The Just Judge

When we analyze a situation, our judgments are often partly right and partly wrong. In this passage Elihu gets at least one thing exactly right – God is just and loves justice. But that truth is what creates the tension in the Book of Job, since Job believes God has denied him justice (vs 5-6). Elihu insists that God cannot do evil or anything that is unjust (vs 10-12). Even more significantly, Elihu argues that God is the one who brings about justice (v 17), yet Job is accusing this God of doing wrong.

Higher Justice

Today many atheists use Job as an example of Christianity’s supposedly irrational defence of the existence of God in the face of suffering and evil.“Look,” they say, “Job has suffered excruciating loss and pain, and all God can do is point out that he sends snow and he was able to make some animals!”

Who’s Your Brother?

“Big Brother is watching.” The phrase, from George Orwell’s book, 1984, has become a common slogan in the modern age, and it always has a negative connotation. We don’t want to be watched because we don’t want to be judged. We don’t want to be judged because we know we are guilty. But the scripture is clear—God watches and there is nothing he misses.

Healing and Justice

As people living in a post-Christian world, whenever we read about healings in the Scriptures our thinking often goes to debates about Jesus’ divinity or evidences that Scripture is true. But, as important as these debates might have been, they can take our mind off what is most important in Scripture by diverting our attention to what is most important to us.

Did you notice the connection made between Jesus’ healing ministry and Isaiah’s servant bringing about justice?

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For This Purpose

In the desert land of Egypt, God sends a wildly destructive hailstorm. The Egyptians worshipped fire and water so it seemed like their gods were judging them from the sky. The Lord takes the time here to expound a lesson. His purpose is clear, “…just to show you his power and to bring honor to himself everywhere in the world.” The Lord tells Pharaoh that he could have wiped the people out completely but he wants them to know who he is (vv 14-16). His goal is to save not destroy.

A Price to Pay

Pharaoh refused to release Israel, God’s firstborn son, and now God will take his firstborn son (Exodus 4:22-23). This tenth plague will not be reversed by Pharaoh’s insincere confession of sin—there is a price to pay. It dealt a final blow to the Egyptian false gods and undermined Osiris, the Egyptian giver of life. The stroke on the firstborn meant the entire community was being judged from the lowest to the highest. The death of Pharaoh’s firstborn wiped out the future divine king over the land.

A Long Good Life – Really?

It would great if we could take what this passage says at face value. The truth is there are some wonderful Christians whose life is shortened by tragedy or illness. Do Christians actually live longer than those who don’t follow Jesus? Loyal Christians in other parts of the world have been raped, murdered and butchered because of their faith. Even Jesus’ own twelve disciples, except one, according to tradition, fell victim to martyrdom.

The Lord Reigns

Because the God who created all things is holy we should not be surprised to learn that we live in a “moral universe.” This means that the universe is regulated by God and if we look at life from God’s point of view we are able to discern principles of equity and justice. Our passage illustrates this with its series of laws specifying what is to be done in a variety of contentious situations that call for discerning arbitration.

Get With the Program

In this passage the justice of God rings loud. God hates cheaters, it says. Does he really hate them? We know from the Gospels that God loves everyone so this statement should be read more as a human expression of how God views injustice. The Old Testament prophets talked more about justice issues in their own day than about what was going to happen in the “end times.”

God-centeredness

When our first parents rebelled against God in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3) they ceased to be God-centered in their perspective but instead attempted to make sense of life from their own perspective. This was a fatal mistake and one we continue to make. We need God’s perspective if we are going to live wisely – which is another way of saying that we need to be God-centered instead of relying solely on our own judgment.

Read More justice, Sabbath, wholeness, festivals