(2-4) These verses contain the rebuke addressed by the supreme judge to those abusing the judicial office and function.
(2) How long?--What a terrible severity in this Divine Quousque tandem!
"The gods
Grow angry with your patience; this their care,
And must be yours, that guilty men escape not;
As crimes do grow, justice should rouse itself."
BEN JONSON.
Judge unjustly.--Literally, judge iniquity. For the opposite expression see Psalm 58:1. Leviticus 19:15, which lays down the great principle of strictly fair and unbribable justice is evidently in the poet's mind, as is shown by the use of the next clause.
Accept the persons.--Literally, lift up the faces. An expression arising from the Eastern custom of prostration before a king or judge. The accepted suitor is commanded to "lift up his face," i.e., to arise. (Comp. Proverbs 18:5, and Jehoshaphat's address to the judges, 2 Chronicles 19:7.) This fine sense of the majesty of incorruptible justice attended Israel throughout its history. (See Ecclesiasticus 7:6.)
Verse 2. - How long will ye judge unjustly? "The cry of the impatient Jehovah" (Cheyne); comp. Exodus 10:3; Exodus 16:28; Numbers 14:11, 27. And accept the persons of the wicked? Accepting men's persons is favouring them unduly on account of their position or outward circumstances. It was strictly forbidden in the Mosaic Law (see Deuteronomy 1:17; Deuteronomy 16:19; Leviticus 19:15).
82:1-5 Magistrates are the mighty in authority for the public good. Magistrates are the ministers of God's providence, for keeping up order and peace, and particularly in punishing evil-doers, and protecting those that do well. Good princes and good judges, who mean well, are under Divine direction; and bad ones, who mean ill, are under Divine restraint. The authority of God is to be submitted to, in those governors whom his providence places over us. But when justice is turned from what is right, no good can be expected. The evil actions of public persons are public mischiefs.
How long will ye judge unjustly,.... These are the words not of the psalmist, but of the divine Person that stands in the congregation of the mighty, and judges among the gods; calling the unjust judges to an account, and reproving them for their unrighteous proceedings and perversion of justice, in which they had long continued, and which was an aggravation of their sin; this is very applicable to the rulers and judges of the Jewish nation in the times of Christ, who had long dealt very unjustly, and continued to do so; they judged wrong judgment, or judgment of iniquity, as Aben Ezra renders it, both in civil and ecclesiastical things; their judgment was depraved concerning the law, which they transgressed and made void by adhering to the traditions of the elders; they passed an unrighteous judgment on John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, rejecting his baptism, and calling him a devil; and upon Christ himself, adjudging him to death for crimes he was not guilty of; and upon his followers, whom they cast out of the synagogue; the character of an unjust judge see in Luke 18:2,
and accept the persons of the wicked? gave the cause in favour of them, and against the righteous, because they were rich, or related to them, or had bribes from them, contrary to the law in Deuteronomy 16:19, so the judges among the Jews, in Christ's time, judged according to appearance, the outward circumstances of men, and not righteous judgment, as our Lord suggests, John 7:24.
(2) How long?--What a terrible severity in this Divine Quousque tandem!
"The gods
Grow angry with your patience; this their care,
And must be yours, that guilty men escape not;
As crimes do grow, justice should rouse itself."
BEN JONSON.
Judge unjustly.--Literally, judge iniquity. For the opposite expression see Psalm 58:1. Leviticus 19:15, which lays down the great principle of strictly fair and unbribable justice is evidently in the poet's mind, as is shown by the use of the next clause.
Accept the persons.--Literally, lift up the faces. An expression arising from the Eastern custom of prostration before a king or judge. The accepted suitor is commanded to "lift up his face," i.e., to arise. (Comp. Proverbs 18:5, and Jehoshaphat's address to the judges, 2 Chronicles 19:7.) This fine sense of the majesty of incorruptible justice attended Israel throughout its history. (See Ecclesiasticus 7:6.)
and accept the persons of the wicked? gave the cause in favour of them, and against the righteous, because they were rich, or related to them, or had bribes from them, contrary to the law in Deuteronomy 16:19, so the judges among the Jews, in Christ's time, judged according to appearance, the outward circumstances of men, and not righteous judgment, as our Lord suggests, John 7:24.
Selah. See Gill on Psalm 3:2.