Theocracy and Justice in Biblical Israel

Did they bring a rolled book over here? Oh, you do? Oh, you have it? Okay. I didn't see it. I'm going to start with Deuteronomy 17, verse 8. What Moses is doing is giving the people instructions as to how their lives are to be organized when they get into the land of promise. I think that it's important for us to understand that whenever we talk about Israel, we sometimes talk about the nation of Israel. And we use that word in a way that maybe sounds similar to the way we would talk about the nation of Germany or England or the United States. But really, there's different ways of describing what the nation of Israel really was like. I don't know if you're familiar with the political science where they talk about nation-states. But technically, in political science, the word for the concept of a nation has to do with a collection of people that have a similar culture or a similar background. And the state, then, has to do with the geographical and political structure that gets it. So a nation-state would be a group of people of a particular religious or political or racial identity. And then they have a state organized with boundaries and political government and structure around it. The people of Israel were not a nation-state like we would think of. They were, instead, a nation. And that means that they were a group of people with a common culture. And their common culture was their faith. And it was what held them together. And they lacked the ability to be a nation-state in the sense that the boundaries of the nation... If you read the book of Joshua and Judges and Numbers, and they tell you the boundaries of Israel, they're so difficult, nobody knows exactly where they were. Because they didn't have the ability to do like we do, to tell, OK, here's the boundary between Nebraska and Kansas, and they can tell you right where the very mark is. So they would say, like, you go to one of these rivers, and wherever it runs, and it runs north and south or east and west, and then you go to this mountain, and so the boundaries were very fluid. And as a community, as a tribe would grow, their boundary would grow. And as they would move, then their boundary would shrink. And a real state has political boundaries and geographical boundaries that are set and certain. So Israel lacked that. They were instead what we might call a cultural community. And what bound them together was their common submission to the authority of Yahweh God. And so when he begins to describe how they are to be governed, it's not exactly the way we would see a state being governed with a political structure. But instead, it is what's called a theocracy. It is a group of people under the rule of God. So the instructions that he gives are a little different than you would say a state in our world would be governed. The principles here are very much like in the New Testament, the church is to be governed. So when you look at these things, you see the foundation stones of the way the church is to operate in the New Testament. The spiritual principles always in the Old Testament are eternal. The way they're applied are conditioned on the setting in which it's addressed. So the principles in the Old Testament are the very same ones in the New Testament. Whenever Jesus was crafting his own life and setting out his own ministry, what he was using is the Old Testament as his own guideline for life. Jesus was an Old Testament Christian. There wasn't any New Testament. He focused on these things that we're reading in the Old Testament as the basis on which his whole life and his whole ministry was built. Now in this setting, as he's talking about moving into the land of promise, he starts out by announcing that they should establish judges. That's in the last part of chapter 16. You're to appoint judges and officials from all of your tribes. They are to settle quarrels fairly with the people. They're not to accept bribes. They're not to twist the words of the righteous. They're to follow justice and justice alone. No partiality. So everyone's treated fairly and equally. This is the principle by which the local communities were to settle conflicts between the brothers and sisters in that community. Then he stops and he goes back to say, you're to focus on God as the primary source of all the things that you do. The judges are to do that. The people are to do that. So that God is the supreme ruler. So between the judges and the law courts is an extended paragraph on the supremacy and importance of Yahweh God. He is the one that holds all this together. Now, I want to move to this section, chapter 17, verse 8. You have the local courts where the men would sit at the gate of the city and anybody had a quarrel. It could be economic. It could be political. It could be a quarrel between two families. You planted your tree and I can't get any sunlight or whatever it could be. And you went to the city gate and the city elders there would listen to what you had to say and they would make a judgment or decision. But they were all people in small communities. So there are things that might happen that would be beyond their experience to be able to deal with. So, if cases come before your courts that are too difficult for you to judge, whether bloodshed, lawsuits or assaults, take them to the place that Yahweh your God has chosen. Go to the priest, who are Levites, and to the judge, who is in office at that time, inquire of them and they will give you the verdict. You must act according to the decisions they give you at the place the Lord your God will choose. Be careful to do everything they direct you to do. Act according to the law they teach you and the decisions they give you. Do