Deuteronomy 17:12

That the laws and decrees of the great council be observed and obeyed, Deuteronomy 17:10. 5. That in doubtful cases the major part of suffrages is to determine, Exodus 23:1. 6. That all men be judged equally, without respect, Leviticus 19:15. 7. That every one who can testify the truth in any cause, is of his own accord to repair to the judges so to do, Leviticus 5:1. 8. That witnesses be examined strictly, and their testimony duly weighed, Deuteronomy 13:14. 9. That false witnesses have that done to them which they would have done unto others, or brought upon them, Deuteronomy 19:18, 19. 10. That a calf be slain where a dead body is found, the murderer not being known, Deuteronomy 21:1–9. 11. That six cities of refuge for the man-slayer be appointed, and the ways to them be prepared, Deuteronomy 19:2, 3; Numbers 35:6. 12. That the Levites have cities and suburbs granted them, Numbers 35:2. 13. That the tops of the houses have a battlement about them, Deuteronomy 22:8. 14. The ninth family of affirmative precepts respects TRUTH AND DOCTRINES, comprehending twenty-five commands:—1. That the idolatry of the Gentiles be extirpated out of the land, Deuteronomy 12:2. 2. That the city and citizens which fall into idolatry be utterly destroyed, Deuteronomy 13:12–16. 3. That the seven nations of Canaan be blotted out, Deuteronomy 7:1, 2. 4. That the Israelites remember what Amalek did unto them, Deuteronomy 25:17. 5. That the memory of Amalek be blotted out from under heaven, Exodus 17:14. 6.

thy God shall choose; 9 And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and enquire; and they shall show thee the sentence of judgment: 10 And 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: 11 According 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. 12 And 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. 13 And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously. Courts of judgment were ordered to be erected in every city (ch. xvi. 18), and they were empowered to hear and determine causes according to law, both those which we call pleas of the crown and those between party and party; and we may suppose that ordinarily they ended the matters that were brought before them, and their sentence was definitive; but, 1.

The judge of the country court that makes his application to that at Jerusalem for information and direction; if, after all, he is conceited in his own opinion, and rejects theirs, and is obstinate, and will not be guided and directed, but will take his own way, and pursue his own sense of things, and act according to that: and will not hearken to the priest that standeth to minister there before the Lord thy God; the priests of the tribe of Levi, of whom the court generally consisted, Deuteronomy 17:9, priest for priests; though some think the high priest is meant, to whom the character very well agrees; but he was not always at the head of the sanhedrim, nor indeed a member of it, unless he had the proper qualifications; see Deuteronomy 18:18. or unto the judge; or judges; See Gill on Deuteronomy 17:9.

L'Empereur (g) thinks, that the supreme senate, or grand sanhedrim, was twofold, according to the diversity of ecclesiastic and political matters; since where it treats of the supreme senators, or chief persons in the court, the priest is manifestly distinguished from the judge (i.e. priests or judges); now the man that has asked advice of them, and will not be directed by it, but takes his own way, this being so great a contempt of, and insult upon, the great senate of the nation: even that man shall die; and this was by strangling, for so the rebellious older, as such an one is called, was to die according to the Misnah (h); and it is said (i), that the death spoken of in the law absolutely (without specifying what kind of death) is strangling: and thou shall put away the evil from Israel; the evil man that is rebellious against the supreme legislature of the nation, and the evil of contumacy he is guilty of, deterring others from it by his death. (g) In Misn. Middoth, c. 5. sect. 3.((h) Sanhedrin, c. 10. sect. 2.((i) Maimon. Issure Biah, c. 1. sect. 6.

And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth to {h} 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. (h) So long as he is the true minister of God, and pronounces according to his word.

That will do presumptuously, i.e. that will proudly and obstinately oppose the sentence given against him. This is opposite to ignorance and error, Exodus 21:13,14 . The evil; either, 1. The evil thing, that scandal, that pernicious example. Or, 2. That evil, refractory, pernicious person, whose practice herein tends to the dissolution of all government, and the ruin of the common-wealth of Israel.

