Proverbs 20:8-12 To Be Fair
Solomon looks at judging rightly from several different angles. Judgment must be fair, right, but there is also a place for forgiveness or waiting for a time.
My bible helps, once again, got me to looking at our reading in a different light. I’m grateful for all the tools God has given us to consider His words with. My BEST ‘tool’ though is the Holy Spirit. Let’s see where He leads us today.
As I was reading my bible helps, the title I used jumped into my head. Then I thought of all the times when my children have cried; “That’s not fair!” My response to them was; “Whoever told you life was fair, lied to you.” Honestly, life here on earth ISN’T fair. If it were bad things would only happen to bad people. Good things would only happen to good people. Everyone would get exactly what they deserved; punishment or praise. But even King David called out to God on the ‘unfairness’ of life.
With that said, God calls for some things to be “fair.’ He calls for the rulers, the kings, to mete out justice in a fair manner. He calls for the measuring devices by which we conduct business to be accurate. He calls us to be discerning in evaluating a person’s character by his works, even children. And He calls us to use the ‘tools’ he gave us, our ears and eyes, in making such evaluations.
In case you haven’t noticed yet, I have refrained from using the words judging and judgment. These are words I feel belong to God. He is the TRUE judge of each of us. Jesus said, “Judge not, that you not be judged” (Matthew 7:1). There is a caveat to this verse though for those who are required to judge; “For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you” (Matthew 7:2). This means that the king who sits in judgment winnowing out evil with his eyes, he will be judged by the same standard. If HE is evil HE will be judged accordingly.
This reminds me of King Ahab of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. That man was a HORRIBLE king! Not just because he turned to other gods but because of the practices of his own hands and household. Case in point is the murder of Naboth for the purpose of acquiring his vineyard. Jezebel did the actual ‘dirty work’ of setting up Naboth but Ahab was more than willing to accept the fruits of her labor. We do not know if King Ahab allowed and practiced child sacrifices, but we are told that he was more abominable that all the kings before him. Solomon was one of those kings and in the end he practiced child sacrifices to his wives gods.
King Manasseh of Juda rivals King Ahab. Manasseh erected pagan altars in the very house built for God. He did so much evil that, though he repented, it stained the hearts of the people and was the final ‘nail in Judah’s coffin’ with regard to judgment from the Lord. He too burned his children and practiced human sacrifices. Both kings repented in the end and God stayed His hand of judgment, for a time, because of it. I can bet though that both will be judged according to the measure they used by God.
False scales and weights were a way to cheat even the common man. God HATES this! In this example of the use of judgment, anyone can engage in this practice. And they can be caught for such crimes. It was a crime. It still is today, in one form or another. I don’t know what other countries have in place but in my country it is called fraud and one can be prosecuted and jailed for such a crime. In the times of the bible, payment for goods and services was measured out against a scale. When the scale was accurate, both parties received equal benefit from the transaction. When the weights or scale was off, the transaction wan NOT fair to one of the parties.
Trust was a BIG factor in doing business using scales. The buyer had to trust that the seller would adhere to the standard measurements. The seller’s reputation depended on him being fair and accurate in his dealings. One who was found to be using dishonest scales quickly found himself without customers and quite possibly dead or in prison.
We spoke of the character of a person coming out in their actions in our last reading. Here Solomon tells us that even the character of a child can be observed in this same way. I know my stubbornness came out in my actions, even as a child. My mother tells me stories of me going blow for blow and bite for bite in a struggle for power as a young child. I hit her, she hit me. I bit her, she bit me. Rinse and repeat MULTIPLE times and you get the picture.
The character of quiet child, the rambunctious child, the strong willed child, the manipulative child all come out in their actions. I had one that was strong willed and rambunctious. I knew this by the time he was walking. He was also sneaky. I found him behind the rocking chair one day eating candy he was told he couldn’t have. I had one that was quiet, one that was contemplative and explorative, and another that was a daredevil and literally HARD HEADED. He liked to bang his head on the windows. I often wondered if he might break one someday. They all manifested their character early in life and my approach to each of them had to take that character into consideration. Discipline for the quiet child could be as simple as a stern look while the stubborn one challenged my every word. He required a firm hand to keep him in line. ‘Justice’ looked a little different for each of them too, but I always tried to be fair.
The last example of ‘judgment’ or ‘fairness’ concerns a man’s heart. This is where the concept of forgiveness and withholding ‘justice’ for a time comes in. God knows EACH of our hearts and He would be perfectly within His rights to judge us moment by moment according to what resides there. But He holds His hand, offers us a chance to repent, grants us forgiveness when we do, and waits to see our whole character played out. Sometimes, as David lamented, the evil don’t seem to be punished here in this life. God is holding of a little longer than we would like in these instances, BUT there WILL be a ‘balancing of the scales’ in the end. The evil heart will stand before God and receive evil in return. The clean heart will receive good things from God in return.
Solomon asks if anyone “can say, ‘I have made my heart pure; I am clean from my sin’” (verse 9). Paul explains in Romans why Jesus had to suffer and die for our sins. It was because there is NONE pure, without sin, except Jesus Himself. Even the BEST person in the world has at one time or another committed a sin against God. We cannot be “pure” in and of ourselves. It takes Jesus’ blood to make us “pure.”
Why is this? Because of “justice” and “fairness.” Sin demands a penalty be paid. It is the ONLY way to balance the scales. And that penalty is death. If we were to be slain at the first sign of sin, most of us would never make it past childhood! Knowing this, God set His plan in motion to pay the penalty for sin in our stead. He sent His Son Jesus to balance the scales; to pay our penalty. Being the penalty is death, that is what He had to pay in order to remove that penalty from us. BECAUSE He NEVER sinned, when He paid that penalty, it could then be applied to our account. Because He is God it qualifies for ALL who ask to be washed clean by His blood.
The ultimate ‘fairness’ or ‘justice’ ever done also looks like the most ‘unfair’ or ‘unjust’ act in history. Love like this was NEVER known from ANYONE else!
Father God, thank You that there IS justice in this world, to some degree. Thank You that there is ultimate justice too. And thank You that Your Son Jesus put His life on the scale for mine. I am NOT worthy but I am grateful! I’m glad You haven’t put me in a place where I have to render judgment for or against others on a daily basis. I think I would be “fair” but I wouldn’t want the weight of being judged by my same measure hanging over my head, just in case I wasn’t fair at some point. Help me be fair though when I am evaluating a person based on their character. Let me see through Your Holy Spirit’s eyes the truth of what hides in their hearts.
