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(CHAPTER 16)
18. "You shall appoint for yourselves judges [shoftim] and record-keepers within all your jurisdictions which YHWH your Elohim is giving you, according to your tribe, and they shall judge the nation with the deserved legal rulings.
Judges: or governors, decision-makers; those who not only make but also proclaim legal rulings. Record-keepers: from a word meaning "to write", but not the typical word for "scribes". These are essentially court stenographers or reporters, who wrote down the rulings for posterity and searched the existing records for a precedent or to find an analogous ruling in the Torah—because we can forget the details so easily, and in a legal case they matter. There were no lawyers as such; the judge and these officials would be the experts. Their job is not to favor either side, but to determine where justice lies in each case, so both must be well-versed in the Torah. But implied in “you shall appoint” is that those who choose judges are ultimately the ones responsible to ensure justice in Israel. No “justice system” can exist in a vacuum. Plato said, “Justice in the life and conduct of the state is possible only as first it resides in the hearts and souls of its citizens.” Helen Keller said, “Until the great mass of the people shall be filled with the sense of responsibility for each other’s welfare, social justice can never be attained.” The symbol for justice is the balances, because the judge takes all sides into consideration and determines which considerations are weightiest in each situation. This means they must know Torah well enough to judge who will be the best judge. At that time a town was made of people all related to one another, so they could recognize who had always looked out for the whole family’s interests above his own. Jurisdictions: literally, gates, and indeed judgment-seats have been found right at the city gates by archaeologists. The gate consisted of more than just the doors to the city; there would be numerous chambers there for this purpose and for better defense measures. There would not usually be full-time judges on the city’s payroll. The judges (often plural) would more likely be anyone of standing among the elders of the city who were present or who could be summoned quickly when a ruling was needed. They would also judge, based on Torah, what kinds of things traveling merchants would not be permitted within the gates to sell in this city (i.e., no idols). According to your tribe: This means everyone has recourse to a ruling, and this is not a circuit court. Those making the rulings are not strangers to the litigants; this is a true jury of peers, for it would be one’s own extended family judging him. They should also be people with experience that brings knowledge and wisdom. Deserved: or above-board, right, charitable. These judges are set up to rule on the details, since even to organize many logistics, there has to be a coordinated preparation, and that means there must be someone in charge.
19. "You must not allow justice to be bent, nor allow faces to be recognized, nor receive a bribe, because a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and overturns righteous words.
Faces to be recognized: an idiom for showing partiality. Rashi says, “as soon as one notices that the judge is showing more respect toward his opponent, he cannot plead his case any longer [because he thinks that it will be of no use]… As soon as he [the judge] accepts a bribe from him [a litigant], it is impossible for him not to be favorably disposed towards him.” This is not just a payoff in the back room; flattery, especially in public, can also be a form of bribery. Again, it is up to the leaders in a family or community to choose judges who are not greedy so they will be less likely to be tempted by a bribe.
20. "Justice, justice you shall pursue, for the sake of surviving and taking possession of the Land that YHWH your Elohim is giving you!
Justice: or righteousness (doing right for the right reasons). It is based on the two words for “narrow edge”, which requires great balance to navigate successfully. And the symbol of justice is indeed the scale which must be balanced. Pursue: The first usage of this word in Scripture is in Gen. 14:14, when Avram chased down the armies that had kidnapped his nephew. He traveled 100 miles before catching them, so the connotation is to “go the distance”, doing whatever it takes to ensure that the ruling is just. For the sake of surviving: How much more should we do justice for YHWH’s sake! Though these are the instructions for when we are living in the Land, the framework for right rulings must already be established and in place before we can take and occupy the Land. There is no room for error once we are there.
21. "You must not plant a grove of any kind of tree contiguous to the altar of YHWH your Elohim which you will make for yourself,
A grove: poles styled like trees, commonly used in idolatrous practices; Heb. asherah. The tradition of standing any tree up after being cut down follows this pattern. What connection does this have to what just went before? There must be no superstition in the places where our legal rulings come from. This does not necessarily prohibit any kind of tree from being near the altar, but a wooden object of this sort; this particular kind of trees were used for fertility rituals in Kanaan, reflecting a fear not so much of what was coming as what was not coming—children, and thus continuance. As soon as sex is injected into the equation, our better judgment is often affected, as advertisers know well. And if this type of worship were to be included in the worship of YHWH, how would one be sure he was really visiting the sanctuary for YHWH’s sake? The altar of YHWH also figures prominently in Hanukkah, and a Christmas tree is a form of asherah, so these two holidays, though often concurrent, should look as different as possible.
22. "nor shall you set up for yourself any upright [stone], which YHWH your Elohim hates.
The patriarchs prior to this command did set some of these up, but they were not worshipped, but were a memorial of what YHWH had done. We have much to tear down (unlearn) before we can build anew, or there will be a faulty foundation. No one who is enamored by other religions is qualified to be a judge in Israel. It is easy for two strong-minded people to reach an impasse, but it is better to work it out among ourselves according to the Torah and not be stubborn than to trouble the judge with petty matters. But if both are absolutely sure they are right, they need a ruling, and the judge's decision is binding. By the time it gets to him, all the points should have already been argued, so you can get to the core issues quickly. There is a great lack of order in returning Israel because we do not have judges. Very few of us are within anyone's "gates". We cannot wait until we arrive in the Land before starting to learn to make right rulings, or we will not stay there long.
CHAPTER 17
1. "You must not slaughter to YHWH your Elohim an ox or sheep in which there is a defect--anything wrong [with it]--because that is abhorrent [to] YHWH your Elohim.
Defect: a stain, blemish, or visible imperfection. Anything wrong with it: literally, "any evil word" or “any negative matter”—i.e., anything bad that can be said about it (truthfully)—such as, “It was known to gore people.” (Ex. 21:36) Bringing that one might spare you a lawsuit later, but it is not acceptable to YHWH if it is something we are just glad to get rid of. That is just serving Him for your own sake, just like present-day gifts given for the sake of getting one’s name on a plaque or to receive a hundredfold return. Giving Him your old item when you get a new one would have such an effect on Him. Give Him your new one instead! He is the King of the universe; what is left over or substandard will not count for anything with Him. Be conscious of why you are offering this thing. Where is your heart? Whether we are teaching, playing music, or sweeping floors, we need to offer Him something that is not lame. Are we giving YHWH the best of our time, or just what is left over when we have done all we wanted to do and are exhausted? The Sabbath, new moon, and set-apart times are already His; those are times when He invites us to meet with Him. We also need to give Him the best of the rest and invite Him to meet with us. Giving YHWH (or His servants, the priests) second best is disgusting to Him—which is the same thing He says about idolatry, homosexuality, etc. It is rude; you might as well just keep it for yourself. But if we are willing to give something, shouldn’t He be glad to get anything from us? No! He asks, “Do you think you would get away with serving leftovers to an earthly ruler?” (Mal. 1:6-8) How much more does He deserve than they? He gives us His best; we need to do the same to Him. He gives us such gifts as mandated camping vacations, and requires us to take a day off each week! Will we ever match His level of generosity? Not if we gave everything we had for the rest of our lives. But we can try. We can at least enter into His set-apart days with the right attitude and well-prepared. 30 minutes of prime time are better than 20 hours when you are worn out; He would rather have a perfect pigeon than a blemished bull. But serving Him must be more than taking out our neighbors’ trash; it needs to include much study of His word in order to be balanced. He is not upset if you eat second best; we are permitted to eat blemished animals at home (15:22), but for His Levites and priests and for offerings to Him, they must be whole and the best.
2. "If there should be found within one of your gate[d citie]s which YHWH your Elohim is giving you a man or a woman who does what is evil in the eyes of YHWH your Elohim by stepping outside the bounds of His covenant,
Stepping outside the bounds: literally, crossing over (from, not to, His covenant—it is the negative form of the root word for “Hebrew”).
3. "and has gone and served other mighty ones and bowed himself to them or to the sun or moon or any of the army of the skies, which I have not commanded,
Idolatry is the blemish of blemishes. Worship of created things mixed with worship of the Creator is not presentable to YHWH. Army of the skies: the rest of the stars, planets, or heavenly bodies. We know from the names of the planets that we have in English today that they were at least associated with objects of worship. There is evidence that, at least with “Mars”, there was real reason that men feared the actual planet, because until 701 B.C.E. it used to periodically come close enough to the earth to cause disruptions in the magnetic fields and major crustal tides, which translated into not only earthquakes but the raising of new mountain ranges. This seems to explain many of the cataclysmic events described in Scripture. But YHWH used these otherwise-horrifying events to the advantage of His people, so if we are on His right side, there is no cause to fear the instruments He uses, whatever damage they may do to those who are not—or try to placate them, which is about as futile an endeavor as one could imagine, for, just like wood and stone, they have neither eyes to see nor ears to hear. YHWH has put them there for an important purpose—for signs and to define the seasons by which He operates. (Gen. 1:14-17) They should be watched, but they serve us; we are not to serve them. They are only messengers. We may think we are too sophisticated to worship the sun. moon, and stars today (though people do follow horoscopes), but we worship many things that are meant to serve us. We have “stars” of other kinds today. He gives men wives to help us (Gen. 2:18), but they are not to have the final word in decisions. Our children are given to help share the burden, but we must not give in to their foolish whims. Gainful employment was meant to serve us. But it is only a means to the end of feeding our families, not to become an obsession. Many spend all their time polishing and perfecting their cars, and indeed many of these are named after the gods (Mazda, Mercury, Saturn, etc.). We should not let our homes fall into decay, but they do not need to take time and energy away from Kingdom work. We also participated in sun-worship when we were in Sunday churches, though we did not realize it at the time.
4. "and it is reported to you, and you have heard [the case] and made a thorough inquiry, and it is indeed reliably confirmed that this abominable thing has been done in Israel,
Confirmed: "determined" or "established". There must be evidence that this person is serving the wrong thing. Without this step, the report could be only hearsay, suspicion, or gossip. But if it is truly for the sake of stopping the spread of defilement in Israel, we are not free just to ignore it. It is not “the evil tongue” when we tell what we know about someone to the proper authority. We must know Torah well to know the difference. We are not to become witch-hunters, but we must find out if there is substance to it. Verse 6 explains what constitutes reliability. There must be a confession or witnesses. The best place to start is to go to the source. In Israel: the holiest part of the earth, where there is no tolerance for anything pagan, whatever may be permitted anywhere else.
5. "then you shall bring that man or that woman who has done this wicked thing out to your gates, and you shall pelt them with stones so that they die.
The gates are where we are to write YHWH’s words, and anyone who passes through them is served notice that he must adhere to YHWH’s standards. In Muslim countries where they still do stone people to death, it is often a “kangaroo court” in which women have no say at all when accused. Here, men and women have the same right to be fairly judged, whatever the outcome. Before we even accuse someone, we must be sure we have evidence. Every Israelite must be a lawyer of sorts, able to search out whether there truly is a defect in someone’s actions, and present a valid case. There must be eyewitnesses, and the judge will decide if the accusation is true. Only the judge can determine that someone deserves to be stoned, and he may have to take additional time to investigate further himself; it cannot be rushed, though swift justice is also a deterrent. The ancient method of stoning was not to throw small stones at people like children do, but to first stun him (often done by throwing him off a cliff), then knock him out with a large stone to the head, then continue to pile relatively large stones on him until he was dead and covered up. The pile formed a memorial to remind others not to do the same thing. It is very hard to do this to a person who comes from our midst, but it is the Torah. YHWH gives fair warning. We can only pray that by the time we again have the sovereignty to carry this out, we will all have learned enough that it will not be necessary. Ideally it should be rare, but the fact that we ended up steeped in idolatry means that not enough people loved each other enough to “nip it in the bud” like this before it spread.
6. "Upon the word of two witnesses or three witnesses shall the one being executed be put to death; he must not be put to death on the word of [only] one witness.
One: Someone who wants to kill you may lie even under oath to get you in trouble. Witnesses: includes the sense of bringing evidence, not just a report. If YHWH has provided only one witness, He does not want the defendant to be considered guilty, even if he is not innocent. There may be two if they are extremely trustworthy, and three if there is any doubt as to the motives of the first two. The judge would need to question the witnesses separately so he can tell if their details agree. This gives him more sense of the likelihood of conspiracy such as there was in the days of Navoth, though in his day the whole system, all the way up to the king, was corrupt, so even this did not save him, to our shame. (1 Kings 21:13)
7. "The hand of the witnesses must be the first against him in order to execute him, then afterward the hand of the whole nation; thus you will burn away the evil from your midst.
The witness who reports must be the one to do something about it—to be part of the solution to the problem; he cannot just leave it to someone else to do the “dirty work”, though of course he must come to the proper authorities before dealing out justice. Haile Selassie said, “Throughout history it has been the inaction of those who could have acted, the indifference of those who should have known better, the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most, that has made it possible for evil to triumph.” Even if it is uncomfortable, we cannot be more interested in covering our friends’ backs than with carrying out justice. If one keeps quiet about a known offense, he is considered complicit—just as guilty as the person who committed it. But this is also a deterrent to injustice—a test of how serious one is about getting his neighbor in trouble. If one has to look the accused in the eye and do the execution himself, he is likely to think twice before lying about him. This also guarantees that the witness is present to be sentenced to death himself if he is found to be bearing false witness against his neighbor.
8. "If a matter is too difficult for you to render judgment between blood and blood, between [one] cause and [another], or between [one] blow and [another]--matters of legal controversy between your civil precincts, then proceed to go up to the place that YHWH your Elohim will choose,
For you: not the litigant, but the constituted officials who have been appointed to judge at the lowest level. (16:18) It is the responsibility of the leader to be as knowledgeable, learned, and trained in the area in question as he can be. There will be times when it is beyond him, but a far as possible the matter should be kept within one’s own gates, and not taken to the next level unless one has exhausted all the possibilities there. Blood and blood: i.e., between one type of blood-guilt and another, e.g., whether a killing was intentional or unintentional. This may also mean both parties are at fault to some extent. Blow: how many strokes one should receive in judgment. Different levels of courts are thus instituted here.
