Verse 3
3. Defend the poor Hebrew, Judge the poor; administer to them righteously; give them a fair trial; send them not away unheard because they are poor, and have no gift or bribe to offer, the crying sin of Asiatic governments to this day. The word, שׁפשׂ , ( shaphat,) to judge, give judgment, should here be understood generically of the manner of conducting a trial. Their whole code of procedure was corrupt and needed reform. The poor and fatherless describe a temporal condition without reference to moral character; but afflicted, in the next clause, often takes the accessory idea of meek, pious. Psalms 72:2; Psalms 140:12; Isaiah 66:2.
Do justice Hebrew, Make righteous; that is, acquit before the law, justify. This they are commanded to do to the meanest citizen, his cause being right, no less than to the greatest. This was the ideal perfection of the divine government. Psalms 72:12-14
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