Latest / Reformed Thinking / A Pilgrim’s Cry for Deliverance in a World of Falsehood (Psalm 120) | Charles Spurgeon

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A Pilgrim’s Cry for Deliverance in a World of Falsehood (Psalm 120) | Charles Spurgeon · Reformed Thinking

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You know, usually when we talk about a medical diagnosis, there
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is this expectation of precision, like engineering.
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Right, like it's just a math problem or something?
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Yeah, you break your arm. The X-ray shows that jagged
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white line and the Doctor points and says, well, there it is.
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It is visible. It is categorized.
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We like to see the problem so we can apply the solution, but then
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you step into the world of emotional trauma or, you know,
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reputational damage, and suddenly that X-ray machine is
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just useless. Completely useless.
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The diagnostic the landscape becomes entirely murky at that
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point. Right, because when someone
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attacks your character, there is no cast you can wear to show
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people you're hurting, no? The wound is completely
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invisible. And that invisible wound is what
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we are unpacking today on Reformed Thinking.
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Welcome. By the way, I'm glad you were
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joining us for this. Yeah, it is a heavy topic today,
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but an incredibly necessary one. It really is.
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Today we are taking a deep dive into Charles Spurgeon's massive
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commentary, The Treasury of David, and we are looking
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specifically at Psalm 120. Which is such a fascinating
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pivot point in the Psalms. It is our goal today is to
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examine the heavy reality of slander.
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We want to look at the believers response to false accusations
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and the theological weight of divine justice as seen through
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this specific text. We are looking at what happens
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when the invisible wounds of deceit meet the perfect justice
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of God. OK, let's unpack this.
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We need to start by looking at where this text sits in the
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Bible, because we are moving out of some very familiar territory
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and into a totally different structure.
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Yeah, to understand Psalm 120, you really have to look at the
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massive structure that comes right before.
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It Psalm 119. Right.
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Psalm 119 is this sprawling composition.
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I mean, it is the longest chapter in the Bible.
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It is this elaborate acrostic poem covering every single
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letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Spurgeon actually describes it
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as a vast continent. I love that description.
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When you read Psalm 119, you are walking through this massive
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landmass of theological reflection on the law of God.
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It is comprehensive. But then you turn the page to
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Psalm 120 and the architecture shifts completely.
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It does. We leave the continent and
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arrive at what Spurgeon calls the Islands and Islets of the
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Songs of Degrees. The songs of Degrees.
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So this is a collection of 15 short psalms running from 120 to
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134. Right, they are much more
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compact. It is like finishing a massive
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multi volume encyclopedia on the nature of God and then suddenly
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you pick up a stack of vivid, highly specific postcards from a
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traveler on the road. The shift in tone is just
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jarring. Well, the shift is jarring by
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design. You know these are also known as
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Pilgrim psalms. Right.
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Sung by travelers going up to the House of God in Jerusalem.
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Yeah, for the annual festivals. Now, some of these were likely
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sung in company by groups of pilgrims traveling together.
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Which makes sense for a festival.
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Sure, but many of them, including Psalm 120, are written
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in the first person singular. They were prepared for the
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solitary traveler. Just one person walking the
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road, yes. And there's a historical note
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here that shifts how we read them.
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The Puritan commentator John Trapp notes that the Hebrew
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phrase for song of degrees can also refer to an eminent or
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excellent man. Oh interesting.
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So it is not just about physical steps or travel.
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Right. In this sense, each verse
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functions as a short, sweet Oracle.
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It is packed with dense meaning rather than sprawling
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exposition. Wait, hold on.
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I need to push back on this setting for a second.
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Sure, go ahead. If I am packing my bags for a
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joyous religious festival in Jerusalem, singing a mournful
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complaint about my terrible neighbor seems entirely out of
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place. It does feel a bit disconnected
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at first glance, I mean. It feels like bringing a rain
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cloud to a wedding. You are supposed to be getting
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ready for a celebration of God's goodness, and instead you start
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the trip by singing a dirge about the people who live next
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door. It seems counterintuitive on the
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surface. Why bring that negativity into a
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holy pilgrimage? Exactly.
