SALT & LIGHT Jesus, the Righteous King: Our King acts with righteous judgment

3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see,

or decide disputes by what his ears hear,

Rashi

And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord—He shall be filled with the fear of the Lord. ed enos mera il luy in O.F., and he shall be enlivened.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see—For, with the wisdom of the Holy One, blessed be he, which is within him, will he know and understand who is innocent and who is guilty.

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” 1SA 16:7

John Gill

But the Lord said to Samuel—By a secret impulse upon his mind, as if he had spoken with an articulate voice to him:

Do not look on his appearance—Which was comely and majestic:

Or on the height of his stature—Which was like that of Saul’s; and because the Lord had chosen him, who was superior to the people in this respect, Samuel thought he meant to have such an one now anointed king:

Because I have rejected him—Or it is not my pleasure that he should be king; though Ben Gersom thinks this refers to Saul, that the Lord had rejected him, though of an high stature, and therefore Samuel should not look out for such a person to be king; and Abarbinel refers it to the height of stature itself, that God had rejected that, and laid it aside as a qualification of a king, or as a rule to judge of a proper person to be a king; but no doubt it respected Eliab:

For the Lord sees not as man sees—Man only sees what is without, but the Lord sees what is within; only the outward visible form of the body is seen by man, but the inward qualifications and endowments of the mind are seen by the Lord:

Man looks on the outward appearance—The comeliness of a man’s person, the majesty of his countenance, the height of his stature, and size of his body, things which recommended men to be kings among the nations of the world (see Gill on 1Sa 9:2), or “to the eyes”; the liveliness, and briskness, and sharpness of them, thereby to judge of the sagacity and penetration of the mind, as physiognomists do; who guess at the disposition of men by them, when they are small or great, watery or dry, of this or the other colour;

But the Lord looks on the heart—And knows what is in that, what wisdom and prudence, justice and integrity, mercy and goodness, and other princely qualifications are in that. The Jewish writers conclude from hence that the heart of Eliab was not right; it may be, full of wrath, pride, envy which disqualified him for government.

Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment. JOH 7:24

John Gill

Do not judge by appearances—Or through respect of persons, and so as to please men, the scribes and Pharisees; who had condemned the action of Christ, in curing the diseased man on the Sabbath day, and sought to kill him for it:

But judge with right judgment—Give your sense and judgment of things, according to the truth and evidence of them; and do not find fault with that, which you yourselves allow of, and which Moses and his law, and your own practices, justify.

15 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.

John Gill

You judge according to the flesh—According to their carnal affections and prejudices; taking the Messiah to be a temporal prince, and his kingdom to be of this world, they judged that Jesus could not be he; they looked upon him as a mere man, and seeing him in much outward meanness, in his human nature, they judged of him according to this outward appearance: or “you” that are “according to the flesh judge”; to which sense the Persic version agrees, “for you are carnal”; and so judged as carnal men, who are very improper persons to judge of spiritual things:

I judge no one—In the same way, according to the flesh, or in a carnal manner, nor according to outward appearances, according to the sight of the eyes, or the hearing of the ears: Christ did not take upon him to judge and determine in civil affairs, or in things pertaining to a court of judicature among men; this was not his province; an instance of this there is in the context, in not condemning the woman brought to him; nor did he judge the persons and states of men, or proceed to pass any sentence of condemnation on them; he came not to condemn, but save the world; this was not his business now; otherwise, all judgment is committed to him, and which he will exercise another day.

16 Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. JOH 8:15-16

4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,

and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;

and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,

and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

Rashi

With equity—This is an expression of mildness and tenderness.

And he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth—As the Targum states: And he shall strike the sinful of the earth.

And with the breath of his lips—Jonathan renders: And with the speech of his lips.

So David reigned over all Israel. And David administered justice and equity to all his people. 2SA 8:15

John Gill

So David reigned over all Israel—Not only over Judah, but over all the tribes of Israel, and over the whole land of Canaan, as promised to Abraham (Gen 15:18); reaching to the river Euphrates, as Syria did, now conquered by David:

And David administered justice and equity to all his people—When he returned from his wars, he heard and tried all causes impartially, brought before him, and gave sentence according to the law of God, and administered righteous justice without any respect to persons; all had justice done them that applied unto him, whether high or low, rich or poor; and indeed during his wars he was not negligent of the civil government of his subjects, and the distribution of justice to them by proper officers, in which he was a type of Christ; see Isa 11:5; Jer 23:5-6.

