“Arise, O God, judge the earth!”
[Psalms 82]
Yesterday, over Tuesday dinner, I talked about American politics with my wife. The conversation started with my wife's thoughts on the current US Immigration Law, but in addition to the immigration policies of the candidates who have now declared and entered the election, we have abortions, same-sex marriage and others that are of interest to the current US evangelical Christians. In particular, even though we don’t know who will be the next President of the United States, when we heard the news yesterday that Senator Hillary won 2% of Senator Obama in the Democratic Party in the New Hampshire Primary election, it was the time to reaffirm my wish that someone who is a Christian with biblical values and standards would become President and govern this United States well. Then, this morning, I read the an article titled ‘What the Korean church wants from the new president’ in ‘America Gospel Newspaper’ (December 23, 2007). I can see that the Korean church is hoping that President-elect Lee Myung-bak to be a God-fearing leader. I think the Hope Church, where President-elect Lee Myung-bak attended on December 19, the day of voting, held a Wednesday worship at 7:30 pm and held a thanksgiving worship and prayer time for Lee Myung-bak from 8:30 pm. As I watched the article on ‘The expression of the Wednesday worship after the voting deadline of each church’, the phrase ‘Let him govern with God’s justice’ came to my mind, especially in relation to Psalms 82. Truly, I pray that President-elect Lee Myung-bak can rule Korea with God’s justice. I don't know who will be elected here in the United State in the future. But I pray that a leader who fears God and who can rule the United States well with God's justice will become the next President.
In this regard, in Psalms 82:8, we see the psalmist praying, “Arise, O God, judge the earth!” I hope that this psalmist's prayer will be our prayer topic. I would like to think about the two things that God gives us or the prayer topics by hearing the voice that God gives to the judges and the rulers of Israel through the psalmist.
First, the judges and the rulers must not judge unjustly.
Look at Psalms 82:2 – “How long will you judge unjustly And show partiality to the wicked? Selah.” There seems to be lot of unfair and unjust things in the world we live in. An example is the fire accident at a frozen warehouse in Incheon, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea 2-3 days ago. Looking at the Yahoo internet news, once, the frozen logistics warehouse in Incheon, Gyeonggi-do, was subscribed to 15.3 billion won in corporate comprehensive insurance under the corporate name of Korea 2000, the operating company. It was reported that they could receive 100 million won, but it was the news that 40 people who died and other victims received "0" won. I can't imagine what the feelings of the bereaved families of the deceased would be. Another example is the news that I hear from the United States in recent years where people who were unjustly accused of living in prison for several years were released after a DNA test proves that they weren’t guilty. However, when the people who were released from this prison were not just released as innocent after living in prison for 1-2 years. But they lived in prison for more than 10 to 20 years and were released. I am sure they would feel very unfair and unjust. In Psalms 82, the truth the psalmist is clearly telling us is that God judges those judges who judge unjustly (v. 1). Why did the psalmist say that God would judge the judges of the Israelites? The reason was because they bent the righteous administration by showing partiality to the wicked (v. 2, Park). This is what the psalmist said about the Israeli judges who showed partiality to the wicked and judged unjustly: “They do not know nor do they understand; They walk about in darkness; All the foundations of the earth are shaken” (v. 5). The ignorant and insensible evil judges, the reason they judge unfairly, was because they “walk about in darkness” (v. 5). This is what the Bible says: “You shall not distort justice; you shall not be partial, and you shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous” (Deut. 16:19). It isn’t just the Old Testament time that the judges take bribes and judge unjustly. Even in our days, I am sure there are many of this sin are being committed. Just as the saying that bribery blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous, we must not bend judgment by losing discernment by bribery.
