“Yes, Adonai will judge his people,
taking pity on his servants,
when he sees that their strength is gone,
that no one is left, slave or free.”
-Deuteronomy 32:36
I finished up my last post by talking about how the phrase “Vengeance is mine saith the Lord” doesn’t quite accurately capture the nuance of the original Hebrew.
I then concluded by saying it more means that God will exercise His divine authority and do whatever necessary to protect His Chosen People from the nations who seek to destroy them.
Well, let’s apply this idea to the Lord’s justice system.
God makes it clear that He will do whatever it takes to protect Israel from the wicked.
Understand the Lord takes no pleasure in the destruction of the wicked but if He has to destroy them to protect His People, you had best believe He won’t hesitate to do so.
First and foremost, His justice system is based on protecting those who love and trust Him EVEN IF it means harming or destroying those who are not His people.
Why?
Because they are a threat to His People.
Now here’s the thing.
Just as Hashem will apply His divine justice to Israel’s enemies, so too will He apply that same divine justice to His people.
However, the consequences and the final verdict will be different.
Ahh, so here is where I get the chance to pull everything that we’ve studied earlier about MISHPAT, justice and judgement all together to form a nice coherent argument.
Take a look at at the first part of verse 36:
“Yes, Adonai will judge his people,
taking pity on his servants…”
The Hebrew word for “judge” here is DIN and yes it does indeed mean “to judge”.
This is actually a perfect translation but again it doesn’t quite mean what we think it means.
It is not to be taken in a negative sense.
It doesn’t mean to judge in the sense that the Lord is punishing someone.
The meaning is neutral and just means to decide whether a party should be deemed innocent or guilty.
Again the word is perfectly neutral.
Get that point through your skull and forget about our common cultural understanding of the word and definitely forget about what your pastor or preacher told you (chances are super high he has absolutely no idea of the true Hebrew meaning of the word).
Again, the word DIN is NOT to be taken in a negative sense.
And it is this same word DIN that is being applied to BOTH Israel and Israel’s enemies in this context.
When the accused stands before a judge, what happens?
At the end of the trial, he or she will be declared guilty or innocent based on the evidence, right?
Well, the same thing happens in Hashem’s court so to speak.
When an enemy of God is “judged” according to Hashem’s justice system and found guilty, then there will be punishment.
On the other hand, if Israel is “judged” according to Hashem’s justice system and found innocent, then there will will be protection (from Israel’s enemies).
Again, we’re NOT talking about vengeance on God’s enemies but protection from Israel’s enemies which could involve utterly destroying them if that’s what Hashem deems necessary.
In this sense, the Complete Jewish Bible translation hits the nail squarely on the head and I love it!
The Complete Jewish Bible says…
“God will judge His people,
taking pity on His servants”
Contrast this with the NIV which says…
“The Lord will vindicate his people
and relent concerning his servants
when he sees their strength is gone
and no one is left, slave or free.”
Like what the fudge, right?!
The Lord ain’t vindicating no one here man.
In this case, He is objectively “judging” (remember in a neutral manner) His people and based on the evidence has decided to show them compassion.
On the other hand, the Lord will “judge” the enemies of Israel and has decided they must be either harmed or destroyed in order to protect His people.
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