‘Do not pervert justice; do not show
partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor
fairly.
(Leviticus 19:15)
This
is a verse that I suspect most people would find hard to believe it's in the
Bible. We hear all the time about how we must be kind to the poor, and that we
shouldn't show preference for the rich or powerful. We're to judge them fairly.
But in God's commandments to the Levites, who were to lead and teach the people
God's ways, God includes this one, that we are not to pervert justice by
showing partiality to the weak OR favoritism to the great.
Today,
of course, there are those who claim that the poor deserve special treatment to
make up for their poor treatment. Can something make up for the pain someone
has felt? There are those who justify
their mistreatment of the wealthy as giving justice to the poor even though
there is no direct connection between the two. The wealthy must be guilty of
some crime just because they're wealthy. They must be punished and the poor
given justice on the assumption that the poor is a victim just because he is
poor.
God
says that this is perverting justice.
Granted, He only said it once, and He repeated His concern for the poor many
times, but that doesn't remove it from His Law.
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