The book of Exodus insists on one and the same law for the citizen and the stranger: "There shall be one law for the native and for the alien who resides among you" (Ex 12:49). Concerning the rights of every person in general, Jeremiah says: "When all the prisoners in a country are crushed and trampled underfoot, when a man's rights are overridden in defiance of the Most High, when a man is deprived of justice, does not the Lord see it?" (Lam3:35).
Physical strength is useless, says I Samuel, and Isaiah speaks of another source of strength: "For it is not by strength that man triumphs" (I Sam 2:9), but "Your strength is in tranquility and in complete trust" (Is 30:15).
The "suffering servant" in Isaiah is an introduction to the New Testament and prefigures Christ, who suffered for the salvation of humankind. He is the "Just Man" who "has done no wrong", who is "crushed for our sins" and who "offers his life in atonement" (cf. Is 53).
Violence, holiness of God and justice
4. In the mindset of the times of the sacred writers, the use of violence is related first of all to the concept of God's holiness, and secondly to the concept of justice and the way to preserve it among humankind.
Physical strength is useless, says I Samuel, and Isaiah speaks of another source of strength: "For it is not by strength that man triumphs" (I Sam 2:9), but "Your strength is in tranquility and in complete trust" (Is 30:15).
The "suffering servant" in Isaiah is an introduction to the New Testament and prefigures Christ, who suffered for the salvation of humankind. He is the "Just Man" who "has done no wrong", who is "crushed for our sins" and who "offers his life in atonement" (cf. Is 53).
Violence, holiness of God and justice
4. In the mindset of the times of the sacred writers, the use of violence is related first of all to the concept of God's holiness, and secondly to the concept of justice and the way to preserve it among humankind.