Administering Justice Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the LORD your God is giving you. Deuteronomy 16:20 Justice doesn’t just happen. Human beings are naturally self-centered and tend to look out for themselves first of all, and for others only perhaps ...
Justice for the Poor: A Matter of the Heart “You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake.” Deuteronomy 15:10 Care for ...
Justice for the Poor: Gleaning “And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner.” Leviticus 23.22 The third way that ...
Justice for the Poor: A Local Matter “If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall ...
Justice for the Poor: The Dignity of the Poor “When you make your neighbor a loan of any sort, you shall not go into his house to collect his pledge. You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you make the loan shall bring the pledge out to you. ...
Justice for the Poor: A Question of Stewardship “The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me.” Leviticus 25:23 The use of personal property under the Law of God must always be pursued with the mindset that nothing we ...
Justice for the Poor: No Preferential Option “You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit, siding with the many, so as to pervert justice, nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his lawsuit. Exodus 23:2, 3 In ...
Justice for the Poor: A Perpetual Obligation For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Deuteronomy 15:11 It’s a little tricky sometimes trying to apply the principles of Israel’s Old Testament theocracy to the Church’s calling and responsibility in a secular society. However, Jeremiah’s exhortation to the exiles ...
Distributive Justice “And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner….” Leviticus 23:22 In every society there are those who ...
Retributive Justice “If anyone injures his neighbor, as he has done it shall be done to him, fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; whatever injury he has given a person shall be given to him.” Leviticus 24:19, 20 Usually referred to as lex talionis, retributive justice is “pay ...