Afflicted

The duty owed to the afflicted runs through the whole canon as a single insistent obligation: see them, do not pass by, supply what they lack, and bear their grief as one's own. Job names the principle in its plainest form — "To him who is ready to faint, kindness [should be shown] from his friend" (Job 6:14) — and from there the obligation widens out into law, prophet, proverb, gospel, and apostolic writing.

The Plain Duty

Friendship, when it meets affliction, owes kindness. Job states it as a rule that holds even when the sufferer's faith has slipped: "To him who is ready to faint, kindness [should be shown] from his friend; Even to him who forsakes the fear of the Almighty" (Job 6:14). The promise that follows is that the one who lifts the cast-down will himself be heard: "When they are cast down, you will say, [There is] lifting up; And the humble person he will save" (Job 22:29).

Isaiah pushes the duty into the question of true religion. The fast Yahweh chooses is not abstinence but action: "to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you⁺ break every yoke" (Isa 58:6); "to deal your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor who are cast out to your house? When you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you don't hide yourself from your own flesh?" (Isa 58:7). James writes the same definition in apostolic shorthand: "Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, [and] to keep himself unspotted from the world" (Jas 1:27). Paul lists "if she has relieved the afflicted" among the works that mark a widow worthy of being enrolled (1Ti 5:10).

See, and Do Not Pass By

The parable of the man on the Jericho road is the canonical picture of what the duty looks like — and of two ways it is shirked. A traveler is left half dead by robbers; a priest sees him and "passed by on the other side"; a Levite, "when he came to the place, and saw him, passed by on the other side" (Lu 10:31-32). The Samaritan, by contrast, "was moved with compassion, and came to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring on [them] oil and wine; and he set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him" (Lu 10:33-34). He pays for ongoing care out of his own purse, and the answer to "who was the fellow man?" is plain: "He who showed mercy on him. And Jesus said to him, Go, and you do likewise" (Lu 10:37).

Sirach lays out the same posture as a series of commands. "Incline your ear to the poor, And answer his [greeting of] Peace, with meekness" (Sir 4:8). "Do not snort at the misery of the soul who lacks, And do not hide yourself from a contrite soul" (Sir 4:2). "Do not despise the requests of the needy" (Sir 4:4); "And likewise to the needy, hold out your hand; So that your blessing may be complete" (Sir 7:32). "Nevertheless with the lowly man be longsuffering, And do not let him wait for alms. Help the poor for the commandment's sake, And do not grieve for the loss" (Sir 29:8-9). "Do not put off those who weep, But mourn with those who mourn" (Sir 7:34).

The Epistle to Diognetus puts the same ethic in the language of imitation: "But he who takes his neighbor's burden on himself; he who, where he is superior, wishes to benefit another who is inferior; he who supplies to others in need those things which he has received from God, becomes as a god to those who receive. This man is the imitator of God" (Gr 10:6). Loving one's neighbor in this way is what makes a person "an imitator of his kindness" (Gr 10:4), of the God who "was not only loving toward man, but also long-suffering" (Gr 8:7).

Bear One Another's Burdens

Paul reduces the duty to one sentence: "Bear⁺ one another's burdens, and so you⁺ will fulfill the law of Christ" (Gal 6:2). Romans extends the same posture: "Now we who are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves" (Rom 15:1). The participation runs both ways — joy with joy, weeping with weeping: "Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep" (Rom 12:15).

The duty is concrete. Hebrews names what remembering looks like: "Remember those who are in bonds, as bound with them; those who are ill-treated, as being yourselves also in the body" (Heb 13:3) — and recalls a community that had already done it: "you⁺ both had compassion on those who were in bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your⁺ possessions" (Heb 10:34). Sirach sets the same standard for ordinary friendship under pressure: "Support your neighbor in poverty, That in his prosperity you may rejoice; Remain steadfast to him in time of [his] affliction, That you may be heir with him in his inheritance" (Sir 22:23).

The disposition that holds these acts together has a name. "Finally, all of you⁺ [be] likeminded, compassionate, loving as brothers, tenderhearted, humbleminded" (1Pet 3:8). "Put on therefore, as God's elect, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, long-suffering" (Col 3:12). "Be⁺ kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, even as God also in Christ forgave you⁺" (Eph 4:32).