9. "and come to the Levitical officials or to the judge that there will be in those days, and consult them, and they will make known to you the manner of deciding the case.
Officials: or priests (cohanim, which stems from the Hebrew word for "officiate"). In some eras there were judges, others not, but Levitical officials should always be present in Israel, though when they did cease operations, other courts had to be used. In our day many non-Levites have had to do the job because it needs to be done. Finally, a small vestige of the priesthood is being outfitted at least for Temple services, but it is the job of the priest—not the rabbis or even the king—to make rulings on the interpretation of the Torah. (Mal’akhi 2:7) Levites are to train all other judges in Israel to make right rulings; they are the standard for ruling, for service is their calling. YHWH gave them fewer possessions so they would have few distractions and therefore could focus on serving YHWH and Israel.
10. "But you must act on the word of the sentence which they make known to you from that place which YHWH shall choose, and be careful to carry out all that they direct you [to do].
I.e., do not ask for a ruling unless you are willing to be bound by it. What they are giving you is not a mere opinion; to you it is law. It is not to be brought up again; do not even consider another option any longer. Once you ask them, you cannot have an agenda of your own. It is not even for you to take it to a higher court; that is only the prereogative of the ruling official who is still puzzled by how to judge the case.
11. "You must do according to the word of the instruction by which they direct you and the decision with which they answer you; you must not deviate from the sentence which they make known to you, [either] to the right or to the left.
YHWH made an eternal covenant with Pin’has and his descendants. In the Kingdom there will again be an Aharonic priesthood who will have the final say, so get used to this concept now. He is also setting a pattern for authority on all levels in Israel. Rebellion has served us well in breaking away from what held us captive, but we must again have a fair and just system of authority in order for united Israel to work. Nothing is said here about an appeal process. This behooves us to use extreme caution in choosing the judges who will make rulings for us. They must themselves be able to present two or three "witnesses" (pieces of evidence) from Scripture, rather than basing them on only one ambiguous passage. If they direct the less learned to do wrongly, they will bear the blame. The answer might not come from a literal command, but from an analogy or indirect application. If the father of one household cannot make up his mind, and it is not a petty matter, he takes the question to a leader of 10, then of 50, and so on. Leaders have the hardest job, since they are responsible for who owes what, who needs stripes, and who needs to be fined “an eye for an eye”. To make a ruling where one has no authority would be a form of stealing.
12. "Now the man who acts defiantly so as to avoid obeying the officiator who is appointed to wait on YHWH your Elohim there or the judge, that man should die; thus you shall burn away the evil from Israel.
Defiantly: presumptuously, proudly, arrogantly. This is how YHWH sees our “right” to make our own decisions once we have committed to being part of Israel. He is serious: few things are as defiling as seeking a ruling and then defying it. Burn away: The purpose is to keep the camp clean by deterring others from continuing the same practice:
13. "Then the whole nation will hear of it and be afraid, and no longer act defiantly.
14. "Because you are going to come into the Land that YHWH your Elohim is giving you, when you have taken possession of it and settled in it, [you are going to] say, ‘Let me set over myself a king like all the nations that surround me',
15. "you may indeed set over you in it a king whom YHWH your Elohim chooses. (You may set a king over yourselves from among your relatives; you must not appoint over yourselves a foreign man who is not your relative.)
YHWH chooses: It was always a prophet who anointed a rightful king in Israel. He knows our tendency to want to be like the nations for the sake of prestige, and in an uncharacteristic way, here He gives us what we want. Of course, He gives us what we deserve as well: He made us pay for this choice; all the kings He chose had major problems of one sort or another, because He is meant to be our King, and our desire should be for Him over any other. He knew there would be trouble if we have any other king, so He put limitations on how far this king could go. Y’shua knew he was the rightful heir to David’s throne, but he even refused a crown. Being in YHWH’s presence should be our focus rather than asking Him to send us even another David. Foreign man: The leader is to come from within, not be hired from outside, even if he is professionally-trained and none of us is. We cannot blame our wrong decisions on the Gentiles. A foreign man is not likely to judge by Torah; even if he wanted to, he would not know it well enough to do so—and if he is king, we must obey him. We do not want to put ourselves in such a position.
16. "Only, he must not amass to himself many horses or cause the nation to turn back to Egypt in order to amass horses, since YHWH has told you to never return that way again.
Amass to himself: Aramaic, "own too many". Interestingly, the first mention of horses in Scripture (Gen. 47:17) is in an Egyptian context. That way: both the literal road to Egypt as well as the Egyptian way of doing things, which includes dependence on great numbers. (1 Shmuel 14:6) Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 31 clarifies that "going to Egypt" and relying on horses signifies trusting in the "arm" of flesh, and not looking to the Set-Apart One of Israel. That Pharaoh's horses were also lost in the Red Sea because of such a simple thing as getting stuck in the mud shows how unreliable they are. (cf. Rev. 19:18)
17. "Nor shall he amass women to himself, so his heart will not turn away, nor shall he amass to himself very much silver or gold.
How many are too many depends on the particular king. YHWH told David he could have had (a few) more wives if he had asked for them. (II Sam. 12:8) But the way he went about gaining Shlomoh’s mother as a wife seems to have breached the wall that allowed the flood of Shlomoh’s multitude of wives, with the most prominent of them being the daughter of the Pharaoh of Egypt.
18. "Now when he takes his seat upon the throne of his kingdom, what he must do is write in a book a copy of this Torah for himself from [the one that is] in the presence of the Levitical officials.
He could not just buy one, and was not permitted to tell his scribe to write it for him. Writing it for oneself would engrain it in his memory in a better way than merely hearing it. He cannot take it from his father’s copy, but must copy it directly from a priest’s, so that the integrity of the text does not break down. Either Shlomo (Solomon) failed to do this, or he forgot what he had written, because he disobeyed every one of these commands, even going specifically to Egypt to obtain horses! (1 Kings 4:26; 2 Chron. 9:25) He asked only for wisdom to rule his people, but not Torah knowledge. If someone so wise could be turned from YHWH when this went to his head, what sort of warning is it for us? Some of the later kings actually dedicated their horses to the sun (a Persian practice), and kept them stationed right outside the Temple of YHWH! But Yoshiyahu (Josiah) faithfully did away with them. (2 Kings 23:11). Ironically, Y’hoshua, who is not even called a king, is the only person Scripture records as having written a complete copy of the Torah. (Y’hoshua 8:32)
19. "Then it must be [kept] with him, and he must read in it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to reverence YHWH your Elohim in order to guard all the words of this instruction and these prescribed customs, for the purpose of carrying them out,
Kept with him: traditionally, the kings had a scroll tied onto their arm and carried over their backs. To be king, he must be literate, and must know these words inside and out. By writing it himself, he would absorb its meaning even better. If he wants to remain king, he must study what it is that he is about. And not just read, but guard and do. The more time he spends in it, the deeper insight into it he will have. If you want to be like a king, read from the Torah every day. It is the prerogative of kings to search out the things YHWH has hidden in His word (Prov. 25:2) for only the “royalty” among His people to find. Israel therefore had the highest literacy rate in the ancient world, for one cannot keep Torah if he cannot even write these words on his doorpost.
20. "so his heart will not be lifted up above his brothers and he may avoid turning aside from the commandment to the right or to the left, and thus he may extend days over his kingdom [for both] himself and his sons in the very heart of Israel.
If his heart is proud, he may think he is exempt from the law just because he is king, or that he is better than his brothers. While he may be a military leader, he is not the highest authority in Israel; the Levitical cohanim are. If he reads these words every day, he cannot help but be in awe of YHWH. Unlike the Gentiles around us, where the kings are not “one of the people”, but are treated as gods, the king here is simply the man with the most responsibility. All of Israel is to be “a kingdom of priests”—not a “temple of priests” or a “religion of priests”, but a physical nation on a particular Land that He has designated for us --charged with the responsibility of not just taking care of one another, but being an example to the whole world of what they could become. The very heart: not the same Hebrew word as "his heart" above, but meaning "the innermost part" of Israel, “that which is nearest”. In other words, he could thus become as close to YHWH as possible. Only a few kings made serious attempts at this.
CHAPTER 18
1. "For the Levitical officiators--[in fact, for] the whole tribe of Levi--there will be no territory or property along with Israel; YHWH's fire offering and His inheritance [is what] they will eat.
Officiators: the actual meaning of cohanim, the word usually rendered “priests”. The promise of land probably motivated many others in the wilderness to keep following YHWH through hard times, but the tribe to which the faithful leaders Moshe and Aharon belonged do not get this. At first, this sounds unfair—like the priests would get only the leftovers. But it does not say they receive no inheritance; only that they receive no land. They have a different type of inheritance. Whatever is brought as a gift to YHWH, they eat, and this connects them intimately to the rest of the people in a different sort of way. In fact, Levi means “attached” or “intertwined” in a permanent sense—like a knot that cannot be untied--and indeed they are attached to YHWH in a special way. Levi was handy with a knife (Gen. 34), and YHWH channeled this tendency into something useful and put him to work slaughtering the offerings brought for Him in a way that would be painless to them. Levites are poor in the sense of not having any “real estate”, yet are held in the highest esteem in Israel; even kings have to bow to their decisions. So they are also held to the highest standard in Israel, especially the priests. They are told whom they can bury, whom they can marry, even whom they can mourn for! Property: the word can also mean anything that seduces or flatters (thus hampering the focus of one's dedication). YHWH knew human nature’s tendency to try to serve two masters, so He did them a favor and allowed them no other responsibilities. They do not have to worry about cutting their grass; they have none! They depend on the people’s obedience, so if they do not do their job of teaching well, the people will not bring tithes or offerings, and they will not eat.
2. "He will not have inherited property among his brothers; YHWH Himself is his inheritance, as He promised him.
What an inheritance! As His “slaves”, they have a far richer heritage than a king anywhere else. What this whole tribe is about is service to YHWH—the chosen among the chosen.
3. "Now this will be the priest's due from among the people--from among those who make a slaughtering, if [it is] an ox or a flock animal: they shall give the cohen the foreleg, the two cheeks, and the [first] stomach,
Due: or right. This does not refer just to animals brought as offerings, but any ox or flock animal (sheep or goat) that an Israelite slaughters to eat. (12:10ff; Lev. 17:3ff; Y’hezq’el 46:24) He does not have to bring them all to the Temple; if it is slaughtered at home, he might give it to the Levitical cities in his region. Why do these belong to YHWH? The foreleg, or arm (Heb., zeroa), including the shoulder—something that can get the job done, and is therefore a symbol of strength (as used of Yosef in Gen. 49:24). YHWH says it was by His mighty zeroa that He delivered Israel from Egypt and judged Pharaoh (Ex. 6:6 et al). So part of the inheritance of those who are attached to YHWH and His service is strength and deliverance. The cheeks (alt., jawbones or jowls) are the lekhayim in Hebrew. Letting one’s cheeks be struck is a symbol of submitting to chastisement from one’s teacher when we have failed, in order to learn from it (Lam. 3:27; compare Yeshayahu 50:5-9; Hos. 11:4), but if we do not learn when He is gentle with us (which He prefers), like any parent, He has to strike harder. Turning the other cheek (Mat. 5:39) therefore does not mean letting oneself be walked over by an evil person, but continuing to learn from those who cause us hard work or difficulty (more basic meanings of the word often translated “evil” there) to see what YHWH wants us to learn from them, rather than whining about them. This is a gift, though at the time it does not feel like one. He wants us to move on from where we are, not make the same mistake again. Hardship drives us to His word to find out what is wrong—and that is exactly where He wants us. Stomach: specifically the first ventricle of a ruminant animal--where it digests food and returns it for further digestion so it has something very nourishing to feed its young. This is a picture of our meditating on YHWH's word over and over so we can feed the young with greater accuracy and proper attitude—certainly the task of the priest. (e.g., Acts 17:11) The Torah is not to depart from our mouth, but to be “ruminated” on day and night. (Y’hoshua 1:8)
4. "the first of your grain, your new wine, and your freshly-pressed oil. You shall also give him the first of what you shear from your sheep,
First: also the best, the choicest part. LXX, "firstfruits". Grain: from a term for "what multiplies". It is a picture of the community of Israel, to which the priests dedicate all their time. The fleece would provide the priests with clothing, not just food. Notice that all of these things require additional work before we present them—it is wine, not grapes, and oil, not olives, that are brought. The giver does the work so that the priest does not have to, and can stay busy with the responsibilities YHWH has given him. The firstfruits of other crops were brought at the feasts, possibly in part to vary the priests’ diet on such a special occasion, since the required offerings usually consisted mainly of bread and meat.
5. "because YHWH your Elohim has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand and serve in the Name of YHWH--[both] him and his sons forever.
YHWH chose him, so you give him your best too. Because Levi stood up for his sister’s honor (Gen. 34), YHWH let him stand before Him. Serve: or "minister to, "wait on". Forever: Nothing Y’shua did can cancel the Levitical order. They are called the messengers of YHWH (Mal. 2:7)—a phrase often used of “angels” as well, but also often used of Moshe, so this may help us demystify many passages of Scripture which are not meant to refer to a superhuman being.
6. "Now if the Levite comes out of one of your gates--from any [part of] Israel where he has been staying--and comes with all the desire of his soul to the place YHWH will choose,
Your gates: your jurisdiction, for he would have his own cities among the other tribal lands but no tribal territory of his own (v. 1). This is a Levite residing in an outlying city among all the tribes for the purpose of teaching all Israel the Torah and caring for the storehouses for the poor, widows, and orphans. But he has a right to move up to the service of the sanctuary if he has this compulsion:
7. "then he may serve in the Name of YHWH his Elohim, just like all his brothers, the Levites, who stand there before YHWH.
