This Psalm is launched against wicked judges. It
expresses the Psalmist’s fiery indignation against unjust judges and
evil-doers: “Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge
uprightly, O ye sons of men?” (58:1).
David said of the corrupt judges: “Yea, in heart ye
work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth” (58:2).
Their corruption had its beginning in the heart; their hearts were wicked. And
so they devised wickedness. And their hands carried out their evil deeds.
Is there justice on this earth? Are there benefits for
maintaining righteousness?
The judges of this world may not judge righteously and
we read that oftentimes in the newspaper. Innocent folks were put in jail and
released years later when the real culprits were caught or when new evidences
emerged. Sometimes judges are misled by false evidences and the slithering
tongues of the lawyers. As a result, innocent people go to jail while the
guilty walk away free.
Fortunately, there is a just God who will never be
misled. He also cannot be bribed. David saw at times that though the criminals
escaped judgement from the law of the land, they could not escape the judgment
of God. He saw the judgment of God in the land of the living: “The righteous
shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood
of the wicked” (58:10).
It shows us that the affairs of the world are not left
to chance, to fate, or to mere physical laws but there is One who “administers”
government, rewarding the good, and punishing the wicked. Daniel said to a
king: “The most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to
whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men” (Daniel
4:17). In the days of Noah, God saw the wickedness of the world and punished it
with a catastrophic global flood (Genesis 6:5). He saw the wickedness of Sodom
and Gomorrah and punished the two cities with fire and brimstones (Genesis
19:24). God also punished the wicked Jezebel with a most dishonourable death (2
Kings 9:30-37).
Indeed, God will carry out some of the judgements on
this earth “So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the
righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth” (58:11).
That is, people, seeing these just judgments of God,
shall arrive at these conclusions:
1. There is a reward for the righteous. The
righteous has not toiled in vain to keep their righteousness. Our Lord says
says: “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the
righteous into life eternal” (Matthew 25:46). And the Holy Spirit also
says: “For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love,
which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints,
and do minister” (Hebrews 6:10).
2. There is a God that judges righteously. The
courts on the lands may sometimes be unjust. But our God is forever a just God:
“Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne” (Psalm
89:14).
God does not entirely defer judgment till the judgment
day. Sometimes, He executes judgment now, even in this earth, so that men may
come to know there is a Just God who rules all the earth and He will reward the
righteous.
Let us take comfort in this statement, “There is a
reward for the righteous.” God will reward the righteous. And the reward is
heaven: “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”
(Matthew 5:3).
Jimmy Lau
No comments:
Post a Comment