Deuteronomy 17-20
Your eye shall not pity. It shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. – Deut 19:21
We serve a just God. Since the very beginning, He has worked to keep His justice system in place, while still pouring out His love and upholding His commitment to bring humanity back to Him. In Genesis, it was impossible for Adam and Eve to remain in the good and perfect world that God created for them, for they were no longer good and perfect. They were tainted with sin and death. But it broke His heart to lose His children, so He made a way for them to live out full and meaningful lives, and to someday be eternally reunited with Him in a renewed good and perfect world.
When Abraham’s descendants were established into the nation of Israel, they found themselves tugged toward sin and disorder, godlessness and false-god worship. And so God gave them a nice set of very thorough, very just laws, such as the ones we read about today. Israel served a God of order and righteousness, and was to be a nation of order and righteousness—a beacon among the lawlessness that surrounded them. Some of the laws found within these chapters seem harsh to us today, but this was before Jesus was sent to justify us freely. There had to be a system in place to bring God’s people back to Him when chaos ensued, and to discourage such chaos from coming about in the first place.
The Rock, His work is perfect, for all His ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is He. – Deut 32:4
Fortunately, our God of justice and order is also a God of love and mercy. By making His Son Jesus our sacrificial lamb, we are saved. We need not impose justice upon our neighbor by repaying an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, or a foot for a foot. We, the guilty, have been justified—our debt paid. Jesus, the innocent, took our full punishment. He is our city of refuge, where even the most stained by sin can find rest and grace.
In Jesus, justice and mercy collide. The weight of the law, which once demanded life for life, was satisfied on the cross. Because of his sacrifice, we no longer stand condemned, but redeemed. Let us walk in the freedom he purchased for us, extending to others the same mercy we have received, and living as a reflection of God’s righteousness in a chaotic world.
-Isabella Osborn
Reflection Questions:
- God’s justice required that sin be dealt with, yet His love moved Him to make a way for redemption. How does understanding both His justice and mercy deepen your relationship with Him?
- In what ways can you extend the same grace and forgiveness to others that God has given to you?
- Israel was called to be a nation of righteousness and order, standing apart from the lawlessness around them. How can you live as a reflection of God’s righteousness in a world that often rejects His order and truth?
Seek Grow Love 