What God detests,
What is not good in God’s sight
[Proverbs 17:15, 26]
You may have already heard from the news last week. The news that the jury verdict in the first trial of the patent infringement case between Samsung Electronics and Apple in the US ended with Apple's complete victory. As a result, the jury in this case reported that Samsung had infringed the Apple company's patents and decided to pay compensation of $1,049,354,000 (Internet). However, due to this ruling, it is said that the market capitalization of Samsung Electronics 13.9935 billion dollar evaporated in one day on Monday (Internet). For some reason, I was constantly interested in this trial. So I was watching the internet news. But after seeing such a ruling, I honestly wondered how this case will unfold in the future. I am curious about how a Korean-American judge will judge the jury's verdict. If the judge gives Apple's hand, I wonder how it will be judged in an appeal from Samsung in the future. In the meantime, the unchanging thought is that the judge must rule the trial rightly. When I saw that the Korean court ended with Samsung’s victory, and the US court ended with Apple’s victory, I don’t understand how the judgment of the judiciary in Korea and the US can be so different in ruling the same case. When I read an Internet article, it is said that one of the reasons why the judgments of Korea and the United States were different is in the public sentiment. In the case of Korea, it seems that some people see it as a factor that the public sentiment was strong enough to protect Samsung, a representative company in Korea, to the point of saying, ‘If Samsung fails, Korea will fall’ (Internet). In the case of the United States as well, seeing that he wrote in an Internet article under the headline ‘Not Samsung and Affair, but US Patriotism’, it is an analysis that ‘the conclusion is the result of the limitations of US protectionism and the jury system, which can be easily swept away by emotions’ (Internet).
In this way, the world's judiciary system is bound to have limitations. The reason is because we are human beings with limitations. As a result, an unfair ruling in the trials of this world is bound to come out. Therefore, in this world, wrongdoing can continue to be rationalized. However, in the kingdom of God, there can be no such injustice and unjust conduct. The reason is because our God is the just God and the perfect Judge. In Proverbs 17:15, 26, this God is speaking about what He detests and what is not good in His sight. As we meditate on these two things, we want to receive the lessons God gives us and obey them.
First, what does God detest?
Look at Proverbs 17:15 – “Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent-- the LORD detests them both.” When it comes to things that God detests, we need to remember the words already meditated in Proverbs 15:8-33. In other words, we learned three things that God detests: ‘the sacrifice of the wicked’ (v. 8), ‘the way of the wicked’ (v. 9), and “evil plans’ (v. 26). Here, ‘the sacrifice of the wicked’ refers to the sacrifice that a person offers to God outwardly, but is evil in his heart. A good example is the sacrifices offered to God in the Old Testament times when the Israelites honored God with their lips, but their hearts were far from Him. ‘The way of the wicked’ refers to a life of disobeying God’s word by action even though the person may says with his lips that he obeys God. One of the reasons is because there is greed in his heart (v. 27). And the ‘evil plans” that God detests is wicked plans (6:18), which means that the person's material is unjustly exploited because he is greedy for profit. In Proverbs 17:15, King Solomon says that God detests two kinds of people. Those two kinds of people are those who justify the wicked and those who condemn the righteous. This means that God detests the unjust judge's judgment.
I think the best example in the Bible is Jesus' trial. The ruling that released Barabbas, who had committed murder and a robber, and sentenced Jesus to death, who was innocent, is the unfair judgment that God detests. Think about it. How can they release the murderer and the robber Barabbas and condemn the innocent Jesus who had no sin and sentenced him to death by crucifying Him? How could they have such unfair ruling? We can't like this ruling. And we can’t even like those who make such unfair judgments. How much more would just God dislike that judge who makes judgments unfairly? Proverbs 17:15 says that such a person is detested by God. So the question is, ‘Why does that person judge unfairly?’ Why does an unfair judge make an unfair decision? One of the reasons is said in Proverbs 17:23 – “A wicked man receives a bribe from the bosom To pervert the ways of justice.” The unfair judge takes a bribe and perverts the way of justice to make an unfair decision. Look at Isaiah 5:23 – “Who justify the wicked for a bribe, And take away the rights of the ones who are in the right!” The Prophet Isaiah also says that the reason for taking away the right of the ones who are in the right is because of bribery.
