LAW AND LAND
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Opening Prayer
Father, fill me to overflowing with your Spirit today, enabling others to see in me the wonder of who you are, the greatness of your grace and mercy.
Read DEUTERONOMY 16:18–17:20
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Judges
18 Appoint judges and officials for each of your tribes in every town the Lord your God is giving you, and they shall judge the people fairly. 19 Do not pervert justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the innocent. 20 Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the Lord your God is giving you.
Worshiping Other Gods
21 Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole beside the altar you build to the Lord your God, 22 and do not erect a sacred stone, for these the Lord your God hates.
17 Do not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep that has any defect or flaw in it, for that would be detestable to him.
2 If a man or woman living among you in one of the towns the Lord gives you is found doing evil in the eyes of the Lord your God in violation of his covenant, 3 and contrary to my command has worshiped other gods, bowing down to them or to the sun or the moon or the stars in the sky, 4 and this has been brought to your attention, then you must investigate it thoroughly. If it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done in Israel, 5 take the man or woman who has done this evil deed to your city gate and stone that person to death. 6 On the testimony of two or three witnesses a person is to be put to death, but no one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness. 7 The hands of the witnesses must be the first in putting that person to death, and then the hands of all the people. You must purge the evil from among you.
Law Courts
8 If cases come before your courts that are too difficult for you to judge—whether bloodshed, lawsuits or assaults—take them to the place the Lord your God will choose. 9 Go to the Levitical priests and to the judge who is in office at that time. Inquire of them and they will give you the verdict. 10 You must act according to the decisions they give you at the place the Lord will choose. Be careful to do everything they instruct you to do. 11 Act according to whatever they teach you and the decisions they give you. Do not turn aside from what they tell you, to the right or to the left. 12 Anyone who shows contempt for the judge or for the priest who stands ministering there to the Lord your God is to be put to death. You must purge the evil from Israel. 13 All the people will hear and be afraid, and will not be contemptuous again.
The King
14 When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,” 15 be sure to appoint over you a king the Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite. 16 The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.” 17 He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.
18 When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. 19 It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees 20 and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
‘How unsearchable [are God’s] judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!’1
The Lord here instructs Israel via Moses to establish a judicial system that will operate on two levels, local (lower courts) and national (high court). This God-given system must be entirely incorruptible and fair: even kings will not be above the law (17:20); proof of guilt must be diligently sought (17:4); and capital punishment must not be administered on the testimony of one witness alone (17:6). The Israelites’ possession and enjoyment of the land will depend wholly on their observance of these rules (16:20).
To many twenty-first-century readers, the sentences passed upon those proven guilty seem extremely harsh (17:5, 12). However, we must note the safeguards that God puts in place to prevent miscarriages of justice (16:19; 17:6). We must also compare Israel’s judicial system with that of its contemporary neighbors, for whom the law seems to have been anything but lenient or fair! Also, are we so sure that justice is uncorrupted and even-handed for everyone in the nations where we live today?
Israel’s subsequent history shows that its people did not often wholly abide by the stipulations given here. Over and over again, God’s laws were flouted by them, including by priests and kings! That they ever survived and are flourishing today is testimony to the truth stated by James, which ends with the gloriously comforting words, ‘Mercy triumphs over judgment.’2 Moreover, before we are tempted to point an accusing finger at the Israelites or anybody else, let us ask ourselves, ‘Are we any better?’ Therefore, if we catch ourselves being very quick to condemn others, remember Christ’s words to the adulterous woman’s would-be judges and jury, ‘Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’3
Apply
Think of ways to apply the dictum ‘mercy triumphs over judgment’ in your relationships!
Closing prayer
Lord Jesus, thank you for the gift of mercy, surely undeserved, you offer me each day. Please show me where I need to reflect your lovingkindness toward those around me.
1 Rom 11:33 2 James 2:12,13 3 John 8:7
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