Tag: pervert justice

52.a. Wilderness – 16.g. “Therefore be imitators of God”

 

Deu 24:17-22  “You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless, or take a widow’s garment in pledge, but you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this. “When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over them again. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not strip it afterward. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this.

 Psalms 94:3-6    O LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exult?  They pour out their arrogant words; all the evildoers boast.  They crush your people, O LORD, and afflict your heritage.  They kill the widow and the sojourner, and murder the fatherless;

 Psalms 94:20-21    Can wicked rulers be allied with you, those who frame injustice by statute?  They band together against the life of the righteous and condemn the innocent to death.

 Jeremiah 22:3    Thus says the LORD: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.

 Ezekiel 22:7     Father and mother are treated with contempt in you; the sojourner suffers extortion in your midst; the fatherless and the widow are wronged in you.

 Ephesians 5:1-2   Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.  And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

 Isaiah 51:1     “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the LORD: look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug.

It is not hard to prove that purity, piety, justice, mercy, fair conduct, kindness to the poor and destitute, consideration for them, and generosity of spirit, are pleasing to God, and becoming in his redeemed people. The difficulty is to attend to them in our daily walk and conversation. (Henry)

It is hard for us to understand this while we live our separate lives in our ice little realm of society. We are unaffected by the homeless, fatherless, and widows. Yet, they are there if our eyes are opened and our ears listen. Our culture and society claim the unborn fatherless child as nothing more than an unwanted mass or tumor. Laws are made that give strength to this abomination. The arguments made rely on tolerance and personal rights. They will proclaim to those who do not buy into these lies as enemies of liberty and freedom and haters of others. They are very good at this. 

God’s Word is clear as the noonday sun. It is wrong to treat those in need with contempt. It is wrong to turn our eyes and ears away from them. It is wrong to be silent. 

Standing firm in the love of Jesus Christ. Do not be swayed by empty words spewed out by those who proclaim unrighteous acts of disobedience. Walk in the love of God, filled with the Holy Spirit, and with ears trained and seeking to know the will of God for whatever might come each day.

43.v. “Wilderness” – 8.b. “Abstain from every form of evil”

 

Exodus 23:4  “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him.  If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him. “You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his lawsuit.  Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will not acquit the wicked.

 Proverbs 4:14-15   Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of the evil.  Avoid it; do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on.

 Isaiah 33:15    He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking on evil

 1 Thessalonians 5:22   Abstain from every form of evil.

 Proverbs 17:15   He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the LORD.

 Romans 1:18   For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

 Romans 2:5-6   But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.  He will render to each one according to his works:

 Exodus 34:6  The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

How you feel about someone does not determine right and wrong behavior towards them. There are principles of justice that must be observed above our feelings. This command to do good for your enemy was important. It showed that goodness and kindness in Israel was not only required for those one liked and loved, but to all. One might not need a command to do this for a friend, but it was necessary for the enemy and one who hates you. God knew that it was always easy for the poor to be neglected in the administration of justice. Being poor did not make one right in a legal dispute, but it should never keep them from getting a fair hearing and justice. God knew how much evil and injustice is justified among men by lies, so He emphasized truth telling in Israel’s daily life and legal practices.  In the promotion of justice, God also commanded against bribery. Specifically, He commanded against the taking of a bribe; bribe makers can’t exist without bribe takers. (Guzik)

Here we have a sort of anticipation of Christianity—active kindness to an enemy being required, even when it costs us some trouble. The principle of friendliness is involved—the germ which in Christianity blossoms out into the precept, “Love your enemies.” (Ellicott)

 Every thing in it is suited to the desired and avowed object, the worship of one only God, and the separation of Israel from the pagan world. Neither parties, friends, witnesses, nor common opinions, must move us to lessen great faults, to aggravate small ones, excuse offenders, accuse the innocent, or misrepresent any thing. (Henry)

Keep thee far from a false matter, from receiving a false testimony, or taking the false or wrong side of a cause, or engaging in a bad one; keep aloof off from it, as much at a distance from it as possible. God will not justify those wicked men cleared by them, but will, in his own time and way, sooner or later, inflict the deserved punishment on them. (Gill)

To be bribed by gifts, because “the gift makes seeing men blind, and perverts the causes of the just.” (Kiel)

It is very easy to be swayed by what we hear and what we read, but how are we to know the truth from lies, good from bad, and right from wrong? Someone with clear intent on causing harmful reactions in their hearers or readers can speak convincingly and so craftily that a person is moved to think badly or even take some sort of shameless action. Wisdom has two faces. Wisdom from and of the world will confuse, make anxious, cause fear and hate, division without remedy, needless pain, suffering, and death, and guide the weak and blind down paths that neither honor nor glorify God. The other face of wisdom is of God. It comes to us in and through the presence of the Holy Spirit and manifests itself by peace, truth, faith, hope, without fear, unity, grace, gentleness, kindness, patience, and generosity, all of which honor and glorifies Jesus Christ. It is sad that in many, more time is spent with worldly wisdom than seeking and desiring Godly wisdom. No one is immune to the temptations and offers of worldly wisdom. We are bombarded with it constantly. If time in God’s Word is second in our lives to what the world is spewing out that person is in trouble of being dragged away into unholy thoughts and actions. Be cautious about your time, what you take interest in hearing and reading, and what you allow to influence your thoughts and actions. Seek and desire the Holy Spirit to guide you and allow you to recognize the worldly from the Godly in what you hear and read.  Allow the filter to your heart, mind, and soul to be the Word of God and the Holy Spirit indwelling there. 