Rashi

And David administered justice and . . . Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the army—David caused Joab to be successful over the over the army because he rendered justice and equity and Joab caused David to render justice and equity because he would judge and Joab would enforce and chastise for him. Another reason is that because Joab busied himself with the battles David was not preoccupied by them and his heart was able to be open to judge righteously.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. MAT 5:5

5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,

and faithfulness the belt of his loins. ISA 11:3-5

Rashi

Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist—Jonathan renders: And the righteous shall surround him; i.e., they will cleave to him like a belt.

He put on righteousness as a breastplate,

and a helmet of salvation on his head;

he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,

and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak. ISA 59:17

John Gill

He put on righteousness as a breastplate—Here the Lord is represented as a warrior clothed with armour, and as Christ is, and as he will appear in the latter day on the behalf of his people, and against their enemies, who is called faithful and true, and in righteousness will make war (Rev 19:11-13), he will proceed according to justice and equity in righting the wrongs and avenging the injuries of his people; and both in saving them, and destroying their enemies, he will secure the honour of his faithfulness and justice, and the credit of his name and character; which will be preserved by his conduct, as the breast and inward parts are by the breastplate:

And a helmet of salvation on his head—The salvation he will work out for his people will be very conspicuous; it will be seen by all, as the helmet on the head; and he will have the glory of it, on whose head are many crowns (Rev 19:12). The apostle has borrowed these phrases from hence, and applied them to the Christian armour (Eph 6:14, 17; 1Ti 5:8):

He put on garments of vengeance for clothing—Or, “he clothed himself with vengeance as a garment”; he wrapped himself in it, and resolved to execute it on his and his people’s enemies; the time being come to avenge the blood of his servants, by shedding the blood of their adversaries, with which his garments will be stained; and therefore is represented as having on a vesture dipped in blood (Rev 19:13):

And wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak—With zeal for his own glory, and the interest of his people, and against antichrist, and all antichristian worship and doctrine; and therefore his eyes are said to be as a flame of fire (Rev 19:12).

Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, EPH 6:14

John Gill

Stand therefore—Keep your ground, do not desert the army, the church of Christ, nor his cause; continue in the station in which you are placed, keep your post, be upon your watch, stand upon your guard.

Having fastened on the belt of truth—By which is meant the gospel, and the several doctrines of it; see (Eph 1:13; 4:15); and to have the loins girt with it, shows, that it should be near and close to the saints, and never departed from; and that it is a means of keeping them close to God and Christ, and of strengthening them against the assaults and attacks of Satan; and is of great use in the Christians’ spiritual conflict with their enemies; the girdle is a part of armour, and so considerable as sometimes to be put for the whole (Isa 5:27); and here it is mentioned in the first place.

And having put on the breastplate of righteousness—In allusion to (Isa 59:17), meaning not works of righteousness done by men, though these are a fence when rightly used against the reproaches and charges of the enemy, as they were by Samuel (1Sa 12:3), but rather the graces of faith and love (1Th 5:8), though faith has another place in the Christian armour, afterwards mentioned; wherefore it seems best to understand this of the righteousness of Christ, which being imputed by God, and received by faith, is a guard against, and repels the accusations and charges of Satan, and is a security from all wrath and condemnation.

Because Jesus’ wisdom is far greater than any human’s, the way he enacts justice is also different. He is all-knowing and, therefore, knows all thoughts, motives, and desires of his creation. He also knows the situation of the poor, needy, and oppressed. The passage we read showed us the kind of justice Jesus would bring. This is not superficial or based on outward appearances. Based on true knowledge and wisdom, the justice Jesus will bring includes deliverance for the oppressed, punishment for the wicked, and restoration—righting what is wrong and restoring what is lost. Whether in our lifetime or not, God’s justice will prevail. How does this truth change the way you understand justice?