Justice, Judges, and Priests

January 23, 2022 Background Scripture: Deuteronomy 16:18 - 20; 17:8 - 13; 19:15 - 21 Lesson Passage: Deuteronomy 16:18 - 20; 17:8 - 13 Deuteronomy, or the second giving of the Law, was the last account written by Moses. In it, Moses reminded the Jews how they were to set up a just and God-fearing society. At the time of the writing, Israel had not entered Canaan to occupy and settle in it. God did everything decently and in order—as should be expected. God was not going to allow Israel to move into Canaan and live like they were in some "wild West" setting where everything goes. God was going to establish that generation of Jews as a sovereign society for the first time ever. God gave them a foundation that would guarantee success even with human frailties and moral shortcomings present. Their success would be based on the integrity of the judges and the faithfulness of the priests. Every settlement of Jews was expected to be a "gated community." Put another way, for their protection, their cities were expected to be surrounded by a wall with a main gate for ingress and egress. They were to appoint judges to sit at the gate. There they could monitor who came in or went out of the city. They would also serve as civil magistrates, or arbitrators, to settle matters between parties. The refusal to accept bribes was paramount to the expected integrity of the judge, A bribed judge would pervert justice. Having a just society is not possible with perverted justice. Today, we make perverted justice seem palatable by calling it politics. God was not going to have any part of that in the society He was setting up. A second concern relative to resolving civil matters involved the testimony of witnesses. A single witness would not be permitted to testify against another individual. Two or three witnesses were required to establish the facts that were relevant to a case. If upon questioning, a witness was found guilty of lying, then that person would be sentenced to the fate that would have been given to the defendant. This would cause others to carefully consider the consequences of providing a false testimony against another person. This system of justice would provide a just society even when executed by imperfect people. If this were the total system of justice in that society, then there would have been a tremendous burden on the shoulders of the judges. But there was relief for the judges. If the judges could not reach a clear decision after careful and thorough examination of witnesses, then they had an appeal process. The unresolved matter was to be referred to the priests, the Levites, and the "regional" judge. These were all positions filled by God's decree, or ecclesiastical calling. In other words, the ones in these positions were all accountable directly to God for their work. They depended on God for directions and decisions. Therefore, their decisions were final. It was this highest level of justice in Israel's society that defined it as a theocracy. They were going to have a God-centered government. Their society was not intended to be ruled by family secession like a monarchy. Neither were they to be governed by the majority opinion of the people, or a democratic process. They were truly established to be a peculiar people among all nations of the world. Their society was to be founded on justice and truth. To maintain justice within their society, God ordained two unique positions: judges and priests. This is what a just society looks like in the absence of politicians. Robert C. Hudson December 20, 2021