43.u. “Wilderness” – 8.a.  “You shall not spread a false report” – Lie

 

Exodus 23:1-3  “You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness. You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit, siding with the many, so as to pervert justice,  nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his lawsuit.

 Psalms 101:5     Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly I will destroy. Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart I will not endure.

 Proverbs 17:4   An evildoer listens to wicked lips, and a liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue.

 Proverbs 6:19    a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.

 Proverbs 19:5    A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out lies will not escape.

 Proverbs 24:28   Be not a witness against your neighbor without cause, and do not deceive with your lips.

 1 Peter 3:16   having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.

 Ephesians 4:25    Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

 2 Timothy 3:3    heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good,

 Revelation 12:10  And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.

John 8:44   You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

It has always been in the nature of man to follow a crowd to do evil.  It is easy and dangerous to turn aside after many to pervert justice, to follow with our peers and popular opinion. This is why it is so important for us to choose our crowd carefully: Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.”  “The history of all right movements has been in the first place the history of lonely souls, who, having heard the authentic voice of God, have stood alone or in small minorities.” (Morgan)

Thou shalt not raise a false report,…. Of a neighbour, or of any man whatever, either secretly by private slanders, whispers, backbiting and tale bearing, by innuendos, detracting from his good name and credit, suggesting things false and wicked concerning him; or publicly in a court of judicature, bringing a false accusation, laying a false charge, and bearing a false testimony against him: or “thou shall not receive a false report” (p); if there were not so many, that say, Report, and we will report it, that are ready to receive every ill thing of their neighbours, there would not be so many that would raise such ill things of them; everything of this kind should be discountenanced, and especially by judges in courts of judicature, who are chiefly spoken to and of in the context; these should not easily admit every charge and accusation brought; nor bear, or endure a false report, as the word also signifies, but discourage, and even punish it.  (Gill)

Following after the crowd is easy. We have heard it said; “wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it. and right is right if only one is doing it”. The past 3 years surely have demonstrated the effects of this. False witness, slander, lies, innuendos, false charges, accusations, etc…… It only takes one person to proclaim a lie as truth to convince the masses of it. 

God’s Word is truth, full of righteous wisdom and understanding, and able to guide and lead a person in truth. The problem is that far too often this truth is neglected and time that could be spent on it is given over to news outlets and other social media talking heads who may or may not be committed to speaking the truth with their words. Far too often they will be led by the father of all lies in capturing ratings or more followers. Even when they have been caught in a lie they will spin it into a false claim about another. The world is full of this and it is good to stay away from it when it is obviously abounding in virtually every source. 

Time spent in God’s Word is time well spent and will keep your heart, mind, and soul from being polluted with lies of this world and the people who are being led by the Father of All Lies.

5.b.  “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice.”

Job 8:3  Does God pervert justice?  Or does the Almighty pervert the right?

Deuteronomy 32:4   “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.

Ezekiel 18:25    “Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way not just? Is it not your ways that are not just?

Psalms 89:14     Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.

Daniel 9:14   Therefore the LORD has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us, for the LORD our God is righteous in all the works that he has done, and we have not obeyed his voice.

Ezekiel 33:20    Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ O house of Israel, I will judge each of you according to his ways.”

2 Chronicles 19:7    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.”

How many times do we blame God?  How many times to we question He is doing the right thing for us?  God is all-knowing, all-powerful, and all present.  How is it we have doubts and questions about the course of things that comes into our life?  When things happen, God already knows and is aware of them before they happen.  When things happen, God is in control.  When things happen God is present.  So why is it we doubt and question these events in our lives?  Could it be that we don’t believe He is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent?  Is it possible we think He is this active and all-knowing and always present but not necessarily this way in our life?

God is the same yesterday as He is today, all-knowing, all-controlling, all-powerful, and all present in and throughout all of His creation.  He has a perfect plan and purpose that will be done.  We sometimes get blinded to this because we have taken a vacation from desiring, seeking, and wanting Him in our life.  We allow things of this world and worldly desires to blind us from seeing the ever-presence and activity of God.  We get blinded to this when we neglect and become complacent in our walk with Him.  We get blinded when we do not intentionally choose to live to honor, glorify, worship, follow, trust, and obey Him.  We get blinded when we choose to neglect His word and allow it to be active in our thoughts and actions.

God is all-knowing, all-powerful, and ever-present.  He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  We can trust His perfect will, plan, and purpose for our life.  We can live victorious no matter what comes our way because we can honor God, by faith, trusting in Him alone for the benefit of His perfect plans and purposes.  Jeremiah 29:11   “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”