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I mean, spot on. Why do it?
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Well, Samuel Cox offers a brilliant psychological
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perspective on this. He points out that lying lips
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commonly attack the absent the. Absent OK, explain that.
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Think about the vulnerability of leaving your home in the ancient
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Middle East as the Pilgrim packs their bags and walks out the
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door. They are leaving everything.
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Their property, their business, their reputation.
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It is all just sitting there unguarded.
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Right. And in the excitements of social
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intercourse, the neighbors they leave behind might easily
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deviate from the truth. Oh wow, so the moment you leave,
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the rumor mill starts. The Pilgrim knows that as soon
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as they are out of sight, they become the primary target for
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malicious gossip. But wouldn't the sheer joy of
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the destination override that anxiety?
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I mean, you are heading to the temple you are going to worship.
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You would think so, but human nature is complicated.
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Why give the people you left behind so much mental real
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estate? It feels like the psalmist is
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letting his detractors ruin the vacation before he even gets out
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of town. Because in an ancient honor and
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shame culture, your reputation was your currency.
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Right, it is not just hurt feelings.
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No, not at all. If your reputation was destroyed
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while you're away, you might not have a life to return to.
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That is a terrifying thought. And Spurgeon provides another
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layer of historical context that makes this even heavier.
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The old translators summarize this Psalm with a very specific
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heading. David prayeth against doe egg.
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Yes, Doe Egg, the Edomite. He was a herdsman for King Saul,
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and his story is one of the most chilling accounts of slander in
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the historical books. Right.
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Doeg is mentioned in For Samuel, but to understand the weight of
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this Psalm, we really need to look at the mechanics of what
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Doeg actually did. It is a dark story.
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It really is so. David is fleeing from King Saul,
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who is actively trying to kill him.
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David is desperate, he is hungry and he is unarmed.
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He is at rock bottom, yeah. And he goes to the Tabernacle at
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Nob. He asks the priest Ahimelech for
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bread and a sword. Right.
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And Ahimelech, not knowing that David is a fugitive, gives him
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the holy bread and the sword of Goliath.
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He thinks he is helping the King's top general.
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Ahimelech is entirely innocent here, yes.
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But Dilweg was there that day. The text says he was detained
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before the Lord, which is a chilling phrase.
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He is doing his religious duty, standing the place of worship,
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but his eyes are watching David in a hemlec.
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He is gathering ammunition. Exactly.
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Later when Saul is complaining that no one tells him anything,
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Doek speaks up. But Doek does not just report
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the facts. He twists the narrative.
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He does. He tells Saul that Amelec
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intentionally conspired with David.
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He frames the priest as a traitor to the crown.
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Which is a complete fabrication. Ahimelek thought David was on a
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secret mission for the king. Ahimelek was entirely innocent
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of treason. Completely innocent.
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But Doege's lie is so effective that Saul summons Ahimelek and
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all the priests of Nob. Saul demands their execution.
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And Saul's own guards refuse to do it.
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They will not raise their hands against the priest.
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The. Lord Doege steps.
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Up Doege steps up and slaughters 85 priests that day. 85 It is
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just horrific. And he does.
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Non-stop there he goes to the city of Nob and puts the entire
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city to the sword. Men, women, children and
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livestock. It was a complete massacre.
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All birthed from a single twisted narrative spoken by a
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flatterer trying to gain favor with a paranoid king.
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Spurgeon argues that this event left a permanent, agonizing mark
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on David's memory. It had to, David actually says
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to the one surviving priest. Well, he says, I knew it that
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day when doing the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell
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Saul. He says, I have occasioned the
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death of all the persons of thy father's house.
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The guilt he carried must have been crushing.
