27 THE LAWS OF MOSES Part Five February 27

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1 27 THE LAWS OF MOSES Part Five February 27 This entry on the Laws of Moses covers the second and third major section in the outline called "Laws of Government" and Laws of Special Crimes and discusses topics such as LEADERSHIP and ANCIENT JUDICIAL SYSTEMS. (Two days reading) My notes here continue to include many quotes or paraphrases of Dr. F. LaGard Smith s narration. Having been a professor of Law at Pepperdine University for many years, he has especially interesting comments on the Mosaic Law. II. Laws of Government Normally the most important laws of any nation are those which provide the base of government, upon which all other laws depend. In a theocracy, however, there is a minimum of legislative or administrative function. The ruler is God, and it is he who determines the nation's laws, as well as the people's direction - politically, militarily, and economically. (In theory, this is how the radicals in Afghanistan and the Middle East want the world to be now in the 21 st century. Of course, then you get into the whole argument of who is God's messenger, should non-believers be made to follow it, etc God brought Christianity to the world when the Romans controlled the land of Israel, and showed that a true relationship with him has nothing to do with land borders but with the heart. But I digress ) For over four decades Moses has served as Israel's leader. Under the direct control of God himself, Moses has taught as a prophet, interceded as a priest, and legislated as a lawgiver. (Talk about wearing many different hats!) The high priests, Aaron and Eleazar, have shared Moses' responsibilities in leading the religious activities, which constitute such a vital part of the Israelites' daily life. In addition, a council of 70 elders has been appointed to assist in the administration of national affairs. And not to be forgotten is the continuing patriarchal leadership provided by the chiefs and leaders within each tribe (and the dads in each family!). In light of such a structure, it is of great interest that God should anticipate the people's desire for a king in future years and actually provide certain guidelines at this early time. A. Concerning a King God is so amazing - he thinks of everything! Read through verse by verse... Deut 17:14-20 v14 When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, "Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us, He knew they'd ask for a king! v15 be sure to appoint over you the king the LORD your God chooses. He must be from among your own brothers. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not a brother Israelite. God makes allowances for disobedience and helps with a "Plan B". In this case, it was anticipating the desire for a king and therefore giving specific rules about what said king

2 should be like, even though them choosing to have a king was a rejection of Him as their king! (see 1 Sam 8). v16 The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the LORD has told you, "You are not to go back that way again." Perhaps all horses in those days came from Egypt. We can certainly understand why God wouldn't want them to go back there. However, there were other reasons for the horse warning, like worldliness, taking exorbitant amounts of money from people in taxes and relying on human strength and warfare rather than God. v17 He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold. Notice how Solomon did the very opposite of the above - took foreign wives & lots of horses and gold! (See I Kings 4:26, 10:14-29, 11:1f). 18 When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the priests, who are Levites. Imagine if you copied all of Moses' Law, from Genesis to Deuteronomy - now THAT would teach you the bible! 19 It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees... David was such a king - he read and meditated on the Law (of Moses) day and night. He wrote, in Psalm 40:8 "I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart." And lastly, God wants the future king to 20 not consider himself better than his brothers nor turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel." God knows that people don't respect an arrogant ruler. Ps 131 is an example of David's humility: "1 My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. 2 But I have stilled and quieted my soul..." So is the story of how he wouldn't drink the water that his friends sacrificed to get for him (see 2 Sam 23:13-17) God also warned the future rulers of his people not go to the left or right when it came to obeying his words. For hundreds of years later after David in the time of the kings, whenever one of the kings lived an obedient life, God would say, "He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done." (2 Kings 18:3). As some of us strive to be leaders among God's people today, let's remember to love God, follow his word, flee worldliness, and be humble servants!

3 B. Respect for Rulers Whether it be a future king or a present leader at any lesser level, the people are to show proper respect for God's chosen representatives. Exodus 22:28 "Do not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people." Obviously this doesn't mean agreeing or following blindly when your leaders are in sin. However, it is godly to show respect to all in authority (Romans 13:1 "Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2 Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.") C. The Judicial System A nation of laws must have courts, judges, and established rules of procedure. Moses had acted alone as a judge until the burden became too great for one man. At the suggestion of his father-in-law (Jethro in Ex 18), Moses made judges of men who were rulers over their tribes and families, and retained only the responsibility for deciding difficult cases. As the nation moved toward a more stabilized government, God provided for a more formal judicial structure. 1. Establishment of Courts Read Deut 16:18 and 17:8-13 to see how God's design for the implementation of justice included many trappings of modern legal systems, such as the appointment of judges, a courts of appeals, and even warned against contempt of court! 2. Fairness and Justice I'm including all the verses given here because they are the foundation of what we view as "fairness" regarding bribes, partiality and the disadvantaged. What powerful and humane concepts in that day and age! Exodus 23:8 "Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the righteous." Leviticus 19:15 "'Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly." Deut 24:17-18 "Do not deprive the alien or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge. 18 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you from there. That is why I command you to do this." Deut 16:19-20 "Do not pervert justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. 20 Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the LORD your God is giving you." 3. Witnesses The truthfulness of those who would testify against others is so central to honesty and justice that it is required as one of the Ten Commandments! The 9th Commandment: Deut 5:20, "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor."

