God Protects the Vulnerable

In 1799, the American sailing vessel Nancy was seized by the British and taken into Port Royal, Jamaica, under suspicion of carrying contraband. Before the Nancy was boarded, her captain had the crew throw the forbidden freight and the ship’s cargo papers into the sea. At the trial, the captain and officers were about to be acquitted for lack of evidence when the captain of another ship walked into court with the Nancy’s original cargo papers. His men discovered them in the stomach of a shark they harpooned. Consequently, the defendants were convicted.

Today, these remarkable documents, called The Shark’s Papers, are on exhibit in Kingston, Jamaica. The Shark’s Papers story is one of the most unusual court cases in history. Captain Briggs of the Nancy was quite unhappy with the turn of events and complained of being condemned by a shark. He had defiantly claimed that no papers were burned or tossed overboard, but that was a big lie.

Psalms 82 stands as a plea for justice. “God stands in the congregation of the mighty; He judges among the gods” (v. 1). God then condemns rulers and judges with judging unlawfully, unjustly, or partially. “How long will you judge unjustly, and show partiality to the wicked? Defend the poor and fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy; free them from the hand of the wicked” (vs. 3, 4). In essence, the Lord tells these judges, “Pronounce fair sentences. Defend the vulnerable and needy.”

John writes of a day when nothing shall be hidden. “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away… And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. … And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books” (Revelation 20:11, 12).

We may have our records cleaned by the blood of Jesus Christ. But for those who turn away from God, the papers will be laid out. They cannot be hidden, not even in the belly of a shark.