Revenge or justice?

When Osama Bin Ladin was killed this year, I didn’t mourn his death at all.  Quite frankly, I’m happy that he’s dead.  I think the world is a lot safer without him. 

I do have some mixed feelings about the method taken, however and wonder if it was motivated more out of revenge or justice.

Was Bin Ladin a military target?  I’d say yes to that.  By planning the attack on America, he made himself just that.

Was it possible to capture him and bring him to court rather than kill him at the place of his residence?  I don’t know.  I simply don’t have all the information.

Most people would say it was justice.  Some people call it revenge. 

The lines between the two can be blurry at times.

But God does give us some guidelines on it in this passage. 

Again, this is a repeat of earlier laws God had given to build cities of refuge.  And basically he said that if someone killed another unintentionally, he could flee there and he would be protected from anyone trying to kill him for his action.

Here, God prevents revenge in the name of justice. 

The idea was that sometimes, we get so angry at someone, that we don’t see what justice really is.  We need time to cool off.  In this case, the city of refuge provided just that for the people. 

By protecting the person who unintentionally killed another, the person wanting to take revenge would be forced to take a step back and have the time to realize that it would not be justice to kill the killer, because there was no intention to do murder.

But God also gives another guideline on the difference between the two. 

He said, “life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.”

What he meant by this is that justice doesn’t punish more than the crime deserves. 

You don’t, for example, kill a person for causing a minor injury to the another.  That’s revenge. 

In true justice, the punishment should be commensurate with the crime.

I suppose the killing of Bin Ladin fits both definitions of justice there.  He certainly planned to intentionally murder people.  It was no accident.  And his punishment was commensurate with the crime.  He died for killing others.

But was there a better way?  I don’t know. 

I suppose God will give judgment on that some day.  And that’s the thing we all need to remember when considering whether the actions we take are revenge or justice. 

We will all give an account before God some day.  And he will judge. 

So before we take any action for a wrong done to us, we need to consider carefully what God will say to us when we stand before him on judgment day.