“May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the children of the needy, and crush the oppressor!”
““Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness.’”
Psalms 58:1 Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods? Do you judge the children of man uprightly?
Deuteronomy 16:18 “You shall appoint judges and officers in all your towns that the LORD your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous.
2 Samuel 23:3 The God of Israel has spoken; the Rock of Israel has said to me: When one rules justly over men, ruling in the fear of God,
Exodus 18:21 Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.
2 Chronicles 19:6 and said to the judges, “Consider what you do, for you judge not for man but for the LORD. He is with you in giving judgment. Now then, let the fear of the LORD be upon you. Be careful what you do, for there is no injustice with the LORD our God, or partiality or taking bribes.” Now then, let the fear of the LORD be upon you. Be careful what you do, for there is no injustice with the LORD our God, or partiality or taking bribes.”
19:9 And he charged them: “Thus you shall do in the fear of the LORD, in faithfulness, and with your whole heart:
Isaiah 11:3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.
Psalms 82:1 God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment: “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked?
Matthew 27:1 When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death.
Luke 23:50 Now there was a man named Joseph, from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He was a member of the council, a good and righteous man, who had not consented to their decision and action; and he was looking for the kingdom of God.
Zechariah 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
When I read Psalms 58:1 I was immediately thinking about people in the various positions of office who govern others. How many times do we look for justice and it appears at times there is none to be found. Of course we look at this from our perspective and what we determine to be right and true. Sometimes the cultural mass will abide by decision of those in governance. This does not make it right and true. I remember hearing “right is right even if only one is doing it and wrong is wrong even if all are doing it.” You can see this in the decision by the chief priests when they condemned Jesus to death and Joseph from Arimathea who did not consent to their decision. Where do we find truth? How do we know what is right? We can find this in God and His word. If we neglect spending time in His word. If we do not desire to know Him more and more each day. If we don’t desire to humbly serve, honor, follow and obey Him. If we don’t seek Him. God wants our whole heart, mind, and soul committed to Him. This is a choice we make every single day. A choice to humbly serve Him, to seek Him, to hear His quiet small voice leading us, to obey Him, to find our strength in Him, to praise Him. To often the cares of this world and the busyness of the day take over and we soon find ourselves day after day drifting further and further away from Him and His plan in our life. Choose to make this the day to start humbly serving, honoring, following, obeying and praising Him. For He alone is worthy.