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The psychological burden of that is just staggering, knowing that
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someone used your actions, twisted them into a lie, and
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caused the death of innocent people.
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It changes how you view the world.
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It really does, And when you frame it that way, starting the
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Pilgrim psalms with this lament makes total sense.
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You cannot reach the heights of theological joy without first
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addressing the grim reality of a fallen world.
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You have to start in the mud before you can look at the
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stars. I want you, the listener, to
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consider a time you were misrepresented.
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Maybe not on the scale of Doig the Edomite.
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Obviously not right, but a time when someone twisted your words
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or painted you in a false light. It is a very specific type of
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agony. It makes you feel completely
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helpless. And that transitions us
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perfectly into the specific anatomy of this distress.
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Let's focus on the 1st 2 verses. The psalmist writes, In my
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distress I cried unto the Lord, and he heard me deliver my soul,
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O Lord, from lying lips and from a deceitful tongue.
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So the text states that silence to man and prayer to God are the
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best cures. Which goes against every natural
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instinct we have. Totally.
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The natural human inclination is to fight back, to clear your
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name. But the theological instruction
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here is restraint. Spurgeon points out that Slander
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is an opponent you cannot fight. He uses this fantastic
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comparison. So the cutlass analogy.
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I love this one. Yeah, he says.
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You can ward off the strokes of a cutlass, but you have no
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shield against a liar's tongue. If someone attacks you with a
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sword, you can see the blade coming, you can raise a shield,
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you can parry, you can run away. The.
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Threat is physical and localized.
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But a lie. It moves through whispers.
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It travels across the city before you even know it exists.
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You do not know who started it, where was born, or how far it
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has spread. It is entirely elusive.
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Spurgeon compares it to the plague of flies in Egypt.
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Baffling opposition, You swat one away and three more take its
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place. It touches the most tender
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points of human dignity, it cuts to the quick, and it leaves a
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venom behind that is nearly impossible to extract.
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If someone steals your property, you can replace it.
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Someone injuries your body? Well, it can heal.
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But your reputation, once shattered by deceit, requires an
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almost impossible effort to rebuild, because the damage
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exists entirely in the minds of other people.
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And I am struck by the phrasing. Lying lips.
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Lips are naturally soft, right? They're designed for speech and
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affection. But here they are described as
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being as murderous as razors. They suck away the life of a
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character. Spurgeon had another analogy
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here that really illustrates the frustration of trying to fight
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back the cuddle. Yes, he says, the liar surrounds
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himself with an inky blackness like a cuttlefish, or emits A
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foul odor like a skunk. Honest people simply do not want
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to get close enough to fight back.
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The cuttlefish analogy is brilliant.
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When a cuttlefish is threatened, it shoots out a cloud of ink,
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obscuring the water so the predator cannot see it.
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The deceiver does the exact same thing.
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When confronted with the truth, they do not argue facts, They
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shoot out a cloud of confusion. They introduce irrelevant
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details. They project their own flaws
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onto you. They muddy the waters until the
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truth is entirely obscured. If you try to argue with a liar,
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you just get covered in their ink.
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And the skunk analogy hits even harder.
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Honestly, right? If you try to to restless skunk,
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you were going to walk away smelling terrible even if you
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win the fight. The bystander watching the fight
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does not know who started it. They just know that both of you
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smell awful. Getting into a public
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mudslinging contest with a slanderer degrades your own
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character. The text makes a crucial
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distinction here that we must analyze, though the psalmist
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prays for deliverance from lying lips and from a deceitful
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tongue. Those are not identical
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concepts. No, they are not.
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The commentators categorize deceit as something far worse
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than downright falsehood. I need you to explain the
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mechanics of that. How is deceit structurally worse
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than a straight up lie? Well, think about.
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It a lie feels like the ultimate violation of truth.
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A lie is a direct contradiction of the truth.
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It is blatant. If I say this guy is green,
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well, I am lying. It's easy to disprove.
