The WRONG kind of Judges . . . Proverbs 18:5

To show partiality to the wicked is not good, Nor to thrust aside the righteous in judgment. Proverbs 18:5

God is very serious about how judges act when they face the administration of justice in a society.  Think about this for a moment or two and you will see why this is so vital to a healthy government.  If there is partiality in court decisions in a nation - the people will lose faith in their government's ability to be fair and impartial in protecting the property, rights, and justice of that state.  When this happens, a cynical attitude toward government is not far behind.  As that cynicism grows it will give rise to unrest in the hearts of the people and an basic mistrust of the system.  This, in turn, will lead to more and more people taking issues of justice into their own hands - which leads to greater and greater instability in the general populace.  As you can see here - having godly judges who are color-blind and well as financial blindness in applying the law are very important.

A respect for the law is what should be first in the mind of a judge.  To show partiality to the wicked means that we are not applying the law to restraint wickedness.  As usual we wind up with problems in our post-modern world because it wants to view all people, all actions, and all views as equal.  But God's Word speaks of actions as being righteous and godly - and He speaks of other actions as ungodly and wicked.  The judge needs to know the difference and be willing to enforce and uphold that difference.  When he does not he will show a partiality to people who are wicked.  Some do this for money - while others reject God's revelation of Himself and what He absolutely calls good and bad.  It is not a stretch for me to say here that when we appoint judges who are ungodly - we are doing a great disservice to our country.  It used to be that the Bible was widely quoted in case law in our courts.  Today, there are those who think this is a violation of the separation of church and state.  First of all - there is no separation of church and state in the Constitution - just the prohibition of having a state instituted denomination.  Second, such quotation of Scripture in case law has such a strong precedent throughout our history that to ignore it would be tantamount to ignoring the first 150 years of our history and the history of the courts themselves.  When you read early court records - it is evident that those who trained to be in the court system and lawyers and judges - also were trained in a basic knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures.  In fact, I don't think it is too far of a stretch to say that a lack of a basic knowledge of the Bible would be considered a reason to keep from appointing someone to the bench. 

Note the second half of this proverb says that it is also not good to "thrust aisde the righteous in judgment."  Here we have another statement that needs to be recaptured in our courts today.  There are those who are "righteous" in a decision - which assumes there is a "righteous" way we should walk.  A correct way of living is something that is vital to a court system.  That "righteous" way of life is presented to us in the Bible.  When we ignore it and begin to decide morals based upon the standards of the time - we are going to find ourselves on the shifting sands of public opinion - or at least on the unstable foundation of those who can influence it.  This will lead to thrusting aside the righteous in judgment - when we thrust aside the Scriptures as a means of ascertaining what is and is not righteous living. 

We've seriously stepped away from the Bible as a document that can bless our society and nation.  We did that in a court case without precendent in the 1960's.  Judges at the times acted with what is called "judicial fiat" in that case.  This term means "judges acting as god."  It is a sad reality today that those judges - who chose to act as god - have undermined our legal system to where it is a mere shadow of what it used to be.  Now we have a sytem that shows partiality to wickedness and thrusts aside God's righteousness as a way of determining what is right and wrong for our nation.  May God have mercy to return to us to good judgment - and good judges.  If He does not - we will watch the lawlessness and anarchy continue to rise in our nation.  We will watch as many who know right and wrong - come to the place where they know the one place it will not be upheld - is in our court system.  God help us that this never becomes the case!