Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumblingblock before the blind, but shalt fear thy God: I am the LORD.
It forbids insulting those who cannot hear and deliberately tripping those who cannot see, requiring respect and care that refuses to exploit people who cannot easily protect themselves. A stumbling block is more than a physical obstacle, including anything that harms their influence, interests or prosperity, discourages them, exploits their work and inventions for gain, or treats them unjustly and coldly in pay and rights. This care is commanded from reverence and fear of God, who sees wrongs even when the victim cannot hear or see them. God has a special tender care for the blind as their friend, making His people their guardians to encourage, support, make room for, and deal justly with them, so that oppression brings His curse and accountability until there is repentance, restoration, and justice. In this way holiness is lived out in justice toward others, overcoming selfishness by sharing God's gifts, showing mercy to all in need, and refusing any oppression, pain, or hindrance to a brother.
Meaning and Scope
The command forbids cursing a person who is deaf and deliberately placing an obstacle where a person who is blind will stumble over it. It requires respect and care for people who cannot hear or see and refuses permission to take advantage of people who cannot readily protect themselves. Reverence and fear of God is the ground for treating others in this right way, even when those harmed cannot hear or see the wrongdoing, because God sees such conduct.
A stumbling block means more than a physical obstacle placed in a path. It includes any action that harms a blind person's influence or interests or that hinders his prosperity. Unjustly discouraging a blind person or exploiting him for one's own gain is therefore forbidden, for God is his friend and such wrongdoing brings God's curse. Taking advantage of a blind man by exploiting his study and inventions for one's own benefit violates God's law, and those who do so commit robbery and are virtually breakers of the commandments.
Putting a stumbling block before the blind includes unjust treatment in work, such as using sharp words over the price of their labor, thinking they demand too much, practicing rigid and parsimonious economy toward them, turning them from their rights, treating them coldly, and discouraging them from service. Those who see must treat the blind differently because of their infirmity, with particular care and consideration, making a place for them to help and bless the work, encouraging them, valuing their time and labor, and dealing justly with them in pay and rights. Such selfish conduct offends God, shows failure to bring mercy and the love of God into religious experience, writes dark chapters in the books of heaven, and leaves its practitioners weighed in the balances of the sanctuary and found wanting. The same principle forbids using one's advantages to distress or humiliate those who lack them, including displaying one's abilities or possessions before people who may feel deprived or inferior, which is unkind and morally contemptible.
Reverent Care for Others
The command not to curse the deaf or trip the blind is grounded in reverence and fear of God, which requires refusing to exploit those who cannot easily protect themselves. That reverence governs treatment of the vulnerable precisely when the wrong would go unseen and unheard by its victim, because God sees such conduct. Care for others in this way is an act of reverence toward God Himself.
God has a special care for the blind, with a love exceeding a mother's love for her afflicted children, and He has given special directions for how they are to be treated. Those who see must therefore treat them differently from seeing people, with particular care and consideration for their infirmity, and to make no difference is disobedience to the Lord. God's people are guardians of the blind and afflicted.
That guardianship means supporting a blind, poor, and ill brother who is striving to help himself, rather than perplexing or distressing him or obstructing his way. A place is to be made for him to help and bless the work, with encouragement, with his time and labor valued, and with just dealing toward him in pay and rights. God is the blind person's friend, so unjustly discouraging or exploiting him for one's own gain brings God's curse, and those who oppress the blind and afflicted must be held accountable. Anyone who wrongs him must repent and make restoration before his prayers are accepted, and a church that allows such wrongs is guilty until it does all it can to set them right. Such selfishness offends God and fails to bring mercy and the love of God into religious experience, writing dark chapters in the books of heaven and leaving its practitioners weighed in the balances of the sanctuary and found wanting.
The verse shows holiness lived out in justice in dealing with others, forbidding oppression of brethren in any way, including harm toward the deaf and the blind. It belongs with the instruction that God's gifts are to be shared, with the gleanings of harvest-field, orchard, and vineyard regarded as the Lord's portion to relieve the necessities of the poor and the stranger. As God is holy, believers must be holy in order to be accepted and approved, practicing godliness in every circumstance by cultivating the attributes of Jesus, which are the attributes of God. That means overcoming selfishness and self-centeredness and showing mercy and relief not only to members of one's own group but to all who need it, beginning with responsibility as a blessing to one's own family at home and then loving neighbors as oneself, with each believer growing individually in Christ as personal Saviour up to the full stature of Christ rather than being saved by church membership. Wrongs against fellow believers, including conduct that causes them pain or creates obstacles for them, dishonor the truth, while Christian love is shown by Christlike deeds toward them.
