THE STRONGHOLD

 Exodus 1: 11-14

"Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Raamses.  But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel.  So the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigor.  And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage—in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service in which they made them serve was with rigor."

Oppression is the evil counter point to God’s principle, “The First Shall Be Last and the Servant of All.”  The definition of oppression accurately describes the methodology of those who seek to undermine God’s principle.  Oppression is the violent pressing down of another.  Jesus gave a revealing indictment and definition of those who oppress others:  “ Woe to you lawyers also! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.” Luke 11:46 

Oppression always escalates until resistance becomes near impossible.  Once that threshold is reached it stops and is maintained.  Extermination is always the last rest of the oppressor because that means they will have to get their hands dirty with the tasks reserved for the oppressed.  The goal of the oppressor is to gain the benefit of the labor of a group of people while maintaining an aura of peace and well being in privileged society.

During the late 1960’s and early 1970’s I was a recreation leader and basketball coach at the Bethlehem Community Center in Fort Worth, Texas.  The area where I worked was a ghetto where people with shades of black skin lived.  The suffering in this area was horrific.  Children did not have enough money for shoes to wear to school.  Households shared a common spigot to supply water to homes.  Schools did not have enough text books for the children.  The poor were forced to pay more for groceries than their wealthy neighbors.  Indeed, freedom from poverty was largely limited to enlistment in the armed forces or drug dealing.  Opportunities for advancement through athletic prowess was just beginning to make headway for larger numbers.  The wealthy society was shielded from the sight of the ghetto by highways that skirted their neighborhoods.  

We might say, “If things are so bad, why don’t you do something about it?”  It is difficult to understand things that are beyond your experience.  The Bible gives this instruction to those who are being violently pressed down by others:  “ If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your place, for calmness will lay great offenses to rest.”  Ecclesiastes 10:4  At the height of oppression it is important know that remaining calm and doing the best you can is an expression of great courage.  The Bible teaches that oppression cannot be maintained because God’s grace infects the oppressor with a destabilizing insanity, “ Surely oppression drives the wise into madness, and a bribe corrupts the heart.”
Ecclesiastes 7:7

The irony is that the very violent pressing down used by the oppressor is the very energy that God utilizes to bring about their own demise.  “Whoever oppresses the poor to increase his own wealth, or gives to the rich, will only come to poverty.”  Proverbs 22:16  Why?  Because, “The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.”  Psalm 9:9