Reading: Deuteronomy 17-20, Psalm 59
Yesterday, we read about how God wants his people to deal with wealth and poverty, the rich and the poor. A similar theme to how societies deal with wealth is how societies deal with power. Remember, at this point the people of Israel are literally founding a new society. They had been enslaved in Egypt then spent a generation wandering in the desert, during which time they had Moses taking God’s words to them directly. They were in one gigantic camp. They all moved together. Now, things are about to change.
God is establishing the methods and limits of three kinds of power here: the courts, the army, and the king. The courts are in some ways the simplest- they are the Levites and Priests. Their function is a bit different from our courts in the modern world, but they basically cover the same bases. The army was the center of power for pretty much all ancient regimes, as it is in many places today. In the ancient world, the army was made up of all the men of the nation, and whoever they would follow had enormous power. The king… wait, what is this about a king? Wasn’t the whole argument by story that Moses made to start off this book about no one but God being qualified to rule humans? Yes. Yes it was. But here, there is regulation for a king, along with a prediction that the people would want one anyway.
Okay, let’s look at the Levite judges. The local elders of the towns were the first level of justice. They heard the cases of local dispute and investigated local matters. If they were stumped, or if someone wanted to appeal their decision, they went to the tabernacle and talked to the priest on duty. The priest had final say. The Levites were also supposed to be investigators when a whole city went off the rails. They could do this because they were independent of the town and tribe- they could always leave and move to the tabernacle or one of the Levite cities. Another important element of Israelite justice is repeated here: there will be no convictions on the basis of a single witness. This was really important in the ancient world. The root of the problem was that many societies were heavily stratified, and the “higher” a person was, the more trustworthy they were considered to be. The status of a male, for example, would outrank a female, and so his testimony in court would be considered above hers. The multiple witnesses rule put a stop to, or at least put brakes on, miscarriages of justice based on social standing, where the already powerful had advantages. Finally, the Levite judges are instructed to inquire diligently after matters of justice- they are not to pass judgment flippantly, but to look carefully after every case. When their judgment is issued, it is final. This is not a justice system in which people go round and round various courts and no one is ever confident of the final answer. The Levite ruling must be accepted on pain of death.
The army. God is setting up the people of Israel for a real doozy here. Ancient armies were power bases, and participation in the army was a requirement for the common people. Ancient war was generally total war- defeat led to cultural extinction. Attempting to avoid necessary warfare was a major offense against the tribe and king. Every man had to fight, because survival was on the line. But God sets up something totally different. He exempts anyone who has just built a house, planted a vineyard, or gotten married from battle. And then, just to really top it off, exempts anyone who is frightened from the battle too! God is, of course, making a point about where the victory of Israel comes from- no army could do what God is promising Israel he was do for them. To conquer the promised land is beyond them, and there will be no room to brag that they did it themselves. God also puts restrictions on the way the army will do battle. They are not to practice the kind of total economic devastation that was typical of the day. When laying siege to a city or town, it was accepted practice to destroy the surrounding countryside. In a way this ensured victory, because even if they could not take the city, the economic consequences would weaken the enemy to the point where it could be taken later. God does not allow this. He will ensure the Israelites win the battles he wants them to win without such measures.
Alright. The king. As we have noted, the story of Israel so far does not argue very well for putting a king over Israel. In fact, it argues the opposite, as human leadership has not done especially well so far. However, we have already had predictions of a human ruler in Israel in Jacob’s blessing of Judah way back in Genesis, and it is repeated here. There will be a king over Israel in the future, so God is putting some ground rules in place in advance of the inevitable. His conditions are rather at odds with the image of the ancient king: no great number of horses, which were basically synonymous with military power, no great piles of gold and silver, and no great number of wives, which in addition to the obvious reasons were synonymous with alliances. Basically the kings of Israel weren’t supposed to do any of the things that kings did. Instead, they were supposed to make a copy of the law and spend their days and nights studying it. Not exactly the royal image that has come down to us in the present day. You’re the king? Read a book!
There is one other exceptional and important thing in today’s reading. Moses delivers a promise to the people of Israel about his successor. We already saw that Joshua would take on some of the role of Moses when the people enter the promised land. But he won’t be quite like Moses. Similarly, there will be prophets that speak from God to the people of Israel, but they won’t be quite like Moses. The office that Moses occupies in Israel will remain vacant for an extremely long time. The king, the army, the judges, typical centers of power, will not attain to the office of Moses.