Ecclesiastes 8:8 "No man has power over the wind to contain it; so no one has power over the day of his death. As no one is discharged in time of war, so wickedness will not release those who practice it."
The king is in authority, and his word is supreme. Who are you to tell him what to do, or question his motives? The king has the power to make decrees and commands, and will spare those who obey him and keep his laws.
I suppose what I get here is that true power is not in any man's hands. What we do have, however, is the illusion of power. Of course we can't contain the wind, and a man can't add any days to his life, or predict when his life will actually end. Can you imagine what life would be like, or how it would be different if you could pinpoint the exact moment you would die? Would you take chances? Would you be a different person?
Another important part of verse 8 is the realization that wickedness is a force at war, who does not discharge anyone who practices it. Wickedness needs all the people it can get, as it is in a mortal war with righteousness. Wickedness does not just cease in a person, a person has to leave it, or be rescued from it.
Wicked people with long lives will be uneasy all their life. Not so for the righteous, when wicked people live long, there is less discomfort with it, because they trust God's judgment, as odd or confusing as it may be at the time. Vanity. Meaningless.
Additionally, the wicked will get what the righteous deserve, and the righteous will get what the wicked deserve. This is just the way it happens. This seems to show God as a person who cares not for what people deserve. As it happens, every person is fallen, a sinner, has rejected God and deserves death. But he heaps favor and riches on whoever he wants, regardless of whether or not that person deserves it.
Showing posts with label Justice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Justice. Show all posts
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
Pr. 29: Righteous Ruling
Proverbs 29:4 "By justice a king gives a country stability, but one who is greedy for bribes tears it down."
The 29th chapter of Proverbs seems to emphasize the ability to rule fairly. Many proverbs offer advice on who to listen to, how to be wise, how to bring stability to your nation, and how to rule for a long time, and be good at it.
Avoid dissension by not being a jerk. Care for the poor. The chapter also emphasizes that true justice comes from God, lest any ruler kid himself.
I suppose it makes sense that if after many rebukes (chances to make things right) a man stays stubborn, that he will suddenly be destroyed. Without remedy. How many chances does a person get? A wise person takes rebuke to heart, bows his head and makes a change.
The 29th chapter of Proverbs seems to emphasize the ability to rule fairly. Many proverbs offer advice on who to listen to, how to be wise, how to bring stability to your nation, and how to rule for a long time, and be good at it.
Avoid dissension by not being a jerk. Care for the poor. The chapter also emphasizes that true justice comes from God, lest any ruler kid himself.
I suppose it makes sense that if after many rebukes (chances to make things right) a man stays stubborn, that he will suddenly be destroyed. Without remedy. How many chances does a person get? A wise person takes rebuke to heart, bows his head and makes a change.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Pr. 22: Wise Sayings
Proverbs 22:19 "So that your trust may be in the LORD, I teach you today, even you."
Protect your good name before amassing wealth. (v. 1)
Train a child in the way he should go. Kids don't raise themselves. They don't have a sense of righteousness unless it is instilled. (v. 5)
Borrowers are slaves to the lender. Don't owe money if you can help it. If you do, don't be all arrogant. (v. 6)
Then the writer sort of refocuses, like that "Are you listening?" question I periodically got from teachers in school. He emphasizes the need to listen to the wise. The rest of his proverbs in chapter 22 are about justice. Don't crush the poor, don't move boundary stones. It's not fair to be like that. He wants the student to be able to trust God.
Protect your good name before amassing wealth. (v. 1)
Train a child in the way he should go. Kids don't raise themselves. They don't have a sense of righteousness unless it is instilled. (v. 5)
Borrowers are slaves to the lender. Don't owe money if you can help it. If you do, don't be all arrogant. (v. 6)
Then the writer sort of refocuses, like that "Are you listening?" question I periodically got from teachers in school. He emphasizes the need to listen to the wise. The rest of his proverbs in chapter 22 are about justice. Don't crush the poor, don't move boundary stones. It's not fair to be like that. He wants the student to be able to trust God.
Sunday, August 09, 2009
Pr. 21: Motives
Proverbs 21:30 "There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD. "
The wording is "the king" in verse one. I wonder if that refers to David. If it were any king, wouldn't it say "a king?" Not all kings allow themselves to be guided by God. Of course.