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Right, it is obvious. But deceit involves a
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psychological manipulation of trust.
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Deceit incorporates fawning and flattery.
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The fawning that is the dangerous part.
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The deceiver smiles to your face.
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They offer compliments. They pretend to be an ally while
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harboring violent enmity in their heart.
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They weaponize your own ego against.
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You. They make you complicit in your
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own downfall because you want to believe the nice things they are
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saying about you. Precisely.
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They gain access to your inner circle through flattery.
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They gather intelligence and then use that intelligence to
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destroy you behind your back. Yeah, that is just sinister.
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Edward Rayner, a Puritan scholar, notes that an unbridled
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tongue is vehiculum diaboli, the cherry of the devil.
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The chariot of the devil. That is an intense visual.
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It implies motion. It implies A targeted assault.
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Rainer points out that the devil does not need to possess someone
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physically to cause chaos, he simply needs to drive their
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tongue. So true and.
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He notes that the destructive path of the tongue follows a
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specific progression. It starts with foolishness,
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proceeds to bitterness, and ends in madness.
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Let us trace the psychology of gossip through those 3 stages.
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It often starts as foolishness, right?
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An unguarded idle comment. Yeah, a casual observation about
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someone's life that was not yours to share.
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It lacks malice at this stage, it just lacks wisdom.
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But it rarely stays as foolishness.
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Rarely, it ferments into bitterness.
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This is where motive is assigned.
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You do not just observe someone's action, you begin to
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assume the worst possible intention behind that action.
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And you start adding a cynical spin to the narrative.
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And finally, it results in madness.
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Madness is the obsession with the victim's destruction.
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The slanderer becomes entirely consumed with tearing the other
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person down. To the point where they will
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sacrifice their own integrity, their own relationships and
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their own standing just to see the target ruined.
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Do egg the Edomite is the picture of this madness.
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And what is the theological posture of the victim in all of
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this? When someone launches the
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Devil's Chariot at you, the natural human reaction is to
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form a defense committee. You want to hire APR firm?
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Get on social media and blast out your side of the story.
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You want to gather everyone together and present your
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evidence, but the biblical response outlined here is
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radically different. In my distress I cried unto the
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Lord. Notice the verb tense there.
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I cried and he heard me. The verbs are past tense, but
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they apply to the present reality, right?
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The psalmist is drawing encouragement from past
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deliverance. It is a recognition that
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appealing to the honor of slanderers is useless because
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they have no honor. Pleading with them is like
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pleading with Panthers and wolves.
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If you cry out to society, you might get sympathy, but you
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won't get justice. When cries to man would only
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highlight your weakness, cries to God establish your strength.
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Your bottom. So what does this all mean?
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We have established the absolute devastation of the deceitful
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tongue. It is a crime that human justice
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systems struggle to handle you. Cannot arrest someone for
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rolling their eyes, planting a seed of doubt, and starting a
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rumor that ruins your career, right?
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The wounds are invisible to the court, so how does divine
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justice handle such an untouchable crime?
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What happens to the person driving the Devil's Chariot?
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We. By the answer to that in verses
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3 and 4, the psalmist asks an open question, What shall be
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given unto thee, or what shall be done unto thee, thou false
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tongue? What is the expected reward for
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slander? Joseph Carroll, another
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commentator, points out the tragic irony of gossip.
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He notes that the tongue speaks without a fee, yet gets no
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profit, only danger and damage. If you think about the motives
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for most crimes, there is a tangible payoff.
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People commit robbery to get money.
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They commit assault to get revenge.
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They commit fraud to secure property, but what do you get
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from gossiping? Nothing tangible.
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You do not get a paycheck for destroying someone's reputation.
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You gain absolutely nothing of substance, but you incur massive
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debt in the court of divine justice.
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You are working for free, but the penalty is exorbitant.
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The punishment allotted by God is described in verse 4.
