Defender of the Weak
by Gilly Mathiesen
Sometimes I read verses and realise that in order to get the full meaning or application, I need to study them a bit more. Recently I was reading Psalm 68:5-6, ‘A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families, he leads out the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land,’ and had a desire to look at the root meaning of some of the words.
I discovered that the promise of being a father to the fatherless has a deeper meaning in Hebrew. ‘Fatherless’ is ‘Yathom’ in Hebrew, meaning lonely, bereaved, or without one or both parents. As I then read the words ‘defender of widows’, I thought that there might be more to the meaning of the word ‘widows’ in Hebrew than the English word implies.
I found out that the root from which the Hebrew word for widow - ‘Almanah’ is derived, is ‘Alem’. Alem means ‘Unable to speak’. In society at that time, women didn’t usually have a voice and were reliant on male relatives to provide and protect them. The translation of Almanah gets simplified in English to widow, but it can apparently also mean an unmarried woman, or previously married woman with no support, whom is given little or no regard.
What a precious thought that the Lord promises to be a defender or advocate of those given little or no regard, and promises to be a father to the lonely, bereaved, or parentless! You may be reading this today and you fall into one of these categories. The verse encourages us that the Lord sets the lonely (isolated or solitary) in families and leads out the prisoners (those captive or bound) with singing.
If you are lonely, bereaved, restricted by circumstances, feeling powerless, voiceless, or housebound, may this word encourage you, that the Lord sees, and He knows. He wants to be a father to you and me, a defender and advocate for those without a voice.
And furthermore, He wants to bring joy and freedom to those who are imprisoned, physically, spiritually, emotionally, or mentally. We only need to submit to Him and give Him permission to do what He desires to do in our lives.
He longs to meet with each of us in a precious way, and for us to welcome Him into our loneliness and pain, as we submit to Him, and embrace His ways in our lives.
Gilly Mathiesen Gilly has a heart to see broken lives healed. She got involved in Christian ministry at a young age, working as a missionary for some years, as well as teaching at a Christian school. She has been involved with Ellel Ministries for the past 10 years and trained and worked on the team in Northern Ireland before moving to Denmark in 2016. She and her husband Steen have been pioneering an Ellel work there since early 2018. They long to see people healed and set free to be all that God has designed them to be.
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