A Theology of Adoption, Part Four

God’s Instructions for Orphan Care

The Old Testament contains thirty-five direct commands or rebukes from God concerning the care His people are to take of orphans. In these instances, the term ‘orphans’ means simply ‘fatherless,’ and thus includes children whose mothers are still living and capable of caring for their basic relational needs.

“The word [in Hebrew] does not strictly mean ‘orphan,’ but rather ‘fatherless,’ ‘bereft,’ and has in view the OT concept that a person was without legal standing if not incorporated into the covenant by circumcision or represented by the kinsman-redeemer. Fatherless children of both sexes were to be provided with special three-year tithes. A further provision was the special plots of ‘gleanings’ left in fields for such individuals (Deut 14:29; et al.) The OT repeatedly pleads the case of the two non-conventional states, the widow and the fatherless (Exod 22:22).”1

God’s insistence that His people should care for orphans commands one more distinctive behavior; the practice sets Israel apart from its surrounding nations. The main difference between other Ancient Near Eastern cultures and Israel in the approach to orphan care is the question of who primarily benefits from the arrangement. In the surrounding cultures, the adoptive parents were the ones who sought and benefitted from adoption. In Israel, the concern is to benefit the child, while those who provide for him/her are in fact required to sacrifice their own profit for the child’s welfare. “All parts of Israel’s text attest to this primal obligation that the powerful and monied are mandated to utilize their capacity and their resources to create protected space for children other than our own who are defenseless. This mandate is a part of the distinctiveness of the Torah tradition of Israel and thus part of Israel’s peculiar identity.”2

There is no way of knowing how many orphans and widows the community would be called upon to support, but there must have been a substantial number in order to necessitate so many laws and provisions for this particular population. There are twelve commands concerning orphan care in Deuteronomy alone. There is only one verse in Deuteronomy prohibiting murder, yet we are careful to keep that command! If God placed such an emphasis on orphan care, we should as well.

Orphans were a constant, and presumably significant, component of Israel's community. God repeatedly rebukes the nation for failing to care for the poor, the widows, and the orphans. In addition to this, God is often referred to as and praised for being the father to the fatherless. “It is remarkable that in the biblical text this large obligation toward children other than our own is rooted in the very character of God.”3

Ours is a God who cares for the least wanted and least protected, and He expects the same care and consideration from His chosen people.

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1. William White Jr., “Orphans,” in The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, volume 4, ed. Merrill C. Tenney, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1975), 546.
2. Walter Brueggemann, “Vulnerable Children, Divine Passion, and Human Obligation,” in The Child in the Bible, ed. Marcia J. Bunge, (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2008), 419.
3. Brueggemann, 412.