4 Deut 19:16-19 is just too good to miss. "If a malicious witness takes the stand to accuse a man of a crime, 17 the two men involved in the dispute must stand in the presence of the LORD before the priests and the judges who are in office at the time. 18 The judges must make a thorough investigation, and if the witness proves to be a liar, giving false testimony against his brother, 19 then do to him as he intended to do to his brother. You must purge the evil from among you." Whoa! That's what happened to Haman, the bad guy in the book of Esther! (Esther 7:9 Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said, "A gallows seventy-five feet high stands by Haman's house. He had it made for Mordecai, who spoke up to help the king." The king said, "Hang him on it!" 10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king's fury subsided.") (See Exodus 23 for more on this topic.) 4. Punishment This section is taken from bits of Deut 21, 24 & 25 and deals with the ideas of taking personal responsibility, limited number of beatings, and burying hanged criminals. III. Laws of Special Crimes Crimes are normally defined as offenses against society (in contrast to civil wrongs, which affect only individuals). Crimes are typically punished by fines, imprisonment and even death, whereas civil wrongs are remedied by various forms of restitution usually monetary. In the theocracy of Israel, there are many offenses punishable by death which do not fall within traditional crime categories, and offenses which fall within traditional crime categories which are not punishable by death. There is no punishment by imprisonment at all. Theft, for an example, is punished by a form of fine and restitution. (Therefore the special crimes category set forth below is arbitrarily based upon more traditional classifications of offenses.) To insure respect for human life, the most basic moral principle of life is given - The 6th Commandment: Deut 5:17 You shall not murder." A. Crimes Against the Person 1. Homicide Numbers 35, Exodus 21-22, and Deuteronomy 19 described and mandated how to deal with different kinds of and situations for murder, such as premeditated, intentional, with only one witness, etc. God also taught the need for and rules governing cities of refuge. See Numbers 35:9-15 HOWEVER these were only for accidental death. For those proven guilty, there was no mercy! See Deut 19:11-13 "But if a man hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him, assaults and kills him, and then flees to one of these cities, 12 the elders of his town shall send for him, bring him back from the city, and hand him over to the avenger of blood to die. 13 Show him no pity. You must purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, so that it may go well with you." 2. Feticide There was no abortion but harming a pregnant woman who subsequently miscarried brought the death penalty. (Ex 21:23-25)

5 3. Kidnapping Exodus 21:16 "Anyone who kidnaps another and either sells him or still has him when he is caught must be put to death." 4. Mayhem Disfiguring or maiming another, slave or free, brought eye for an eye justice! 5. Rape These verses are interesting - Deut 22:25-29 "But if out in the country a man happens to meet a girl pledged to be married and rapes her, only the man who has done this shall die. 26 Do nothing to the girl; she has committed no sin deserving death. This case is like that of someone who attacks and murders his neighbor, 27 for the man found the girl out in the country, and though the betrothed girl screamed, there was no one to rescue her. 28 If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, 29 he shall pay the girl's father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the girl, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives." 6. Assault Striking Parents Exodus 21:15 "Anyone who attacks his father or his mother must be put to death." Exodus 21 & 25 also mention what happens in cases involving permanent injury, the beating of slaves and purposefully injuring a man's private parts in a fight! B. Crimes Against Property A person's property is also to be respected. Stealing was out rightly prohibited. Remember the 8th Commandment: "You shall not steal." Deut 5:19 1. Theft of Personal Property Theft of animals was especially considered serious because it took away people's livelihood (see Exodus 22). 2. Theft of Real Property Moving boundary markers was cheating, lying and stealing another's land. It was an utterly unfair business practice. Deut 19:14 "Do not move your neighbor's boundary stone set up by your predecessors in the inheritance you receive in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess." This applies to all sorts of business dealings today, and, along with the directive found in Leviticus to use honest scales and honest weights, is the backbone for fair business practices until today. As mentioned earlier, there was no jail sentence. Criminals were either given the death

6 penalty, had a body part cut off/out, or paid back for something with money. I suppose that the community was expected to take care of the rehabilitation. This kind of radical punishment worked when they were led by godly men but would have been open to extreme corruption once the leaders were cruel and driven by selfish ambition. My next entry on the Laws of Moses will cover the fourth major section of the outline called "Personal Rights and Remedies. karenlouis@seachurches.org