משפט Mishpat. Κρίσις, Judicium.JUDGMENT, in Hebrew, Mischpat; in Greek, Krisis; in Latin, Judicium. These terms have different significations in Scripture. They are taken 1. for the power of judging absolutely. Judicium Deut. i. 17.est Dei, the power of judging belongs to God; Judges are but his vicegerents: God hath given his Son authority to execute judgment, because he is the son of God. Judicium John. v. 27.datum est illis: (Apostolis) Judgment was given to the Apostles.
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Judicium is taken for rectitude, equity, and the other good qualities of a Judge. Deus, Judicium tuum Regi da, & justitiam Ps. lxxi. 2.tuam filio Regis: Give the King thy judgments, and thy righteousness to the King’s son. Honor regis judicium diligit: The honour Ps. xcviii. 4.and glory of a King shine forth in the rectitude of his judgments, and in his love for equity. Justitia & judicium præparatio Ps. lxxxviii. 15.sedis tuæ: Justice and equity are the support of thy throne.
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Judicium signifies very often, the vindictive justice and rigour of God’s judgments. Exod. xii. 12.For example, In cunctis Diis Egypti faciam judicia: I will exercise my vengeance, my judgments upon all the Gods of Egypt. Quando facies de persequentibus Ps. cxviii. 84.me judicium? When wilt thou avenge me of my persecutors? When wilt thou exercise thy judgments against them? Cum feceris judicia tua, in terra, justitiam Isai. xxvi. 9.dicent habitatores orbis: When thou shalt exercise thy judgments, thy severity upon the Earth, man will learn to practise righteousness.
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Facere judicium & justitiam, denotes the exercise of all virtues; justice, equity, truth and fidelity. Scio quod Abraham præcepturus sit filiis suisut faciant judicium Gen. xviii. 19.& justitiam: I know that Abraham will charge his children to act according to equity and justice. Feci judicium & justitiam: Ps. cxviii. 121.I have practised justice and equity. Expectavi ut facerent judicium, & ecce iniquitas; Isai. v. 7.& justitiam, & ecce clamor: I expected that my vineyard, my inheritance, my people, would exercise judgment and equity, and I see none but unjust actions; that they should practise righteousness, and I hear only the cries of their iniquities.
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Judicium is put often for the Laws of God, and particularly for judicial Laws. Exod. xxi. 1.Hæc sunt judicia, quæ proponis eis: These are the ordinances which thou shalt propose to them. Narravit Moyses populo omnia Exod. xxiv. 3.verba Domini, atq; judicia: Moses proposed to the people all that the Lord had said to him, and all his commandments. Non fecit taliter omni nationi, & judicia Ps. cxlvii. 20.sua non manifestavit eis: He has not treated all nations in this manner, nor hath he made them acquainted with his judgments, his ordinances, &c.
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Judicium is likewise put for custom, usage. Miserere mei secundum judicium Ps. cxvii. 132.diligentium nomen tuum: Have pity upon me, and treat me, as thou art wont to treat those who love thee. This expression, secundum judicium, according to custom, is much more frequent in the Hebrew, than in the vulgate, where it is translated, ut assolet, ut decet, pro more, &c. Levit. v. 10. Hebr. Faciet holocaustum secundum judicium: He shall offer a burnt-offering according to the custom, &c.
Ps. cxi. 5.7. Judicium is put for discretion, wisdom, prudence. Disponet sermones suos in judicio: He shall regulate his discourses with wisdom. Jurabis: vivit Dominus in Jerem. iv. 2.veritate, & in justitia: Thou shalt swear: the Lord liveth in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness: that is to say, in truth, so as to say nothing false; in judgment, so as to discern when it is proper to swear; in righteousness: so as to avoid the doing wrong to thy neighbour. But in this passage, in judicio, may very well mean equity, justice, &c.
- The High Priest’s pectoral was called Pectoral judicii, and sometimes simply Judicium. Aaron gestabit judicium filiorum Israel: Aaron shall wear the judgment of the children of Israel; that is to say, the pectoral, which is the sign of his authority over the children of Israel. The High Priest was the chief person concerned in the administration of Justice among the Hebrews.
Exod. xxviii. 15, 29. Exod. xxviii. 36. Heb. ix. 27. Joel. iii. 2.9. Judicium is taken for the last judgment. Statutum est hominibus semel mori: post hoc autem judicium: It is appointed that all men should die at one time or other, and that judgment should follow. In Joel the Lord says, that he will gather together all the nations in the valley of Jehoshaphat, and that he will enter into judgment with them, in order to avenge his people, whom they have oppressed. See above, Jehoshaphat; and the following article, the Valley of Jehoshaphat. Solomon Eccl. xi. 9.says, Scito quod pro omnibus his adducet te Deus in judicium: Know that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. Non intres in judicium cum servo tuo, quia non justificabitur in conspectu tuo omnis Ps. cxlii. 2. 4 Esdr. xiv. 35.vivens: Enter not into judgment with thy servant; for in thy sight shall no man living be justified. Judicium post mortem veniet, quando iterum revivisсemus: Judgment shall come after death, when we shall rise again. Any one may see S. Matthew xxv. 31, &c. and S. Paul’s first Epistle to the Thessalonians, and that of S. Jude upon the last judgment, and the signs that are to precede it.