Don't think your plans through? Poverty. (v. 5)
Bernie Madoff. (v. 6-8)
You don't want to be anywhere near a quarrelsome wife. Probably not because she is angry with you, but because she reflects on her husband. (v. 9, 19)
You need wisdom before you can get knowledge. (v. 11)
Does justice bring you joy or terror? (v. 15)
Wise people save, while the foolish don't have the foresight to do so. (v. 20)
God's ways are ineffable. (v. 30)
You can make all the plans you want, but God directs the outcome. (v. 31)
The wording is "the king" in verse one. I wonder if that refers to David. If it were any king, wouldn't it say "a king?" Not all kings allow themselves to be guided by God. Of course.
Don't think your plans through? Poverty. (v. 5)
Bernie Madoff. (v. 6-8)
You don't want to be anywhere near a quarrelsome wife. Probably not because she is angry with you, but because she reflects on her husband. (v. 9, 19)
You need wisdom before you can get knowledge. (v. 11)
Does justice bring you joy or terror? (v. 15)
Wise people save, while the foolish don't have the foresight to do so. (v. 20)
God's ways are ineffable. (v. 30)
You can make all the plans you want, but God directs the outcome. (v. 31)
Monday, March 02, 2009
Ps. 11: Foundation for the Upright
Psalm 11:7 "For the LORD is righteous, he loves justice; upright men will see his face."
Verse one was a little obtuse for me until I read it a bunch of times. The meaning here is that once we have run to God as our refuge, we need no further retreat or cover. A bird, already gifted with escape via her wings, ofter has no reason to fly away to a mountain. That would be extranneous. But here, those on a not so solid footing take aim at those whose foundation is God. The upright.
The upright are the people God will protect in time of trouble, as God is constantly watching (examining is the word used in the NIV) people, and he knows who the just are, and he knows who the wicked are. It says his soul hates those who love violence. And the question comes up, does/can God hate? What does this mean? God has commanded against hatred. Its likely a translation issue. Those who God is said to hate are those who most likely hate God and have barricaded themselves against Him, rejecting Him. As punishment for this wickedness and fleeing from God, David says that God will rain fiery coals and brimstone on them.
Better be good. Better be upright, and that comes from being rooted in God.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Dt. 25: Justice I Am
Neuteronomy 25: 11-12 "If two men are fighting and the wife of one of them comes to rescue her husband from his assailant, and she reaches out and seizes him by his private parts, you shall cut off her hand. Show her no pity."
Deuteronomy's 25th chapter seems to be about justice. The first part is basically saying, if two men have a dispute, take it to court. The judges will acquit the innocent and condemn the guilty. Makes sense. This method of justice survives to this day. The following part doesn't seem to. If the guilty man needs to be beaten, the judge will make him take 40 lashes. One for every night and day it rained on the ark, one for each year the Israelites were in the wilderness. One for every day the scouts were in the promised land. One for each day Moses was on the mountain...you get me. Forty.
But more than forty is degrading. More than forty is outside that perfect, recurring number forty. More than forty is unjust...too much.
Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain. OK. Why this random animal rights law in the middle of the human justice laws? I had to consider this a little more than surface level. An ox's job is to drag the millstone over the grain, crushing it. Thats a lot of work. To muzzle it is to keep it's mouth closed, preventing it from eating any of the grain. Why would God want men to allow oxen to eat some of the grain? Its got to be more than just animal rights though.
Verses 5-10 are about family justice, and continuing a family line. I was wondering about why the widow of a dead man could not remarry outside of the family. In fact, that widow was required to marry the brother of the dead man, bear him children, so that the dead man's line could continue. If the brother wasn't into this deal, she could take him to the elders who would try to talk him into it. If that wasn't working, she could take of his sandal (in my head, I see her chasing him down, wrestling him to the ground, taking off his sandal) and spit in his face. What a grave insult it must have been to not carry on your brother's line and reject his grieving widow to warrant God allowing her to spit in his face. I wonder if this was the widow's only shot at at childbearing...the Bible doesn't say...only that his widow must not marry outside the family.
Weird that if two dudes are fighting, the wife of one could not run up and grab the other guys nuts. She was to have her hand cut off because of it. What the heck? She's trying to protect her husband. But this makes me think guys have to settle their dust ups on their own. Is it about the "dishonor" of having a woman come in and "handle"...."things?" Or is it about having two intact balls (so he could keep going to church)? I don't know.
