Psalm 119:121

Psalm 119:121

Righteousness and justice

We have progressed now as far as the 16th letter of the Hebrew Alphabet, it is “Ayin”. The word means “eye” or to see and by extension, to understand and obey. Ayin also represents the primeval lights, this is the light of God mentioned in Genesis 1: 3 when He said, “Let there be light.” This light is far more profound and illuminating than the light from the sun and the stars and it is only the spiritual eye that can see it! Interestingly, Jewish tradition taught that the body has two eyes that connect to the brain, the two eyes represent the choices that we make, we choose either to use the good eye or the evil eye and that choice determines which way our mind and our body will react. It looks like the psalmist had used his good eye on a regular basis for he can claim, “I have done what is righteous and just.” His actions are borne out of his reading of God’s Word and his keeping of the Law. 

Righteousness and justice are two attributes of God that we have encountered on numerous occasions in the Psalms. They are inseparable, we cannot say that God is righteous but then complain that He acts unjustly, nether can we say that any act of divine justice is not rooted in His righteousness. It follows that the more we seek moral righteousness in our own lives, the more justly we will be able to judge the actions of others and of situations that we face from day to day. Having demonstrated that he understands these basic principles of moral action, the writer feels that he is justified in asking the Lord not to let him be a victim of his oppressors – that would be so unjust! 

 

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