While some people identify their profession through company logo shirts, for sometime who is pursuing ordination, it is the Word of God that is our identifier. Here is another passage from my commentary on Shof’tim. Or listen to it!
And what is justice in the eyes of ADONAI? First and foremost, it is a pursuit of discerning the truth, and then acting on it. There are several safeguards for discerning truth set up throughout the rest of the parashah.
For example, when speaking of crimes punishable by death, such as worshipping false Gods in the land of Isra’el, we read in Deuteronomy 17:6:
Deuteronomy 17:6
The death sentence is to be carried out only if there was testimony from two or three witnesses; he may not be sentenced to death on the testimony of only one witness.
The judges themselves are another safeguard established here, as are the Levitical priests. On controversial matters, we are told, the people are to bring their cases before an assembly of the priests and a judge, and they will render a verdict:
Deuteronomy 17:9b-11
Seek their opinion, and they will render a verdict for you. You will then act according to what they have told you there in that place which ADONAI will choose; you are to take care to act according to all their instructions. In accordance with the Torah they teach you, you are to carry out the judgment they render, not turning aside to the right or the left from the verdict they declare to you.
This pattern of establishing a system of human authority based on the Torah and ADONAI’s teaching is repeated throughout this week’s reading.
Tags: commentary, company logo shirts, Shof'tim
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on Monday, September 8th, 2008 at 4:30 am and is filed under Torah.
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More from my Shof’tim commentary
September 8th, 2008 by Craig Hansen
While some people identify their profession through company logo shirts, for sometime who is pursuing ordination, it is the Word of God that is our identifier. Here is another passage from my commentary on Shof’tim. Or listen to it!
And what is justice in the eyes of ADONAI? First and foremost, it is a pursuit of discerning the truth, and then acting on it. There are several safeguards for discerning truth set up throughout the rest of the parashah.
For example, when speaking of crimes punishable by death, such as worshipping false Gods in the land of Isra’el, we read in Deuteronomy 17:6:
The judges themselves are another safeguard established here, as are the Levitical priests. On controversial matters, we are told, the people are to bring their cases before an assembly of the priests and a judge, and they will render a verdict:
This pattern of establishing a system of human authority based on the Torah and ADONAI’s teaching is repeated throughout this week’s reading.
Tags: commentary, company logo shirts, Shof'tim
This entry was posted on Monday, September 8th, 2008 at 4:30 am and is filed under Torah. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.