Ps.82:3,4. Right to Live and God’s Justice.

Ps.82:3,4. Right to Live and God’s Justice.

“Give justice to the weak and the orphan; maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute” (V.4)

Establishment of justice is one of the concerns of the Psalmist and psalmist asks for God’s intervention to establish justice so that the weak and powerless may be able to live. The importance of justice in the human realm is emphasized in vv.3-4. In v.3 “give justice” and “maintain the right” are parallel, just as the nouns “justice” and righteousness are frequently parallel(Amos 5: 7,24;6:12).

Justice and Relationship.

Justice and righteousness are not just abstract principles or ideals; rather, they have to do with the very concrete matter of how human beings relate. For the God of Israel, the criterion of justice involves what is done for the weak, the orphaned, the destitute, the needy (Ps. 9:7-9,18; 10: 17-18; 68:5-6,113:7,146:7-9). Here again, the establishment of justice and righteousness is the measure of divinity and of human life as God intends it.

Justice, Power and Life.

V.4 allows even more specificity. Justice and righteousness involve the very concrete matter of how power is distributed in the human community, and thus the matter of who has access to life. In Biblical terms, only persons whose lives are threatened need to be rescued or delivered. For instance, the Psalmists often plead in life-threatening situations for God to rescue them from the wicked. The verb “deliver” is used to describe what God did to save the Israelites “from the hand of the Egyptians” (Ex.18: 9-10). The word “hand” describes “grasp”, or more to the point, “power”.

The Gods should have delivered the weak and needy from the power of the wicked (v.4), but it was precisely the wicked to whom the Gods have been partial (v.2). For the God of Israel, things are right in the human community when power is distributed in a way that all persons, especially the powerless, have access to the resources that enable them to live.

Right to live and the justice issues are intertwined and one cannot separate justice from life. One who travels with God should seek justice so that God given life may be nurtured.

Thought of the Day- Denial of Justice is denial of life because God is a God of Justice

Prayer- God of Justice, be with us in the struggles to establish Justice to all. God of deliverance, challenge us to engage ourselves in the struggles of the weak and powerless so that everybody may live according to your will.