Psalm 82: The Right of Revenge

This past week I finished reading The Count of Monte Cristo (by Alexander Dumas), a 1000-page behemoth of a novel. I had previously only been aware of the plot and themes of the novel in outline form and through the excellent (though substantially different) 2002 movie version. The driving force of this famous book is revenge: the need for the main character, Edmond Dantes, to see the good rewarded and the wicked punished. Envisioning himself as the divine agent of retribution, he steps in where God has otherwise not seen fit to act. In the end, Dantes finds revenge has changed him:

"Tell the angel who will watch over your future destiny, Morrel, to pray sometimes for a man, who like Satan thought himself for an instant equal to God, but who now acknowledges with Christian humility that God alone possesses supreme power and infinite wisdom." - The Count of Monte Cristo, ch. 117.

The frustration that forms the heart of this novel is a frustration that all of us feel to some extent. Why do the good go unrewarded while the wicked go unpunished? Or, if justice is done, why the long delay? The Psalms wrestle with this theme at length, even calling God's character into question:

"How long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked? Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked." - Psalm 82:2-4

When this anger wells up inside us, this very anger that ties us, among all creatures, to the very nature of God. It is the emotional response to an innate awareness that life is not fair, but it should be. C.S. Lewis said it this way:

Everyone has heard people quarreling. Sometimes it sounds funny and sometimes it sounds merely unpleasant; but however it sounds, I believe we can learn something very important from listening to the kinds of things they say. They say things like this: "How’d you like it if anyone did the same to you?"--‘That’s my seat, I was there first"--"Leave him alone, he isn’t doing you any harm"--"Why should you shove in first?"--"Give me a bit of your orange, I gave you a bit of mine"--"Come on, you promised." People say things like that every day, educated people as well as uneducated, and children as well as grown-ups.

Now what interests me about all these remarks is that the man who makes them is not merely saying that the other man’s behavior does not happen to please him. He is appealing to some kind of standard of behavior which he expects the other man to know about. And the other man very seldom replies: "To hell with your standard." Nearly always he tries to make out that what he has been doing does not really go against the standard, or that if it does there is some special excuse... - Mere Christianity, chapter 1.

We know what is fair. We manipulate its definition to suit our advantage, but we know it. We are angered when we feel unfairness (or injustice) or see it done. But what do we do about it?

One of the key attributes of God is his justice. Justice is a reckoning which gives to each according to what they are due. God is fair. God is wise. God is strong. He has the moral character to distinguish between the finest gradations without any other reference than his own character. He has the knowledge and discernment to ferret out the hidden and secret things to inform such decisions. He has the power to reward or punish suitably.

But, what strains the faith of so many, is why so long before judgement?

How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? - Psalm 13:2

It is a question that is never fully answered in the Bible. The gap of injustice, between deed and judgement, tempts us to take vengeance into our own hands, whether on the petty getting-even scale or on the walk-into-the-mall-with-a-gun scale.

Others, when they discover that their actions don't lead to the immediate blue-bolt from heaven, embark on a path that assumes leniency or apathy from God.

They pour out arrogant words; all the evildoers are full of boasting. They crush your people, O LORD; they oppress your inheritance. They slay the widow and the alien; they murder the fatherless. They say, "The LORD does not see; the God of Jacob pays no heed

The Bible speaks to this with three big ideas:

1. God takes up justice on our behalf. "Oh God who avenges, shine forth." (Psalm 91:1). See also: Romans 12:19; 13:4.
2. God ensures fairness. "...he comes to judge the earth, he will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his truth." (Psalm 96:13b)
3. God gives us strength to persevere until the reward. "You stood your ground n the face of suffering...So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised." - Hebrews 10:32b, 35-36

The very inability to find perfect justice done here directs our gaze to the judgement seat of God where our deep thirst for justice will be quenched. Edmond Dantes, reflecting on his own imperfect quest for justice, said:

"Live, then, and be happy, beloved children of my heart, and never forget that until the day when God shall deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is summed up in these two words,--Wait and hope'. - The Count of Monte Cristo, chapter 117.

 

 

 

 

 

."  - Psalm 94:4-6