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Sharp arrows of the mighty with coals of juniper.
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Sharp arrows and coals of juniper.
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This is where the imagery gets incredibly specific and we need
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to break down the mechanics of both.
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Let's look at the arrows first. OK, lay it out for us and.
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McMichael introduces a concept here called the law of
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correspondence. This is a recurring theme in
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biblical justice, where the punishment mirrors the sin.
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Retributive justice in the reformed tradition often
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highlights the symmetry. The wicked bend their tongue
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like a bow to shoot lies in secret.
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They aim at the innocent from the shadows.
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Therefore, God's justice comes as sharp arrows from the arm of
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omnipotence. There is a contrast in the
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quality of the weapons here. The slanderer shoots a blunt,
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clumsy lie from the shadows. It might do damage, but it is a
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chaotic weapon. God, however, shoots a perfectly
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sharpened arrow of truth, and he does not shoot it from the
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shadows. He shoots it from the throne of
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justice directly into the light. The arrow of the Almighty does
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not miss, It pierces the conscience, it exposes the
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deceit, and it brings the hidden malice into the blinding light
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of divine judgement. And then we have the second-half
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of the punishment, the coals of Juniper.
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The book of James described the tongue as a fire, a world of
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equity that sets on fire the course of nature.
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So according to the law of correspondence, the punishment
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involves fire. I love the botanical and
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historical references the commentators bring out here
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regarding the juniper. Why specifically juniper?
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Cole. Well, the word translated as
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juniper actually refers to the white broom shrub.
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It is known scientifically as Genista ratum.
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And it grows abundantly in the desert regions of the middle.
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East right 19th century travelers like Johann Ludwig
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Burkhart and John Wilson observe Bedouins making charcoal from
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the thick roots of this specific shrub for the Cairo market.
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They did not use the branches right, They dug up the massive
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dense roots. Because the roots possess a
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specific thermal property. Yes, the fire of the broom root
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burns fiercely and stubbornly under its own ashes.
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It retains heat for an incredibly long time.
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There is a striking midrash story provided by HT Armfield
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that perfectly illustrates the terror of these coals.
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I read this in the notes and the visual is haunting.
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Walk us through it. So two men are walking in the
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desert and they sit down under a juniper tree.
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They gather sticks and roots from the tree and cook their
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food over the fire. Actually, they eat.
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They pack up and leave. Right.
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And a full 12 months later, they pass over the exact same spot in
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the desert. They see the dust of what they
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had burned the year before. Remarking that it has been a
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whole year, they walk fearlessly upon the dust.
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And their feet are severely burned by the coals, which were
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still glowing white hot beneath the surface.
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A fire that burns under the sand for a year.
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It's a terrifying image. The surface looks like harmless
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coal ash. But beneath the surface, the
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fire is still raging. Let me push back on the
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application of this though, OK? What are you thinking?
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Is this just a metaphor for a guilty conscience?
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Like you tell a lie, people move on.
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The dust settles, but the guilt burns inside you for a long
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time. Or is this pointing to something
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far heavier? Oh, it points to something
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infinitely heavier. Within the framework of biblical
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theology, this signifies inextinguishable divine justice.
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Slander creates a long lasting fire of ruin in the life of the
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victim, but God's righteous judgement outlasts it.
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The coals of human malice will eventually cool.
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The gossip will eventually fade from the public memory, but the
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fire of God's justice does not cool.
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This is not a guilty conscience. This is a theological statement
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about the terrifying reality of facing the Sovereign Judge when
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you have spent your life destroying his people.
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It is a portrait of eternal retribution.
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I want to pause here and ask you, the listener, to evaluate
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your own response to injury. When someone wrongs us, our
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immediate instinct is to seek personal revenge.
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We want to shoot our own arrows, we want to light our own fires,
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but. If God's justice is this
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precise, this enduring, and this absolute, it dictates how we
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handle being slandered. Are you trusting in God's
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vindication, or are you secretly gathering your own juniper coals
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to strike back? If we truly believe in the sharp
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arrows of the mighty, we can afford to put down our weapons.