The Comforter Comforts

Comforting the afflicted is itself a transferable work. The God who is "the Father of mercies and God of all comfort" (2Cor 1:3) "comforts the lowly" (2Cor 7:6), and Paul names mutual encouragement as the apostolic mandate: "Therefore comfort one another with these words" (1Th 4:18); "Therefore exhort one another, and build each other up, even as also you⁺ do. [...] And we exhort you⁺, brothers, admonish the disorderly, encourage the fainthearted, support the weak, be long-suffering toward all" (1Th 5:11-14). Prophecy in the assembly does the same work: "he who prophesies speaks to men edification, and exhortation, and consolation" (1Cor 14:3).

Paul writes from his own experience of this pattern: "we were comforted over you⁺ in all our distress and affliction through your⁺ faith" (1Th 3:7); "he who comforts the lowly, [even] God, comforted us by the coming of Titus" (2Cor 7:6). The Philippian appeal makes consolation the basis of community: "If there is therefore any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassions, make my joy full, that you⁺ are of the same mind, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind" (Php 2:1-2).

The patriarchal narratives sketch the same posture early. Joseph to his terrified brothers: "don't be⁺ afraid: I will nourish you⁺, and your⁺ little ones. And he comforted them, and spoke kindly to them" (Gen 50:21). Job's three companions came at first "to bemoan him and to comfort him" (Job 2:11). The mourners around Lazarus's tomb came "to console them concerning their brother" (Jn 11:19), and Jesus, seeing the weeping, "wept" (Jn 11:35).

The prophetic voice carries the divine first-person of comfort. "Comfort⁺, comfort⁺ my people, says your⁺ God" (Isa 40:1). "I, even I, am he who comforts you⁺" (Isa 51:12). "As one whom his mother comforts, so [my Speech] will comfort you⁺; and you⁺ will be comforted in Jerusalem" (Isa 66:13). "In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bore them, and carried them all the days of old" (Isa 63:9). The Servant's commission is "to appoint to those who mourn in Zion, to give to them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness" (Isa 61:3); Elijah's successor "By a spirit of might… saw the latter end, And comforted the mourners of Zion" (Sir 48:24).

Sirach also names the hard limit on grief and the call to come back from it: "Make bitter your weeping and passionate your wailing, And make mourning such as befits him, For a day or two to avoid scandal, And be comforted for your sorrow" (Sir 38:17). "When the dead is at rest, let his memory rest; And be consoled when his soul departs" (Sir 38:23).

Mercy Is Fitting in the Time of Affliction

The duty to the afflicted draws its force from the character of God. "For Yahweh is merciful and gracious, And he saves in time of trouble" (Sir 2:11); "Mercy is fitting in the time of their affliction, As rain in the time of drought" (Sir 35:26). The cry from below is heard: "Supplication from the mouth of a poor man [reaches] to the ears of the Lord, And his vindication comes quickly" (Sir 21:5); "The cry of the poor passes through the clouds, And until it reaches [God] it does not rest; It will not cease until God visits" (Sir 35:21).

This God is praised in the same idiom across the Psalter and the prophets. "Yahweh is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abundant in loving-kindness" (Ps 103:8); "rend your⁺ heart, and not your⁺ garments, and turn to Yahweh your⁺ God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving-kindness, and repents of the evil" (Joel 2:13); "He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does Yahweh require of you, but to do justly, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" (Mic 6:8); "Be⁺ merciful, even as your⁺ Father is merciful" (Lu 6:36). His compassion is as wide as creation: "The mercy of man is upon his neighbor, But the mercy of the Lord is upon all flesh, Reproving, and chastening, and teaching, And bringing back as a shepherd his flock" (Sir 18:13). "But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us…" (Eph 2:4).

The high priestly compassion of Christ is the New Testament's gathering of all this: "we do not have a high priest who can't be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but one who has been in all points tried like [we are, yet] without sin" (Heb 4:15). When he sees the widow of Nain, "he had compassion on her, and said to her, Do not weep" (Lu 7:13); the leper is touched and made clean (Mk 1:41).

The reciprocal warning is as clear as the promise: "For judgment [is] without mercy to him who has shown no mercy: mercy glories against judgment" (Jas 2:13). "The merciful man does good to his own soul; But he who is cruel troubles his own flesh" (Pr 11:17). The promises run the other way for those who give: "if you draw out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul: then your light will rise in darkness, and your obscurity be as the noonday" (Isa 58:10); "give, and it will be given to you⁺; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over" (Lu 6:38); "He has dispersed, he has given to the needy; His righteousness endures forever: His horn will be exalted with honor" (Ps 112:9); "[The Speech of] Yahweh will support him on the couch of languishing: You make all his bed in his sickness" (Ps 41:3); "Be as a father to the fatherless, And in the place of a husband to widows. And God will call you son, And will be gracious to you" (Sir 4:10).

