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Shoftim (Judges)
(Sefer Devarim) Deuteronomy 16:18 - 21:9
16:18-
"Judges and officers shall thou make
thee in all thy gates, which YHVH thy
Elohim gives thee,
throughout thy tribes: and they
shall judge the people with just
judgment.
19-
Thou
shall not wrest judgment; thou shall not
respect persons, neither take a gift:
for a gift does
blind the eyes of the wise, and
pervert the words of the righteous.
20-
That
which is altogether just shall thou
follow, that thou may live, and inherit
the land which
YHVH thy Elohim gives thee.
17:8- If 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 shall
thou arise, and get thee up into
the place which YHVH thy Elohim shall
choose;
9-
And
thou shall come unto the kohanim the
Levites, and unto the judge that shall
be in those days,
and inquire; and they shall show
thee the sentence of judgment:
10-
And
thou shall do according to the sentence,
which they of that place which YHVH
shall choose
shall show thee; and thou shall
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
shall do: thou shall 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 kohain that
stands to
minister there before YHVH thy
Elohim, or unto the judge, even that man
shall die: and thou shall
put away the evil from Yisrael.
13-
And
all the people shall hear, and fear, and
do no more presumptuously.
18:1-
The
kohanim the Levites, and all the tribe
of Levi, shall have no part nor
inheritance with Yisrael:
they shall eat the offerings of
YHVH made by fire, and his inheritance.
5-
For
YHVH thy Elohim has chosen him out of
all thy tribes, to stand to minister in
the name of
YHVH, him and his sons for ever.
15-
YHVH
thy Elohim will raise up unto thee a
prophet from the midst of thee, of thy
brethren, like
unto me; unto him ye shall
hearken;
16-
According to all that thou desires of
YHVH thy Elohim in Chorev in the day of
the assembly,
saying, Let me not hear again
the voice of YHVH my Elohim, neither let
me see this great fire any
more, that I die not.
17-
And
YHVH said unto me, They have well spoken
that which they have spoken.
18-
I
will raise them up a prophet from among
their brethren, like unto thee, and will
put My words in
his mouth; and he shall speak
unto them all that I shall command him.
19-
And
it shall come to pass, that whosoever
will not hearken unto My words which he
shall speak in
My name, I will require it of
him.
20-
But
the prophet, which shall presume to
speak a word in My name, which I have
not commanded
him to speak, or that shall
speak in the name of other gods, even
that prophet shall die.
21-
And
if thou say in thine heart, How shall we
know the word which YHVH has not spoken?
22-
When
a prophet speaks in the name of YHVH, if
the thing follow not, nor come to pass,
that is the
thing which YHVH has not spoken,
but the prophet has spoken it
presumptuously: thou shall not
be afraid of him."
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"Beforetime in Yisrael, when a
man went to inquire of Elohim,
thus he spoke, Come, and let
us go to the seer: for he that
is now called a Prophet was
beforetime called a Seer."
(1 Samuel 9:9)
"And it shall come to pass
afterward, that I will pour out
my spirit upon all flesh; and
your sons and your daughters
shall prophesy, your old men
shall dream dreams, your
young men shall see visions."
(Joel 2:28)
"The lion has roared, who will
not fear? Adonai YHVH has
spoken, who can but prophesy?"
(Amos 3:8)
"That this is a rebellious
people, lying children, children
that will not hear the Torah of
YHVH: Which say to the seers,
See not; and to the prophets,
Prophesy not unto us right
things, speak unto us smooth
things, prophesy deceits."
(Isaiah 30:9-10)
"For thus says YHVH Tzivaot, the
Elohim of Yisrael; Let not your
prophets and your
diviners, that be in the midst
of you, deceive you, neither
hearken to your dreams which
ye cause to be dreamed. For
they prophesy falsely unto you
in my name: I have not sent
them, says YHVH."
(Jeremiah 29:8-9)
"To the Torah and to the
testimony: if they speak not
according to this word, it is
because there is no light in
them."
(Isaiah 8:20)
"And if the prophet be deceived
when he has spoken a thing, I
YHVH have deceived that
prophet, and I will stretch out
my hand upon him, and will
destroy him from the midst
of my people
Yisrael."