It forbids insulting those who cannot hear and deliberately tripping those who cannot see, requiring respect and care that refuses to exploit people who cannot easily protect themselves. A stumbling block is more than a physical obstacle, including anything that harms their influence, interests or prosperity, discourages them, exploits their work and inventions for gain, or treats them unjustly and coldly in pay and rights. This care is commanded from reverence and fear of God, who sees wrongs even when the victim cannot hear or see them. God has a special tender care for the blind as their friend, making His people their guardians to encourage, support, make room for, and deal justly with them, so that oppression brings His curse and accountability until there is repentance, restoration, and justice. In this way holiness is lived out in justice toward others, overcoming selfishness by sharing God's gifts, showing mercy to all in need, and refusing any oppression, pain, or hindrance to a brother.
Meaning and Scope
The command forbids cursing a person who is deaf and deliberately placing an obstacle where a person who is blind will stumble over it. It requires respect and care for people who cannot hear or see and refuses permission to take advantage of people who cannot readily protect themselves. Reverence and fear of God is the ground for treating others in this right way, even when those harmed cannot hear or see the wrongdoing, because God sees such conduct.
A stumbling block means more than a physical obstacle placed in a path. It includes any action that harms a blind person's influence or interests or that hinders his prosperity. Unjustly discouraging a blind person or exploiting him for one's own gain is therefore forbidden, for God is his friend and such wrongdoing brings God's curse. Taking advantage of a blind man by exploiting his study and inventions for one's own benefit violates God's law, and those who do so commit robbery and are virtually breakers of the commandments.
Putting a stumbling block before the blind includes unjust treatment in work, such as using sharp words over the price of their labor, thinking they demand too much, practicing rigid and parsimonious economy toward them, turning them from their rights, treating them coldly, and discouraging them from service. Those who see must treat the blind differently because of their infirmity, with particular care and consideration, making a place for them to help and bless the work, encouraging them, valuing their time and labor, and dealing justly with them in pay and rights. Such selfish conduct offends God, shows failure to bring mercy and the love of God into religious experience, writes dark chapters in the books of heaven, and leaves its practitioners weighed in the balances of the sanctuary and found wanting. The same principle forbids using one's advantages to distress or humiliate those who lack them, including displaying one's abilities or possessions before people who may feel deprived or inferior, which is unkind and morally contemptible.
Reverent Care for Others
The command not to curse the deaf or trip the blind is grounded in reverence and fear of God, which requires refusing to exploit those who cannot easily protect themselves. That reverence governs treatment of the vulnerable precisely when the wrong would go unseen and unheard by its victim, because God sees such conduct. Care for others in this way is an act of reverence toward God Himself.
God has a special care for the blind, with a love exceeding a mother's love for her afflicted children, and He has given special directions for how they are to be treated. Those who see must therefore treat them differently from seeing people, with particular care and consideration for their infirmity, and to make no difference is disobedience to the Lord. God's people are guardians of the blind and afflicted.
That guardianship means supporting a blind, poor, and ill brother who is striving to help himself, rather than perplexing or distressing him or obstructing his way. A place is to be made for him to help and bless the work, with encouragement, with his time and labor valued, and with just dealing toward him in pay and rights. God is the blind person's friend, so unjustly discouraging or exploiting him for one's own gain brings God's curse, and those who oppress the blind and afflicted must be held accountable. Anyone who wrongs him must repent and make restoration before his prayers are accepted, and a church that allows such wrongs is guilty until it does all it can to set them right. Such selfishness offends God and fails to bring mercy and the love of God into religious experience, writing dark chapters in the books of heaven and leaving its practitioners weighed in the balances of the sanctuary and found wanting.
The verse shows holiness lived out in justice in dealing with others, forbidding oppression of brethren in any way, including harm toward the deaf and the blind. It belongs with the instruction that God's gifts are to be shared, with the gleanings of harvest-field, orchard, and vineyard regarded as the Lord's portion to relieve the necessities of the poor and the stranger. As God is holy, believers must be holy in order to be accepted and approved, practicing godliness in every circumstance by cultivating the attributes of Jesus, which are the attributes of God. That means overcoming selfishness and self-centeredness and showing mercy and relief not only to members of one's own group but to all who need it, beginning with responsibility as a blessing to one's own family at home and then loving neighbors as oneself, with each believer growing individually in Christ as personal Saviour up to the full stature of Christ rather than being saved by church membership. Wrongs against fellow believers, including conduct that causes them pain or creates obstacles for them, dishonor the truth, while Christian love is shown by Christlike deeds toward them.