Read Exodus 18:1-27 at Bible Gateway.
the teaching tools of scripture
Hebrew paragraph divisions
Exo 18:1-27 {p} YHVH is greater than all the gods
Exo 18:1-27 {p} chiastic structure
Moses expounds on the delegated authorities God has established among men in Deu 16:18-18:22, of which judges is one:
You shall appoint judges and officers in all your gates, which the LORD your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment. You shall not pervert justice; you shall not show partiality, nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. You shall follow what is altogether just, that you may live and inherit the land which the Lord your God is giving you. Deu 16:18-20
Judges were to be the local delegated authority, who judged disputes and administered justice. “Gates” is an idiom for a town or city. In the ancient near east, most cities were surrounded by a wall for its protection, and someone accessed the city then, through its gates. Therefore to appoint judges in all your gates was to appoint judges to judge with just judgment in every city. These judges must fear God, love truth, and hate unjust gain, or bribes. Then a case was first brought to the judge who judged over ten, who resolved most matters. But if it was too hard, he took it to the ruler over fifty, who resolved most matters brought to him. But it if was too hard, it went up the chain. The cases that were too hard for the rulers of thousands went to the national leader, who were all judges (Moses, Joshua, and so on to Samuel) until King Saul. This system describes God’s utopian government among men for the local level. The American justice system with its county courts, state courts, district courts, and Supreme Court was modeled on the system Moses implemented for Israel.
What is interesting, that the structure brings out, is that as God judged the false gods of Egypt, so men – who are able, i.e. fit, sufficient to meet the qualifications – judge the disputes of their fellow men. What about Yeshua’s admonition then in Mat 7:1-2:
Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.
It turns out there are two types of judgment of which Scripture speaks: judging actions, what the Exodus and Deuteronomy instruction for judges is about, and judging the thoughts and intents of the heart, which only God can judge:
matthew 7, judge not
matthew 7, just measures
1 corinthians 4, judge nothing before the time
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