Promised Land Leadership

Introduction

[ILLUS]

Beginning with Deuteronomy 16:18, Moses introduces the Promised Land leaders. He discusses judges and officers, the king, the Levites, and the prophets. Tonight we’ll just focus on the judges and officers section and its emphasis upon justice.

Let’s read Deuteronomy 16:18-17:13…

Deuteronomy 16:18–17:13 NASB95

18 “You shall appoint for yourself judges and officers in all your towns which the Lord your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. 19 “You shall not distort justice; you shall not be partial, and you shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous. 20 “Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue, that you may live and possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you. 21 “You shall not plant for yourself an Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of the Lord your God, which you shall make for yourself. 22 “You shall not set up for yourself a sacred pillar which the Lord your God hates. 1 “You shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep which has a blemish or any defect, for that is a detestable thing to the Lord your God. 2 “If there is found in your midst, in any of your towns, which the Lord your God is giving you, a man or a woman who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, by transgressing His covenant, 3 and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun or the moon or any of the heavenly host, which I have not commanded, 4 and if it is told you and you have heard of it, then you shall inquire thoroughly. Behold, if it is true and the thing certain that this detestable thing has been done in Israel, 5 then you shall bring out that man or that woman who has done this evil deed to your gates, that is, the man or the woman, and you shall stone them to death. 6 “On the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness. 7 “The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. 8 “If any case is too difficult for you to decide, between one kind of homicide or another, between one kind of lawsuit or another, and between one kind of assault or another, being cases of dispute in your courts, then you shall arise and go up to the place which the Lord your God chooses. 9 “So you shall come to the Levitical priest or the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall inquire of them and they will declare to you the verdict in the case. 10 “You shall do according to the terms of the verdict which they declare to you from that place which the Lord chooses; and you shall be careful to observe according to all that they teach you. 11 “According to the terms of the law which they teach you, and according to the verdict which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside from the word which they declare to you, to the right or the left. 12 “The man who acts presumptuously by not listening to the priest who stands there to serve the Lord your God, nor to the judge, that man shall die; thus you shall purge the evil from Israel. 13 “Then all the people will hear and be afraid, and will not act presumptuously again.

[PRAYER]

[TS] I see it this passage breaks down into three PARTS…

Major Ideas

[Exposition]

Part #1: The Appointing of Judges and Officers (Deut. 16:18-20)

Deuteronomy 16:18–20 NASB95

18 “You shall appoint for yourself judges and officers in all your towns which the Lord your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. 19 “You shall not distort justice; you shall not be partial, and you shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous. 20 “Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue, that you may live and possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

[EXP] In the first century, the Jewish historian, Josephus, coined the term ‘theocracy’ to describe Israel’s form of government under the Law of Moses.

The will of God was interpreted by those who represented God, but it was, at least ideally, an interpretation based upon God’s Law.

In a theocracy, like the one that governed Israel, the supreme ruler is God and His Word is Law.

But, of course, not everyone keeps the Law. Even in the Promised Land there would be law-breakers who must be held accountable.

The judges and offices were the ones to hold them accountable.

We see in v. 18 that every town in the Promised Land was to have its own judges and officers

It seems that judges made the judgments and officers made sure their judgments were carried out.

The judges were to judge the people with righteous judgment.

In other words, judges were to understand that they were little judges under the authority of God, the Great Judge, who always judges justly.

Only by judging according to God’s righteousness, according to His holy standard as communicated in His Law, would a judge be doing his job faithfully.

Verse 19 warns Israel’s judges about ruining their ability to judge righteously.

If they take bribes, they will distort true justice; they will not be impartial; they will be blind fools instead of clear-eyed wise judges; they will be perverters and corrupters of true righteous judgment.

Verse 20 says that judges should have only one ambition, and it’s not to get rich by taking bribes from people. The judges one ambition is ‘justice, and only justice.’

For Israel to live in and possess the land God was giving them, judges and officers would have to be faithful to God as they served the people.

[TS] …

Part #2: The Administration of Justice (Deut. 16:21-17:7)

Deuteronomy 16:21–17:7 NASB95

21 “You shall not plant for yourself an Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of the Lord your God, which you shall make for yourself. 22 “You shall not set up for yourself a sacred pillar which the Lord your God hates. 1 “You shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep which has a blemish or any defect, for that is a detestable thing to the Lord your God. 2 “If there is found in your midst, in any of your towns, which the Lord your God is giving you, a man or a woman who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, by transgressing His covenant, 3 and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun or the moon or any of the heavenly host, which I have not commanded, 4 and if it is told you and you have heard of it, then you shall inquire thoroughly. Behold, if it is true and the thing certain that this detestable thing has been done in Israel, 5 then you shall bring out that man or that woman who has done this evil deed to your gates, that is, the man or the woman, and you shall stone them to death. 6 “On the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness. 7 “The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

[EXP] Judges and officers administer justice, and in Deuteronomy 16:21-22 and Deuteronomy 17:1 we see some cases that call for the administration, the dispensing of justice.