He would still not be a priest as such. There are many Levites and few priests, so the priests would need more help, especially at this time when there was only one nuclear family serving as priests. This sets a precedent for YHWH's promise that one day He will take priests and Levites from those of all tribes who were exiled among the nations. (Yeshayahu 66:21) Stand: By the time there was a Temple, no one except a king of the lineage of David was permitted to sit down within the inner courts of the sanctuary.
8. "They shall eat share for share, besides [what comes] from the sale of what pertains to the fathers.
Share for share: i.e., the newcomer (who serves by his own choice) will have the same amount (portion) to eat as those who have preceded him as YHWH had prescribed. What pertains to the fathers: The Levites had no land, but had many physical possessions, because many gifts would be brought to them which they could not use for themselves, and these could be bequeathed to their children. They would no longer need these in their new location, and could sell them to buy what they did need.
9. "When you come into the Land that YHWH your Elohim is giving to you, you must not learn to do abominable practices such as those nations [do]:
It is the Levites (vv. 1-9), not the Gentiles around us (vv. 10-14), who are to set the pattern for how we live.
10. "There must not be found among you one who makes his son or daughter pass through the fire, one who practices divination, a soothsayer, a whisperer, or a sorcerer,
Pass through the fire: that is, to Molekh (Lev. 18:21), which means “ruler”, symbolizing not just this heinous literal practice of burning one’s babies alive to “guarantee” continued fertility, but turning our children over to the “ruling” philosophies of our day—or letting the children themselves be the rulers in the house so that they become useless to the rest of the world. Do not let those from outside the household of Israel set their standards or their priorities. Teach them yourself in the areas that count most. Divination: literally, distribution, as in playing the odds, looking at the things they roll, such as dice, to see what the “future” holds—i.e., gambling on which number to pick, but YHWH has told as not to worship the numbers. (Yeshayahu 65:11) Soothsayer: literally, one who observes or produces clouds—and indeed much of what they do is really only “smoke and mirrors”, but the lesson that is closer to home may be “Don’t cloud the issues.” When Scripture is clear about something, do not bring up other considerations. Monks copied the Scriptures, but did not give them to the people, because they could not have retained power or gotten away with teaching their doctrines if they had. This is not to be the case in Israel. Whisperer: one who conjures spells or tells fortunes by observing omens, but also a gossip, who produces unfounded rumors that take on a life of their own. There is something "forbidden" about whispering that attracts us in a seductive sort of way that is even more powerful than a shout. It undermines respect for our brothers, and there should be no such witchcraft in Israel. Sorcerer: one who casts a spell—i.e., uses any means other than obedience to YHWH to get where he wants to go.
11. "or one who ties magic charms, or one who consults familiar spirits, or a wizard, or one who enquires of the dead,
Ties magic charms: LXX, "employing incantation"; the root word means to fascinate, and one can gain influence over people by putting on the best show, or become wealthy by teaching Scripture as “hype”. Familiar spirits: the word is based on the word for "ancestor", and as such it is a warning to remember that our fathers did inherit lies (Yirm. 16:19) We should not inquire from the early Church fathers or even the rabbis on an issue on which the Torah and the prophets have already spoken. YHWH will not tell us something different from what He told Moshe. Wizard: literally, a "knower". This might be a psychic hotline, scientist, or any “expert” who claims to “know” something that disagrees with what YHWH has said. One who enquires of the dead: whether a spirit guide or a crucifix. A small core of kabbalistic mysticism is valid, but most drifts into these practices. The angels warned Yeshua’s followers from the start not to seek the living among the dead. (Luke 24:5) Be thankful for his death and resurrection, but move on and accomplish what he died and rose to make possible.
12. "because all who do these things are abhorred by YHWH, and on account of these abominations, YHWH your Elohim is causing them to be dispossessed from before you.
Abhorred by YHWH: He is disgusted with these people, despite the myth that He "loves everyone". These people all focus on spiritual things—“secrets from the other side”, while the priests live a physical life of Torah right in front of us as examples to us. The Torah is about what we have our hands on, what we wear, what is on our plate. All of these other things emphasize knowing about tomorrow, and in the process we lose today—the only day we actually have, for it is never tomorrow, and even if there were it is not guaranteed us. (This is not meant in the hedonistic sense of forfeiting the benefit of later generations so we can have immediate gratification, but living out the Torah now rather than procrastinating.)
13. "You must be entirely in accord with YHWH your Elohim,
Entirely in accord: or perfect--not the Greek kind of “perfect” which is unattainable, but rather the Heberw kind--complete, whole, mature, seeking learning rather than childishly following after attractively-hawked mediums who only want your money. Be fully committed, with heart and head in the same place—looking wholly to YHWH, not these scattered deities which dissipate our energies and loyalties. With YHWH: loyal to Him in the midst of other options, but the root of the word for “with” means “huddled together” to the point that the shadows of the two individuals merge over overlap. No household can function effectively if it does not follow the times set by its head. If we cannot get on the same page in such a small context, how will we ever bring the whole nation of Israel into unity?
14. "because these nations which you are disinheriting listen to soothsayers and diviners, but as for you, YHWH your Elohim has not permitted you to [to do] so;
15. "a prophet like myself from within your midst--from among your brothers--will YHWH your Elohim raise up. He is [the one] to whom you must listen,
Muslims claim this is speaking about Muhammad. Many have applied it, rightly, to Yeshua, and by his day people were expecting a particular one, referred to as "that prophet" (Yochanan 1:21, 45). But it does not specify a time frame. The text allows for this refer to any true prophet in any generation, and indeed Y'hoshua was meant to be seen as the first, having authority like Moshe to the next generation, but it refers to any time such a prophet is needed. The main point is that YHWH will provide someone from among His people to answer our questions, so that we do not need to go to the outsiders listed in the preceding verses. YHWH wants to speak directly to Israel and lead through our knowledgeable interpretation of the Torah, not through one-time magical revelations that teach us nothing about His ways and cater only to our laziness and craving for the spectacular.
16. "according to all that you asked from YHWH your Elohim at Horev on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Don't let me hear the voice of YHWH my Elohim anymore, or let me see this great conflagration again, so I will not die!'
He reminds them that it was their idea to forfeit a direct connection with YHWH and to have a mediator. (Ex. 20:19) So He will choose which type of mediator we will have.
17. "And YHWH told me, ‘What they have said is appropriate;
18. "‘I will raise up a prophet for them from among their brothers like yourself, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he will tell them all that we will command.
A prophet from among their brothers: not a god-man (Yoch. 1:18), and not an outsider, but a fellow Israelite. We will command: This verb is rather unusual; it appears to read "I will command us", though "him" would seem the logical object. It may thus refer to YHWH and Moshe acting together as a unit, just as Yeshua (whom YHWH said was the one to heed in his generation, Mat. 17:5) ordered his life by the Torah (Mat. 5:17) and said he could do nothing but what he saw the Father doing. (Yochanan 5:19, 30)
19. "‘And what will take place is that the man who does not obey the words that he will speak in My name, I Myself will hold him accountable for it.
Not everyone has a direct line to YHWH; if we all did what we thought we were hearing from Him, there would be anarchy. The prophet spoke most often to the king, who is responsible to enforce the obedience to Torah among the whole nation. (17:18-19) The king is not even in the position to disregard the words of a prophet; this may be one reason Yeshua is both prophet and king. David was also both, but he deferred to Nathan, knowing he was fallible. The Torah is the primary prophet to all of us; if we cannot receive from the patterns Moshe established and adjust our lives to them, we are fools to say we are hearing from YHWH. Anything we think is from YHWH must line up with his words.
20. "‘Moreover, the prophet who may presume to speak a word in My name which I have not ordered him to say, or who speaks in the name of other mighty ones, that prophet shall die.
In My Name: something clearly not presented as merely his own opinion. But what a fine line we seem to be asked to walk here. If we do not listen to one type of prophet, we will be in serious trouble; if we listen to another type, we may get in worse trouble! YHWH anticipates the question we will naturally have:
21. "‘Now since you may say in your heart, "How are we to recognize which word is not from YHWH?",
How do we know who is the crackpot and who is genuine? The “nut” does not bear the right kind of fruit! Yeshua adds that the one who truly desires to do the will of YHWH will have the truth made clear to him. (Yochanan 7:17)
22. "‘when a prophet speaks in the name of YHWH, if the thing does not take place and does not come [true], that is the thing that YHWH has not said. The prophet has spoken presumptuously; do not be afraid of him.
The great sage Gamliel understood, based on this, that if it is from men rather than from YHWH, it will come to nothing. (Acts 5:34ff) The test is simple: Does it come true or not? This puts those who set specific dates in a very precarious place. We should beware of those who are constantly predicting the future, for that is the “tomorrow-orientation” discussed in verses 10-14 again. In the case of the prophecies that are to be fulfilled thousands of years later, they are given a specific point of reference such as "in that Day" or “in the latter days”. But where we have rendered it “If the thing does not take place”, it literally says, “If the word is not”; i.e., if it is not already established in Torah and if what he says does not come true—both factors must stand up, not just one or the other. If it does not agree with Torah, automatically discount it, even if his prediction comes true. (13:1-3) If the prophet’s words do not come true, his is definitely a false prophet, but just because his words come true does not guarantee that he is a righteous prophet; his miraculous signs are not guidance but only a test if he leads people to stray form YHWH. The death penalty applies to both perversions of prophecy. Do not be afraid of him: Hirsch renders it, "Have no scruples concerning him" (since we are told in 13:5 to stone him to death).
CHAPTER 19
1. "When YHWH your Elohim cuts off the nations whose Land YHWH your Elohim is giving to you to take over, and you settle in their cities and their houses,
Take over: dispossess, oust, and occupy. These are the “houses you did not build, vineyards you did not plant.” (Y’hoshua 24:13) YHWH was not sending us to claim an empty land, but one that had people dwelling in it—the wrong ones. He would cut them off, but we have to do the dispossessing. It is a “done deal” if we do our part, but He will not do our part for us. We cannot claim that Yeshua did everything for us; that is a “tradition of men” that nullifies the Words of YHWH. Each of His blessings has a responsibility attached to it. That is what a covenant is: one party does something, and the other party responds. He provided the way to enter back in and showed us how to do our part, but He will not act until we take the first step. They were gathered just outside the Land; today we are not yet gathered, so we are not yet in context to be able to claim the promise again. We must work hard to be a viable people again, so that He can dwell among us. When we get in the right position to move, He will remove the obstacles.
2. "you must set aside three cities for yourself in the midst of the Land that YHWH your Elohim is giving you to take possession of.
For yourself: Again, YHWH left part of the job for us to do. He did not spell out which cities to choose; He gave us guidelines by which to determine the best locations for the purpose. But the other side of the coin is that it is indeed for you, not just for someone else. It might be taking away one of the cities your tribe would have inhabited, but you will be ever so grateful if you ever need to use one of these cities. It is just like the storehouse tithe, which may seem steep if you have few resources, but one day you may be the one benefitting from it. After all, every one of these cities is a gift, so don’t feel cheated if a few are designated for specialized use. Moshe had already set up three of them (Betzer, Ramoth, and Golan) in the "extra" lands given to the two and a half tribes on the side of the Yarden which they had already conquered. (4:43) Y'hoshua did set up an additional three in the actual Land in obedience to this command. (Y'hoshua 20:2-8)
3. "You shall prepare the way for yourself by dividing the territory of the Land that YHWH your Elohim will cause you to inherit into three parts, so that any manslayer may flee there.
Prepare the way: LXX, "Do a survey" to find out which way will be the layout most conducive to hurrying to the cities of refuge. I.e., do not place the border just across the mountains from the city, making his flight more difficult. This is an established system of firm, smooth roads with any obstacles and overgrowth removed. The rabbis even say that at every crossroads there was some kind of directive pointing the way to the nearest asylum city. For yourself: Again, build it as if you will be the one running on it, and it will then be acceptable for your neighbor’s use. Dividing: into geographic districts, so the city would be as central as possible in each. Those actually chosen (Qedesh in the Galil, Sh’khem on the border between Efrayim and Menashe, and Kiryath Arba (Hevron) in the south) were little more than an average day’s journey from any inhabited part of the Land. These cities are not backwaters, so no one can just sneak in; it will be easy to see him coming, for a court awaits him there.
4. "Now this is the case of the manslayer who may flee there and survive: whoever [mortally] strikes his fellow inadvertently and without having hated him in times past.
5. "[For example, one] who goes with his neighbor into the forest to cut wood, and his hand swings the axe to fell a tree, but the iron [head] comes off the wood [handle] and hits his neighbor so that he dies--he [is the one who] may flee to one of these cities and stay alive
A modern analogy would be a drunk driver guilty of “involuntary manslaughter”. If it was indeed an accident, he had better run to the nearest asylum city, for if he is caught, his next of kin will not accept a glib, “I am sorry”. He is still held responsible for his action. Today, we tend to think that, because it was unintentional, it was not our fault, but the Torah disagrees. Words alone can never make amends for what has been done. He should have made sure the head of the axe was tightened if he had just been whacking away at hardwood trees, or ensured that he was not driving in the rain on bald tires.
6. "in case the avenger of blood might chase after the manslayer while his passion is hot and catch up with him because the distance is too great, then beat the life out of him, though he had no legal death sentence, since he had not hated him in times past.