not turn aside from what they tell you, to the right or to the left. The man who shows contempt for the judge or for the priest who stands ministering there to Yahweh your God must be put to death. You must purge the evil from Israel. All the people will hear and be afraid and will not be contemptuous again. What he's talking about is there are three levels at which the courts might find difficulty. He talks about bloodshed, lawsuits and assaults. Now, literally, what the Hebrew text reads is to say there are various kinds of bloodshed. That's what the first one he's talking about. Various kinds of bloodshed. What can you think of with different kinds of bloodshed that might have to be dealt with? Human bloodshed. Okay. And how would you have human bloodshed? What kinds of circumstances would it result? Pardon? Killing, murder. Murder. What about others other than murder? Accidents. Yeah. You have accidents. You can have murder. Pardon? Fights. People get angry and fist fight. And some of those might be circumstances in which you would say, well, this person hit this other person, but it was accidental. And so you might have difficulty, a judge, in that situation determining the kind of bloodshed it really was. Is it an accident in which one case, one result would be given? If it was intentional, then another consequence would come to it. There is various kinds, he says, of cases. And there are all kinds of things that you could have and you'd have quarrels about. Where the landline was. If each family had their own property and determining where the line really was might be a problem. All kinds of difficulties with animals, too, that stray onto your land or you're using someone else's animal and it dies. All kinds of cases like that that might have complications. And they're looking for people then who have more experience. Who have a wider range of knowledge than maybe the local person at the city gate would have. There are various kinds of assaults, too. It means various kinds of strikings. That's what it means. You could accidentally hit somebody with your hand. You could accidentally hit somebody. But you could also do that on purpose. There are various kinds of blows that might come to another person. So these are the three areas that he identifies. Anything that you have in the local community where they can't be settled by the people that are there, there is one final court. Now you notice who is on the court. This is sort of what we might call the Supreme Court. It is, you go to the priest, who are Levites, and to the judge who is in office at that time. The priests are the people who would be experts in the law. Now, when we think of the law, we think of sets of codes that are secular in their nature. But in the Bible, what they were talking about were codes that had to do with obedience to God, that God had given to them. So there were certain rules that you were to live by, and the priests were experts in the law. They knew what the law said. They knew what the law taught. And so the Supreme Court would be of the better of the rabbis who knew the Old Testament law, who practiced the Old Testament law. So they were experts with it. And with them then would be the judge, who would be maybe someone who is not necessarily a priest or an expert in the law, but might have good judgment and common sense, what we might call. Have you noticed, especially this is true in family court, if you've talked to people who've been in family court, you find that many of them will come back talking about how the judgments seem so ridiculous. And they don't seem to be filled with common sense. And so many people who come to courts with relationship issues are caught in a place where they find the people less concerned about settling the issues between them, as just making sure that everything is done according to what's written in the law books. The Old Testament was more concerned, not about legal decisions, but more about relationships. For example, in our structure, if you get caught drunk and you run into my front yard, and you would tear up my yard, they would arrest you and fine you for being drunk. In the Bible, if you did something to tear up someone's front yard, you paid that person for fixing it up. The state didn't get a fine for it. The person who was offended was the recipient of the justice. In our structure, somebody can do something to you or hurt you, the state can arrest them, put them in jail, and make them pay a big fine, and the state gets the money. They weren't even involved in the incident. The Bible focuses on relationships. If you do something to me, you owe me something. And that payment that you have to pay to me is to settle the financial part of it. Now, the Bible is concerned about this, and so you see the structure of the justice means you have people who know the law of God. What does God want people to do in this situation? And how can it be settled so that when it's over, the two parties are drawn together rather than continually pushed apart? You see, what God is concerned about is drawing His people together in unity and oneness. That's very critical to Him. In most of the cases that are settled in our courts where people sue each other, in the end of it, they're enemies, still enemies. God's intention was, after it was over, that there would be no animosity and the people would be able to live together in harmony. A very different goal for justice, and the word justice in the Bible means to treat people fairly. Justice in our circumstance means to do exactly what the law says you should do, regardless of whether or not you've been treated fairly or not. You can go to the court, and you can see people in trial, and they can get a good