The Cry of the Poor and Needy

The afflicted who has no other help becomes the special object of Yahweh's regard. "He will deliver the needy when he cries, And the poor, who has no helper" (Ps 72:12); "Oh don't let the oppressed return ashamed: Let the poor and needy praise your name" (Ps 74:21); "Rescue the poor and needy: Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked" (Ps 82:4). "Bow down your ear, O Yahweh, and answer me; For I am poor and needy" (Ps 86:1); "I am poor and needy, And my heart is wounded inside me" (Ps 109:22).

Sirach speaks tenderly of the broken: "There is one who is beaten down, and who perishes in his walk, Lacking everything and has abundant hardship. But the eye of Yahweh watches him for good; And he shakes him free from the stinking dust" (Sir 11:12). And bluntly of the world that crushes them: "The lion feeds on wild donkeys in the wilderness; Likewise, the rich pastures on those who are needy" (Sir 13:19); "The rich speaks out and his helpers are many. And his repulsive words are made beautiful. The needy is tripped [saying], Reach out! Reach out! And lift me! And he spoke out wisely, but there is no place for him" (Sir 13:22). "[As] one who slays a son in the sight of his father, [So] is he who brings a sacrifice from the belongings of the poor. The bread of the needy is the life of the poor, He who deprives him of it is a man of blood" (Sir 34:24-25).

The afflicted is not to be despised because of his need: "Do not despise the needy who deals wisely; And do not honor any violent man. There is the needy who is honored because of his understanding; And there is he who is honored because of his riches" (Sir 10:23, 30); "Sojourner and stranger, foreigner and poor; Their glory is the fear of Yahweh" (Sir 10:22); "Do not mock at one who wears [only] a loincloth; And do not scorn at a bitter day" (Sir 11:4); "My son, do not mock at the life of the poor, And do not grieve the eyes of him who is in bitterness of soul" (Sir 4:1); "Treasure the poor and do not give to the proud" (Sir 12:7).

Cruelty, Oppression, and the Closed Hand

The negative side of the duty is treated as scandalous. The disciples themselves shoo away those who come to Jesus — children and a blind beggar alike — and are rebuked. "And they were bringing to him also their babies, that he should touch them: but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them" (Lu 18:15); "And they were bringing to him little children, that he should touch them: and the disciples rebuked them" (Mk 10:13); "And many rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried out the more a great deal, Son of David, have mercy on me" (Mk 10:48); "send them away, that they may go into the surrounding country and villages, and buy themselves something to eat" (Mk 6:36).

Oppression of the poor is named as a defining sin of social life and a defiance of God himself. "He who oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker; But he who has mercy on the needy honors him" (Pr 14:31); "The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery; yes, they have vexed the poor and needy, and have oppressed the sojourner wrongfully" (Eze 22:29); "Then I returned and saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and, look, the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter" (Ec 4:1); "and don't oppress the widow, nor the fatherless, the sojourner, nor the poor; and let none of you⁺ devise evil against his brother in your⁺ heart" (Zec 7:10); "But you⁺ have dishonored the poor man. Don't the rich oppress you⁺, and themselves drag you⁺ into court?" (Jas 2:6); "Look, the wages of the workers who mowed your⁺ fields, which you⁺ kept back by fraud, cries out: and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of Yahweh of hosts" (Jas 5:4).

The proverbs and Sirach turn the closed hand into a portrait. "Don't trust in oppression" (Ps 62:10); "A righteous man regards the soul of his beast; But the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel" (Pr 12:10); "He who oppresses the poor to increase his [gain], [And] he who gives to the rich, [will come] only to want" (Pr 22:16); "A needy [noble] man who oppresses the poor Is [like] a sweeping rain which leaves no food" (Pr 28:3). "You will not oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy" (Dt 24:14). Sirach: "Do not afflict a slave who serves faithfully; Or likewise a hired worker who gives his soul" (Sir 7:20); "If you have but one servant, treat him as your brother, For as your own soul you have need of him" (Sir 33:31); "A ruler will give cruelty and will not spare; Over the soul of many, he makes a conspiracy" (Sir 13:12); "Do not walk with one who is cruel" (Sir 8:15). And the painful inversion of comfort: "[As] vinegar on lye, and [as] smoke for the eyes, So is he who sings songs to a heavy heart" (Pr 25:20). Even gifts can be ruined by the manner of giving: "My son, do not put a blemish on [your] good deeds, Nor [cause] grief through words in any gift" (Sir 18:15); "For there is a good word which is better than a gift; And both belong to a gracious man" (Sir 18:17).