Avenger: Hirsch, "acceptor of responsibility for". His nearest male kinsman--a brother, uncle, or cousin--is the one appointed to avenge innocent blood which “cries out” to YHWH from the ground to be avenged. (Gen. 4:10) The life is in the blood, and this answers Qayin’s question with a resounding “Yes, we are our brothers’ keepers!” There are many factors in play here. If a brother kills a brother, another of their brothers might actually prefer that he escapes to the asylum city so that he does not lose a second brother. (This may be another reason YHWH allows an uncle or cousin to carry out the sentence as well.) Numbers 35:6ff goes into much more detail about these “cities of refuge” or asylum. The person is not automatically scot-free when he arrives there, for he has to present his case there upon arrival. If the leaders believe him, he is allowed in, but is extradited to his home city for trial by those who know him if the elders of the city send for him. If he had intentionally hit the other man with anything that could reasonably be expected to kill someone, he is counted a murderer, even if it was not premeditated. If they find him not guilty, he must go back to the city of refuge and remain there until the high priest dies. After that, he may return home if he lives long enough. (Y’hoshua 20:4) If he steps outside the precincts of the city, he is “fair game” for the avenger of blood, because though he is not a murderer, he is guilty of shedding innocent blood, which is a sin of a different category. Passion: literally, "heart". In the emotion of the moment, he does not care whether the death was intentional or not, and to kill the killer would not be counted a “murder in cold blood” (for he has a right and even a responsibility to try to even out the equation again). Hated him: or "been his enemy" (Hirsch). Two mandates seem to compete with one another: the general command that if someone sheds the blood of one made in the image of Elohim, his blood is to be shed by a man (Gen. 9:5-6, reiterated in Ex. 21:12) and the ideal implied here (when it says he “had no legal death sentence") that no one should be executed without a fair trial. (Compare verse 12 and 17:6.) By insisting on the road being well-prepared and the way not too long (so that everyone has a shot at justice), YHWH makes the playing field completely level, so that whatever the two men bring to the road (age, physical condition, or natural speed) is the only inequality in the equation, and it leaves the door open for Him to decide who arrives there and who does not. If the involuntary manslayer reaches the city of refuge first, it shows that YHWH is on his side and wants him to survive. This also allows for justice on lesser issues: a man may be abusing his wife and making her life miserable to the point that YHWH allows him to accidentally kill someone else so that he will be taken out of a context in which he is not fulfilling his role properly.) Because he has shed blood through his carelessness, he is still a prisoner, in a sense. His life will never be the same. We are not even certain to what extent his family members were permitted to come live with him there. When YHWH forgives our past and ancestral sins, He does not turn us loose to go wherever we want to go; we must remain within the parameters of His Torah.
7. "That is why I myself am ordering you as follows: Set apart for yourself three cities.
The etymology of the Hebrew term for these cities of “refuge”, “asylum”, or “shelter” is fascinating: It means “place of those maimed or lacking in body parts”! Everyone living there (except the Levites who administer it) has killed someone. But someone who has had to leave his relatives and inheritance behind (for only death would await him there) is certainly as handicapped as someone missing part of his body. They each must be attached to a new city. But serving one another—filling in for each other’s lack—is an antidote to the depression they must feel. In Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 28, YHWH is out to bring down the pride of Efrayim (the Northern Kingdom) like an avenger of blood. We would be “put through the wringer”, but He says He will be a crown of glory to those who are left. He will bring justice to those who turn back the battle at the gate—language very reminiscent of the city of refuge. Mikha 4:5 identifies this remnant as “the lame” and those driven out and afflicted by YHWH. “Lame” here really means “limping ones”. When alone, we are handicapped, but when enough people with missing parts accept YHWH’s rebuke about where we are lacking, those missing body members can now fit together and make up for each other’s lack. To do so, we have to understand what our particular job is; the big toe is not to try to function as an ear-lobe. We cannot do whatever we want; there is still judgment in this city, for we are under the authority of new elders. This group is not made up of the rich and powerful, but those who know they are needy. A large part of what we are lacking is preparation for Torah-based justice. YHWH’s throne cannot be established in our midst until we build the foundation. We will need to have systems in place in advance so we are not caught unprepared when the time comes. Step one is to know the Torah intimately. It shows that justice is all about loving one’s neighbor as oneself—holding each other to the same high standard. There can be no justice without every one of us being subject to judgment. We would hope the outcome would not be condemnation, and the best way to avoid needing to be judged by others is to regularly judge ourselves, but this is not always adequate since each of us is lacking understanding in some areas and we all have blind spots. We all must be brought back into this pattern for Israel to function properly as a light to the nations.
8. "And if YHWH your Elohim enlarges your territory the way He promised to your ancestors, and has given you all the Land that He promised He would give to your ancestors
9. "if you will be careful to carry out all these orders that I am commanding you today--to love YHWH your Elohim and to walk in all His ways every day--then you shall add another three cities in addition to these three,
This would bring the total of Cities of Refuge to nine. This command is yet to be fulfilled. The territory YHWH promised to Avraham (Gen. 15:18) is all the way up to the Euphrates and down to the Brook of Egypt. This would be the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites (15:19), which they had not yet conquered. Y’hezq’el’s description (47:15ff) includes at least half the Negev and much of present-day Syria. Z’kharyah 10:10 suggests that it may include Levanon. David and Shlomoh (2 Chron. 9:26) ruled over all the kings in this territory, but there were still other kings there, so this was more a sphere of influence than additional lands the Israelites themselves actually spread into, so these additional three asylum-cities have never yet been designated, at least not in the records available to us. But if we are faithful in what is least and get this much right, YHWH will give us more.
10. "so that innocent blood will not be shed within the Land that YHWH your Elohim is giving you as an inherited possession, and there should come to be blood upon you.
He is concerned that this Land, which is intended to serve as a restoration of Eden insofar as is possible, be free from all forms of injustice, especially wrongful destruction of life. Though the avenger of blood may technically have the right to kill the slayer of his kin at any time, YHWH considers him deserving of protection until proven guilty. The kinsman redeemer is a stand-in for his dead relative. He acts in his stead to raise up a child for him if he could not do so during his lifetime, and he avenges the one who can no longer avenge himself. This way there is always a voice for the one who has lost his voice or influence.
11. "But if there should be a man who is malicious toward his neighbor and waits in ambush for him, then rises up and strikes his body so that he dies, then escapes to one of these cities,
There is still a price to pay for accidental killing, but murder (premeditated, maliciously-motivated killing) can only be paid for with one’s own life:
12. "then the elders of his city must send and bring him from there and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, so that he may be put to death.
Notice that those of his own tribe and clan still have jurisdiction over him no matter where he is living. The city of refuge is not intended to allow anyone to escape true justice. If they find it to be intentional, the avenger is still the executioner, but now he has the added recognition of the proper authorities, in case he should have any misgivings. Justice sometimes requires such drastic action in order to prevent much more needless bloodshed. This is not the wild west or the barbarians; it is the Torah, and we need to prepare our hearts and minds for such a change in law from what seems normal today. Malice clouds reason, so YHWH has a solution in place for those who succumb to it. It is hard to be honest when a death penalty hangs over one’s head, but if he is not, his soul becomes corrupted, and he becomes a liar. He used to know what a lie was, but now he is fighting for his life. But blaming another is no place to take refuge. There is already enough unavenged blood crying out; how much more when we know it was deliberate? If we do not report it, we are as guilty as the one who actually lifts his hand. This is far from an everyday event in Israel, and no one should ever be eager to fulfill this responsibility, but we must prepare our hearts in case we must, for the Torah does not change with the whims of society, and it does not ask for our opinion. There is no freedom of speech where YHWH has already spoken.
13. "Your eye must not take pity on him; rather, you must purge the innocent blood from Israel, so it may go well for you.
This does not seem fair, but it is just. Your eye: an idiom for whether one is generous or stingy. To be liberal here, where YHWH is strict, would be the kind of “light that is darkness” of which Y’shua spoke. (Mat. 6:23) Notice that he said, “If your right eye offends you, [go as far as to] pluck it out”, for we are to let our left eye rule in this case. Not pity him: This is the kind of obedience that really separates the men from the boys. When it is not a season for mercy, we need to close our right eye. If there is a way to look at this through the right eye, that should have been done at the trial; afterward it is inappropriate. If we are weak in judgment, we sometimes have to put a “patch” over the eye of mercy until we are better balanced. We must do what needs to be done to uphold Israel’s ability to love one another. There is no true mercy without judgment, and vice versa. If we are lacking in either, we are half-blind. If we are always about mercy, we will be unbalanced and spineless—another form of “lacking body parts”. Yet if applied in equal measures, in YHWH’s mathematics, mercy still somehow outweighs judgment. (Yaaqov 2:13) Acting one way in one season and a different way in another is not double-mindedness; it is being well-rounded. Rashi says this means you should not say, “The first [person] has already been killed; why should we kill this one too and cause two Israelites to be killed?” (Sifrei) We dare not forgive one who has wronged all of Israel, and brought blood guilt on YHWH’s Land and people. The success of this enclave of righteousness in a world gone bad depends on ridding it of any vestige of what expelled man from Eden in the first place.
14. "You may not shift your neighbor's boundary marker, which the first [settlers] have laid out to mark off the property that you will inherit in the Land which YHWH your Elohim is entrusting you to take over.
Shift: move or displace. This is a form of stealing. These boundaries define our inheritance. The fact that your neighbor may not know exactly where the property limit that his earliest ancestors in the Land (the patriarchs) set up is does not give you the right to adjust it to your advantage when he is not looking. Leave it where Y’hoshua put it. The root word for boundary (or border) is "a twisted cord"--the rope used to measure or mark it off; it recalls the three-stranded cord which is not easily broken. Moshe set up a rope boundary around Mt. Sinai, which we were not to let our hearts lead us to cross. This specifically links the Torah to the tribal lands: if we are again obedient to His commands, He will restore us to our proper lands. If we do not "bind it back up" (give the Torah its right interpretation rather than slackening it, Mat. 5:19), our land will remain trodden underfoot by "dogs". This is not being bound hand and foot, as so many imagine, but being supported and braced as with a belt or girdle. A boundary defines how far we can go. Moving it changes or perverts one’s inheritance. YHWH gave us the Sabbath, His festivals, and all of the Torah as our inheritance. Yeshua did not change that, and recognizing this is now allowing us to locate the original markers again and treat them, not the diminished boundaries, as the standard.
15. "A single piece of evidence will not stand to establish anyone's guilt or to bring punishment for any error that he commits; upon the word of two witnesses, or [better] upon the declaration of three witnesses, shall a matter be confirmed.
Piece of evidence: or "witness". We need witnesses at such a trial because a life is at stake. One fact can always be skewed to mean many things. No doctrine may be based solely on one verse, for it can easily be taken out of context. It must be something stated at least twice in the Torah or three times in the prophets; if it is found in the New Testament alone, this carries no weight, since that has been tampered with much more often than the Hebrew Scriptures. If there are not two witnesses in the Torah, we need one from the Torah and two from the prophets that all agree. In a more difficult case, or when the competence or motivation of the witnesses is suspect, three are required. Error: or lapse (Hirsch). Do not believe gossip if it is spread only by one person.
16. "If a hostile witness should rise up against a man to accuse him of treason,
Hostile: vicious, violent, or malicious; Heb., hamas, the very name of the violent terrorist group in the Land today. In fulfillment of Psalm 35:11, this occurred at Y’shua's own trial (Mat. 26:60) and that of Stefanos. (Acts 6:13). Treason: apostasy, departing from the way, defection.
17. "then both of the men who have the dispute shall stand in YHWH's presence before the cohanim or judges who shall be [in office] in those days,
18. "and the judges must investigate thoroughly, and if the witness turns out to [be bringing] fraudulent evidence or bringing a false accusation against his brother,
Fraudulent: unfounded or deceitful. This is a breach of the ninth commandment.
19. "then you shall do to him just what he had plotted to do to his brother; this way you can burn away the crookedness from your midst,
Y’shua gave us sage advice: “What you sow you will reap.” Others say it in a different way: “What goes around comes around.” What you put out is what will come back to you. If you accuse your neighbor of stealing three of your sheep while they are actually hidden in the barn, you owe him three sheep. If we sow laziness, others will let us down too; if we sow commitment to others, we will find many committed to us as well. The false accuser is worthy of the same punishment he wanted to come on the one he accused, because the charge came from his own twisted mind. The idea originated there, and must be purged away.
20. "and those who remain alive will hear of it and be afraid, and never again will another such wickedness be done among you.
There is no slow torture or time spent on death row, only swift action that will deter others from repeating this error. YHWH gave us the responsibility to avenge our brother’s blood, in hopes that we would be so concerned for the life of our brother that we would never need for this to occur.
21. "Nor shall you look [for a way] to spare; rather, life [shall be exacted] for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, leg for leg.
Some will argue that this means we will have a land full of one-eyed, toothless cripples! But while we might have one or two of those, the intended result is a land full of many more careful people! Justice must be upheld, no matter how painful, for it means mercy on the rest of Israel because the evil threat is removed. The context for “an eye for an eye” is not simply someone who is careless and injures another by his negligence, but one who specifically wanted to inflict this injury on another and was not successful in doing so, being found out before he could get away with it. Whatever way he wanted to penalize his brother is how he must be penalized. (v. 19) Historically, if the injury was indeed judged to be accidental, the defendant would pay damages acceptable to the victim rather than having the physical injury inflicted on him as well. If it was intentional, both penalties would be imposed. Our job is not merely to regather Israel, but to regather them to these ancient boundaries, and build the highways that lead to the cities established at the first. (Compare Yeshayahu 11:16ff.) When we strengthen the weak hands and fearful hearts, Elohim will come and save us. (Yesh. 35) Then the lame (those missing body parts) will leap like a deer, and a highway will be there which is called “set-apart”. But highways do not just magically appear. They have to be funded, planned, and built. So prepare the way! Take away all the stumblingblocks! Teach one another so they will avoid the pitfalls we’ve encountered!
CHAPTER 20
1. "When you go out into battle against your enemy, and you see [the] horses and chariots [of a] nation larger than yourself, do not be afraid of them, because YHWH your Elohim, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, is with you.
