What the Bible Says About Justice

We print on our paper money the words "in God we trust" and we stamp on each of our coins minted the words "in God we trust." During the time this statement had true meaning to the government and the people of our country, the American system of justice was once the model for the world. Fair, logical, universal justice was a standard we demonstrated to the world, the American judges were once the epitome of sound and godly wisdom. We are not any longer such a shining example. God's Word has hard things to say about the failure to render fair justice.

Isaiah 59:1 Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
3 For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness.
4 None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
5 They hatch cockatrice' eggs, and weave the spider's web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.
6 Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.
7 Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.
8 The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.
9 Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness.
10 We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men.
11 We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.
12 For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them;
13 In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
14 And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.
15 Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.

We as a nation are losing our sense of justice. As God is removed from the courtrooms and from every area of public life, so goes the source of justice. On the one hand, politically correct rulings without any sort of legal precedent have been handed down by the nation's high courts. On the other hand, anti-family and anti-religious bigotry are still on the rise and being upheld by courts at every level. Court decisions have all but mandated the replacement of Christianity with secular humanism. Almost any other religiously oriented philosophy is accepted freely, while anything that even hints of Christianity is excluded and scorned. It's not just the courts which are affected either. As God is being removed systematically from every aspect of public life, the true source of justice (God and His Word) has been removed from our legislatures and law enforcement agencies. With the removal of God from our schools, children are no longer being taught the virtues of justice or the values God wants children instructed in. Growing up with no real concept of what God views as right and wrong, is it any wonder the children as so easily caught up in the ungodly trends of the times? When God was removed from the schools in America, crime began to escalate, more and more crimes previously committed by "adults" are now common crimes by children. Each succeeding generation, from the point God was kicked out of our schools, have grown up with increasingly more serious moral deficiencies. Thirty (30) years ago we did not need "a campus police department" to ensure the safety of children in school from themselves. God says that His people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge, knowledge of His Word and knowledge of His will for them expressed in His word. When God was removed from government, the economy, national security became significantly weakened, and the very rights of the people began to become more limited.

Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

When the United States was founded there were three crimes under federal law. Today there are more than three thousand. Most of these crimes did not spring from any easily understood Biblical moral law, such as those prohibiting murder, theft, kidnapping, or perjury. The new crimes sprang from the selfish desire of special interests groups to force people to conform to their dictates. The courts have been eaten away by liberal values and socialized agendas to redefine and restructure the moral systems of the nation. Ever since the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade an activist judiciary, motivated by special interest groups, have used the courts to remake the social order. They have rendered opinions or laid the groundwork for an assault on the importance of the family as part of a godly society, a revison of the nature of economic and social liberty, an assault on the sanctity of life, and abandonment of the rule of law itself. And, when some form of deviant behavior gets out of hand, we simply redefine it as normal and learn to live with it and protect it with "politically correct" laws. Justice in our country has degraded to the point that, how much money you have to pay, determines how much justice you see.

Lets go to the Word of God and see just exactly what His view is on the subject of justice and related issues.

INJUSTICE IN JUDGEMENT
God says that whoever perverts judgement in "cursed."
Deuteronomy 27:19 Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the people shall say, Amen.

God's Word says that those who execute injustice are not safe.
Ezekiel 11:7 "Therefore, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: This city is an iron pot, but the victims of your injustice are the pieces of meat. And you are not safe, for I will soon drag you from the city.

Those who judge unjustly have no understanding and they "walk in darkness." They can not spiritually preceive the danger they have created for themselves. Darkness is the signature of the servants of Satan.
Psalms 82:2 How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah.
3 Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.
4 Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.
5 They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.

Unjust leaders can not claim that God is on their side when they permit injustice by their laws. In fact God says He will cut them off.
Psalms 94:20 Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?
21 They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.
22 But the LORD is my defence; and my God is the rock of my refuge.
23 And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the LORD our God shall cut them off.

Them who sow injustice will reap disaster...and their reign of terror will end.
Proverbs 22:8 Those who plant seeds of injustice will harvest disaster, and their reign of terror will end.

Though those who make oppressing judgements may feel secure in their place, God their judge will deal with them for their injustice.
Ecclesiastes 5:7-8 For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities: but fear thou God. 8 If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they.

Those who show preference in judgement to individuals of wealth and prominence over those individuals who are lower on the social ladder are guilty of injustice.
Proverbs 18:5 It is not good to accept the person of the wicked, to overthrow the righteous in judgment.
Deuteronomy 1:17 Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it.

Those who make judgements and accept bribery in any way, whether monitary or political favor, pervert judgement.
Proverbs 17:23 A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosom to pervert the ways of judgment.

For injustice God said Zion would be "plowed as a field" and become heaps (ruins) because of corrupt judgement.
Micah 3:8 But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the LORD, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin.
9 Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity.
10 They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.
11 The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD among us? none evil can come upon us.
12 Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.