When There Is No Helper

The picture of the afflicted with no one to help is a recurring lament and a goad to action. "Don't be far from me; for trouble is near; For there is none to help" (Ps 22:11); "Therefore he brought down their heart with labor; They fell down, and there was none to help" (Ps 107:12); "And I sought for a man among them, that should build up the wall, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none" (Eze 22:30); "And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his own arm brought salvation to him" (Isa 59:16); "And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore my own arm brought salvation to me" (Isa 63:5). Job recalls the alternative — a man who refused to be such a none: "The blessing of him who was ready to perish came upon me; And I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy" (Job 29:13); "Didn't I weep for him who was in trouble? Wasn't my soul grieved for the needy?" (Job 30:25).

Lending and surety extend the duty beyond pity into structured help. "He who lends to his neighbor shows kindness, And he who strengthened him with his hand keeps the commandments. Lend to your neighbor in time of his need, And repay your neighbor at the appointed time" (Sir 29:1-2); "A good man becomes surety for his neighbor, But he who has lost his sense of shame fails him" (Sir 29:14).

Encouraging the Fainthearted

The afflicted is often the discouraged. The opening word is the angelic and prophetic refrain — "Don't be afraid" — spoken to Hagar's heir, to Israel at the Red Sea, to Gideon, to the army of Elisha, to the women at the tomb. "I am the God of Abraham your father. Don't be afraid, for [my Speech is] with you" (Gen 26:24); "Don't be⁺ afraid, stand still, and see the salvation of Yahweh" (Ex 14:13); "Peace be to you; don't be afraid" (Jdg 6:23); "Don't be afraid; for those who are with us are more than those who are with them" (2Ki 6:16); "Don't be amazed: you⁺ seek Jesus, the Nazarene, who has been crucified: he is risen" (Mk 16:6); "Don't be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the Living one" (Rev 1:17-18).

Isaiah hammers it home in the chapters of consolation: "Don't be afraid, for [my Speech] is with you; don't be dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you; yes, I will help you; yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness" (Isa 41:10); "I, Yahweh your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, Don't be afraid; [my Speech] will help you" (Isa 41:13); "Don't be afraid, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, [my Speech] will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you: when you walk through the fire, you will not be burned" (Isa 43:1-2). Elijah hears the discouragement of a starving widow with the same word: "Don't be afraid; go and do as you have said" (1Ki 17:13).

The opposite voice is also recorded honestly. Builders working on Nehemiah's wall lose heart: "The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall" (Neh 4:10). "Hope deferred makes the heart sick; But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life" (Pr 13:12). The wilderness generation "was much discouraged because of the way" (Num 21:4). Even Judas Maccabeus, watching his army melt away, "his heart was cast down: because he did not have time to gather them together, and he was discouraged" (1Ma 9:7).

Practical Care: Visiting, Anointing, Prayer, Presence

The works the New Testament names as the duty's outworking are simple. James writes the order of pastoral response: "Is any among you⁺ suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is any among you⁺ sick? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith will save him who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, it will be forgiven him" (Jas 5:13-15). The Samaritan does much the same in narrative form: he binds the wounds, pours oil and wine, conveys the man, and pays for ongoing care (Lu 10:34-35). Joseph's word to his brothers — "I will nourish you⁺, and your⁺ little ones" — collapses into a single line both the material provision and the gentle speech that goes with it (Gen 50:21).

Where Israel's enemies were captured and naked, mercy went so far as to clothe and feed and carry them: "The men who have been mentioned by name rose up, and took the captives, and with the spoil clothed all who were naked among them, and arrayed them, and gave them sandals, and gave them to eat and to drink, and anointed them, and carried all the feeble of them on donkeys, and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm-trees" (2Chr 28:15). Elisha refuses to let his king strike captives, urging instead: "Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master" (2Ki 6:22). Daniel counsels Nebuchadnezzar in the same direction: "break off your sins by righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor; if there may be a lengthening of your tranquility" (Dan 4:27).

The duty, in sum, is as old as Job's friend-rule and as new as the Samaritan's purse. Yahweh is "merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abundant in loving-kindness" (Ps 103:8); the call on those who would be his is to be likewise — "Be⁺ merciful, even as your⁺ Father is merciful" (Lu 6:36) — and to do for the afflicted what the God of all comfort has done for them: "Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort" (2Cor 1:3).