When: literally, because. This assumes that Israel will have battles to fight. We know what to fight against by what season it is. Qoheleth (Eccles.) 3:8 says there is a time for war. We pray that our times of peace will far outnumber it, but must be ready for both. When is the time for war? For our ancestor Avram, it was when his kinsman was taken captive by enemies. (Gen. 14) Our brothers have been taken captive by many religions, philosophies, and selfishness. Avram could not go against them alone; he took 318 trained men. They could not set anyone free if they had not been properly trained, and if they were not working together. More than any other title, YHWH calls Himself “YHWH Tzv’aoth”—commander of armies”. Again, He can make it possible to conquer the things that stand in our way as we return Home again today. We can pre-empt enemy attacks by filling our lives with study of Torah and loving our neighbors as ourselves. The Hebrew word for battle is from the same root as the word for bread, which is a symbol of community. (1 Cor. 10:16-17) When we battle against self, this feeds community. What hinders us is supposed to nourish us; our enemies are supposed to serve as our “bread”. (Num. 14:9) There is no option of losing given here; the battle is in front of us, and if we go through it we will be fed and come out stronger in that area. We should expect our enemies to appear greater and better armed than we, but this is only a set-up to show that YHWH’s arm is still stronger. Why should we not trust the One who has proven Himself so many times? No matter whether it feels like He is with us or not, if He says He is, He is. If we see ourselves as grasshoppers in comparison to the enemy, remember that even grasshoppers can devour its crops and leave it greatly weakened. No individual in his right mind would go to war against an entire army; he would simply be slaughtered. But if one of us is at war, all of us are. The very psalm (118) that tells us “it is better to trust in YHWH than to put confidence in men” also says “YHWH is for us through those who help us”. He works through His people. M-16s and bombs are not how we will win this war. We win by trusting His people to be there for us, and by being there for one another, proving trustworthy. When we learn to operate as a team and are willing to die for one another, we know we can trust those who are in the “foxhole” with us. “Prayer warriors” are a valuable part of the team, but we also need teachers, and those who provide wise counsel are like another battalion backing us up. If our children are sharp arrows (Psalm 127:4-5), those who sharpen them are our allies. Not all soldiers are on the front line; we also need people to prepare bandages for the wounded or, nowadays, computer support. An army runs on its belly, so this is another way to contribute. Everyone who helps to defeat what prevents us from going Home is needed, so do your part, whatever it is, and do not be too proud to ask for help in areas you are being defeated. When we know others are going to battle with us, we will be hesitant to start unprofitable fights if we know it is going to involve our companions as well; this alone would deliver us from some of our enemies. And we have so many things to fight that we will have no time to attack one another over trivial matters. Remembering the obstacles that you have already overcome because of YHWH is a powerful weapon. Look what He has done that others said could not be done. Elisha was obedient to this command when an army came against him, and both he and his servant had a greater revelation of just who the human forces were up against. (2 Kings 6:17) Our greatest defeats come from worrying about what might take place rather than letting these challenges show us just how YHWH can overcome them. Since Elisha follows Eliyahu, the spirit that is again coming "before the Great and Terrible Day of YHWH", Elisha represents the time that will follow this one, and this may thus be a prophetic allusion to the time when all nations will hem Israel in and threaten to snuff out its existence. So do not fear, but rather obey the following procedures:
2. "But what you should do when you are getting close to battle is that the priest should approach and speak to the people,
This is a war priest, one of Aharon’s descendants. Though not the high priest, as a descendant of Pin’has as well, he has an eternal covenant, and thus speaks to us “from eternity”. He is a reminder that despite this battle, the covenant between YHWH and Israel will continue, and this is YHWH’s heart toward Israel as it goes to battle:
3. "telling them, ‘Listen, Israel! Today you are drawing near to engage in battle against your enemies. Do not let your hearts be timid! Do not be afraid! Do not run away or tremble in terror due to their presence,
A heart is meant to be not hard, but it is meant to be firm. There are times for our hearts to be soft—especially toward YHWH Himself—but a soft heart out of season is also an enemy. YHWH will strengthen our heart if we employ whatever courage we already have. (Psalm 27:14; 31:24) We are not to follow our hearts, but take control of them and tell them how to feel! Follow His heart instead. We must tell our souls to praise Him (Psalm 146:1), for naturally in such a circumstance they will not. Fear leads to hesitancy, and if we hesitate we have already lost. The first step in our training is to learn not to be afraid. The first thing to make war on is our fears. Root them out first so that by the time the trumpet sounds, we can be fully engaged in the battle and hit the enemy head-on. YHWH knows that building trust requires experience, so He is there for back-up. Not being fearful also depends on having allies there to support us, because this command is to the whole of Israel. Fearing the people who await us where YHWH is taking us is actually rebellion against Him. (Num. 14:9) Their protection has departed, and the King is in the field—on the battlefield—with us. Our inward enemies are weaker at the season of repentance than any other time of year, so take advantage of that and deal with the things in yourself that keep you from being useful to the rest of Israel. Courage is not foolish spontaneity, though if we wait to express our initial determination, we will find reasons to turn back. After we defeat our fears, teach the rest of Israel to walk in the same courage. How important is this? Genesis 36:24 links “Do not fear” with YHWH’s being the Elohim of Avraham. In other words, this is an integral part of the covenant. Refusing to look at the areas that need to be defeated will keep us from even trying, and thus guarantee our defeat. Do not try to have empathy for them; they are our oppressors! Take control of your heart, because it goes deeper than your emotions to the tooth-and-nail endurance that we need to win. Whatever makes war on us has been put under our jurisdiction, so be confident and go all-out.
4. "because YHWH your Elohim is the one who is going with you to fight with your enemies for you, and to bring you deliverance!'
No matter how intimidating things appear, the bigger the enemy, the bigger YHWH gets. It is really all about Him, after all. He will come through for you if you are attached to this nation.
5. "The officials shall also say to the people, ‘Which [of you] is the man who has built a new house, but has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in battle, and another man dedicate it.
Built a new house: usually done when one was betrothed, and his father would decide when the house was ready for him to get married. So this person is probably a very young man. Dedicated: or inaugurated. He has not yet written YHWH’s words on its doorposts. (11:20) There are things more important than war: building the Kingdom, through strengthening the positive things that will give us a foundation for a sustainable peace when the war is over. (Ross Nichols)
6. "‘And which [of you] is the man who has planted a vineyard and not [yet] begun [to eat of it]? Let him go and return to his home, lest he die in battle, and another man tame it.
Begun: can also mean "broken it in" or brought from a state of wildness to one of usefulness. In other words, he has gotten past the three years from which no one eats of it and the fourth year, when it is given to YHWH, and is into the fifth, when he himself may eat of it. He has waited this long, and a vineyard must be tended daily when the fruit is coming in; if he misses this open window, the crop can easily be lost. This is why “sitting under one’s own vine” is a symbol of the peacefulness of the Kingdom after the Messiah conquers all nations. (1 Kings 4:25; Mikha 4:4) If the army can indeed afford to spare him, he should be on site at the time of harvest, because this is another way of providing for not only his family, but the poor who come to glean in his vineyard.
7. "‘And which [of you] is the man who has betrothed a woman, but not [yet] taken her [in marriage]? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in battle, and another man take her.'
YHWH wants His people to experience the fullness of life before possibly going to their death. YHWH even takes it further in 24:5, saying the man should not go to war for a year after his marriage, presumably to ensure that he can father at least one child to carry on his name and genetic code in case he should then die in battle. These three instances evidence a compassionate approach even to warfare; YHWH does not just want an indiscriminate draft of as many warm bodies as possible. Yet v. 3 seems to promise that this will not take place. Unless there is a situation like Akhan at Y’rikho (Y’hoshua 7-8), death is not presented as an actual threat if YHWH is truly with us. If you have confidence in Him, you will not die, whereas, if it is your time to die, staying off the battlefield will not leave you any safer. Your new house might cave in on you, or you may trip over your vine and break your neck! He promises to be with the army; who knows what may be lurking in your vineyard? Expecting someone else to get our wife or vineyard would not be real considerations if YHWH has promised to give us victory. And if your concern is that enemies will be the ones using your possessions, meeting them on the battlefield with the army might be the best way to prevent that. So the other side of the soin here is that someone whose mind is elsewhere will not be in the best position to fight, and could endanger his comrades when he is thinking about his new house, farm, or bride rather than focusing on battle. In any case, Y’shua does not accept these Torah-validated exemptions as excuses to stay out of the battle (literal or not) to bring the Kingdom. (Compare Luke 14:16-24) If you have a conflict of interests, be honest with yourself, stay off the battlefield and leave the job to others. YHWH is not concerned for numbers, but that those who are in the trenches beside their fellows are trustworthy and single-minded; if we uphold His house, He will uphold ours, and He can do a much better job of it than we can.
8. "And further still, the officers shall say to the people, ‘Which [of you] is the man who is afraid and timid of heart? Let him go and return to his house, so the heart of his brothers will not melt like his heart.'
Officers: the term means “those who keep a written record”, which will document which ones went to war and which ones went home. Gid'on said the same to his soldiers in the book that bears the same name as this Torah portion. (Shoftim/Judges 7:3) YHWH used this method to pare his army down to a mere 1% of what he started with. He only wants to work with people that are of a certain mindset. We should not voice our "what if's" as the ten evil spies did. (See v. 1) But, thank YHWH, courage is also contagious. Children are not fearful unless they are taught to be afraid. Do our words and actions teach them fear or courage?
9. "Then what must take place when the officers have finished speaking to the people is that they must appoint captains over the organized armies at the forefront of the nation.
Note that there can be no leaders and no battle plan formed until after the fainthearted are taken away. No one knows in advance who will lead, because this will be determined by the conditions and the specific tactics that are needed and who is best at each.
10. "When you approach a city to engage it in battle, then call out [an offer of] peace to it.
Aramaic, "offer it terms of peace". Violence is a last resort; we do not want to destroy people unnecessarily, and should try to reason with them first. If you are belligerent, though you may beat someone, you will always have to watch your back lest they retaliate. But neither would anyone feel an obligation to agree to our terms if we do not appear to pose some threat to them. We have YHWH’s authority, so we need not cower.
11. "And if ‘peace' is how it answers you, and it opens [its gates] to you, then all the people who are found in it will be your tributaries, and they will serve you.
Peace: a settlement in which they completely surrender, for the verb here means "to complete". Your tributaries: i.e., those who pay you tribute. They have two choices: to stand in Israel’s way and be killed, or be spared and become servants of Israel; nothing else is acceptable. They become compulsory laborers for the Israelites who move into their cities. Israel cuts no deals; we cannot, for if someone else is setting any of the rules, we will not be free to obey YHWH in everything. We offer them shalom by allowing them to walk the path of servanthood that we walk. In Israel, the one who serves is considered the greatest, and to be a slave in Israel is better than being a king anywhere else. Where else do the slaves get a day off each week, and get to participate in all the festivities? They can become part of Israel, and retain no distinct identity and no baggage of their own. In the Kingdom, there will no longer be Baptists or Methodists! We have no record of any people actually making this choice, except the Nethinim (the Giv’onites, per Y’hoshua 9:21-27), who were not supposed to be in this category (per v. 15); these are the rules for outside the Land of Israel, not within its borders. Yet they seem to have truly become Israelites and greatly distinguished themselves, per the book of Ezra. This is not just about physical warfare; in any conversation, you can bring about a “war” very easily by using the wrong words—combative, red-flag words that only make an argument escalate, and unlike a physical fight, there is often no real winner. Make sure you are not bickering over something pointless. A gentle answer will turn away anger (Prov. 15:1), and ultimately this will increase your peace, because if you make friends rather than enemies by letting the inconsequential irritations slide, down the road they will be on your side when something really important is at stake.
12. "But if it will not conclude [a peace] with you, but makes war on you, then treat it as an enemy.
Compare Mat. 10:12-15, when Y’shua sends his disciples to proclaim the Kingdom--that those who left the covenant can become part of Israel again, but they must do it according to YHWH's terms. If the dust (descendants of Avraham) from there will not adhere to His "feet" (pilgrim festivals--i.e., His times and seasons), then the peace that is offered to that city will be retracted. Treat it as an enemy: or "confine it", "besiege it", "close in on it". If any of our habits or inclinations cannot be diverted into usefulness for the Kingdom, we must get those things out of our lives.
13. "And when YHWH your Elohim has delivered it into your hand, you must strike down every one of its males with the ‘mouth' of the sword.
“When”—It is not a question of “if” He will deliver them into our hand. Strike down: Take away their ability to multiply themselves. Though we would prefer peaceful coexistence, the Torah is realistic about the fact that it is not always possible; when dealing with a true evil, if it is not eradicated, it will only come back again to haunt us. Religious fanatics whose only goal is to take over the whole world will not be motivated by peace or reason, and we cannot allow them to prevent us from doing our job.
14. "Only the women, the toddlers, the animals, and whatever [else] may be in the city--any of its spoils--may you seize for yourself. Then you shall eat the plunder of your enemies, which YHWH your Elohim has turned over to you.
Numbers 31:18 clarifies that it is only the virginal women who are to be preserved, for others may yet carry the seed of the other nation, as apparently occurred with Agag the Amaleqite king. Only children are to be preserved, for they can still be incorporated into Israel without changing us; they are young enough to change their ways and assimilate.
15. "This is how you shall act in regard to any of the cities which are very distant from you--which are not among the cities of these nations [here].
The offer of peace only applies to those outside the Land. But within the area that is our jurisdiction, the highest standard must be maintained:
16. "Only from the cities of these peoples, which YHWH your Elohim is giving you as an inheritance, shall you not leave alive anything that breathes,
Here, there are no offers of peace; these people cannot even be our slaves. Destroying whatever occupies our inheritance is the only route to what will benefit all of mankind. Not that we should gladly annihilate even their pet gerbils, but we have to be ready to keep any part of the Torah that is required of us. We will be grateful if we do not have to do this literally in our generation, but if we must, the half-sheqel is given to us to deal with the guilt. (Ex. 30:13) He is very clear about the limits of where we can perpetrate wholesale destruction, and in the midst even of that, He gives a further qualification in v. 19.
