i. 17. _Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the
oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow._
This verse is more correctly translated thus--_"Learn to do well;
seek judgment, restrain the oppressor, right the fatherless, maintain
the cause of the widow."_--or, _"Learn to do good; seek out judgment,
redress wrong, judge the fatherless, befriend the widow."_
The form of these admonitions was determined by the sins of which the
rulers of Jerusalem had been guilty. By them the course of justice
had been perverted (ver. 23; Micah iii. 11, &c.); wrongs had been
left unredressed, and oppressors unrestrained; the orphans and the
widows, having neither money to bribe nor power to overawe the
corrupt judges, had sought in vain for justice,--such judges as our
Lord has depicted in His parable (Luke xviii. 2) were common. The
four specific admonitions of this verse are a divinely-inspired
exposition of the general admonition with which it commences. So
regarded, we find it in _God's ideal of goodness._ The command is
given, "Learn to do well." Yes, but what is meant by learning to do
well? "To do well," says the prophet, is "to seek out judgment, to
restrain the oppressor, to judge the fatherless, to befriend the
widow."
This Divine ideal of goodness is in startling opposition to certain
standards of excellence widely accepted both in the Church and in the
world. It is in opposition (1) to the idea that _a good man is one
who does no harm._ How prevalent is the notion that a man who
refrains from injuring his neighbours is a person worthy of high
commendation! But to do no harm merely is to fall far short of the
Scripture standard of excellence.[1] It is in opposition (2) to the
idea that _a man who confines himself to the cultivation of personal
virtues is a true follower of Christ._ In all our Churches there are
multitudes of persons whose "religion" is a purely selfish
consideration. They have been taught that certain excellences are
necessary to qualify them for admission to heaven, and to the
cultivation of these excellences they address themselves assiduously,
merely that they may secure their own eternal well-being. But such
persons fail to observe that the mind that was in Christ was not a
spirit of self-seeking but of self-sacrifice. It is in opposition
(3) to the idea that _the more spiritual a man is, the more
indifferent he will be to what happens in the world._ It is precisely
to concern as to what happens in the world that we are here called.
We are to "seek out justice," to use all our influence that justice
and righteousness shall prevail in the community in which we dwell.
We are not simply to mourn over wrongs; we are to redress them, and
we are to restrain the oppressors. Especially are we to see to it
that justice is done to the orphans, and to all helpless ones such as
they. The widow we are to befriend; she is to be our "client," and we
are to see to it that she is not wronged because God has been pleased
to remove her natural defender. To live thus for others, to be the
friend of the friendless, the defender of the weak, the resolute
opposer of all oppressors,--this and this only, is to realise the
Divine ideal of goodness.[2]
APPLICATION.--1. _Men are good precisely in proportion as they are
like God._[3] Between a merely "harmless" man and God there is no
resemblance. Between a man who lives only to secure his own
well-being and God there is a positive contrast. Between a man who is
indifferent to the sorrows and the wrongs of his fellow-men there is
still greater contrast. He is not indifferent to what takes place on
earth. It is His supreme glory that He burns with indignation against
oppression, and that He is the friend especially of the friendless
and the weak (Ps. cxlvi. 7-9; cxlvii. 2-6). It is to resemblance to
Him in these things, and not merely in abstinence from evil, that we
are called (James i. 27). 2. _A selfish life is a godless life._ Men
may be eminently respectable members of society, and highly esteemed
members of churches, and yet be utterly unlike God. Men who live only
for themselves, or to promote the happiness merely of their own
households, and selfishly decline to take any part in philanthropic
labours, or in social and political movements which have for their
object the removal of public wrongs, are utterly out of sympathy with
Him upon whose approval they reckon so confidently and so mistakenly.
Had they any true love for God, they would have an unselfish love for
men, and would be quick to feel and to resent the wrongs that are
done them (1 John iii. 14, &c.) Dives was probably a highly
respectable citizen of Jerusalem, and on good terms with the
authorities of the temple, but the selfishness of his life sufficed
at the last to exclude him from the Divine presence.[4] 3. _A godlike
life can never be a life of ease._ How many members of our churches
have incurred Christ's woe! (Luke vi. 26). Prudent men, they have
been careful never to "meddle" in affairs of their neighbours; they
have never identified themselves with any revolutionary movements;
against wrongs which have not troubled themselves they have never
uttered words of flaming indignation! And yet they imagine themselves
to be followers of Him who spoke of "the cross" which each of His
disciples would have to carry. What He meant by this saying is a
mystery to them. But let them begin to endeavour to "learn to do
well" and this saying of His will be a mystery to them no longer. The
world will very soon hate them even as it hated Him. But this is one
of the surest signs that we are His (John xv. 18, 19).