Unfair treatment by the judical systems in overlooking the deeds of the rich and wicked, and failing to handle the case of the poor and needy in a fair just manner would end in one result. The result was that God would withhold His blessings from the land and God would take vengence on that nation.
Jeremiah 5:25-29
25 Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you.
26 For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men.
27 As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich.
28 They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.
29 Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

Proper justice delivers the oppressed from the oppressor. God says to execute fair judgement or His anger would be sent like a fire that no one can put out.
Jeremiah 21:12 O house of David, thus saith the LORD; Execute judgment in the morning, and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go out like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

Going beyond God's desire for justice in judgement, He told the leaders of Israel to stop their "exactions" (exaction, noun: Act of demanding or levying by force or authority, "exaction of tribute"; "exaction of various dues and fees"). Ever go to court for justice and figured the extent you pay in "costs and fees"?
Ezekiel 45:9 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Let it suffice you, O princes of Israel: remove violence and spoil, and execute judgment and justice, take away your exactions from my people, saith the Lord GOD.

Jesus said that with what measure of judgement you judge, you will be judged by the same measure.
Matthew 7:1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.
2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

FALSE WITNESSES
This is a subject so important to God that it ranked "Number 9" in the order of the 10 Commandments, upon which all laws are primarily based. God not only stated this commandment in His Word specifically one time, He stated this law specifically three times. When God states something He means it, when He restates something more that once it is established.
Exodus 20:16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
Exodus 23:1 Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.
Deuteronomy 5:20 Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.

God's Word in the law he gave to Moses says that if a person falsely testifies against someone, the punishment the innocent person would have received is the punishment you are to give to the false witness! This is a very serious offense in God's eye's. Acceptance of false witnesses undermines all of the laws of God.
Deuteronomy 19:16 If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong;
17 Then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges, which shall be in those days;
18 And the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother;
19 Then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother: so shalt thou put the evil away from among you.

God's Word says that a false witness will not escape punishment and will perish. Not a safe thing to do for certain.
Proverbs 19:5 A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall not escape.
Proverbs 19:9 A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall perish.

RENDERING JUSTICE
Justice in judgement was worth more in the eyes of God than sacrifice.
Proverbs 21:3 To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.

In rendering justice God says execute righteousness in judgement and deliver the oppressed out of the hand of the oppressor and do not shed innocent blood.
Jeremiah 22:3 Thus saith the LORD; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.

The Word says about staying away from injustice and being honest and fair when judging others grants life to the man.
Ezekiel 18:4 Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.
5 But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right,
6 And hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither hath defiled his neighbour's wife, neither hath come near to a menstruous woman,
7 And hath not oppressed any, but hath restored to the debtor his pledge, hath spoiled none by violence, hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment;
8 He that hath not given forth upon usury, neither hath taken any increase, that hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, hath executed true judgment between man and man,
9 Hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord GOD.

When rendering judgement, they shall judge in accordance to God's judgements (His law).
Ezekiel 44:24 And in controversy they shall stand in judgment; and they shall judge it according to my judgments: and they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all mine assemblies; and they shall hallow my sabbaths.

God said to exercise true judgement, fair judgement and not to oppress the widow, fatherless, stranger, and the poor. In rendering justice to show mercy and compassion.
Zechariah 7:9-12
9 Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother:
10 And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.
11 But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.
12 Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts.

Righteousness, which includes rendering true judgement, exalts a nation. Sin, which includes injustice, is a reproach to a nation.
Proverbs 14:34 Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.

Just as seeing the injustice and perverted judgement was a burden to the prophet Habakkuk, so it is to the people of any land where the laws of God are set aside in favor of the laws of men. Laws that go contrary to the will of God in regard to fair justice.
Habakkuk 1:1 The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.
2 O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!
3 Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention.
4 Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.

The most important thing that we as a nation need to do, is to return God to our schools and allow Him back into our governing bodies. When the founders of our country wrote our constitution, they did not make a provision to turn their back on God. In fact, our country's primary purpose for gaining independence was to ensure the freedom to worship God. The laws God gave in the Bible were the blueprint for fair and equitable laws in our land. Prayer was given prior to making major decisions in regard to the direction the country would take by the leaders and prayer was uncersored anywhere. God and Biblical principles were not ignored in the decision making processes of our branches of government. As a result, our land was blessed and people prospered, we were decisively victorious when we went to war, and untill recently never had a significant attack of any measure transpire on our shores. When we as a nation return to God, God will return to us. The Church and all in the country who say they are Christians must unite in the democratic process of exercising our right to voice disapproval at the expulsion of God from education and government. We can not afford, as a people, to maintain the idea of "my country right or wrong." That, from all of the Old Testament examples recorded for us, was an idealogy that had disastrous consequences for the people. When we get God back into the educational and legislative processes, then maybe we will stop being a country run by special interest groups and return to being a country of "one nation under God" that can truely say "in God we trust."