Psalm 81-82

“Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” (Psalm 82:3–4, ESV)

Psalm 82 is directed toward judges whom God calls “gods” (Hebrew: elohim). When the Jews accused Jesus of blasphemy for claiming to be one with God, Jesus quoted this psalm.

“Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are gods”’? If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?” (John 10:34–36, NKJV)

Evidently, God places a high value on judges. They are entrusted with great responsibility to represent both God’s justice and His mercy. We see in this psalm that God is very much concerned for the welfare of the weak, fatherless, afflicted, needy and oppressed. He cares for those whom society neglects. Often those who are wealthy and influential are treated differently by judges than the poor and unknown. But judges should be blind to a person’s economic or social status. We see this problem today where poor people are unable to afford good legal representation. So they receive much harder sentences than those who can afford the most expensive attorneys. Therefore, God orders judges to render good judgments. They are not to be partial either to the poor or to the rich.

What does this mean to us? The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians that the saints will judge the world and angels. How much more the things pertaining to this life? (1 Corinthians 6:2-3) Certainly, we are all commanded to show kindness to the poor and needy.

“Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will repay him for his deed.” (Proverbs 19:17, ESV)

God will not be a debtor to anyone, so if we give generously to the poor, then we know He will repay us generously.

We ought to aim to have the same heart that God has. He is a father to the fatherless, a protector of widows, and a righteous judge to everyone. May the LORD help us to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God (Micah 6:8).