Proverbs 23 · a question people ask
"for their Defender is strong" (23:11). Who is the Defender of the fatherless?
The saying doesn't name him. "Don’t move the ancient boundary stone. Don’t encroach on the fields of the fatherless, for their Defender is strong. He will plead their case against you" (23:10-11). Defender is go'el (tap Defender), the word the Law gives to the next of kin who buys back what a poor brother has sold: "then his kinsman who is next to him shall come, and redeem that which his brother has sold" (Leviticus 25:25). The same word is given to the LORD. Jeremiah has the Hebrew words of 23:11's their Defender is strong and plead their case, and there they are said of the LORD: "Their Redeemer is strong. The LORD of Armies is his name. He will thoroughly plead their cause" (Jeremiah 50:34). The notes on Proverbs 22 set 23:11 beside "for the LORD will plead their case" (Proverbs 22:23). Proverbs 23:11 itself says only that their Defender is strong and will plead their case, and these notes add no name to it. What the saying does say plainly is that the fatherless are not without someone to plead for them.
The verses
“Don’t move the ancient boundary stone. Don’t encroach on the fields of the fatherless, for their Defender is strong. He will plead their case against you.”
““‘If your brother becomes poor, and sells some of his possessions, then his kinsman who is next to him shall come, and redeem that which his brother has sold.”
“Their Redeemer is strong. The LORD of Armies is his name. He will thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the earth, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.”
“Don’t exploit the poor because he is poor; and don’t crush the needy in court; for the LORD will plead their case, and plunder the life of those who plunder them.”