lawyer, and he can work that around to where injustice comes out, but it's legally correct. See, that's not true for the Scriptures. But the intention is entirely different, because Yahweh wants to draw His people together in unity and oneness, and that's His purpose, His goal. So whenever you have this take place, you go to the court, this higher court, and there you have religious people and people who are also godly people, who are with common sense, who will hear the cases. Go to the priest who are Levites, and to the judge who's in office at that time, and they will give you a verdict. You must act according to the decisions they give you at the place Yahweh will choose. Now, here's the next step. What is intended here is that the judge and the priests are representatives of God. They are trying to find the will of God about this matter. And whenever that comes, then, to the judges and the priests, this is the voice of God that is spoken. And everyone is to assume that whatever verdict comes is God's decision. And everyone is required to accept that as the word from God to you. Now, see how different that is in the law courts, where it's based on a court of what we call common law. You go in, you see the Judge Judy, or these courts, and, well, I don't think I was treated fairly. That's what the loser always says. I didn't get a fair shake. See, in this instance, what you're required to do as a part of the community of faith is to accept the fact that whatever God says to you is correct. And you must live by it. See how unifying that is? We have one person who knows everything, who has all wisdom, all knowledge, and when God speaks, everyone says, okay, I accept it. If it's for me, I say, thank you, God, I thought it was right. If it's against me, I say, okay, God, I was wrong. Submission and surrender to God was the key ingredient. That's why the whole section on what it means to have God as the supreme authority of your life is really all about. When you come to the court that God has established in the place He's established it, and He gives you the decision, that is final. You are to accept it. You must act according to the decisions of the place the Lord would choose. Be careful to do everything they direct you to do. If you're to pay money, you do that. If the person is said who's killed your brother or sister or husband or wife is declared innocent of murder, you're to let the issue drop. Whatever it is, however hard it is, you are to accept God's Word as final. You see how the nation of Israel was intended to be built on the Word and the message of God. That's the critical part of it. Now, verse 11 says, Act according to the law they teach you and the decision they give you. Now, there is in this process, you see, a part of instruction. The Levites and the priests are to make their decision based on the law, what God says in His book. And when He tells them what the book says, the law says, they are to listen for the instructions of God. He is teaching them in this situation. So they are to accept the teaching of God from the priests and from the rabbis because this will give them direction in their life. And then He says, Do not turn aside from what they tell you to the right or to the left. Everything they say, you must do. You must accept the authority of God as final. The man who shows contempt for the judge or for the priest who stands ministering there to the Lord your God must be put to death. Now, all of the issues that were brought to these people were not necessarily issues that involved capital punishment. But you see, what Israel was to understand was, when God speaks, whatever it's about, this is the final word. And to refuse to obey God means that you are no longer a part of this community. See, the nation of Israel, this ethnic group and this religious group was formed and shaped around the divine authority of God. And when you deny that, you can no longer be a part of this community because you have denied the primary source of which the community is formed. So if you continue to be a part of this while you reject the authority of God, you destroy the very nature of who the community of faith is. That's what we would really in the New Testament call the church. You must purge evil from Israel. All the people will hear and be afraid and they will not be contemptuous again. That's pretty clear. If you go to the court and they give you a verdict and you come home griping about it and they take you back to court and they pass a death sentence on you, when you go to court, you're going to accept what they say because there's pretty serious consequences for not doing it. Even in issues that are not capital punishment issues. Now when Paul was writing to the church in the New Testament, he was writing about the very same things. In chapter 6 of 1 Corinthians, he was talking about these believers in Corinth. This was a pagan world. Corinth saturated in pagan worship. The most outstanding building in Corinth was the big temple up on the hill, the worship of the goddess of fertility. Immorality was ripe in that city. The Roman law was the law that governed it. And it was not based on the biblical things, but it was based on Roman law, which was the best law that there was available in the world. And this church of Corinth had written to Paul, some people in the church, telling him what the problems were. Chapter 6, verse 1. If any of you has a dispute with another, dare he take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the saints? Now there was a law system. Roman law was renowned throughout the world for its quality. But he was saying to them, if you have a problem within your church, how dare you go to pagans to have it settled? If you and I have a dispute about finances, or about land, or about what happened when your cow got in my property, or your dog ate my dog, or whatever it is, and we go downtown to the court, he's saying, what you're saying is that pagans can give you better justice than the people in your church can. He's seeing here the divine authority of Christ to rule his people as a superior way for the people of God to live. Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that you will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, appoint as judges even men of little account in the church. He's saying, if you have something come up in the church, get the least competent person in the church, and he'll do better than these pagan judges. Why? Because he is a person surrendered to Christ, a person in whom the Holy Spirit lives, a person through whom God will speak. Even the least competent Christian has access to God, and will be able to give you better justice than a pagan judge who's trained in all the law and all the skills of a jurist. I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? But instead one brother goes to law against another, and this in front of unbelievers. Astonished at the idea that Christians would go to unbelievers for justice when it can be settled between them. The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means that you have been completely defeated already. Now see, the idea is the lawsuit brings relationships with people. And if you can't solve these relational problems between you and another brother or sister in the community of faith, then you're not listening to God, and you're not following God, and you're not obeying Him. And you've already lost the spiritual part of your life. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? If you think as a Christian someone in your church family has cheated you or hurt your feelings or done something bad to you, it would be better for you to say, I will take the loss of being cheated than to go to court and let pagans try to decide how you're going to resolve this issue between you and a brother or sister in Christ. Instead, you yourself cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers. Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? What he's talking about here is that within the community of faith there ought to be no way in which we would be alienated from each other no matter what happens to us. It would be better for you to be cheated than to be separated from your brother and sister in Christ. It would be better for you to lose your money than to be separated from your brother and sister in Christ. You must look at God as the supreme authority to rule your church. And it must be more important to us to gather together and find oneness than it is to be right or to receive justice. Relationships always precede everything else. Why? Because by this you will know them. They love one another. Our relationships with each other are more important than being right. It's more important than being treated fairly. It's more important than being treated right. It's that we are together in one single thing. Jesus Christ is our Lord. And whatever he asks of us and whatever he tells us is the last word. So if he says I should forgive you I have to do that. If he says I should turn the other cheek I have to do that. If I don't I am in rebellion against Jesus and no longer submissive to him as a follower of Christ should. And there's not any problem in the world that can't be solved in relationships if we live in obedience to what Jesus has taught us. Will you have to settle? Will you have to be treated unfairly sometimes and forgive it? Yes. Will you be cheated sometimes? Yes. Will you find trials and difficulties that are hard to swallow? Yes. But if you simply say OK God, I will do whatever you tell me to do the person that continually turns the other cheek is going to get slapped around quite a bit. But he's never going to get in a fight because it takes two to fight. You have to decide, you see, if you'd rather win or fight. And the opposite of that is to have peace. You see, he's talking here in very difficult language. We would say no one is going to be allowed to cheat me. I'm not going to stand for it. He said it would be better for you to just accept the fact that you're cheated or that you're wrong or defeated than that you would be angry and divided between you. The law in the Old Testament in the book of Deuteronomy is the law for the church. And Paul is simply basing his instructions here on the very same things that were taught there. That in the community of faith God is supreme and His will for us is always to be obeyed. And it doesn't always mean that we'll win or get what we want. But it means that if we follow Him there will be no separation and division between us. It requires humility and submission and a primary concern about obedience to God rather than winning for myself. And if you live that way you'll find your relationships are good. Let's pray. Father, we look around us and we are very concerned about being treated right, people being nice to us, getting exactly what is due us. And so we live in a world of constant fighting. People mad at each other. People saying bad things to each other and about each other. And we see stories like this guy that was a policeman that was killing other policemen, their families, just because he felt he'd been treated badly. What a disaster. Father, help us to learn to put relationships far above anything else in the world. Teach us how to submit to each other, to care more about the other person than we do ourselves. And teach us how to trust You that the outcome will be good. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.