17. "because these--the Hittite, the Emorite, the Kanaanite, the Prizzite, the Hiwite, and the Y'vusite--you shall devote to destruction, just as YHWH your Elohim has commanded you,
What does this mean to us today? The names of these peoples all have meaning. Hittites means “those who strike fear” in others. Emorites means “those who talk”—who boast, who want to teach you their ways, but cannot live up to their words. Kanaanite means “salesman” or “middleman”. Prizzites means “the ones set outside”—who will not be part of a community. Hiwite means “to be chief”—those who want to lead (but use politics, not servanthood to get there). Y’vusites means “those who step on others”. All of these are ways people still usurp Israel’s rightful position, so this is very relevant as we reclaim the inheritance YHWH meant us to have. These peoples are symbolic of those who are "in the Land", who have drawn near but have not fully surrendered to Israel, such as pastors of churches, who should know better, but are unwilling to give up their salaries to teach undiluted truth. They have muddied the waters by mixing paganism and the doctrines of men with the truth. (Y'hezq'el/Ezek. 34:19) They cannot be upheld in their current condition. They must sit and be taught by those who know Torah; they may no longer instruct, even if they were once leaders in their own camps. Devote to destruction: to set apart, but for a different reason than to make something “holy”; this word is the one from which “harem” is derived, so this makes it clear that it means “off limits”. We must first set them apart mentally by seeing them as not part of our inheritance. Do not put a human face on them. Since this tool is provided in our arsenal, we may use it when the time is right. Of course, after the ground is retaken, we need to lay it down.
18. "the intent being that they will not teach you to imitate the disgusting practices which they have been performing for their mighty ones, and thus err in relation to YHWH your Elohim.
Though their practices probably riddled their whole cultures with sexually-transmitted diseases and possibly even AIDS which could wreak physical havoc if we spared any, the focus is on quelling their influence once and for all. He does not want us to learn to be like them. The heart of the matter is that if we leave them here, they will influence our children to be pagans. If from the start we see them as worthy of death, we will be less likely to let them teach us anything.
19. "When you lay siege to a city for many days, to wage war against it in order to capture it, do not waste its tree[s] by wielding an axe against them, because you may eat of them, so do not cut them down. For is a tree of the field a human being, to go from before you into the siege-mound?
Something that is not against us is for us. (Luke 9:50) We may need these trees for sustenance if the siege is prolonged, but even more so afterwards. While those who will not benefit Israel do not belong in YHWH’s Land, we should leave what does belong there. It has taken these trees five years to become useful for fruit, and soon the fruit will be yours. There should be no useless slaughter, for what tree is going to attack you? This is an interesting priority of YHWH’s—one that gardeners can relate to, and environmentalists as well. We might tend to write off the “world”system completely in our religious zeal, when in fact we need many parts of it. While some people worship the Earth, it is, after all, our home, so we need to care for it. Make it more like Eden again, and that is precisely what we are told was there—fruit trees. So if we destroy them along with the wicked, have we gained much? Think of the next generation and what kind of conditions our dealings will leave for them.
20. "Only a tree which you are certain is not a tree from which to eat--that one you may use up or cut down and build a siege-mound against the city that is making war with you, until you bring it down.
This immediately brings to mind the forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden. YHWH barred our first ancestors from the tree of life so it would not be ruined, but He has allowed us to make use of the tree of "knowing" for His purposes in recapturing the City. But once that is accomplished, "knowledge is done away with" (1 Cor. 13:8) since "we know in part" (13:9) and whoever thinks he knows anything has not begun to experience the kind of knowledge he really needs (1 Cor. 8:2). Fruitless trees may be cut down. (Compare Luke 13:6-9 and Mat. 21:19-20.)
CHAPTER 21
1. "If someone is found mortally wounded--lying fallen in the [open] field--on the territory that YHWH your Elohim is giving you to take possession of, and it is not known who has struck him down,
Mortally wounded: literally "pierced". There has to be some apparent evidence that he did not die of natural causes, and after that the likelihood of his being killed by an animal also needs to be considered. We should look for clues such as a big gash on the head or a slit throat as opposed to being torn.
2. "then your elders and judges must come out and measure [the distance] to the cities that surround the mortally-wounded [person],
Elders: Rulers of tens, fifties, etc. But all heads of households, even if not elders in their locales, need to be familiar with the general command, because this is our system of accountability. If all of us are familiar with the details of the Torah so that we know things are being done rightly, it should keep the court system from getting too bogged down, because many things can be handled at lower levels. Each jurisdiction may have a different way of carrying out the details, but this gives us all a framework to work with. This shows the importance of each person taking responsibility, not just for his own words and actions, but for anything that could damage Israel’s relationship with YHWH. If the people become ignorant, the leadership can do whatever they want to, as in the dark ages, when the Church indeed kept the common people in the dark by not letting them read the Scriptures for themselves--or even learn to read at all.
3. "and what must take place is that the city--that is, the elders of that city--nearest the mortally-wounded one must select a heifer from the herd which has not been worked with and which has not pulled with a yoke.
We are our brothers' keepers; not just what occurs on our own property, but what belongs commonly to the nation of Israel is our responsibility. In Israel, one cannot prosecute from circumstantial evidence; there must be witnesses. Without witnesses, no individual can be held responsible, yet every part of YHWH’s Land is to be a place of justice. Torah requires that responsibility be taken for everything in Israel. So the community nearest the scene of the crime must pay the price, because it was done “on their watch”.
4. "Then the elders of the city shall bring the heifer down to the valley of a perennial stream that is neither tilled nor sown, and break the heifer’s neck there in the valley.
Valley of a perennial stream: one with constantly-running water, symbolic of washing away the guilt. It would be a very hard thing to find a perpetual stream by which no one has planted, because this would be the best place in a dry land to plant. But the difficulty is precisely what is intended. It behooves the leaders of each town to know in advance where the nearest such place is, and to reserve some areas as untouched in case this ever needs to be done. It is in an uncultivated area is so no one will be tempted to connect the place of the ritual with the one who owns the crops there, as if to suggest that he might have been the slayer. This allays even remote suspicions so no one’s reputation is sullied by unfounded rumors. Similarly, the altar is to be built with uncut stones. Such a valley would be the ideal place to obtain stones that no iron implements had touched, since no agricultural tools had been used here. The stones are shaped by the water, which is symbolic of Torah, and this correlates with the fact that this is a case that only the Torah can judge, since it is beyond our ability to determine guilt. A virginal cow (under a year old) is offered in a virginal place. It is “innocent” to correlate with the avowed innocence of this community. It seems such a waste to kill this cow. It has never benefitted anyone, so it is truly a sacrifice. It will never give milk or bear young. And all of that meat that no one will eat! But that is exactly the point: a life has been wasted. A man is dead for no reason, and all of his potential has been wasted as well, so some payment must be made. Breaking the neck of a cow that weighs hundreds of pounds is no easy task, especially since we cannot just beat it with a club until its neck breaks; it must be done as quickly and humanely as possible, for the Torah does not permit cruelty to animals. (See chapter 22.) The Mishnah (Sotah 9) tells us that it was done with an axe from behind. This is strong motivation to make as diligent an inquiry as possible, leaving no stone unturned, to avoid having to get to this point, and more importantly, to ensure that justice will be done. And YHWH makes it hard on us as a deterrent to Israelites settling our disputes by killing one another in the first place. The whole Torah is given to teach us to love our fellows as ourselves and to think about the consequences before we act.
5. "Then the cohanim--the sons of Levi--shall approach, because they are the ones YHWH your Elohim has chosen to wait on Him and to cause [others] to bend the knee in YHWH's name, and upon their word will every controversy and stroke [of punishment be decided].
The priests do not determine which heifer qualifies or measure which city is nearest, but once we get to this point, they must be involved. They are the highest court in Israel, with more authority to judge than even a king if and when there is one, which makes King Sha’ul’s massacre of the priests (1 Shmu’el 22) all the more heinous. They are the authority whether or not others are more righteous than they. This is why the book of Mal’akhi was written—to restore the priesthood to a state where their decision can be counted on to be just. No ordinary Israelite has the right to disagree with a priest’s ruling for convenience’ sake, but if all of us are educated in the Torah, we can see where it is being misapplied or disregarded, so we can hold them accountable. An Israelite is dead--too serious a matter to leave to elders chosen by the community. They need oversight from authorities YHWH has chosen to make sure they carry out the procedure properly. (Mal. 2:7) They are ultimately the ones to declare the townspeople innocent. Calling in these highest authorities shows the family of the slain man that, although He has allowed no direct vengeance in this case, it is still important to YHWH that their relative has died. We do not all need to be forensic experts, but before a priest is called in—or even the elders—if we can rule out murder, then we should do so and not waste their time.
6. "And all the elders of that city--the one nearest to the mortally-wounded man--must wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley,
Washing one's hands is a declaration of innocence so one is not counted among evildoers (Psalm 26:5ff), but it must be proven by willingness to pay its price. When an innocent man's blood is shed, someone must pay in kind, and those nearest are held accountable. (We must be careful where we are standing and make sure we are not too close to anything we do not have room to be responsible for.) Where guilt cannot be pinpointed, an innocent substitute is permitted. This foreshadows Pontius Pilatus' declaring himself innocent of Yeshua's undeserved execution, though his city (Rome) was most directly responsible for Yeshua's death, being the power that actually carried it out. Pilatus knew this would be an unjust execution, and he knew enough of Torah law to know that if he washed his hands, the guilt would all be on those who brought Yeshua to trial. He proved more Torah-observant than these priests and elders. Rome still, however, had to "pay for the sacrifice" by coming to bear the responsibility Yehudah abdicated as guardians of YHWH's message to the world, though they did a very poor job of it, for which they too will have to answer.
7. "and they must testify and say, ‘Our hands have not shed this blood, nor have our eyes been witness;
8. "‘O YHWH, effect a covering for your people Israel, whom You have redeemed, and do not allow this innocent blood [to remain] in the midst of your people Israel.' Thus the blood will be covered up for them,
What a stark contrast with “His blood be upon us and on our children!” Until this point, even though they had nothing to do with the murder, they bore the responsibility for ensuring that the guilt was covered somehow. Redeemed: from slavery in Egypt, symbolized by the Passover lamb. But we put ourselves back into slavery, and again needed an innocent substitute. But blood is apparently not shed this time, for blood has already been shed—the innocent man’s. A stiff neck—another characteristic of selfishness--must be broken instead. Yeshayahu 1:16ff speaks of how we did not hold our kings accountable, and he tells us it is our responsibility to make ourselves clean by stopping our wrongdoing and learning to do right. If we seek justice, our sins can be washed away; if not, innocent blood remains on all of us.
9. "and you will purge away the innocent blood from your midst, when you are honest in the eyes of YHWH."
Honest: straightforward, proper, right, level, not crooked in any way. I.e., they were not lying about their ignorance of who killed the man, and went the distance to prove it. If we call ourselves innocent, we must demonstrate it to the eyes of anyone who is upright by doing the right thing. The rest of the chapter is about that...
TORAH PORTION
Shoftim
(Deuteronomy 16:18 - 21:9)
INTRODUCTION: YHWH is very concerned that His people receive justice. (Deut. 16:18-20) In general He keeps it simple: a thorough inquiry is made, and at least two witnesses are required, three in harder cases, assumedly. (17:4-6) The witnesses, rather than the accusers, carry out the verdict, as an additional check and balance. (17:7) He therefore puts those who are in charge of guarding the Torah—the Levites--in charge of justice as well. They are the ones to whom the local officials bring the more difficult cases which are beyond their own capability. (17:8-11) In a few cases, a severe precedent is needed to set an example for those who would try to use the system to their own ends but then circumvent the ones YHWH says have the final word, as a deterrent to anyone ever trying this again. (17:10-13)
A king is not part of the core structure of Israel’s culture; YHWH would prefer that we not have a human one, but He knows Israel likes to copy other nations’ structures, so He reserves the right to choose who the king will be if we, as in Shmu’el’s day, demand one. Clear limits are put on who qualifies and what he is allowed to do; he is not an autocrat like Gentile kings, but must never consider himself to be anything else but one of the people chosen for a special role in serving the rest. He is required to not only be well-read in the Torah, but always keep a copy with him for reference. (17:14-20) His final king, the Messiah, will somehow meld both roles of king and priest and make them flow together well, for he will be righteous and just enough to be able to make this difficult balance work. (Z’kharyah 6:13)
Correct judgment at the highest level is so crucial to Israel that YHWH gives those with this responsibility none of the other burdens that the rest of the people have to bear. (18:1-8) They are exempt—no, barred—from agriculture, business, etc. except in a minuscule degree, raising the animals for special use in the sanctuary, and the offerings of the rest of the people are what feeds them, so they can focus completely on the cases at hand, as Moshe did single-handedly until Yithro pointed out that he needed help.
Superstition has no place either in a judicial inquiry (16:21-22) or any time we need direction (18:9-14), only solidly-based instruction from YHWH through a prophet. Spiritists of other sorts are most likely receiving their information from other spirits who are not sympathetic to justice, but who, like the people they would like to mislead, also accept bribes, even deadly ones. YHWH will have a spokesman every time one is needed, and he must be listened to. YHWH holds him to the highest standard of truthfulness—that is, to abstain from giving his own opinions, which may be wrong; he is to speak only what he is told to say, and this will guarantee that it is safe for the people to do everything he tells them to.
