Loosely Translated
The Lord performs righteous deeds and judgments for all who are oppressed. Psalm 103:6 NASB
Righteous deeds and judgments – When you read the NASB translation of this verse, do you picture God doing righteous things? “Performs righteous deeds” might lead you to imagine God, calmly sitting on Heaven’s throne, issuing orders to His angels to execute noble acts in the world of men. Or maybe you imagine God Himself stepping into our world, performing miracles or invisibly implementing goodness in the land. But what if I told you that the Hebrew is ‘ose(h) tsedaqot, not “performing righteous deeds” but rather “makes righteousness”? Then the picture might be different.
Literally the verse reads, “makes righteousness YHVH and justice for all oppressed.” “Makes righteousness” is in the primary position because it is the most important idea in this verse. Why isn’t “YHVH” in the primary position? Is it perhaps because David wants his readers (and himself) to recognize that righteousness underlies all that YHVH does? It simply isn’t the case that YHVH performs some acts that are righteous and some that are not. Everything YHVH does is tsedaqot.
And what does that mean? First we note that whatever it means, it applies directly to the ‘ashuqim (the oppressed). The word includes those who are deceived, defrauded, the victims of violence, those who experience an abuse of power, who are burdened unjustly, deprived, crushed, maltreated. What would righteousness mean to them? In a word, justice! Now we are connected directly to Micah. “Do justice, love hesed and walk humbly in His ways.” Time for serious self-examination. Did David know anyone who was deceived, defrauded, the victim of violence, the victim of the abuse of power, burdened unjustly? Uriah comes immediately to mind. David knew him well—and his wife even better. And David was the oppressor! What does righteousness mean for Uriah? It means that David does not get away with his crime. It means, even after the terrible fact, that Uriah deserves vindication—and he will get it at the hands of the Lord. If anyone knows what the dark side of this verse means, it is David as the oppressor.
Are we so far behind? Who do you know who is ‘ashuqim because of you? Ah, we so quickly read this verse as if we are the oppressed. But that would not have been the case with the author. David looked in the mirror and saw the face of the oppressor and the accuser. The fact that YHVH makes righteousness means punishment for the oppressor—and David knows that very well. Perhaps, in the spirit of the author, we need to turn this verse on its head as well and apply it to us as the perpetrators rather than the victims. So make your list. Who has suffered at your hand? Who has been abused because you had the power? Who has been defrauded, deceived, led astray? Who did you burden, crush or deprive?
Now take a good look at that face in the mirror.
Topical Index: tsedaqot, tsedaqah, ‘ashuqim, righteousness, oppressed, Psalm 103:6
Its not just the overt acts of fracture, either, that cause oppression in this world. What about all those missed opportunities where righteousness should have existed because of me, and I was so bound in those places that I could not move? I found it was so very, very hard to do righteousness when I was being oppressed myself. Participating in self hatred because I was so ineffective was only the icing on that demonic cake. I have to be free to do right. That does not excuse me for not doing right just because I am not free; it just gives me more to repent and to make up for. I have a lot to repent and make up for! Thank YHVH in His mercy that He gives me another chance to turn around and, even belatedly, restore what was lost or misused. One of the biggest motivators for me, when I felt so tired and beat up I had no motivation to try for myself, was the knowledge that those around me needed an effective me; a restored me. I repented myself out of my hole for them, because I had a debt to pay. When I got to a place that I could see that self hatred, and repent for it, too, then at that point, I could add the motivation of doing right by myself, too. I have found that the order of operations is important, but the most important is to start from wherever you are, and go from there. Don’t worry about how you got so messed up; we all have our own very unique ways of asking our questions, after all; but the way out will be unique, too. And that is good. We have a task in the universe to figure out, from our own unique perspectives, exactly WHY sin in that way, in that place, is wrong. I pray YHVH that we all find out!
I have noticed that David gives the action of righteousness to YHVH, not to himself. YHVH restores righteousness back into the world. Sin, in fact, is where I PREVENT His righteousness from prevailing; sin is where I don’t AGREE with Him about love in those places. Sin is where I am believing something false about love, and thus making one of those nonsense choices, instead of having faith that what He says is true, even in the places that I cannot see HOW it can be. That, in fact, is what faith is for. Sin is where I lose that faith. David thought he loved Bathsheba, and so he lost his faith that real love is given to us from on high, and along with it is given a correct way to do it. David did not consider that she might have loved that righteous man, Uriah. True love would have put her – her position and feelings – first. David, in his position of power, and in his one-sided lust, put Bathsheba in a terrible position. When I have put myself in her shoes, she could have really hated herself for that pregnancy that came at the cost of cuckolding her man, and eventually, her man’s life. The child could have had a rough life because of its parents’ guilt. It was mercy to give the child and the parents another chance to start over. YHVH also sees the little children, and He could have well put that child first, above the parents. Because of that, David, one day, can have the opportunity to see his child grow up in a better place, when they are raised together at the end of the age. In the end (which we have yet to see) that awful judgment in righteousness, too, will also prove itself to be hesed.