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We can let God be the executioner of justice.
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Putting down our weapons is incredibly difficult, especially
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when the environment around us remains constantly hostile.
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Knowing that God will handle the wicked in the end does not
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magically remove the pain of the present moment.
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While the Believer waits for those Juniper coals to consume
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the deceitful tongue, they still have to wake up every morning
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and live next door to the Slandra.
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And that psychological exile is what we see next in verses 5 and
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6. The psalmist shifts from
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contemplating the judgement of the wicked to lamenting his
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current living situation. Woe is me that I sojourn, and
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may sack that I dwell in the tents of Kedar.
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Now when you review the sources, there is an interesting detail
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here. Yeah, I looked at a historical
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map and I noticed a geographic impossibility here.
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Masek was a region in the far north, up near the Caspian Sea.
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The people there were descendants of Japheth.
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Right. And Kedar was a region in the
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far South, down in the Arabian wilderness.
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The people there were nomadic descendants of Ishmael.
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How could the psalmist possibly dwell in both places at the same
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time? You cannot live in northern
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Russia and southern Arabia simultaneously.
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What's fascinating here is that the connection is entirely
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moral, not geographic. Moral.
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OK, elaborate on that. Misek and Kedar represent
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fierce, warlike barbarian tribes.
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Their hands were against every man, and every man's hand was
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against them. They were known for their
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hostility, their cruelty, and their absolute rejection of
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peace. Calling your neighbors Misek and
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Kedar was the ancient equivalent of calling rude, combative
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people Tartars or vandals. So he is not giving us his
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literal mailing address, he is giving us his psychological
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address. He is describing the climate of
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his community. Precisely.
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John Calvin offers a piercing perspective on this.
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Calvin argues that this represents the anguish of a
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believer living among false brethren.
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He calls them a bastard race who mock true piety.
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The unique agony here is feeling like an alien in your own home.
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The psalmist is not a captive in a foreign country.
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He's surrounded by his own countrymen, perhaps even his own
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religious community. Yet he feels entirely estranged
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from them because of their hostility toward the truth.
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The text says My soul has long dwelt with him.
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That hateth peace. We have to talk about the sheer
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exhaustion of that phrase, long dwelt.
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The fatigue of being around combative people is universally
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relatable. We all know people who just want
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to fight. If you agree with them, they
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will change their position just to have an argument.
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The modern analogy that comes to mind is being forced to live
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your entire life inside a chaotic, constantly arguing
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social media comments section. That is a terrible thought.
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There is no rest. Every interaction is a battle.
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Every word is scrutinized for weakness.
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The mental toll of that constant vigilance is devastating, and if
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we look at this through the lens of David's life, the contrast is
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stark. David went from the quietude of
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the sheepfold, just him, the sheep and the silent stars, to
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the absolute tunnel of the Royal Court and the battlefield.
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He was surrounded by men like Joab and the sons of Zuruaya who
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are hot blooded violent men. David longed to lay aside the
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heavy scepter of the king and resume the simple shepherd's
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crook. He was a man of war by
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necessity, but his heart longed for peace.
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Which brings us to the final verse of the Psalm.
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For seven reads. I am for peace, but when I speak
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they are for war. But the literal translation of
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the Hebrew is even more striking than the English rendering.
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It simply says I am peace. I am peace.
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Not just desiring peace, not just advocating for peace, but
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embodying it. The very nature of the
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individual is oriented towards Shalom, wholeness, harmony and
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reconciliation. The believer does not just want
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a cessation of hostilities, they want true, flourishing peace.
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That the tragedy follows immediately.
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But when I speak, they are for war.
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His kindest words provoke them. If he is silent, they think he
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is plotting. If he opens his mouth to offer
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an olive branch, they snap it and use it as a spear.
