Exodus 21:18–19
The Bible4Jesus.com Podcast
About this episode
We live in an age that is utterly confused about justice. On the one hand, we have a sentimental, therapeutic culture that wants to excuse every crime and coddle every criminal. Justice is seen as oppressive, and consequences are considered a form of societal meanness. On the other hand, we have a cold, bureaucratic state that punishes crime through impersonal fines paid to the government or by warehousing men in cages where they become worse than they were before. In both instances, the victim is almost entirely forgotten. The modern world oscillates between these two poles of foolishness because it has rejected the source of true justice, which is the law of God. When God gave His law to Israel, He was not simply providing a list of arbitrary rules. He was laying down the foundational principles for a just, sane, and healthy society.