A big part of justice is keeping the accused safe until he is given a fair trial. In the cities of refuge (19:1-10), there is a delicate interplay between the right of the nearest kinsman to avenge the blood of a slain relative and the fact that the killing may have been accidental. The manslayer also has a right—to escape to the nearest refuge. If the slayer is caught before he reaches the city, he can be slain with impunity, but not if he has already gotten there. This allows YHWH the room to bring justice for hidden sins by allowing the kinsman avenger to run faster than the slayer, whose act may have been unintentional this time, but maybe he committed another act that was odious to YHWH, but no one else found out about it; He does not escape YHWH’s notice, though. The one who tries to use the court to hurt someone unjustly will have the very same sentence pronounced against himself. (19:16-20) Poetic justice!
YHWH will keep His part of the bargain (20:1-4), and if someone has not yet had enough occasion to utilize the blessings He has brought to Israel, He even exempts him from even the possibility of death in battle until a later time. (20:5-7) He very fairly offers even some enemies terms of peace if they will have it (20:10-12), and reminds us not to sacrifice what we may need later for short-range goals. (20:19-20) Finally, when a life has been lost, the blood that cries out to YHWH must be answered for, even if no one knows who killed the person. Someone must take responsibility (21:1-9); not doing so was what started the snowball of evil in our world rolling.
An example of such upright stones
set up around an Edomite altar.
YHWH’s
“Broad Commandments”
Some of the things found in this Torah portion are prime examples of what David may have been thinking about when he wrote Psalm 119: “Your commandments are exceedingly broad. Oh, how I love your Torah! … I have more understanding than all of my teachers, because Your testimonies are my meditation… How sweet are Your words… Through Your precepts I gain understanding… Your Word is a lamp to my feet, a light to my path.” (119:96-113)
In contrast to the corruption common almost anywhere we turn, the Torah puts a high premium on pursuing justice with one’s whole heart and ruling rightly in the courtroom. (Deut. 16:18-20) False witnesses will receive as poetic justice the same sentence they tried to bring upon their opponents. (19:15-21) This legal justice also extends to property rights (19:14). And He provides a final authority when disputes get to a confusing level. (17:8-13; 21:5) He provides a safe haven for involuntary manslaughters, but also no reprieve if it turns out to have been premeditated after all. (19:1-13) When there is just no way to know who to blame for someone’s loss of life, He mandates the fairest way possible to bring some kind of closure for the survivors. (21:1-9)
The commandments are “broad” in the sense that they fit a wide variety of contexts and have room for a variety of ways of walking them out while still being faithful to the general principle. YHWH expressed disappointment when Israel wanted a king, but the Torah still left room for one and set limits on how far his ambitions could roam and required him to personally copy the entire Torah and keep it with him all the time for reference so that he would not think of himself more highly than he ought or exempt from anything his subjects must live by, so that, again, YHWH’s people will not be oppressed. (17:14-20)
They are broad also in that they address not just legal issues, but psychological (assuaging our fears, 20:1-4, 7) and attitudinal (reminding us not to give YHWH or His servants less than the highest-quality gifts; 17:1; 18:1-5). It addresses priorities: while defense of our nation is crucial, there are also some things important enough to be exempted for, whether they be positive things belonging to a yet-unfulfilled life (20:5-7) or just to avoid discouraging our comrades (20:8-9). Peaceful, win-win solutions are to be sought first (20:10-15), and if there must be a siege to remove stumblingblocks that would tempt us to be disloyal, He also tells us how to think long-term for sustainability of the land beyond the time of battle. (20:19-20)
YHWH’s broad commands recognize that even where there is a clear station in life assigned, there is some room for a career advancement. (18:6-8)
He does not expect us to just listen to everyone who claims to speak for Him, but provides a test of validity for the spokesman. (18:20-22) He does not want us duped by religious scams (18:9-14), but, on the other hand, does hold us highly accountable to listen to those whose credentials do prove reliable. (18:15-19; 21:5)
Could there be a more balanced, disinterested system of sociocultural legislation? I haven’t encountered one.
Study Questions:
1. “Justice and righteousness shall be the foundation of [Messiah’s] throne.” (Psalm 97:2) But as pertains to us, the command (Deut. 16:18-20) has to do with here and now. What aspects of justice do you see lacking in your spheres of influence? What can you do to change this?
2. Why is the word of only one witness accepted as sufficient evidence? (17:6) When might two be sufficient, and when might three be necessary?
3. Who in Israel is the final authority if there is an unresolved dispute? (17:8-13) If we choose to appeal to the highest authority, what are we no longer free to do? (17:11-13)
4. How is an Israelite king to differ from the kings of other nations? (17:14-20) How can you be like a king? (17:19) How is the king not to differ from his subjects?
5. If YHWH placed these parameters on what kind of king Israel could have, why do you think He was so disappointed and even angered that Israel wanted a king in the prophet Shmuel’s day? (1 Shmuel 8)
6. What do you think it means that YHWH is the priests’ inheritance? (18:2) Could they ever live a “normal” life? Should that matter? How does YHWH provide for His full-time employees without creating new resources out of nothing just for them? (18:3-5)
7. Can anyone other than Aharon’s descendants become priests in Israel? (18:6-8) Can just anyone do so, or are there parameters? How does Yeshayahu/Isaiah 66:21 fit with this?
8. Why do you think YHWH is especially repulsed by superstition, illicit religion, and witchcraft/sorcery? (18:9-14) What is the difference between a soothsayer and a true prophet? (18:14-15)
10. Do you think the “prophet like Moshe” (18:18-19) will only appear on earth once, or might it refer to multiple different spokesmen for YHWH? Can just anyone speak for YHWH? (18:20) How can we recognize who is authorized and who is not? (189:21-22)
11. How might one “prepare the way” to the cities of refuge to facilitate someone’s flight there? (19:1-10) What other ways might we apply this principle to ensure that there are no unjust executions? (19:10) Is this asylum available to every manslayer? (19:11-13)
12. What “poetic justice” does YHWH require of someone who deliberately tries to use the legal system to sabotage his fellow? (19:16-21) This is the actual context for “an eye for an eye”, which no one who loves justice could fault. How might those Yeshua was referring to in Mat. 5:38-42 have been misplacing this command?
13. How can we be confident that YHWH “has our back” in an endeavor? (20:3-4) Should we be eager for battle when we have other legitimate responsibilities? (20:5-7) What other checks does YHWH put in place to keep us from letting hot blood or lust for adventure drag us unwisely or hastily into what could prove to be a tragic waste of lives or resources? (20:8-12, 19-20) When war does prove to be the only option, should it be left half-finished? (20:13-17) What would be the consequences of that? (20:18)
14. How else can we apply the principles in 21:1-9 when no one is clearly responsible for an unacceptable situation, yet it nonetheless has adverse consequences and requires rectification?
Companion Passage:
The Sidewalk
for Kids
“Don’t judge me!”
It’s a phrase we hear often these days. And I get it; nobody wants someone to look at something you are doing that looks wrong and decide you are a bad person because they don’t know the whole story behind it. I think that’s all Yeshua meant when he said, “Don’t judge or you’ll be judged by the same measure.”
He couldn’t have meant “don’t judge if you are the one who is assigned to be the judge”! What if somebody did something wrong to you? You would want a judge to hold them responsible, wouldn’t you? It’s only fair, isn’t it? Otherwise we only get into a fist fight and the stronger one would win, even if he was the one who did wrong. “Might makes right” is the law of the jungle, but that is not the way YHWH wants us to operate.
That is why this Torah portion tells us to set up judges. Don’t let the strongest rise to the top by stepping on other people. Look at who is wise and who is fair-minded and, most importantly, who knows the Torah best, and pick those people to be the ones who make the hard decisions, especially when the dispute is between people who would otherwise love each other—or between two people whom everybody loves and wouldn’t want to have to choose between.
“Just the facts.” That’s how we decide who is right or wrong—not who we like most, who offers us the most money, or who seems to be the best person the rest of the time. We all do things wrong, and we should be ashamed of that, but not so ashamed that we try to look innocent if we are not. YHWH shows mercy to people who confess to doing wrong, but Proverbs tells us that those who try to hide what they did wrong will not get away with it. (28:13) We have to admit when we did wrong so that the right thing can be done about it. Most of the time that means fixing what we broke or paying back a reasonable substitute and a little bit more for their trouble.
“But it was an accident!”, you might say. “Why should I have to pay for it?” Well, maybe you aren’t as innocent as you think. Maybe shouldn’t have been messing with something that belongs to somebody else if you don’t have a way to fix it. Maybe you should have been more careful about swinging that baseball bat around near somebody’s head! If somebody gets hurt because of you, whether you wanted to hurt them or not, you have to do something about it, and a judge who doesn’t lean to one side or the other has to decide what the fair thing to do is. That way nobody’s feelings cloud their ability to think clearly about a solution.
Even if we don’t know who did it, YHWH has a fair way to decide who is responsible, again using “just the facts”. He uses an extreme example, which means we can carry the same idea over to smaller things. If somebody is found dead and it looks like someone must have killed him, and the NCIS of Israel just can’t figure it out (maybe because Abby left), the leaders of the nation measure how far his body is from each of the nearest towns, and the closest one has to take the blame. If the honestly didn’t do it, there is a way to clear their name, so no one will keep judging them to be a bad town, but still somebody has to pay, especially if it is a death, because that blood is owed to YHWH, who gave that person life.
Once in a while, though, Torah says, it wasn’t an accident, and somebody who tries, on purpose, to hurt his neighbor has to become an example to the rest of us (Deut. 17:12-13, ), because if we let that slide, everything about how we treat each other and who can trust whom will fall apart. What he was trying to do to somebody else is what YHWH says should be done to him, because he is not loving his neighbor as himself; he is only thinking about himself, and if everybody did that, a lot of people would eventually get killed. So in some cases, YHWH says, one person has to die so that pattern can go no further and he doesn’t take anybody else with him.
I’m sure YHWH doesn’t like having to put an end to a person He created with lots of potential. This was a person unlike anyone else He ever made, and like they say, He “broke the mold”. There will never be someone else quite like that again, so it really is a waste, but somewhere along the line he decided to do the wrong thing, and that made it easier to do the wrong thing again the next time, and it went on and on until he finally became a murderer. The choices we make turn us into worse people—or better people. Start now to make the right choices, while you are young, and you won’t turn out like that.
The Renewal of SHOFTIM
How timely is this portion, as we see law and order declining so rapidly, the hands of law enforcers being tied by reactionary laws formulated to placate protesters with unreasonable demands, which could very quickly make once-gleaming cities as unsafe as Sodom and Gomorrah. Israel is not to turn out that way:
“You must appoint for yourselves judges and record-keepers within all your jurisdictions… and they shall judge the nation with the deserved legal rulings.” (Deut. 16:18) The Torah puts righteous judges in place to guarantee that we will not have “kangaroo courts” where a person is treated as guilty before being proven so. They are given strict rules to keep them objective: “Do not allow justice to be bent or faces to be favored, nor receive a bribe, since a bribe blinds… the wise and overturns righteous words.” (16:19)
King Y’hoshaphat summed it up well: “Watch what you are doing, because you are not judging for men but for YHWH, who is with you in the judgment. So let the fear of YHWH be upon you; guard it and carry it out, for there is no injustice with YHWH…” (2 Chron. 19:6-7)
To keep witnesses honest, “the hand of the witnesses must be the first against him in execution…” (Deut. 17:6-7) If you would be the one killing your acquaintance, you are less likely to concoct a false story. But “if a hostile witness should rise up against a man to accuse him of treason,… the judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness turns out to be bringing fraudulent evidence or a false accusation against his brother, then you shall do to him just what he had plotted to do to his brother.” (19:16-19)
“Do unto others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31)—the “Golden Rule”—is a direct corollary of this very Torah ruling.
But that begs the question: Didn’t Yeshua say, “Judge not, so you may not be judged”? (Mat. 7:1) How does that square with all this talk about judges?
When he himself was accused falsely, he put his action in proper perspective and chided them: “Don’t judge according to appearances, but judge [with] righteous judgment.” (Yochanan 7:24) So he was not against every kind of judgment. The kind he was talking about was exemplified by what Paul said: “The one who eats meat must not look down on the one who does not…, nor should the person who does not eat judge the one who does…, because Elohim has accepted him. Who are you to judge another Person's servant? [It is only] his own master's [right to judge whether he] succeeds or fails…” (Rom. 14:3-4)
After all, none of these people was a constituted courtroom judge. They were just condemning someone who held an opinion different from their own or who did things differently than they (claimed they) would. But the wisdom that comes from having the mind of Messiah precludes our having to take our cases to secular courts that know nothing of Yah’s ways. Torah principles make us wise enough (Psalm 119:98-99) to come to equitable agreements because YHWH makes us able to both will and do the right thing to and for our fellows.
“Don’t you realize that the holy ones will judge the world? [So] are you not equal to handling the smallest of cases? Don’t you know that we will [even] judge angels? How much more things belonging to [physical] life?... So if you have a legal controversy, can’t you appoint [even] the ‘least’ in the called-out community?... The fact that you have lawsuits against one another is already a defeat for you— because why not rather suffer injustice? Wouldn’t it be better to [just] be deprived?” (1 Cor. 6:1-7)
The right attitude is: “If a person should indeed be overtaken in some [moral] lapse, you who are spiritual [must] set such a one straight in the spirit of gentleness, watching out for yourself, so that you will not be tempted as well. [Help] carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the Messiah’s instruction” (Galatians 6:1-2), which does not conflict with Moshe’s instruction (Torah), but resolves the conflicts we have with one another on a deeper level than mere penalties and deterrents can.
When Moshe said “do to him just what he had plotted to do to his brother”, the reason is not personal vengeance, but to prevent more such plots. (Deut. 19:20) Moshe follows it with, “Nor shall you look [for a way] to spare; rather, life [shall be exacted] for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth”, etc.
