Bible Lessons

From: Messages of God's Love: 1924

Narrator: Chris Genthree

Duration: 2min

Deuteronomy 16:18-17:20¹⁸Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment. ¹⁹Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous. ²⁰That which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. ²¹Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the Lord thy God, which thou shalt make thee. ²²Neither shalt thou set thee up any image; which the Lord thy God hateth. ¹Thou shalt not sacrifice unto the Lord thy God any bullock, or sheep, wherein is blemish, or any evilfavoredness: for that is an abomination unto the Lord thy God. ²If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the Lord thy God, in transgressing his covenant, ³And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded; ⁴And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and inquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel: ⁵Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die. ⁶At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. ⁷The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So thou shalt put the evil away from among you. ⁸If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates: then shalt thou arise, and get thee up into the place which the Lord thy God shall choose; ⁹And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and inquire; and they shall show thee the sentence of judgment: ¹⁰And thou shalt do according to the sentence, which they of that place which the Lord shall choose shall show thee; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee: ¹¹According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall show thee, to the right hand, nor to the left. ¹²And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth to minister there before the Lord thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel. ¹³And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously. ¹⁴When thou art come unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me; ¹⁵Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the Lord thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother. ¹⁶But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the Lord hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way. ¹⁷Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. ¹⁸And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites: ¹⁹And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them: ²⁰That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel. (Deuteronomy 16:18‑17:20)

WE here open the third section of the book; we have been studying the things that belonged to the religious life of Israel, and now begin upon the ordinary affairs of the people.

Judges and officers were to be provided in plenty, to deal justly in every matter that came up. No groves of trees might be planted near the altar of God, nor might a statue or image be set up, because both of these things led to idolatry. They were thus to avoid the appearance of evil such as marked the nations around. Sacrifices to God could not include any blemished animals. (See Malachi 1). The idolater should be put to death. Two or three witnesses were needed, —the word of one person not being sufficient.

When there were disagreements too. difficult to settle, they were to take them to God—to the place which the Lord their God should choose, there to inquire, and they who abode in His presence, would show what was of Him in the matter. He who refused that judgment should die; he presumed against God. There was no thought here of going to law before the world (1 Cor. 6:1-9¹Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? ²Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? ³Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? ⁴If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church. ⁵I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren? ⁶But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers. ⁷Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? ⁸Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren. ⁹Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, (1 Corinthians 6:1‑9)), for everything was settled within the assembly of God. Surely it should be no different today!

The last section of the chapter relates to the choosing of a king to rule over the people. God knew they would want a king and here tells them what he must be, and what he must not be. Perhaps it is enough to say here. that all that he should not do, as we here learn, Solomon did; and that which he should do, told here, Solomon failed in, and he was the greatest king in point of splendor of his court, and the works he did, and in wisdom, of all the kings of Israel and Judah.

Man always fails in that which God trusts to him. God is the alone one in whom we can fully trust. Has He your trust, reader, for eternity?

“Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.” Romans 4:7⁷Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. (Romans 4:7).

ML 12/21/1924

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