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They find a reason to attack his very existence.
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If we connect this to the bigger picture, we see that David's
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experience here is a shadow of a much greater reality.
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We often look at David as a type, a historical forerunner
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pointing directly to Christ. Samuel Isles Pierce, a
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theological commentator, points out that Jesus was the ultimate
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Prince of Peace. He came bringing the gospel of
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peace. He embodied perfect Shalom, yet
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the religious establishment of his day absolutely abhorred him.
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Matthew Henry's commentary captures this dynamic perfectly.
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He notes that Christ spook, reason, love and grace, but his
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enemies cried to arms and stoned him.
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He offered them living water and they demanded his blood.
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He healed their sick and they accused him of working by the
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Prince of demons. This is the ultimate fulfillment
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of I am Peace, but when I speak they are for war.
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The Pharisees and the Sadducees were the ultimate manifestation
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of Misek and Kedar. But I want to ask a challenging
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question here, applying this to you, the listener today.
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If embodying peace only provokes the world to war, what is the
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incentive for the believer to remain peaceful?
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That is the hard part, isn't it? If someone is coming at you with
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a sword and your peaceful response only makes them swing
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harder, why not fight fire with fire?
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Why not pick up the Cutlass? Why let yourself be a punching
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bag for a deceitful tongue? Right.
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It is the most natural question in the world.
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The flesh demands retaliation. The answer lies in the
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theological framework established throughout the
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entire text, resting heavily on the sovereignty of God.
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We do not retaliate because vindication belongs entirely to
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the sovereign. The mandate for the believer,
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echoed later by the apostle Paul in Romans, is not to be overcome
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of evil, but to overcome evil with good.
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Vengeance is mine, says the Lord.
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The hostility of the world is a given.
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It is expected, but the believer's posture of peace is
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secured by their reliance on God's hearing ear.
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Because God heard the cry in verse 1, the believer can remain
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peaceful in verse 7. The peace is not a strategy to
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win over the enemy. No, it is an act of submission
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to the judge. Spot on.
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The peace is not dependent on the circumstances or the
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behavior of the neighbors. The peace is anchored in the
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fact that the Sovereign Judge has recorded the truth.
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The arrows of the mighty are already drawn on the bow.
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The coals of Juniper are already prepared.
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The believer does not need to manufacture justice, they simply
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need to rest in the character of God.
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The Cross of Christ illustrates this perfectly.
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He did not call down legions of angels to destroy his
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slanderers. He entrusted himself to him who
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judges justly. We have covered massive ground
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today. We started by looking at the
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silent agony of the Devil's chariot.
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How slander, deceit and flattery act as invisible, devastating
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weapons that ruin communities. We explored the terrifying
26:59
reality of divine justice, picturing those juniper coals
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that burn hot and long beneath the surface, waiting for the
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wicked. We examine the psychological
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exile of living among people who hate peace, and we finished by
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examining the believers radical stance as an embodiment of peace
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amidst a culture of relentless hostility pointing entirely to
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Christ. It is a lot to.
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Digest. It really is.
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I want to leave you, the listener, with a final thought
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to ponder as you go about your day.
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Building on what we just discussed, We talked about the
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terrifying punishment for the slanderer, the inextinguishable
27:30
fire of divine justice. Yes, the Juniper calls.
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But consider the flip side. If the ultimate penalty for
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deceit is an eternal, unquenchable fire of ruin, what
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is the ultimate reward for the one who embodies peace?
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The text leaves that unsaid, perhaps because the reward isn't
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a cleared reputation or a public apology.
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The reward for saying I am peace in a world of war is an
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unbroken, eternal communion with the God of Peace himself.
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Are you willing to forfeit your own vengeance to secure that
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communion? That is the question we all have
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to answer. Thank you for joining us for
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this deep dive. Keep reading, keep thinking, and
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keep returning to the text. We will see you next time.
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Until then, rest in the justice of the sovereign.