“To know wisdom and instruction, To perceive the words of understanding, To receive the instruction of wisdom, Justice, judgment, and equity; To give prudence to the simple, To the young man knowledge and discretion— A wise man will hear and increase learning, And a man of understanding will attain wise counsel, To understand a proverb and an enigma, The words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.” (Proverbs 1:2–7, NKJV)
JUDGMENT, EQUITY – Continued
Let’s move now to Judgment remembering each word in this section is being investigated individually in order to give us the eternal perspective of all three as conjoined by the Word of God.
Of interest to us is the meaning related to its translation as “justice” over 90 times in several locations throughout the Old Testament. The distinction of justice is never understated in Scripture, and here the meaning is reiterated to make a specific point-
Wisdom is a combination of distinct attributes all of which are equal as God wields them. The theme of “righteous judgment” is found throughout scripture, as are the terms of equity. Justice, Judgment and Equity are components of the blessed gift of God. Wisdom is the ability to recognize these attributes (as well as many others) under the terms they are given. This is why we have developed the earlier verses carefully, because they bare together the Truth, and Truth is wisdom.
Justice and judgment are never at odds when found in righteousness, and they are equal in terms of the balance of truth they represent. Only in human terms is the Truth of these great goods perverted and malformed. The American justice system is based on the idea of equity in terms of judicial judgement, jurors are asked to remain impartial, to set aside feelings not related to the matters at hand, and to weigh (equate, or equity) the merits of the case as they are presented. Because humans are flawed, imperfect, and prone to error; human attempts at equity and impartiality are equally flawed, imperfect and prone to error.
In the eternal determinate counsel of our LORD there is never partiality. This is one of the most misunderstood themes in the Scripture. When God chooses Abram calling him out of his homeland, why does He do it? He does it because He does it. It has nothing to do with Abram’s guilt or innocence, it has only to do with the determination of God to do all He has done and is still doing, according to the plan He designed according to His purpose for His own glory. Never are the actions of God determined as a weighing of events, comparison of facts, or review of the evidence.
God’s opinion is the only opinion that matters in all of creation. All men are guilty of sin, all are worthy of death. He condemned them under the same rule and determination as He selected Abram with Sarai and called Israel through Jacob. Both the condemnation and selection were based solely upon the will of God and nothing more.
This is not partiality. Anything other than this would be partiality. If God chose Abram because of some inherent worth in Abram then the choice would be influenced by the worth God saw and some merit earned by Abram, in other words the choice would not have been impartial. This is not the case.
Wisdom dictates the eternal equity of distribution in all things. Only God is capable of complete (actual) impartial determination with regard to the creation. The wills of His creatures are subject to His determinate will in all things. This is the understanding of the Spirit delivering to us in the first three verses of Proverbs 1 a statement which points to the Cause, Auction, and Source of all human knowledge, but more specifically the correct and proper use of this knowledge as wisdom from the LORD.
The next few verses will focus on the how the proper distribution and usage of wisdom relate to the just and the unjust.
