Leviticus 19:15-16 (ESV)
“You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the LORD.
Justice matters to God. God is just! Therefore He demands that His people are also just. The book of Leviticus is often hard to read. At times, it has many laws and guidelines that make little sense to us. The point of the book, however, is to teach the nation of Israel to be “different” than their neighbors (especially when they entered the promise land). They were not to do the things the evil nations around them did. They were to be holy, like God is holy. That was best demonstrated by practicing the justice of God in their daily lives. Notice how God has outline His desire for His people to practice justice:
Micah 6:8 (ESV)
He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
Psalms 15 (ESV)
A PSALM OF DAVID.
O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent?
Who shall dwell on your holy hill?
He who walks blamelessly and does what is right
and speaks truth in his heart;
who does not slander with his tongue
and does no evil to his neighbor,
nor takes up a reproach against his friend;
in whose eyes a vile person is despised,
but who honors those who fear the LORD;
who swears to his own hurt and does not change;
who does not put out his money at interest
and does not take a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things shall never be moved.
God demands justice. How we treat one another shows that justice. We are to make sure that we act like God in front of our unbelieving neighbors. That is the entire theme of the Old Testament. Israel was supposed to be the example. They failed and Jesus became that example to us.
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