Seventh Day Baptist
Christian Education Council
PO BOX 1678
Janesville, WI 53547
“You shall appoint judges and officers in all your towns that the LORD your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous. Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
(ESV)
“If any case arises requiring decision between one kind of homicide and another, one kind of legal right and another, or one kind of assault and another, any case within your towns that is too difficult for you, then you shall arise and go up to the place that the LORD your God will choose. And you shall come to the Levitical priests and to the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall consult them, and they shall declare to you the decision. Then you shall do according to what they declare to you from that place that the LORD will choose. And you shall be careful to do according to all that they direct you. According to the instructions that they give you, and according to the decision which they pronounce to you, you shall do. You shall not turn aside from the verdict that they declare to you, either to the right hand or to the left. The man who acts presumptuously by not obeying the priest who stands to minister there before the LORD your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So you shall purge the evil from Israel. And all the people shall hear and fear and not act presumptuously again.
(ESV)
—Deuteronomy 16:18-20; 17:8-13
by: Kay Samuels.
Moses, upon the advice of Jethro, appointed judges to help him with disputes and teaching the people how to live. This was a good practice that continued. Here, the judges were warned not to accept bribes, “For a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the innocent” (v.19, NIV). The judges were chosen because of their integrity. As we seek to fill the various offices in the church, let us be mindful to ask God to direct us to choose those who are trustworthy with the business of the King. This means that each person should be eligible to serve in any capacity we are gifted, because we have chosen to live our lives with integrity under the influence of the Holy Spirit.
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