Do You Share Jehovah’s Sense of Justice?

[Bible Speaks]

Do You Share Jehovah’s Sense of Justice?   ⚖️⚖️⚖️

“I will declare the name of Jehovah . . . , a God of faithfulness who is never unjust.”—DEUTERONOMY 32:3, 4.

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25 "Trembling at men is a snare, But   the one trusting in Jehovah will be protected." (Proverbs 29:25)

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Humility protects us from losing our faith in Jehovah

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Clearly, Naboth was obedient to Jehovah

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TWO bad men accuse a man of a very serious crime. What they say is a lie. But the man is found guilty and is to be executed. Imagine how people who loved justice felt as they watched this innocent man and his sons being stoned to death! This is not just a story. It is what really happened to a faithful servant of Jehovah named Naboth, who lived when King Ahab ruled Israel.—1 Kings 21:11-13; 2 Kings 9:26.

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Naboth was faithful to Jehovah at a time when most Israelites were following the bad example of King Ahab and his wife, wicked Queen Jezebel. They worshipped the false god Baal and did not respect Jehovah or his laws. But Naboth valued his relationship with Jehovah even more than his own life.

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Read 1 Kings 21:1-3. When Ahab offered to buy Naboth’s vineyard or to give him a better vineyard in exchange, Naboth refused. 

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Why? He respectfully explained: “It is unthinkable, from Jehovah’s standpoint, for me to give you the inheritance of my forefathers.” Naboth refused King Ahab’s offer because it was against Jehovah’s law for Israelites to sell their family inheritance permanently. (Leviticus 25:23;Numbers 36:7) 

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Clearly, Naboth was obedient to Jehovah.

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When Naboth refused to sell his vineyard, King Ahab and his wife did terrible things. In order to get the vineyard, Queen Jezebel asked two men to accuse Naboth of a crime he had not committed. As a result, both Naboth and his sons were killed. What did Jehovah do about this tragic injustice?

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Right away Jehovah sent Elijah to confront Ahab. Elijah told Ahab that he was a murderer and a thief. What was Jehovah’s decision? Ahab, his wife, and his sons would be killed, as had been Naboth and his sons.—1 Kings 21:17-25.

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Naboth’s family and friends grieved over the terrible things Ahab had done. But Jehovah saw the injustice and quickly responded to it. That must have been comforting to them. However, their humility and trust in Jehovah were probably tested by what happened next.

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When Ahab heard what Jehovah had decided to do to him, “he ripped his garments apart and put sackcloth on his body; and he went on a fast and kept lying down in sackcloth and walking despondently.” Ahab humbled himself! 

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What was the result? Jehovah told Elijah: “Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the calamity during his lifetime. I will bring the calamity upon his house in the days of his son.” (1 Kings 21:27-29; 2 Kings 10:10, 11, 17) 

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Jehovah, “the examiner of hearts,” the one who can see who we really are, showed mercy to Ahab.—Proverbs 17:3.

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When Naboth’s family and friends heard that Ahab’s family would not be punished until after Ahab died, that may have tested their faith in God. But humility would have helped them to protect their faith. Why? 

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If they were humble, they would continue worshipping Jehovah, trusting that it is impossible for God to be unfair. (Read Deuteronomy 32:3, 4.) 

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In the future, Naboth’s family will experience the blessing of seeing their loved ones in the resurrection. There will be perfect justice for Naboth and his sons. (Job 14:14, 15; John 5:28, 29) 

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A humble person knows that “the true God will judge every deed, including every hidden thing, as to whether it is good or bad.” (Ecclesiastes 12:14) 

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Jehovah considers facts that are not known to us. So humility protects us from losing our faith in Jehovah.

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https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/402017370?q=prov+29%3A25&p=par

 

 

[b4ucuhear]

A very timely reminder for our times. Especially as many of our brothers and sisters face lying accusations and injustice at the hands of governmental men in authority or those who should be dispensing justice. Many of these men know what the right thing to do is but allow themselves to be pressured by others and are led by fear of man, knowing they are condemning the innocent.

Think of what a parallel situation might be in a spiritual sense today. While not being punished by being thrown into prison or executed in a physical way, being unjustly condemned on the testimony of lying witnesses certainly happens to SOME people in a spiritual sense today. At times because the individuals behind this are men of "position" who have the authority to make it happen those aware of it may be led by fear of man or simply don't have the authority to make things right themselves. In Jeremiah's case, when men in authority wanted to kill him or keep him quiet for exposing their wickedness, his friends came to his aid at risk to themselves - they did what they could at least. That wasn't the case with Naboth who actually was killed. So situations may differ - even as Ahab was spared the consequences of his wickedness by his repentance. There are too many scriptures to list that warn us that these things will happen as well as real life Bible examples that should serve as a warning to us. But when they actually do happen, some of us are so focused on the threats from the outside, that we may be ill-prepared for the dangers and threats to our faith that MAY come from the inside. The fact is, that sometimes what masquerades as "discipline from Jehovah" is no more from Jehovah than was Jeremiah's "discipline," or that of other faithful men. Usually, we aren't in a position to know all the details so it is unfair to make broad critical/negative assumptions/assertions. But without question, as we are warned about, it happens.

So if you ever find yourself targeted by "wicked men and imposters" and framed by lying witnesses, or even abandoned by those who should know better because of fear of man, we should "humbly continue to worship Jehovah, knowing it is impossible for Jehovah to be unfair." Outright lies, wickedness and orchestrated corruption are NOT from Jehovah, the God who cannot lie. It is from men - men who may claim to represent God and who may have authority but act like wicked men and imposters. It should be noted strenuously, that even as was true in the Bible record preserved for our day, that these individual experiences are the exception rather than the rule. Most individual Israelites didn't experience these things, but some did. Same holds true today. Never let your relationship with Jehovah be determined by the faithless acts of (some) others. And humbly wait on Jehovah the God of Justice to make matters right in his own time as he will do for other faithful men of faith who have lived and died.