The Anawim Of Yahweh

In biblical spirituality we have a comforting expression, "The Anawim of Yahweh," meaning the "poor of Yahweh." The phrase refers to the whole lot of people who are defenceless and vulnerable, living at the margins of society, the Church, community, and family. They have only God to turn to in their needs. These are people who may not make a big noise about the injustice done to them; they may not be argumentative. Maybe they are old and ailing, maybe they are struggling with mental illnesses, or maybe they are not as intelligent and demanding as others. Jesus in the New Testament has his eyes open to the anawim of Yahweh.

The widow in Luke 7:11-17 is an anawim of Yahweh. She had already lost her husband, now her only son. In ancient Palestine, this wasn't just grief; it was a death sentence of a different kind. Without male protection or provisions from her children, she faced not just sorrow but destitution, marginalisation, and a slow fade into society's forgotten corners.

The widow makes no noise, no demands or entreaties, no claims of her works or faith. She does not play a victim card, yet Luke writes with surgical precision: "When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her." Before Jesus speaks to death, he sees the widow. Before he commands the impossible, he feels the unbearable. "Don't cry," he tells her—not as dismissal of her pain, but as promise of its end. "Young man, I say to you, get up!" was not a whisper but a roar of his compassion. It is worth noting that as soon as the man got up and began to talk, Jesus handed him over to his mother, for Jesus knew that she needed him more than anybody else.

Fear grips some in the crowd. Doesn't that indicate that the people were now afraid that the defenceless has a defender now? Nobody becomes poor in this world of enormous wealth unless someone makes them poor. We had better be careful about the poor, the anawim of the Lord, among us. They are not to be bullied and exploited, for God is their defender. Some in the crowd were filled with awe, reverence, and consolation. They said, "God has come to help his people" meaning, God has come to help the anawim of Yahweh.

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