CHESHVAN
18
RIGHT
Ruling
“For I have known him, so that he commands his
children and his household after him, to guard the way of יהוה, to do righteousness and RIGHT-RULING …” (Gen 18:19 ISR,
emphasis mine)
'Right-ruling',
basically, means ruling by a standard of what is right. Our friend Mr.
Webster has included, as one of his definitions for the word 'right', the
following: “accordant to the standard of truth and justice or the will of God.
That alone is right in the sight of God, which is consonant to his will or law;
this being the only perfect standard of
truth and justice”[1]. We can see that this phrase, 'right-ruling',
has everything to do with justice, and making decisions according to what is 'right'. Indeed, it would be safe to say
the justice is caused by the action
of 'right-ruling', of doing what is
right.
The
Hebrew word that has been translated as 'right-ruling' is the word mishpât (Strong’s H4941), and portrays a sense of balanced
scales, such as we find within the 'halls of justice' and courtrooms. One of the actions attached to mishpât is the care of the fatherless,
the widows, and the poor, something we are admonished by James, the brother of
our Master, to do (see Jam 1:27, also Deu 10:18), again, a sense of balancing
the scales.
This word, and all that it implies, is important. Having said this, we must therefore recognize
there
has to be a standard of what is right
and righteous, before we can attempt to walk it. We have such a standard, found within the
pages of what we know as Torah, the
first five books of the Bible. And
again, if we do not familiarize ourselves with just exactly how this standard of 'right-ruling' reads, we can never know if our actions are correct.
“For יהוה
gives wisdom; Out of His mouth come
knowledge and understanding. And He
treasures up stability for the straight, A shield to those walking blamelessly,
To watch over the paths of RIGHT-RULING, And the way of His kind ones He
guards. Then you would understand
righteousness And RIGHT-RULING, and straightness – Every good path.” (Pro 2: 6-9 ISR,
emphasis mine)
“I have chosen the way of truth; Your
RIGHT-RULINGS I have held level.” (Ps 119:30
ISR, emphasis mine)
©2018
Thank you for the reminder.
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