The world we live in is an unfair world. In the Old Testament times and now, how many people have been wrecking judgment because bribes have obscured their judgment. They take away the rights of the righteous. And they say you are innocent to the wicked. Therefore, the unfair things such as the wicked don’t go to jail even though he sins, and the righteous are falsely accused and go to jail, are happening in our country’s court of justice. It is truly an unfair world. How should we live in this unfair world? American educator Charles J. Sykes says the first in his ten tips “Some rules kids won’t learn in school” (Internet): “Life is not fair, get used to it”. Life is not fair like this. Life is unfair in everything from childhood home environment to appearance, health, talent, luck and bad luck. But what makes the world the most unfair is human complaints. Rather than the willingness or effort to change the world, the attitude of simply complaining and desperate causes greater inequality. If we want to make the world a little fair, first accept the fact that the world is unfair. And we have to put more effort into making that unfair world fair. And in order for us to put a lot of effort into it, we must first find the principle of what the Bible says. First of all, if we look at Proverbs 24:23, the Bible says: “… To show partiality in judgment is not good.” First of all, we must keep in mind that the Christian judges must not forget that it is not right to show partiality in judgment. That means that he shouldn't show partiality in judgement by saying the wicked, “You are right” (or “you are innocent”). The Bible says that “People will curse him, nations will abhor him” (v. 24). Rather, the Bible tells us not to say that the wicked are innocent, but to convict the wicked (v. 25). In other words, the Christian judges must make a right judgment. Then they will be delight and a good blessing will come upon them (v. 25).
Second and last, what is not good in God’s sight?
Look at Proverbs 17:26 – “It is not good to punish an innocent man, or to flog officials for their integrity.” What is not good in the sight of God that King Solomon is talking about here is, in a word, injustice. And King Solomon says that those who are receiving injustice are the righteous and the innocent man. In modern society, it seems that what we often hear through the news is unfair labor practices. One of the types of unfair labor practices is disadvantage treatment. In this case, for example, layoff is a representative case of disadvantage treatment. In addition, there are leave of absence, suspension of work, reduction of salary, etc., and there are also acts of transferring to a position where no benefit is received, or being placed on the waiting list (Internet). Is unfair act restricted only to labor? I think there is a lot of harm especially to faithful Christians who want to live honestly and sincerely in this era where unjust practices are being used throughout society. The Bible says that this is not good in God's sight. One interesting thing is that the phrase “It is not good” appears in Proverbs 3 more times in addition to Proverbs 17:26. Among them, Proverbs 18:5, “To show partiality to the wicked is not good, Nor to thrust aside the righteous in judgment” is a little similar to the words of Proverbs 17:26 (The other two verses are 19:2 and 25:27). In summarizing these two verses, it can be said that what is not good in the sight of God is to punish the righteous and make them resentful, and also to show partiality to the wicked.
Then, what is good in God's sight? It means that the judge condemns the wicked and justifies the righteous in trial. Deuteronomy 25:1-3: “If there is a dispute between men and they go to court, and the judges decide their case, and they justify the righteous and condemn the wicked, then it shall be if the wicked man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall then make him lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of stripes according to his guilt. He may beat him forty times but no more, so that he does not beat him with many more stripes than these and your brother is not degraded in your eyes.” This speaks about the judge takes care of a dispute and punishes the wicked who deserves to be beaten. However, even in this regard, the judge made him hit according to the severity of the sin, but not more than 40 times. The reason was to respect human rights (Park). The apostle Paul in the New Testament was beaten by the Jews 39 lashes five times (2 Cor. 11:24). The reason is because he was beaten for the gospel and church of Jesus Christ. This was wrongful acts of the Jews against Paul. This is by no means good in God's sight. We must not do things that are not good in God's sight that is wrongful acts. According to an Internet article, what we Christians are stealing is a violation of the eighth of the Ten Commandments. And we should not try to have what we should not have, which is the basic Christian ethic (Mk. 10:19; Rom. 13:9). Nevertheless, it is said that as stealing someone else's, it is an act of unfair exploitation (Internet). As a new person in Christ, Christians must abandon this wrongful act. We should not take unfair advantage in political, economic and social activities. The new person must not be a donor or receiver of unfair money. Only then will our society be brighter and cleaner.
We must detest what God detests too. God detests those who say that the wicked are righteous or that the righteous are wicked. God detests that unjust judges make unjust judgments. Therefore, we too should detest unfair judges who make judgments unfairly. In short, we must detest the injustices that God detests too. And we must avoid injustice, which is not good in God's sight. Rather, we must seek justice. Therefore, as the people of God's kingdom, we must give glory to God because we pursue impartiality and justice.