…and justice for all

If you’ve ever had occasion to interact with the American judicial system at any level you quickly discover that rulings are made not in accordance with a sense of justice, but rather in compliance with the precedency of the law. The Rule of Law has been in place since ancient times. In the time of Job, 2,000-1,500 BCE (Eusebius), prior to the Jewish Exodus from Egypt, there was no justice. The Biblical writer Job protested before God-

“Though I cry, ‘I’ve been wronged!’ I get no response;

though I call for help, there is no justice.“(Job 19:7 NIV)

 He began the echo of the masses throughout history. From Egypt to Israel, Greece to Rome, China to the warlords of Japan, to the twentieth century Holocaust, and the slaughters in Syria, there has been no justice. Individuals and nations stand by in silence as great harm, evil, is enacted upon others. Though international tribunals have been established to judge the war-crimes, the deeds are done; lives have been brutally ended. Yet the cry for justice rises above Law, which seems oft too inequitable and too late to make a difference.

How many of the guilty have been set free on a technicality? How many war criminals have taken refuge in countries sympathetic to their crimes, no matter how heinous? How many white collar crimes, have gone unpunished, and even rewarded, millions of homes have been devastated by their greed. King David, writing in the (1040 – 970 BCE), sang,

 How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, O LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death; my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall. But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me.    -Psalm 13

            Our Courts of Law may or may not grant justice to those wronged. The odds are not, historically, in our favor. Sometimes the only course of action left us is to turn to the God who made us and to seek His face. This is not always as gratifying as justice or vengeance, but it may be our only recourse. The Lord God is, afterall, the Judge of us all. Selah.