There is a Chinese word ‘Tam-gwan-ori’(貪官汚吏) which means ‘corrupt official’. The dictionary meaning is ‘an official who covets people’s wealth and extorts it and who has poor conduct.’ The Korean historical meaning is ‘There was Baek Nak-sin, a soldier of the Gyeongsang-Udo, the cause of the Jinju Civil War, and Cho Byung-gap, a high-ranking military commander who provided an opportunity for the Donghak Revolution, was the representative the corrupt official. Tam-gwan-ori(corrupt official), who sucks the blood of the people and indulges them in pain, was a regular guest in historical novels. This was the case in a story of Lim Keok-jeong (A feature novel by Hong Myung-hee. This is a historical novel that depicts the activities of Lim Keok-jeong, an enemy of the Joseon Dynasty, and his troops. Lim Keok-jeong, who was born very low slave called ‘Baek-jeong’, gathered some people in the aread around Hwang-hae-do and Gyeon-gi-do, and killed the corrupt officials and stole their wealth and gave to the poor), of the Jeon Woo-chi (A novel from the Joseon Dynasty that talks about the main character Jeon Woo-chi, who existed in Damyang and who learned martial arts, tormented the corrupt officials and rescued the poor), and the Chun-hyang-jeon (A novel from the Joseon Dynasty. It’s the love story based on Seong Chun-hyang and Lee Mong-ryong. The story accused the prerogative of the socially privileged class at the time and praised Chun-hyang’s fidelity, and expressed the desire to raise the status of the lowest class of people). Among them, Byeon-sato, who comes out of the story of Chun-hyang-jeon, was the most well known corrupt official. In order to be wary of these corrupt officials, Dasan Jeong Yak-yong presented the living principles that the leader (Mokmin-gwan) should follow in the section of Mok-min-sim-seo (An enlightenment book created by Jeong Yak-yong during the Joseon Dynasty. In order to eliminate the harmful effects of local officials and to renew the local administration, he explained the principle of governing the people by taking the wrong cases of old local officials): The first is to keep your body clean, the second is to keep your mindset always innocent, and the third is that you must not accept requests from other people, the fourth is not to be extravagant, but to keep your life modest, and the fifth is to take good care of the house. When you leave the country, you should not take your family with you, and when a brother or relative visits you, you should avoid staying long. And sixth, saving all supplies and giving to the people is also an important virtue for the leader to keep. Even in the modern world, the corrupt official is common. The corrupt officials don’t hesitate to do all kinds of wrongdoing in order to pay for promotion, to receive compensation from below, and to receive nominated offerings to obtain an elected office. In addition, in order to obtain their own profit, they carry money to many apple boxes and offered them to higher rank officials, such as corrupt politicians. In order to make up for this, they receive all kinds of bribes and payments and abused their power to secure private interests (Internet). This is what Dr. Park said: ‘When the corrupt officials rule, the social order becomes disorderly and disturbed. Therefore, the basic element for establishing order in human society is justice, the product of right religion’ (Park). There are cases in which unfair people go to jail because of the unjust judgment of the US court system due to many corrupt officials, and the social order is disturbed and disrupted by them. God will not just look at this. Our just God will surely judge unjust judges. Look at Psalms 82:6-7: “I said, ‘You are gods, And all of you are sons of the Most High. Nevertheless you will die like men And fall like any one of the princes.’” Here, the words “gods” or “sons of the Most High” refer to the judges of Israel. The reason the psalmist called them that way was because the position of the ruler represents God's work (Park). When they didn’t judge according to God's will and judged them unjustly, then God would judge them.
Second and last, the judges and the rulers must use fair judgment.
Look at Psalms 82:3 – “Vindicate the weak and fatherless; Do justice to the afflicted and destitute.” The psalmist said, ‘Judges of Israel, do justice’ (v.3) because the just God would judge in the midst of the rulers (v. 1). How should they show justice?
(1) They must judge for the weak and fatherless.
In other words, the judges of Israel must show justice to the weak and the fatherless (v. 3). The judges of Israel must show justice to those who are unjustly oppressed: the weak, the orphan, the needy, and the poor. This is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father: “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world” (Jam. 1:27).
(2) They must save the weak and needy.
In other words, the weak and needy must be delivered from the hand of the wicked (v. 4). When the weak, the poor and the needy are persecuted by the wicked and the adversity, the just judge has the responsibility to deliver them from the hand of the wicked. It is the responsibility of the just judge to protect the weak.
Look at Proverbs 31:9 – “Open your mouth, judge righteously, And defend the rights of the afflicted and needy.” This is exactly what the Israel judges should do. They must judge with justice and defend the weak. Then the judges of Israel will do their work faithfully as agents of God who is the true judge. Then the glory of God will be revealed.
‘Just life and governance are built on the Word of God. God expects His people to be just
and honest. Justice and integrity are God's character. Just and truthful life is the right image
of those who have God as their Father’ (Internet).
Let us ask God as the psalmist asked Him. Let us pray, “Arise, O God, judge the earth!” Let us pray for God's justice to appear in this world. Surely God will judge this world by His justice. Therefore, the judges that God's agents believe in should judge justly. They must defend the poor, the orphan, the needy, the weak, and deliver them from the hands of the wicked. Therefore, I hope and pray that they will be used as God’s tools of salvation.
“Arise, O God, judge the earth!”
James Kim
(Praying for the judgment of God, the Righteous Judge)