| Church School Lesson: Incorruptible Leaders |
"Incorruptible Leaders"
January 23, 2022
Background: Deuteronomy 16:18-20; 17:8-13; 19:15-21;
Print: Deuteronomy 16:18-20; 17:8-13
Key Verse: Deuteronomy 16:18
Deuteronomy 16:18-20 (NCV)
18 Appoint judges and officers for your tribes in every town the LORD your God is giving you; they must judge the people fairly.
19 Do not judge unfairly or take sides. Do not let people pay you to make wrong decisions, because that kind of payment makes wise people seem blind, and it changes the words of good people.
20 Always do what is right so that you will live and always have the land the LORD your God is giving you.
Deuteronomy 17:8-13 (NCV)
8 Some cases that come before you, such as murder, quarreling, or attack, may be too difficult to judge. Take these cases to the place the LORD your God will choose.
9 Go to the priests who are Levites and to the judge who is on duty at that time. Ask them about the case, and they will decide.
10 You must follow the decision they give you at the place the LORD your God will choose. Be careful to do everything they tell you.
11 Follow the teachings they give you, and do whatever they decide, exactly as they tell you.
12 The person who does not show respect for the judge or priest who is there serving the LORD your God must be put to death. You must get rid of that evil from Israel.
13 Then everyone will hear about this and will be afraid, and they will not show disrespect anymore.
Deuteronomy Chapters 16/17 (Commentary)
16:18-20 Biblical Israel was a theocracy, meaning that the country had a form of government in which God served as the nation's King. This meant that the nation's civil leaders, its judges and officials, were charged with judging the people with righteous judgment (16:18)--just as the Lord would. As a nation in covenant with God, Israel was accountable to the law of Moses, the statutes and commands that God had given the people through his servant Moses. To break God's holy requirements by, for example, accepting a bribe to pervert justice could cause Israel to forfeit the land God was giving them (16:19-20). God's leaders--those of yesterday and today--are not to pursue selfish gain but to pursue . . . justice alone (16:20).
17:8-13 As for cases that a local judge felt were too difficult for him to decide, Moses instructed the people to set up something of a supreme court at the central sanctuary in the promised land. There the case would be heard by both the religious and civil leaders, the Levitical priests and the judge who [presided in a given] time (17:9). Their verdict would be final. Moses emphasized this by stating repeatedly that the parties involved in the case must do exactly as instructed, without exception (17:10-11). The leaders were ruling on Godâ??s behalf, so judgment had to be followed. No appeals would be heard. Anyone who failed to listen to the priest or the judge would pay the consequence: death (17:12).