(Ezekiel 14:9) |
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Shoftim
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Summary:
1. Confronted with Judgments
Conveyed
by Priests and Prophets:
Beyond all the recorded statutes,
ordinances, and judgments delivered in
Torah, there remains the need for a
living testimony of what truly is
HaShem’s will in the matter. Rather
than being merely confined to a rule
book which indeed can modify outward
behavior, Torah is clear in parasha
Shoftim, that Elohim’s Eternal desire
was to have a vibrant rapport with
mankind. Just as He communicated His
will through Moshe, Adonai Shamah, the
One who is present, has always purposed
to speak with men.
For Moshe, himself, the great expositor
of Heaven's desires, eradicated any
doubts of limitless speech, declaring in
Numbers 11:29:
"...Envy thou for my sake? O that
all YHVH's people were prophets,
and that YHVH would put His
spirit upon them!"
With the institution of judges,
priests, kings, and prophets and their
defining roles, is evidence of their
place within the developing community.
Yet, due to their mediatory nature,
resolving issues between both man and
HaShem, as well as settling disputes
among men, conflict is often associated
with them. While they did not create
the trouble but responded to it,
frequently they are deemed the culprit
in a matter. Even as Moshe was blamed
for his intervention during the nation's
formidable years, so there would be many
who would follow as Divine arbitrators,
attempting to aid an apostate people in
mending their ways. Sadly, the reaction
was most often the same: The covenant
nation resisted the messenger and
rejected the message. When the people
were not taking up stones to silence the
prophets, they chose instead to minimize
their divine decrees; in Ezekiel
33:31-33, there is great insight offered
regarding the heart of unregenerate man:
"And they come unto thee as the
people comes, and they sit before thee
as My people, and they hear thy
words, but they will not do them:
for with their mouth they show much
love, but their heart goes after
their covetousness. And,
lo, thou are unto them as a very
lovely song of one that has a pleasant
voice,
and can play well on an instrument:
for they hear thy words, but they do
them not. And when this
comes to pass, (lo, it will come,)
then shall they know that a prophet
has been among them."
2. Polluted by Prophets with
Presumptuous Hearts:
What is left for a people who
prefer to fashion a god in their own
image and after their own ways? In an
amazing display of true justice,
the Holy One of Yisrael has time and
again allowed wickedness to catch up
with those whom He sought to bless, yet
continued to rebel. Psalms 18:26
describes His righteous methods:
"With the pure thou will show
thyself pure; and with the forward
thou will show thyself forward."
With each subsequent generation
demonstrating dishonor by revolt, the
sin of Yisrael and the sin of the world
added greater judgment to the scales of
Justice. Instead of using the voice of
sought-after prophets to bring mankind
into a repentant state with Him, the
converse became true as Elohim became an
adversary just as He'd warned. 1 Kings
22:22 illustrates the plight of a people
who had long rejected His counsel,
namely:
"And YHVH said to him, By what
means? And he said, I will go forth, and
I will be a lying spirit in the
mouth of all His prophets. And He
said, Thou shall persuade him and
prevail: go forth, and do so."
When a nation arrives at such
a state, what more is left, but a the
fury of Adonai Tzivaot. For a people to
find themselves with such a future or,
for a soul to discover that HaShem
really did mean what He said is indeed
dreadful. Numbers 15:30-31 describes
the impending doom for self-willed
living, as is written:
"But the soul that acts
presumptuously, either born in the
land or a stranger, the same reviles
YHVH;
and that soul shall be cut off from
among his people. Because he has
despised the word of YHVH,
and
has broken His commandment, that
soul shall utterly be cut off; his
iniquity shall be upon him."
Ironically, when a nation continues to
prefer the poison of the false prophets,
it will not be long before they begin to
perceive the disconnect they now have
with Heaven. Recognizing, the lies of
promised peace and prosperity, they will
at last admit their deficiency and cry
out the words of Psalms 74:9,
acknowledging:
"We see not our signs: there is no
more any prophet: nor is there among
us any that knows how long."
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