In Deuteronomy 16:21 God warns about syncretism, joining the worship of YHWH to the worship of any false god or idol.

Here specifically the warning is against planting an Asherah tree next to the altar of God.

Deuteronomy 16:22 goes right along with v. 21; the sacred pillar mentioned in that verse represented the false god, Baal, and the Asherah tree represented his goddess.

Deuteronomy 17:1 prohibits offering any sacrifice to God that is blemished or defective. ‘That is a detestable thing to the Lord your God.’

In chapter 15:21 God was clear about the kinds of sacrifices that must not be offered to Him.

Deuteronomy 15:21 NASB95

21 “But if it has any defect, such as lameness or blindness, or any serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God.

Some scholars suspect that just as the Canaanites (i.e., the people already in the Promised Land before Israel entered in)—just as they worship Baal and Asherah, they too may have sacrificed defective animals to their false gods.

The worship of YHWH was to be different.

As the only true God; as the perfectly righteous God, all sacrifices made to Him had to be without blemish, without defect.

Deuteronomy 17:2-3 say that any Israelite who did one of the shall-nots of the previous three verses or went and worshipped other false gods or worshipped the sun, moon, and stars—all such individuals would be guilty of doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They would be guilty of ‘transgressing the covenant’ (Deut. 17:2).

In a theocracy like Israel’s transgressing the covenant with God was tantamount to treason. To rebel against God by worshipping idols was to put the nation at risk.

Therefore, if a judge or officer heard about such a thing—whether it was reported to him or he just overheard it in the marketplace or wherever—it had to be investigated thoroughly (Deut. 17:4).

If after a thorough investigation, it was discovered that this ‘detestable thing’ (this idol worship or offering of defective sacrifices) was true and certain, then the man or woman who committed the evil deed had to be stoned to death at the city gates (Deut. 17:5).

With life and death on the line, eye-witnesses were a big part of making sure that all such accusations were true and certain (Deut. 17:6).

Only on the evidence of two or three witnesses would the judge sentence someone to death.

No judge was allowed to sentence someone to death based on the testimony of just one eye-witness.

To make sure that witnesses were certain about their testimony, they were to cast the first stones when the person sentenced to death was executed (Deut. 17:7).

Elsewhere in the Law of Moses we are told that if these witnesses were discovered to be bearing false witness, then they would be executed.

This is how the evil of transgressing the covenant would be driven out of the people of God.

[TS] …

Part #3: The Appeal in Complex Cases (Deut. 17:8-13)

[EXP] The local judge might come across (as they say in the best law schools) a real doozy of a case.

Someone might have been killed, but was it intentional murder or accidental manslaughter?

Someone might be suing for negligence, but was it civil (unintentional) negligence or criminal (intentional) negligence?

Someone may have been assaulted or injured in the body, but was it accidental or was it done intentionally?

Determining between the unintentional and the intentional wasn’t always easy, so a local judge could appeal to the Levite or judge in the place of worship the Lord God would choose (Deut. 17:8).

The Levite or the judge would hear the case and declare a verdict (Deut. 17:9), and the parties involved were to do according to the terms of that verdict (Deut. 17:10).

Verses 10-11 say that this verdict had to be followed to the letter without wavering because it represented God’s judgment on the matter.

Any one who ignored the verdict of this supreme court had to die, so the evil of transgressing the covenant would be driven from Israel (Deut. 17:12) and so that others would hear, fear, and not ignore such judgments in the future (Deut. 17:13).

[TS] …

[Interrogative]

So that’s the meaning of the text in its original context, but what does all this teach us about justice?

[Illustration]

A couple years back, some people were protesting in Washington, D.C. Two women were chanting. One woman would say, “We want justice.” And the other would follow, “Justice means what I say it means.”

But for justice to mean anything it must be rooted in God.

That’s the first thing LESSON we should learn…

[Application]

Lesson #1: Justice is rooted in God.

[APP] Our God is just; He loves justice (Psalm 33:5; 37:28; 99:4; Isaiah 61:8). Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne (Psalm 89:14; 97:2). The works of His hands are truth and justice (Psalm 111:7). And God demands that His people do justice (Psalm 82:3; Micah 6:8; Isaiah 1:17; 56:1; Jeremiah 21:12; 22:3; Amos 5:15; 5:24; Zechariah 7:9).

But for God’s people to do justice, they must understand what justice is. And to understand what justice is they must look to God alone.

That’s why no Asherah or sacred pillar can be next to the altar of God in Deuteronomy 16:21-22.

