1K2-5: Justice May Be Slow…But It’s Coming

Alrighty, after yesterday’s post, I hope you’re clear on the difference between justice and unjustified revenge.

In case it didn’t click, here’s another Scripture reference:

“If people are fighting with each other and happen to hurt a pregnant woman so badly that her unborn child dies, then, even if no other harm follows, he must be fined. He must pay the amount set by the woman’s husband and confirmed by judges. But if any harm follows, then you are to give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, and bruise for bruise.“– Exodus 21:22-25

The bottom line is that criminal activity deserves consequences.

The Law of Moses says if you harm someone, you will pay the price.

This is justice or divine revenge, if you will

That passage above from Exodus explains that the price you pay for harming someone is to be proportional.

For instance, if you rip off a Snickers bar from the local 7-11, you shouldn’t be put to death for that crime.

Or if someone damages your toaster, you can’t demand that you be paid back the amount of money needed to purchase a new MacBook or something.

When proportional justice is properly meted out according to Torah, that is heavenly-sanctioned revenge.

Ya feel me here?

So what about David’s instructions to Solomon?

Were those instructions based on fleshly-driven human motivations or divine justice?

Let’s examine them case by case.

The first situation involves Joab, David’s chief military general.

Being David’s nephew, he was related to David by blood.

But that didn’t mean diddly squat.

Joab’s ruthless behavior caused David much heartache.

Now, one might think the main reason David felt sore towards Joab was that he killed his rebellious son Absalom.

Recall that David gave clear orders that Absalom was to be treated gently if captured.

Joab blatantly ignored that order and speared Absalom with three darts (more like javelins) while Absalom hung helplessly from a tree.

However, David doesn’t mention Absalom in his instructions to Solomon to take care of Joab.

David tells Solomon that Joab needs to pay for the killing of Abner and Amasa.

“Moreover, you are aware of what Yo’av the son of Tz’ruyah did to me, that is, what he did to the two commanders of the armies of Israel, Avner the son of Ner and ‘Amasa the son of Yeter — he killed them, shedding the blood of war in peacetime, putting the blood of war on the belt around his waist and the shoes on his feet.”-1 Kings 2:5

From David’s perspective, Joab’s killing of these two men was indeed murder because he killed them during a time of peace.

The Torah makes it clear that it is NOT murder for one soldier to kill another during a time of war.

Killing in battle is not an offense to the Lord.

But when it is a time of peace, a rival soldier killing another soldier out of personal hatred or revenge becomes cold-blooded murder.

That is exactly what Joab did.

Amasa and Abner were supposed to be under David’s protection.

It was a time of peace.

Yet, that didn’t stop Joab from slaughtering them simply because he didn’t want any competition as the head of the army.

So in this case, this wasn’t David getting even.

This was him making sure justice was done.

God’s justice says, “You broke the law, so you gotta answer for it, homie.”

Alrighty, so let’s switch over to the takeaway.

It boils down to this.

Folks may think they have gotten away with sin because much time has passed without consequence.

Joab had eliminated his rivals and felt like he was on secure ground.

Turns out no such thing.

Eventually, the chickens came home to roost with a vengeance.

So though justice may seem to be a long time coming, justice will come.

So don’t feel bad if someone you know seems to have gotten away with the most dastardly of crimes.

Because the Lord will make sure they pay for their crimes, whether in this life or the next.

If in the next life, it will be so much worse for them.

Done.