Proverbs 21:7 ¶ The robbery of the wicked shall destroy them;
because they refuse to do judgment.
Matthew Henry points out that this verse has to
do with wicked men who steal from others because they refuse to do justice, as
justice and judgment are closely linked as synonymous in many verses. A civil
magistrate who refuses to judge rightly causing the innocent to be robbed is an
example of someone whom God says shall be destroyed by their slovenly view of
justice.
Imagine in our society how a wicked person can
enter a store and pretend to slip and fall down. Even with a videotape of the
person sitting down deliberately on the floor many insurance companies will
insist on paying out some type of small settlement to keep from going to court
and spending more. So, when a person attempts to buy liability insurance for a
business they are not only faced with the legitimate reasons for the cost of
the insurance but also are paying for the fraud.
The wicked here would be the insurance company
as well because they refuse to do judgment or perhaps the civil magistrates
who, in the past, have refused to judge rightly.
There are people who will apply for a job and
then sue the prospective employer because they say they were discriminated
against due to age, sex, race, or sexual orientation. Again, when a person
tries to buy insurance for a new business they are not only forced to pay the
cost due to legitimate injustice done in the past but also due to fraud. Not
only are the liars who sue wrongfully wicked but by this verse so are those who
have the authority but turn their backs on judgment.
When our government refuses to consider fraud or
to work to eliminate it when executing programs from Medicare or Social
Security to the money dispersed to the military or intelligence agencies they
refuse to do judgment and as wicked persons cause the rest of us, or permits
the rest of us, to be robbed.
As this verse literally was applied to a
theocracy based on the Law given to Moses by God it has a literal application
in that time. But, how does it apply to us? We Christians have a kingdom, the
Kingdom of God, that is invisible and inside of each of us that unites us as
the body of Christ, the house of God. We do not at present have a physical
stone and brick kingdom like others on the earth. So, how can we apply this verse
to us literally? We see injustice in our government and judicial system often
and no one of the perpetrators is destroyed. The malefactors seem to just grow
and prosper.
But we have seen this in churches where some leader has
committed a gross breech of decency and exploited someone weaker than
themselves and members of the congregation report it, but the Pastor or Deacon
board says, “oh well, that’s not good enough evidence” or some excuse by which
they can justify not doing judgment and justice. People are used, abused, and
ignored and if they leave their church they are branded trouble makers. These
people have been robbed by the wicked who refused to do judgment as well. Those
Pastors or Deacons deserve to be brought down for refusing to acknowledge or
address the issue, refusing to do judgment.
I can see many applications for this verse among
Christians and I’m sure you can if you think about it. We have had so called
scholars like Norman Geisler and Bruce Metzger who refused to treat the Bible
as a book like no other, God’s own words, who refused to judge the manuscripts
which Christians had almost universally rejected as Egyptian trash, and who
stole the Bible through which Christians had been nourished for hundreds of
years and the manuscript line they had been nourished by for nearly two
thousand to please the Roman Catholic scholars who indoctrinated them into
unbelief. You might think it’s a bit unfair to call them “wicked” but what else
can you call a Baptist scholar who gets his PH.D. from a Jesuit university and
applies jesuitry in his scholarship? He has stolen the Bible, the source of the
Christian’s authority in faith, practice, and doctrine because he refused to
discern between good and bad and just used “old” as his main criteria, denying
the work of the Holy Spirit in the history of the Bible’s work on the earth.
When you refuse to discern between right and
wrong, to judge between good and evil, and to establish a truth based on its
merit you can be sure that someone will be cheated. Do we dare take the threat
of destruction lightly and dismiss it as a condition of living under the Law? I
wonder how many young lives have been destroyed by the consequences of their
elders saying, “it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you believe in
something”, or “no worries, it’s all good,” or “don’t be judgmental. After all,
judge not lest ye be judged” or even “sin is such an old-fashioned sentiment”?
It would seem just if the person refusing to do judgment were judged and
destroyed in these cases.
I wonder how many young people died in drunken
car crashes because some idiot adult said, “well, they’re gonna drink anyway so
they might as well do it under adult supervision”? I wonder how many unwanted
children were conceived after a moronic parent refused to judge between right
and wrong and said, “well, sex is a part of being a teenager. It just matters
if they’re emotionally ready for it”? By this Proverb, those wicked fools have
robbed someone of some part of their life by their refusal to do judgment and
deserve to be destroyed themselves.
Finally, leaving Henry and other commentators
for a moment, let’s look at the verse this way; when you choose to do wrong
because you refuse to judge between right and wrong, you will destroy yourself.
Think about it, the next time you have to make that choice. There is an old
maxim called “the Doctrine of Peccability”. It says that when something is
presented before our eyes it is not sin, it’s just there. This is called
Presentation. But we see that choosing to do it or view it will be sin. That’s
Illumination. Still, no sin has been committed. Something has crossed in front
of your vision and you realize that to pursue it would be wicked. But, now
comes Debate. Once you start to argue about whether or not you can get away
with it you have sinned. You have chosen not to discern that something is good
or bad, right or wrong. Many Christians when faced with the battle of
temptation simply surrender immediately rather than make the right choice.
Inevitably, this will be your destruction.
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