The Justice of Love
“Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear, O house of Israel: Is my way unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust?” (Ezekiel 18:25). God’s justice. How do we answer this in light of God’s love? “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.” But when Saul came back with the King of the Amalekites alive along with his flocks of sheep, oxen, lambs, etc. God rejected Saul as king and replaced him with David. Is God’s love somewhere in there?
Of course at any look at history, we must keep in perspective the times they were living in, but it is still very hard for us today to look back and say to ourselves that God ordered Saul to kill every last person; man, woman and child -- even the animals without mercy. Justice. Did the Amalekites deserve it? We faint to say so, but if God says so.... but every woman and child? This is a hard thing.
And then, if it was justice, and they all did deserve to die, how is that love? Is not love forgiving? merciful? If God is love, what does justice have to do with it? How can He be both fully love and fully just? Must He ever be at battle with himself? - Do I give them what they deserve, or love them? How can He be indignantly angry and wrathful and still say He is love? Is His Spirit split, or are these two somehow connected? But how could they?
It says that God used the King of Babylon as an instrument - to bring punishment upon the nations (including His own people). Indeed, the Bible says that the king is God’s elected tool and He puts kings up and dethrones kings and they do His bidding. Is this use of even the ungodly kings of old ethical? In war and in peace?
First we must realize that God does not only have a plan and purpose for every individual, but He orchestrates the histories of the nations. This is also equalized by man’s personal choice, they coincide and is a paradox that is hard for even the most intelligent theologian to understand. What comes out is man is responsible but God is in control. They are both true.
To go back to the Amalekite example, God’s reasoning went further than simply a punishment for what the Amalekites and done, but went into protecting Israel from corruption and future trouble. “...for they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods, and the Lord’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you....For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord you God has chosen you out of all the peoples of the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.” (Deuteronomy 7:4,6).
It can also be of note what happened as a result, the Amalekites are mentioned further in the Bible - they come and capture the women and children of David’s camp while he is away, and an Amalekite almost succeeds in destroying the Jewish nation in the story of Esther.
Did God reject Saul because he didn’t kill everyone? Yes and no. He rejected him because he did not follow His directions, not because he did not kill everyone. Saul was becoming haughty and proud and even was presumptuous enough take over roles reserved for priests and prophets, not willing to wait on the Lord.
But what about love? How do we make sense of this? Let me ask you something in reverse. What would love look like without justice? Can love overlook injustice? Does poverty and pain not make us cringe because we see it as an injustice? Can sympathy and concern be separated from the sense of justice? If God was not just, could we call Him a loving God? If God did not care about injustice and wrong, we would not call him loving or righteous. He would not be benevolent but malevolent. No, His love and His justice are meted out as part-and-parcel to His very character. One is not without the other and each is defined and characterized by the other. Like God’s sovereignty and our responsibility for our choices, God’s love and his justice are two sides of the same coin, a paradox (or seeming contradiction that is not) that both amazes and confounds us.
God's love is not a separate entity from His justice, He is not split in His personality nor His character. His Justice acts as an outreaching of His love. His love tempers His justice and His justice enforces His love. They are stark realities we should not think or wish away.
Thank goodness for God’s love, for He is our salvation - giving grace, mercy and love unceasingly. Thank goodness for God’s justice, for He is Jehova Jira (the God who will provide) - He defends the defenseless, father to the fatherless and comforter to the widow and the downtrodden, King of kings and Lord of lords, both Sovereign, Holy, and intimate, all at the same time. What a mystery.
Jared Williams
Of course at any look at history, we must keep in perspective the times they were living in, but it is still very hard for us today to look back and say to ourselves that God ordered Saul to kill every last person; man, woman and child -- even the animals without mercy. Justice. Did the Amalekites deserve it? We faint to say so, but if God says so.... but every woman and child? This is a hard thing.
And then, if it was justice, and they all did deserve to die, how is that love? Is not love forgiving? merciful? If God is love, what does justice have to do with it? How can He be both fully love and fully just? Must He ever be at battle with himself? - Do I give them what they deserve, or love them? How can He be indignantly angry and wrathful and still say He is love? Is His Spirit split, or are these two somehow connected? But how could they?
It says that God used the King of Babylon as an instrument - to bring punishment upon the nations (including His own people). Indeed, the Bible says that the king is God’s elected tool and He puts kings up and dethrones kings and they do His bidding. Is this use of even the ungodly kings of old ethical? In war and in peace?
First we must realize that God does not only have a plan and purpose for every individual, but He orchestrates the histories of the nations. This is also equalized by man’s personal choice, they coincide and is a paradox that is hard for even the most intelligent theologian to understand. What comes out is man is responsible but God is in control. They are both true.
To go back to the Amalekite example, God’s reasoning went further than simply a punishment for what the Amalekites and done, but went into protecting Israel from corruption and future trouble. “...for they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods, and the Lord’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you....For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord you God has chosen you out of all the peoples of the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.” (Deuteronomy 7:4,6).
It can also be of note what happened as a result, the Amalekites are mentioned further in the Bible - they come and capture the women and children of David’s camp while he is away, and an Amalekite almost succeeds in destroying the Jewish nation in the story of Esther.
Did God reject Saul because he didn’t kill everyone? Yes and no. He rejected him because he did not follow His directions, not because he did not kill everyone. Saul was becoming haughty and proud and even was presumptuous enough take over roles reserved for priests and prophets, not willing to wait on the Lord.
But what about love? How do we make sense of this? Let me ask you something in reverse. What would love look like without justice? Can love overlook injustice? Does poverty and pain not make us cringe because we see it as an injustice? Can sympathy and concern be separated from the sense of justice? If God was not just, could we call Him a loving God? If God did not care about injustice and wrong, we would not call him loving or righteous. He would not be benevolent but malevolent. No, His love and His justice are meted out as part-and-parcel to His very character. One is not without the other and each is defined and characterized by the other. Like God’s sovereignty and our responsibility for our choices, God’s love and his justice are two sides of the same coin, a paradox (or seeming contradiction that is not) that both amazes and confounds us.
God's love is not a separate entity from His justice, He is not split in His personality nor His character. His Justice acts as an outreaching of His love. His love tempers His justice and His justice enforces His love. They are stark realities we should not think or wish away.
Thank goodness for God’s love, for He is our salvation - giving grace, mercy and love unceasingly. Thank goodness for God’s justice, for He is Jehova Jira (the God who will provide) - He defends the defenseless, father to the fatherless and comforter to the widow and the downtrodden, King of kings and Lord of lords, both Sovereign, Holy, and intimate, all at the same time. What a mystery.
Jared Williams
