Types of the helpless.
The stranger, the widow, and the orphan are constantly presented in the Law as objects of compassion and beneficence. "God obtains right for the oppressed, gives bread to the hungry, and consequently proves himself to be the Succorer of those who suffer wrong without doing wrong, and the Provider for those who look for their daily bread from his gracious hand."
I. THE ORPHAN IS THE COMMON TYPE OF THE HELPLESS IN ALL LANDS. Before powers of self-help are developed, he is deprived of both the father who earns for him, and the mother who cares for him. The God of the helpless is at once revealed when he is called the "Father of the fatherless," and when it is said, "In thee the fatherless findeth mercy."
II. FOR THE WIDOW AS A TYPE OF THE HELPLESS, IT IS NECESSARY TO THINK OF THE WILLOWS OF EASTERN LANDS. Illustrations may be taken from India. There the widow is not allowed to marry again; she is unable to work for her living, and would not be permitted to do so if she could; and, worse than all, at home she is only tolerated, for her husband's death is regarded as a judgment on some sin of hers. It is of the tenderest significance that God is called the "Judge of the widow," and that he is represented as saying, "Let the widows trust in me."
III. THE STRANGER IS AN EASTERN TYPE OF HELPLESSNESS, Modern civilization has destroyed personal concern for the welfare of strangers. It has provided its hotels and institutions, and shifted on to public bodies its individual concern. But in the East the stranger arriving at any place was freely offered hospitality; every home was open to him. He was recognized as temporarily helpless, because for the time away from home and friends.
Think, then, how the good man is influenced by these three types of helplessness. And from the good man rise to think of God as moved by the pitiful sight of the widow, the hopeless outlooking of the orphan, and the anxious inquiring of the desolate stranger. They, and all helpless ones, may be sure of two things:
1. God will help them to help themselves.
2. God will help them when they cannot help themselves. "Friend of the friendless and the faint."—R.T.