealing

3. Bloodshed upon bloodshed

The consequences of oppression are obvious!

Therefore the land will mourn;
And everyone who dwells there will waste away,
With the beasts of the field,
And birds of the air,
Even the fish of the sea will be taken away.

Hosea 4:3

THE POOR OPPRESSING THE POOR!
To the proverbial writer, perhaps the most tragic form of oppression may be summarized in the following observation.

A poor man who oppresses the poor
Is like the driving rain which leaves no food.

Proverbs 28:3

1. Why would one who has experienced oppression practise it?

2. What is the point of practising oppression against one who is already poor?

These are virtually rhetorical questions that need no answers! Oppression is seen as something so evil, that even the poor can be tainted by it! And what good would come out of the poor oppressing other poor people?

The consequences are that whatever little (food) there may be left, would be washed away completely by the driving rain! No good would ever come out of oppression! We must ever seek to steer our children away from “oppressing tendencies”!

Prayerfully,
Pastor Charlie