The worship of Asherah or Baal can only pervert the true justice that God longs to give to His people.

True justice is rooted in God alone; it’s what He says is right.

[ILLUS] When Judah was being invaded by the Babylonians, the prophet Habakkuk complained that Babylonian justice was rooted in the Babylonians. In Habakkuk 1:7 he said…

Habakkuk 1:7 NASB95

7 “They are dreaded and feared; Their justice and authority originate with themselves.

It’s a terrible thing when justice is no longer defined according to what God says is right. It’s a terrible thing when justice is defined according to the idol-worshipping whims of the human heart.

Let’s pay that the justice in our own country would get back to that justice that is rooted in God.

[TS] …

Lesson #2: Justice demands integrity.

[APP] For justice to be true, those who administer that justice must be impartial. This requires that they refuse bribes as Deuteronomy 16:19 talks about, but it also requires that they fear God and understand that they will answer to Him.

[ILLUS] In Zephaniah 3:3-4 all of Judah’s leaders are indicted by God as corrupt.

Judah’s princes are roaring lions.

Judah’s prophets are reckless, treacherous men.

Judah’s priests are profane, even profaning the sanctuary and doing violence to the Law.

And Judah’s judges are wolves at evening, feasting upon the people of God, leaving nothing for morning.

Why is this the case? Why are Judah’s leaders like this? Why are the judges like this?

Because they do not fear God and believe that He will not call them to account.

But Zephaniah 3:5 says…

Zephaniah 3:5 NASB95

5 The Lord is righteous within her; He will do no injustice. Every morning He brings His justice to light; He does not fail. But the unjust knows no shame.

For justice to be true, judges and officers must have integrity.

For judges and officers to have integrity, they must believe that God will bring justice to light. He will not fail.

Judges and officers will ultimately answer to Him.

[TS] …

Lesson #3: Justice demands due process.

[APP] Due process is a citizen’s right to fair treatment according to the law.

The Israelites were not to be stoned for transgressing the Covenant of Law based on mere accusation. There had to be due process.

There had to be a thorough inquiry and the accusation had to be determined as true and certain based on the testimony of two or three witnesses.

We often want justice to be swift, but it cannot move swiftly at the expense of a thorough inquiry and a certain judgment.

[TS]…

Lesson #4: Justice is sometimes complicated.

[APP] We saw in Deuteronomy 17 how complex cases could be brought before the Levite or judge in the place of worship. In doing so, the local judge would be looking for help in deciding some matter.

We often see how complex justice can be in our own day.

[ILLUS] I was listening to an episode of Dateline last night as I washed the dishes.

A man called 911 and reported that he found his wife in the bathtub. He said she must have passed out and fell into the tub while running the bath. She had had surgery a week before and was on pain medication, so maybe that’s what made her pass out. He said he was doing CPR.

First-responders get there and they begin doing CPR. The wife coughs up a few cups of water.

Wouldn’t she have already coughed up water if the husband was doing CPR?

In any event, his wife didn’t make it.

The medical examiner recorded the cause of death as cardiac arrest.

It then came out that the husband was having an affair, and that only two weeks after his wife’s death, he “hired” his mistress as a live-in nanny to care for his younger adopted children.

He ended up sending one of his younger adopted children back to her home country and then stole her identity for his mistress to help her escape some financial problems.

He then started to pretend to be married to his mistress although they weren’t legally married, but on documents they recorded their wedding date as the date of his dead wife’s funeral.

Eventually he was arrested and imprisoned for identity theft and fraud, and only later was he tried for the murder of his wife—the one that had supposedly drowned in the bathtub.

The medical examiner listed the reason for her death as cardiac arrest. There was no physical evidence showing that a murder had taken place.

But during the trial, yet another mistress describe this man as telling her how to make someone’s heart stop by giving them an untraceable substance.

No toxicology report found anything suspicious, and the defense said that not only had the prosecution failed to prove that their client murdered his wife, the prosecution had even failed to prove that there was a murder at all.

Even so, the jury found this man guilty and sentenced him to life in prison where he later committed suicide.

What do you think, did the jury get it right?

I don’t know, and you don’t either.

Because justice is sometimes complicated.

[TS] All this leads to our final LESSON…

Conclusion

Final Lesson: True justice waits on Jesus.

Listen to Isaiah 42:1-4…

Isaiah 42:1–4 NASB95

1 “Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations. 2 “He will not cry out or raise His voice, Nor make His voice heard in the street. 3 “A bruised reed He will not break And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice. 4 “He will not be disheartened or crushed Until He has established justice in the earth; And the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law.”

In Matthew 12, the Word of God tells us that this chosen one who will establish justice is Jesus.

Only when Jesus comes will all evil be purged.

Only when Jesus comes will justice no longer be distorted.

Only when Jesus comes will there be justice, true justice.

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.