Do Not Take Advantage Of Each Other

Leviticus 25:11-17 – The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines. For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields. “‘In this Year of Jubilee everyone is to return to their own property. “‘If you sell land to any of your own people or buy land from them, do not take advantage of each other. You are to buy from your own people on the basis of the number of years since the Jubilee. And they are to sell to you on the basis of the number of years left for harvesting crops. When the years are many, you are to increase the price, and when the years are few, you are to decrease the price, because what is really being sold to you is the number of crops. Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am the Lord your God.

1 Samuel 12:3 – Here I stand. Testify against me in the presence of the Lord and his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I accepted a bribe to make me shut my eyes? If I have done any of these things, I will make it right.”

Jeremiah 7:5-7 – If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever.

Zechariah 7:10 – Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’

1 Thessalonians 4:3-6 – It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister. The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before.

Application:

• ·         The Lord prohibited the accumulation of property to the detriment of the poor.
• ·         Samuel did not use his position for personal gain.
• ·         Rulers and people alike should not oppress the alien, the fatherless,  or the.widow.
• ·         In the ancient Near East, the ideal king was expected to protect the oppressed and needy members of society.
• ·         No one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him.

All Scripture verses taken from ESV