JUDGING RIGHTEOUSLY

Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…

Understanding important truths from the Bible….

JUDGING RIGHTEOUSLY 

Deuternomy 1:16-17C NKJV

¹⁶ “Then I commanded your judges at that time, saying, ‘Hear the cases between your brethren, and judge righteously between a man and his brother or the stranger who is with him.

¹⁷ You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small as well as the great; you shall not be afraid in any man’s presence, for the judgment is God’s. The case that is too hard for you, bring to me, and I will hear it.’ 

Justice in society is as rare as it is necessary.  An unjust society is both ugly and undesirable.  The society God enjoins on man is to be just. 

In God’s directions to Moses justice begins with righteous judges making impartial decisions.  This requirement of impartial decisions is to have two material bases. 

A.     The decisions made are to be made regardless of the position in society held by those being judged.  Whether small or great they are to receive equal justice.  The noble, wealthy, and politically elevated are to have no favor because of their position.  The weak, poor, and disenfranchised are not to be pitied so that justice is denied their adversary.  This requirement of equal treatment to ”the small and great alike,” is foundational to an equable society.

We live in a society where favor is determined by the legal genius that can be hired or by the social deprivation experienced.  Justice is on a pendulum that seldom if ever reaches the mean of impartiality. 

B.     Secondly justice is not to be administered in either fear or favor.  The judgment is not to be a result of intimidation.  Honest judgment with the discipline that results has been intimidated from the parent-child relationship to the highest courts.  I say this as an observer of daily life around me. 

Parents are forbidden to discipline their children in any meaningful manner but are held responsible in both criminal and civil courts for the ill-behavior of their children. 

Judges are elected and appointed on the basis of political commitments.  They make many, if not most, of their decisions according to party correctness.  Rarely is there a judge who is both fair and fearless. 

The results are evident in the society in which we live.  The courts are dreaded by any but the legal profession.  Judges once elected assume an authority which goes far beyond anything that was ever intended by their office, and instances with which most of us are familiar become Lords rather than judges who “judge righteously”.

Application:

A.     As each has requirements to judge, righteousness is the only accepted results.

B.     There is a judgment for each of us that will meet all the requirements of righteousness.