UNJUST MEN AND A JUST GOD

Here is a protest against those who were supposed to administer justice fairly, but who themselves were the worst offenders. The psalmist expresses wonder, as if it were scarcely credible that those whose office it was to speak for God and against the sins of men were silent, v. 1. This was the passive side of their guilt; the active side was that they were guilty of positive injustice, v. 2. If any seat should be recognized for its honest equity, it is a tribunal of justice. Too often the cause of God has called for righteous judgment, but injustice has seen to it that it has never been executed.

So it was with the Jewish Sanhedrin and the vacillating Pilate who administered the Roman law. When the spotless and innocent One stood before them, righteous judgment was strangely lacking. No guilt was found; the judge recognized that freedom from any shadow of blame existed, yet the sentence was, “Let him be crucified”. Paul had stood before another unjust tribunal, looking beyond this scene to the day when he would stand before “the Lord, the righteous Judge” to receive from Him a crown of righteousness, 2 Tim. 4. 8, 16. Happy are those who look to that righteous Judge, and to the throne where the plea “Christ died for me” cannot be argued in vain; this ensures acquittal and, beyond that, exaltation to glory.

The psalmist appeals to God to sweep away these false judges, vv. 6-9. There follows a double result to this judgment. Firstly, the righteous, now freed from their oppressors, will rejoice. The rejoicing of the righteous is at the judgment that God has executed upon those who have wilfully and obstinately resisted every effort to touch their hearts and consciences, vv. 4-5. The righteous cannot but rejoice over a triumph of good over evil. At the same time, it can never be right for the Christian to cherish a spirit of vengeance, Matt. 5. 44, 45. Yet again, the righteous can never believe it to be right and just that the wicked should escape. But also, if it is right for God to destroy, then it cannot be wrong for His servants to rejoice in what He does; this introduces the second result. It proves that God is true to His revealed character as a just Judge and a Sovereign Ruler, and men in general acknowledge His moral government of the world, Psa. 58. 11.