Most everyone is familiar with the image of Lady Justice, the allegorical personification of the moral force in judicial systems. She is blindfolded to represent objectivity in administering justice. That means justice, in its moral application, must be applied without fear or favor, regardless of money, wealth, power, or identity. Blind justice means impartiality.
She carries in one hand a balance scale to indicate true and impartial justice is applied evenly. In the other hand she carries a sword, which speaks of the execution of justice according to the moral requirements of the law under consideration.
The sword also indicates the ultimate application of justice could be a fatal result to the offender. It reminds me of Solomon’s analysis in Ecclesiastics 8:11: “Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.”
But justice is of God, so you might ask how a symbol such as Lady Justice could originate from the minds of ancient philosophers who did not know God. Remember that God created man in His own image, breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul. No other creature was likewise created. God is Spirit, but the man He created is a physical creature, not a disembodied spirit. Therefore, it appears that the likeness of God in His creation was of non-physical qualities, such as emotion, intelligence, reasoning ability, and of course, spirit that was alive before their disobedience. Body, soul and spirit are the makeup of a man, as Paul notes in 1 Thessalonians 5:23.
The knowledge of good and evil was an element that Adam and Eve obtained by their disobedience, the moral law that was written on their hearts and mankind’s heart forever. Those philosophers and formulators of mythical gods and goddesses could understand the difference between good and evil and of justice and injustice. The connection to the justice that is of God is thus realized even though the recognition of that God was far from them.
Now we come to this: Lady Justice is being raped!
Once, years ago, I had a pickup and needed extra weight in its bed for help on icy roads, so I acquired a medium-sized plastic storage box, filled it with small gravel, and satisfied that need. One morning I went out to the pickup in my driveway and discovered the box was missing. The whole thing was gone!
The emotion that ran through me, the sense of having been invaded somehow in my most private personal being was not unlike that of a woman being raped, though that would be much, much greater, I’m sure. At least that is as close as a man could come to that kind of experience. So what is the theft of a box of gravel mean, anyway? The rape, or ravage, of justice is like that—losing that which belongs to me, or you, that which is exceedingly personal, a God-given right of life that no one else can ever own.
What are some of the current events that qualify, in my opinion, as a rape of justice?
- The radical campus riots that deny the right of free speech to anyone with an opposing viewpoint.
- The street riots in defiance of legal procedures based on clearly determined evidence of guilt, yet unacceptable to the rioters—the two in Missouri, for example.
- Those of a political philosophy that demands everything is going to be their way, or it’s the highway—belligerent, “know-it-all” attitude facing truth that opposes them.
- A former FBI director who abandons his role as an investigator and assumes the role of a prosecutor in defiance of the legal requirements, and cancels the right of the legal prosecutor to exercise her duty.
- That same person arranges for leaked information to be done, illegally, in order that a special prosecutor be appointed, hopefully, to entangle and upset the presidency.
- A special prosecutor who is held to be one of unbiased character, yet whose close friend is included in the investigation’s subjects, and then builds a team from only those of an opposing political party to investigate the president.
- An assistant attorney general appears biased against the target for investigation, the president, and favorable to the opponent.
- A Justice Department that seems to carefully postpone or ignore very clear violations of the law by those of high level prominence in the political arena.
- The reluctance of Congressional bodies to deal quickly and harshly with those who defy them in regard to providing requested critical information, even if by subpoena.
- A justice department that maintains and investigation in search of a crime, yet having no evidence of such having taken place.
- A national media and a justice system that did not allow any vetting of a presidential candidate whose credentials were clearly in question, if only because of the desperate attempts to cover up or close any access to such background information.
- A court system that allows a solitary judge to vent his particular point of view in a court order that defies constitutional precedent. Likewise, consider a judge who can refuse to hear a case because its political implications are contrary to the bias of the judge of the court. And who knows how many political prisoners are serving time in prison in our country now?
The list could go on and on with particular incidents that display injustice for the benefit of one person over another. We cannot find words to describe the injustice in the whole abortion issue. It is clearly a time of calling good evil and evil good, just as God warned us of in Isaiah 5:20:
“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil, who put darkness for light, and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”
Justice is of God. He is justice. The fear of the Lord that we are told to embrace as a vital part of our lives is inseparably linked to justice, for justice and mercy are the two profiles of the face of God, and if there is no respect for His justice, His judicial judgment, there is no access to His mercy.
In recent times I have come to an understanding of the problems of attitudes among prisoners who are let out on parole. Some have a defiant attitude that displays itself in not accepting any responsibility for their actions that got them into their situation. When they turn around and take charge of their own mistakes and obey the rules, doors of relief seem to open up to them.
Solomon wrote, “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil“ (Proverbs 13:8). To embrace evil, then, is an open defiance of the justice of God, the righteous judgment that His holy character demands to be administered to those who choose that way. We cannot deny what we know is waiting in the wings for those in our nation and in the world who have chosen to embrace evil and injustice in ways described above and more so.
Solomon also wrote, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10), yet in another place, God says, “Professing to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:22).
Contact email: andwegetmercy@gmail.com