Tag: Injustice

Digging in Deeper: Exodus 23:6-9

15 Comments

“You must not deny justice to a poor person among you in his lawsuit. Stay far away from a false accusations. Do not kill the innocent and the just, because I will not justify the guilty. You must not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and corrupts the words of the righteous. You must not oppress a resident alien; you yourselves know how it feels to be a resident alien because you were resident aliens in the land of Egypt.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Sometimes you come across a passage of Scripture that seems pretty straightforward on an initial reading. A bit closer of an inspection confirms this, but it can also help us see what made sense in the beginning with a little more depth and clarity. These verses once again remind us of the inherently just nature of God’s character. Let’s talk about what’s going on here, and then put them in the bigger context of the larger passage here at the beginning of Exodus 23.

Read the rest…

Morning Musing: Exodus 22:1-4

Leave a comment

“When a man steals an ox or a sheep and butchers it or sells it, he must repay five cattle for the ox or four sheep for the sheep. If a thief is caught in the act of breaking in, and he is beaten to death, no one is guilty of bloodshed. But if this happens after sunrise, the householder is guilty of bloodshed. A thief must make full restitution. If he is unable, he is to be sold because of his theft. If what was stolen – whether ox, donkey, or sheep – is actually found alive in his possession, he must repay double.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Getting justice right is hard. On the one hand, the person who has committed a crime should face some kind of consequence for whatever it is. But the consequence needs to be proportional to the crime itself. A punishment too severe relative to the crime becomes an injustice in and of itself. The trouble here is that when a crime has happened to us, we aren’t much interested in an appropriately proportional response. We want vengeance. A significant part of the Law of Moses involved setting out just penalties for various crimes. Let’s take a look at an example of that here.

Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Amos 1:13-15

1 Comment

“The Lord says: I will not relent from punishing the Ammonites for three crimes, even four, because they ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to enlarge their territory. Therefore, I will set fire to the walls of Rabbah, and it will consume its citadels. There will be shouting on the day of battle and a violent wind on the day of the storm. Their king and his princes will go into exile together. The Lord has spoken.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

What do we do about evil that is happening a great distance from us? There’s a nice, encouraging question to start of this new year. We live in a nation that in spite of our growing secularity has a system of laws rooted in a Christian worldview. We strive for justice as a people, even if imperfectly. But around the world are evil regimes and human rights’ being devastated by oppressive rulers. What does God have to say about that? In what will be the first stop in one of three occasional series we are going to be working through in this new year, we find part of an answer from the prophet Amos. Let’s take a look at this together.

Continue reading “Digging in Deeper: Amos 1:13-15” →

Digging in Deeper: Romans 12:19

Leave a comment

Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for God’s wrath, because it is written, ‘Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay,’ says the Lord.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

What do you do when you can’t decide between two options? If possible, you choose both. This past week I finished watching a miniseries and finally watched a movie that first came out a couple of months ago. I had always planned to write a review of both once I finished watching them. I hadn’t planned on finishing both in the same week. And yet, as I have gone back and forth on which one to write about first, it became clearer and clearer that they both covered a whole lot of the same theological ground, although from different directions. Trying to treat them separately just didn’t make sense. Today, then, we are going to span two totally different media universes and talk about the recently completed Marvel series, Moon Knight, as well as the fairly recent latest offering from DC Comics, The Batman, and see how two different visions of the world reveal the Gospel is still the greatest vision of reality there is.

Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Psalm 37:7

Leave a comment

“Be silent before the Lord and wait expectantly for him; do not be agitated by one who prospers in his way, by the person who carries out evil plans.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever seen someone get away with something? Maybe it was something small and didn’t really matter, but maybe it was entirely more significant than that. Either way, when a person escapes justice, something in us rises up to say, “No!” Injustice is simply out of sync with our souls. What do we do in times like this? David offers some wise counsel here in Psalm 37. Let’s explore what this does and doesn’t mean together this morning.

Read the rest…