When Yeshua quotes this, he follows it with a “but I say to you” (Mat. 5:38-41), so people think he is contradicting the Torah. But hear him all the way out; follow his logic. The bottom line? Be known as a giver, not a taker. Don’t try to “one up” an evildoer; limit your retribution to what he actually owes. It would even be better to err on the side of appearing to come out the loser than to overreact and do more damage than was done to you. Again, “why not rather suffer injustice” than be unjust yourself?
His point is, “Don’t be selective in your goodness, because YHWH (whose image we now reflect) provides even for those who hate Him”, because He is good at the “root”. When we are “born again…of incorruptible seed” (1 Peter 1:23), the result is not corruption. It is now our nature to be good, even in the face of evil; if evil done to us influences us to be evil, then evil comes out the winner. That is not the fruit of the kind of redemption Yeshua made available. He says, “be perfect, as your Father in Heaven is perfect” —which here means not faultless, but impartial: treating everyone according to their need, no matter how they have made you feel. It dovetails perfectly with this portion: “You must be entirely in accord with YHWH your Elohim”. (Deut. 18:13) I think that’s precisely what he was alluding to here.
Though in every era YHWH raised up prophets like Moshe in some respects (Heb. 1:1), the way Moshe described the prophet like himself whom YHWH would raise up (Deut. 18:15-19), to ignore whose words would make us answerable to YHWH Himself, has its pinnacle of application in Yeshua. (Heb. 1:2) I find it significant that he said “a prophet” and not “prophets”, though sometimes there were more than one on the scene simultaneously. Moshe himself reappeared on site to—as both witness and endorser—hear YHWH highlight Yeshua over him and say directly, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased (cf. Gen. 1:31); listen to him!” (Mat. 17:5) The reason he promised us this prophet is that Israel asked Moshe for a mediator so we would not die (Deut. 18:16); Yeshua is the mediator par excellence: “There is one Elohim and one mediator between Elohim and men, the man Yeshua the Messiah.” (1 Timothy 2:5) Only through him can we truly “not die” when we must face YHWH.
The Renewed Covenant alludes to the cities of refuge (19:1-7) when saying YHWH’s oath gives complete assurance and “firmly-established comfort” to those who “flee to Him for refuge” (Heb. 6:18), for no matter how noble our aspirations, by virtue of having Adam’s blood in our veins, we have all injured others without intending to; it comes with the territory of being fallen people in a fallen world.
There is not protection for everyone; the malicious killer—the one who (unlike the man in 19:16-20) succeeds in his plot against his brother--is not given quarter there. (Deut. 19:11-13) Similarly, Yochanan the Immerser said to certain religious frauds, “You offspring of poisonous snakes! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” (Mat. 3:7)
Yet he gave them occasion to repent. Even when we must turn someone over to the prosecutor (Heb., satan) for the destruction of the body, it is for the sake of ultimately salvaging his spirit. (1 Cor. 5:5) YHWH will not be angry with His people forever, but can carry away what is crooked in us, for when He grants us His Yeshua, “Mercy and truth have met; justice and complete restitution have kissed each other.” (Psalm 85:1-10) That was written by the sons of Qorakh—a classic example of true restoration in which “mercy triumphs over judgment”! (Yaaqov/James 2:13)
The Details and Undercurrents of Justice
"Justice, justice you shall pursue!” (Deut. 16:20) Not just follow or look for justice, but chase it down, not stopping until it is guaranteed. And this command is mainly to judges, not the plaintiff, in particular, though it will prove to apply to him too. It’s “so that you may stay alive and inherit the Land…” The implication is that if you don’t lay hold of justice, innocent people will end up dead.
If someone is convicted of a capital crime, “the hand of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death.” (17:7) If you can’t stand the thought of being the killer, maybe you will think twice about whether you really want to accuse. It is much easier to accuse someone and then leave the dirty work to someone else. Here there is no paid executioner, no specialist to handle the gory part, out of your sight.
But there are expert judges. (17:8-10) Most judges are your own peers. “Tribe by tribe” they are to be chosen. (16:18) This means the judges are insiders in the family and thus familiar with local customs and the idiosyncrasies of the particular environment which an outsider would not know about. (This is also why any king over Israel must not be a foreigner, unfamiliar with the ways of YHWH, per 17:15-19.)
But there are some who are provided with the leisure to do what it takes to investigate matters fully (17:4) and study the principles behind the sample laws and generalities the Torah specifies. They are the Levites, who have fewer possessions to care for and crops or animals to tend. (18:1) They can record the proceedings so someone else has a precedent to work from. (19:14)
This, in a way, is what the Talmud is—accounts of how Torah was argued and ruled on in the past, when these things that are only words on a page to us were still standing and actively being carried out. For that reason it is invaluable, giving us a head start at making sense of things we don’t deal with every day, and may help us see how we can draw the analogies we need to see that this ancient book really is as relevant as ever. But even more binding than the rabbinic rulings are the Levitical: the wisdom of the ones YHWH actually appointed, on par with prophets (18:19), is to be received and respected as if it was an audience with YHWH Himself. (17:10-12) Don’t waste their time if you don’t intend to carry out their decision. This behooves them all the more to seek true justice, not someone’s agenda (16:19), for that would be blood on their hands.
A big part of justice is a fair trial: one is considered innocent until proven guilty by multiple witnesses--assumedly whose stories actually agree when questioned separately. (19:15) The burden of proof is on the accuser, and YHWH ensures that the accused has safe passage to the site of his trial and shelter until his court date so emotion and revenge do not trump the facts about one’s intentions in a case of manslaughter: was it really voluntary or not? (19:1-13) Neither verdict is going to bring your dead loved one back to you, but wouldn’t you want the same benefit of doubt afforded to you if you made as deadly a mistake? That’s a big part of “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18), and a corollary comes a few verses later: If you intended to harm someone who did not deserve it, whatever you planned to inflict on them is to be inflicted on you. (19:16-20) Should we call it “overt, heaven-mandated karma”? Not sure I like that term because of its association with reincarnation, but this chapter shows there’s some validity to the concept—in this life, not necessarily the next.
The same fairness is extended on the level of national enemies: they, too, get to choose to settle for the terms of peace and avert a battle. (20:10-12) And we’re not to assume there must be collateral damage; precautions are prescribed against destroying what’s useful along with the rebellious. (20:19-20) And so is taking responsibility even for what cannot be proven to be an accident, yet without assuming undue blame. (21:1-9)
Indeed, what other nation has come up with a better system of rulings than YHWH’s?
YHWH’s Very Different but Masterful Psychology
“’My ways are not your ways,’, says YHWH.” (Isa. 55:8-9) And this Torah portion shows that in many ways.
The witnesses to an alleged capital offense have to be the ones to execute the accused (17:6-7; compare 19:15)—an ingenious deterrent to being a false witness if merely angry at someone you really do love. He builds into His laws the needed stopgaps to letting our emotions run wild and make us do things we would certainly regret.
If that’s not enough, “Do to him as he intended to do to his brother.” (19:19) This is one of those cases where YHWH outsmarts the tricksters at their own game. (Psalm 18:25-26) He knows how to expose our motives.
An accidental killer (19:4-10), especially if not careless or negligent, might even be YHWH’s executioner of someone guilty of a secret sin that would never have been found out by human means, so He makes sure the one who fells him is not charged with murder, since, unbeknownst to the public, this man did deserve to die. Or YHWH just knew the victim was ready for his reward and need not be burdened with the woes of “this present evil age” any longer, and let someone’s fumbling clumsiness bring him Home. He thinks of everything; that’s why He’s King!
You may have a human king, too, but with conditions: he is no stranger to the covenant’s inner workings (17:14-20), doesn’t see himself as above the law or his subjects (unlike most nations), and defers to YHWH’s spokesmen.
But what is the difference between a soothsayer or diviner and a prophet? (18:14-19) They can seem almost the same. But the first pair is illegitimate, and the last one indispensible, so we need to know how to tell them apart. We have to stay away from the first type but must absolutely obey the other, so how do we distinguish who is which? Root words--for in Hebrew they really do reveal foundational meanings. The first term means “conjurer of clouds”--i.e., smoke and mirrors. He looks impressive and is appealing to our ego, but if he has to sensationalize (or obscure) his message, there’s probably as much substance to it as there is in…well, a cloud! The second, likewise, uses unapproved sources of information, so even if he “tickles your ears”, reject him and his message.
A prophet (which does mean “spokesman”), on the other hand, brings an authoritative message from the primary Source. As often as not, his message is not one we wanted to hear, but if we test it, it rings objectively true; we know it is what we need to hear, regardless of how guilty it makes us feel or how hard to swallow. What he says comes true. (18:22) A real prophet won’t bluff if unsure. He knows his life is on the line if he abuses his position, and fears YHWH accordingly. (18:20) And he will be “like Moshe” (18:15), so what he says agrees with Moshe. (Isa. 8:20) He may elaborate on what he said or carry it a step deeper, to the root of the matter: “You have heard it said by [guess who? Moshe!], ‘Do not commit adultery’, but I say,… whoever looks at a woman for the purpose of lusting…has already committed adultery… in his heart.” (Mat. 5:27-28) His elucidation upholds and strengthens what Moshe said.
What a Torah scholar indeed was/is our king! He hid YHWH’s words (through Moshe) in his heart and so had an internal readiness even when tempted (alone and under duress of starvation) to use power for selfish purposes, show it off, or take shortcuts to what YHWH promised he’d get anyway if he took the hard road like the rest of us. (Mat. 4) Yeshua’s heart was not lifted up above his brothers. And boy, did he ever prolong his days! (Isa. 53:10)
YHWH’s sense of humor (If we dare call it that) shows up when He uses a force that looks inferior to beat one that everyone else would bet on winning. He clearly delights in kindness, since the force is small partly because He gave the prospective soldiers several “outs” that no other general would consider, for fear of diminishing their numbers. (20:5-8) YHWH has no problem accomplishing with a few what He could do by many (1 Sam. 14:6), and to prove it He puts as few as possible at risk. (Consider Gideon!) And He says, try the peaceful option first before resorting to force at all. (20:10-12) Don’t ruin your future for an easier—or more glorious--present. (20:19-20)
YHWH is the Master psychologist. (He made our minds, after all!) He may seem to take roundabout routes, but thereby He circumvents the enemy. He knows all the angles, so He comes at things from the best one each time, where we might get obsessed with just one or a few.
So trust what He says even when you don’t think it makes sense.
Justice Must Also Be Righteous
“Righteousness, righteousness you must pursue!” (16:20) We could translate it “justice” since the context is law courts. (16:18-19) Tzedeq (used here) emphasizes doing the right thing, and mishpat emphasizes ruling rightly in a legal case. We are told to chase it until we track it down.
But the term “justice” is frequently used today in a very sloppy way that often really means “forced fairness” or “unrealistic equality”, so we must always keep the two concepts tied together. And in verse 18 that is exactly what we find: mishpat tzedeq (righteous judgment).
The three examples given in the immediate context of how to carry this out are to not “stretch judgment”, “recognize faces” (show favoritism), or take bribes. What could be more up-to-date and timely than this 2,500-year-old command? Because these are still the most common forms of corruption and all are on the increase; “there’s nothing new under the sun.” (Eccles. 1:9)
What makes judges give in to these types of pressure? Besides greed, the underlying motivator is probably fear—of being “cancelled”, losing one’s position of influence, even being “bumped off” by those with wicked agendas and the means to ram them through. So the haftarah puts this in perspective: “Who are you, that you should be afraid of frail man [who is] is mortal, or the son of humanity, [who is] appointed [to become] grass, and forget YHWH your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth firmly?” (Isaiah 51:12-13) He is the one to fear, and He says, “Those who honor me I will honor.” (1 Samuel 2:30)
If a false witness were indeed sentenced to the same thing he tried to perpetrate on his victim, there would be a lot less corruption to fear! (Deut. 19:16-21) YHWH’s economy goes in the other direction: even where guilt cannot be proven, somebody has to take responsibility for any blood that is spilled. (21:1-9)
A death sentence (really any sentence, 19:15) requires two, or better three, witnesses. (Deut. 17:6) The ones who brought the accusation must carry out the execution (17:7), as a further deterrent to rashly denouncing someone one is angry with at the moment, but may actually be a friend. Those who kill someone accidentally are protected from vengeance, but are essentially under house arrest for a set time (19:3-9), lest justly-felt anger carelessly escalate into murder. (19:10) Even a war is not just unless terms of peace are offered first. (20:10)
The Torah’s place is just here: to deal in a just and balanced way with the non-ideals that come up because we live in a fallen world. The Gospel addresses ultimate forgiveness (even where a death sentence has to take place on the bodily level since in some areas legal pardon would not be the deterrent potential criminals need—19:13, 21) and an entrance into the age to come when “righteousness will be permanently at home” (2 Peter 3:13) and these principles will be the norm rather than the exception. They may mainly have to be carried out among the nations who have not been resurrected to sinless bodies than among regenerated Israel. There is no contradiction between the Torah and the Gospel. They deal with different, though complementary, realms.
The Torah puts limits on human government: any optional governors we set over ourselves (17:14ff) must not only have grown up under it but also be intimately familiar with it to the point of copying it in its entirety by hand (17:18)—the very best way to commit something to memory—and keep it with him as a reference at all times, consulting it daily. (17:19) This way he will internalize it and make it second nature. These checks and balances will keep him from becoming a tyrant, thinking he can do whatever he wants because he is king. (17:20)
But others may act just as presumptuously, thinking they can get away with it. A salient example in this portion is one who ignores a Levite’s ruling. (17:12) The Levites are the ones authorized and assigned to adjudicate the more difficult cases, where several complex principles may be in interplay, since they are the experts in the Torah.
A second is a prophet who preaches what YHWH has not told him to say. (18:20)
The term Torah uses for this presumption means “acts arrogantly”.
Selah: ponder this well.
