Judge of all the Earth

This name is closely linked to yesterday's.  The Hebrew word mishpat (or mishphat), meaning justice or judgement, is from the same root as shaphat, meaning judge. The God of Justice is also the Judge... and not just a judge in one earthly courtroom, but the Judge of everyone who has ever lived on the face of the earth.

The phrase appears in Genesis 18 when Abraham is praying for Sodom. It's  a wicked and immoral city that deserves to be destroyed, but relatives of Abraham's live there and so he asks God to have mercy. He proclaims that God, the Judge of all the earth, will make the right decision and do the right thing.

Psalm 9: 7 - 8 proclaims exactly the same thing: God has prepared His throne for judgement (mishpat) and He will judge (shaphat) the peoples of the world with righteousness. And Isaiah adds that our Judge is also our Lawgiver and our King; the One who will save us. (Isaiah 33: 22)

The understanding of God as a just Judge appears more than 150 times in the Bible. Peter writes in one of his letters that God will judge both the living and the dead: that everyone one day will have to give an account of themselves to that righteous Judge. (1 Peter 4: 5) The writer to the Hebrews confirms that all men will live and die only once... and then there will be a judgement. (Hebrews 9: 27)

The psalmists trusted in the justice of God's judgement. There are many instances of their praying, "Judge me, Lord," or asking God to judge the enemies who oppressed them. Judgement is not something to fear when you are confident that the Judge of all the Earth will always do the right thing.