Having differing weights for trade is lame. What kind of terrible person would do that? That blows. It's dishonest and unjust. God detests that because of His being so perfectly just.
Then God orders them to blot the memory of the Amalekites out from under heaven. That's justice, since the Amalekites apparently pestered the Israelites in their wandering. Where have we heard that before?
Deuteronomy's 25th chapter seems to be about justice. The first part is basically saying, if two men have a dispute, take it to court. The judges will acquit the innocent and condemn the guilty. Makes sense. This method of justice survives to this day. The following part doesn't seem to. If the guilty man needs to be beaten, the judge will make him take 40 lashes. One for every night and day it rained on the ark, one for each year the Israelites were in the wilderness. One for every day the scouts were in the promised land. One for each day Moses was on the mountain...you get me. Forty.
But more than forty is degrading. More than forty is outside that perfect, recurring number forty. More than forty is unjust...too much.
Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain. OK. Why this random animal rights law in the middle of the human justice laws? I had to consider this a little more than surface level. An ox's job is to drag the millstone over the grain, crushing it. Thats a lot of work. To muzzle it is to keep it's mouth closed, preventing it from eating any of the grain. Why would God want men to allow oxen to eat some of the grain? Its got to be more than just animal rights though.
Verses 5-10 are about family justice, and continuing a family line. I was wondering about why the widow of a dead man could not remarry outside of the family. In fact, that widow was required to marry the brother of the dead man, bear him children, so that the dead man's line could continue. If the brother wasn't into this deal, she could take him to the elders who would try to talk him into it. If that wasn't working, she could take of his sandal (in my head, I see her chasing him down, wrestling him to the ground, taking off his sandal) and spit in his face. What a grave insult it must have been to not carry on your brother's line and reject his grieving widow to warrant God allowing her to spit in his face. I wonder if this was the widow's only shot at at childbearing...the Bible doesn't say...only that his widow must not marry outside the family.
Weird that if two dudes are fighting, the wife of one could not run up and grab the other guys nuts. She was to have her hand cut off because of it. What the heck? She's trying to protect her husband. But this makes me think guys have to settle their dust ups on their own. Is it about the "dishonor" of having a woman come in and "handle"...."things?" Or is it about having two intact balls (so he could keep going to church)? I don't know.
Having differing weights for trade is lame. What kind of terrible person would do that? That blows. It's dishonest and unjust. God detests that because of His being so perfectly just.
Then God orders them to blot the memory of the Amalekites out from under heaven. That's justice, since the Amalekites apparently pestered the Israelites in their wandering. Where have we heard that before?
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Dt. 19: Justice: Promised Land-Style
Deuteronomy 19:8-9 "If the LORD your God enlarges your territory, as he promised on oath to your forefathers, and gives you the whole land he promised them, because you carefully follow all these laws I command you today—to love the LORD your God and to walk always in his ways—then you are to set aside three more cities."
I love this contingent promise...."If the LORD your God enlarges your territory...then you are to set aside three more cities." Of course this refers to cities of refuge. God will enlarge the territory of the Israelites, if they follow His commands. Without question, this would take place, as God promised He would do.
The greater the territory, it would seem that the potential for killing taking place would increase. This facilitated the need for more cities of refuge, to protect those who accidentally kill someone. They were to be centrally located. Why this emphasis on protecting killers? Murder is a different thing, of course. It just seems odd that this particular..."offense...?" would receive so much press and forethought.
The guilt of murder and false testimony must be purged from Israel with great prejudice, and without pity. Justice must be done.
I love this contingent promise...."If the LORD your God enlarges your territory...then you are to set aside three more cities." Of course this refers to cities of refuge. God will enlarge the territory of the Israelites, if they follow His commands. Without question, this would take place, as God promised He would do.
The greater the territory, it would seem that the potential for killing taking place would increase. This facilitated the need for more cities of refuge, to protect those who accidentally kill someone. They were to be centrally located. Why this emphasis on protecting killers? Murder is a different thing, of course. It just seems odd that this particular..."offense...?" would receive so much press and forethought.
The guilt of murder and false testimony must be purged from Israel with great prejudice, and without pity. Justice must be done.
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