Contemplative Bible Reading

Jeremiah 21:11-12 (New International Version)

¹¹ “Moreover, say to the royal house of Judah, ‘Hear the word of the LORD; ¹² O house of David, this is what the LORD says:
” ‘Administer justice every morning;
rescue from the hand of his oppressor
the one who has been robbed,
or my wrath will break out and burn like fire
because of the evil you have done—
burn with no one to quench it.

This is a simple instruction from the Lord to his people in Judah:

Administer justice every morning

Notice that there is no long, detailed description of “justice.” We are given one example of what is “just:”

rescue from the hand of his oppressor
the one who has been robbed

This is a respect for property and ownership. This is pretty simple instruction.

I believe that we don’t have a long description of justice here because the people didn’t need one. They knew right from wrong. They knew about property, suffering, lying, cheating, taking another person’s spouse, and so on.

They had no problem with what they knew; they stumbled with what they did.

Hmmm, sounds like us, here, today. We need no instruction in religion. God wants us to love and obey Him and love one another. Long definitions and descriptions are not necessary. Perhaps we need encouragement from one another from time to time; well, maybe we need encouragement every day. Because, you see, we need to live everyday with love for one another and we need to administer justice every morning  in our own circumstances.