The cases in question are such as the inferior judges did not feel able to decide satisfactorily, and which accordingly they remitted to their superiors (compare Exodus 18:23-27 ). The Supreme court Deuteronomy 17:9 is referred to in very general terms as sitting at the sanctuary Deuteronomy 17:8. "The judge" would no doubt usually be a layman, and thus the court would contain both an ecclesiastical and a civil element. Jehoshaphat 2 Chronicles 19:4-11 organized his judicial system very closely upon the lines here laid down.

De 17:8-13. The Priests and Judges to Determine Controversies. 8-13. If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment—In all civil or criminal cases, where there was any doubt or difficulty in giving a decision, the local magistrates were to submit them by reference to the tribunal of the Sanhedrim—the supreme council, which was composed partly of civil and partly of ecclesiastical persons. "The priests and Levites," should rather be "the priests—the Levites"; that is, the Levitical priests, including the high priest, who were members of the legislative assembly; and who, as forming one body, are called "the judge." Their sittings were held in the neighborhood of the sanctuary because in great emergencies the high priest had to consult God by Urim (Nu 27:21). From their judgment there was no appeal; and if a person were so perverse and refractory as to refuse obedience to their sentences, his conduct, as inconsistent with the maintenance of order and good government, was then to be regarded and punished as a capital crime.

12 . presumptuously ] See on Deuteronomy 1:43 and cp. Deuteronomy 18:20 . unto the priest … or unto the judge ] Again no information is given as to how the cases are to be divided between the two. D’s sole interest is to accommodate the procedure of law to the fact of the One Altar. that standeth to minister , etc.] See on Deuteronomy 10:8 . put away the evil ] See on Deuteronomy 13:5 (6). Deuteronomy 17:12

No one was to resist in pride, to refuse to listen to the priest or to the judge. Resistance to the priest took place when any one was dissatisfied with his interpretation of the law; to the judge, when any one was discontented with the sentence that was passed on the basis of the law. Such refractory conduct was to be punished with death, as rebellion against God, in whose name the right had been spoken ( Deuteronomy 1:17 ). (On Deuteronomy 17:13 , see Deuteronomy 13:12 .)

[Bible] 17:7. The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to kill him, and afterwards the hands of the rest of the people: that thou mayst take away the evil out of the midst of thee. 17:8. If thou perceive that there be among you a hard and doubtful matter in judgment between blood and blood, cause and cause, leprosy and leprosy: and thou see that the words of the judges within thy gates do vary: arise, and go up to the place, which the Lord thy God shall choose. If thou perceive, etc... Here we see what authority God was pleased to give to the church guides of the Old Testament, in deciding, without appeal, all controversies relating to the law; promising that they should not err therein; and surely he has not done less for the church guides of the New Testament. 17:9. And thou shalt come to the priests of the Levitical race, and to the judge, that shall be at that time: and thou shalt ask of them, and they shall shew thee the truth of the judgment. 17:10. And thou shalt do whatsoever they shall say, that preside in the place, which the Lord shall choose, and what they shall teach thee, 17:11. According to his law; and thou shalt follow their sentence: neither shalt thou decline to the right hand nor to the left hand. 17:12. But he that will be proud, and refuse to obey the commandment of the priest, who ministereth at that time to the Lord thy God, and the decree of the judge, that man shall die, and thou shalt take away the evil from Israel: 17:13. And all the people hearing it shall fear, that no one afterwards swell with pride. 17:14. When thou art come into the land, which the Lord thy God will give thee, and possessest it, and shalt say: I will set a king over me, as all nations have that are round about: 17:15. Thou shalt set him whom the Lord thy God shall choose out of the number of thy brethren. Thou mayst not make a man of another nation king, that is not thy brother.