Libra

Twenty years ago this Sunday, April 25, the Space Shuttle Discovery deployed the Hubble telescope.

But that's not what I want to write about today.

I'm thinking about justice. Maybe it's because my grandsons are visiting and I'm often hearing, "That's not fair."

When people say they want justice, they usually mean they want a fair hearing. Justice is sometimes portrayed as a blindfolded woman holding a balance, or scales. The figure of the constellation Libra is also a balance, and it has something to do with hearing.

The Hebrew and Chaldean name for Libra is mozanaim, which means balance or scales. The word appears to be derived from the words for ear and to listen.

God demands justice in our dealings with one another. "You shall do no injustice in judgment, in measurement of length, weight, or volume. You shall have honest scales, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin: I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt." (Leviticus 19:35-36)

Why did God take them out of slavery in Egypt? Because ". . . The cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them." (Exodus 3:9) God heard their cry. He was moved with compassion. Therefore He is right to demand the same from us. "Dishonest scales are an abomination to the LORD, but a just weight is His delight." (Proverbs 11:1) "He hears the cry of the afflicted." (Job 34:28)

The message of Libra, however, is about more than treating our fellow human beings fairly. It declares that God is the author of justice. His standard is perfection, and weighed in His balance, we come up short. "Surely men of low degree are a vapor, men of high degree are a lie; if they are weighed on the scales, they are altogether lighter than vapor." (Psalm 62:9)

The idea of our good deeds being weighed against our bad deeds is a joke. Even ignoring our bad deeds, how could our good deeds meet God's standard of perfection? We are without hope of ever pleasing God in our own power.

Libra's two main stars show the one way out of our dilemma. Zubenelgenubi, meaning price deficient (that's us) is balanced by Zubeneschamali, the price which covers. God took upon Himself the payment of our debt, and that payment is available to all who cry out to Him. He hears our cry.