Justice in the Proverbs: Week 1
Proverbs 31:8-9 NLT: Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed. 9 Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice.
Proverbs 31:8-9 NIV: Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. 9 Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.
“Here King Lemuel is being urged to defend the rights of the poor and needy. Rights translates a word that simply means a claim. Genesis 1:26–27 tells us God made all human beings “in his image… According to the Bible, then, your neighbor comes into your presence with certain claims on you.” – Tim Keller (1950–2023 A.D.)
Galatians 5:22-23 AMP: But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace, patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Luke 19:13 AMP:13 So he called ten of his servants, and gave them ten minas [one apiece, each equal to about a hundred days’ wages] and said to them, ‘Do business [with this] until I return.’
Speaking up for those with no voice means paying attention to others who are in different situations than our own—and believing that it is our Kingdom business to be tending to their poverty, injustice, and pain.
“Negatively, she has the right to not be assaulted, defrauded, or killed. Positively, she has the right to be treated with fairness and respect. These verses again show us it is the poor and needy who cannot assert those rights without help. Perhaps they cannot speak for themselves because they aren’t instructed enough in the complicated ways of the law, or they can’t speak the language well enough, or they are too poor to get good help and counsel. We must champion the causes of those who do not get a fair hearing in courts of law or of public opinion.” – Tim Keller (1950–2023)
"When we administer necessaries of any kind to the indigent, we do not bestow our own, but render them what is theirs; we rather pay a debt of justice than accomplish works of mercy." –Gregory the Great (c. 540–604 AD)
"The bread you are holding back is for the hungry, the clothes you keep put away are for the naked, the shoes that are rotting away with disuse are for those who have none, the silver you keep buried in the earth is for the needy. You are thus guilty of injustice toward as many as you might have aided, and did not." –Basil the Great (c. 330–379 A.D.)
Romans 12:2 NLT:2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
What Scriptures do we disagree with?
In what ways were the Scriptures misinterpreted or used out of context?
If it’s not this, then what else could the Scriptures be referring to?
We grow small trying to be great. We toil in rowing, trying to get to the land of greatness, and end nowhere. Then Jesus comes. Again we fear Him, for we fear He will ask us to be servant of all in order to be great. And we do not want to serve, we want to be served. But still He comes. Then we let Him in. We forget greatness as we bend with Him to serve the rest. And, lo, as we bend we rise, the servant of all becomes the greatest of all. We have arrived." E Stanley Jones (1884–1973 AD), Victorious Living
