The Defender
- Posted on SepamMon, 05 Sep 2016 11:35:44 -05002016-09-05T11:35:44-05:0011 17, 2016
- in Bible, God, Hebrew, Messiah, Shoftim, Study, Torah, Yeshua
- by Hallelujah Girl
It was the rebbetzin’s (Rabbi’s wife’s) word against that of her maid. The wife of Rabbi Zev accused her maid of having broken an expensive dish; the maid denied it.
“You broke it! You must pay the cost!
“I did not break the dish! I refuse to pay damages for something I did not do.”
Neither woman was willing to give an inch. Finally, the rebbetzin saw that they were getting nowhere and decided to take her servant to a din Torah (house of judgement). She put on her street clothes and her husband put on his suit that he would wear to the Temple on Shabbat.
“What is this?” she asked in surprise.
” I am coming along with you to the din Torah,” he said.
“There is no need for that,” she assured him. “I know exactly what to say.”
“I have no doubt about that,” he said drily. “It is the poor servant girl that I am worried about. How will she defend herself against you? Will she have the courage to stand up against you in court? I want to be there to help her out , if she needs me.”
This weeks Portion of Torah is titled “Shoftim”, שופטים, meaning “judges”. Shoftim begins with Deuteronomy 16:18-20 “Judges and officers you are to appoint in all your cities~which HASHEM, your G~d, gives you~for your tribes; and they shall judge the people with righteous judgement. You shall not pervert judgement, you shall not respect someone’s presence, and you shall not accept a bribe, for the bribe will blind the eyes of the wise and make just words crooked. Righteousness, righteousness shall you pursue, so that you will live and possess the Land that HASHEM your G~d, gives you.”
These judges are to judge with “righteous judgement”. The mere appointment of these people who are to judge is not what is the most important. These people must be qualified and righteous. They must be able to judge honestly and correctly. The Holy One holds them all responsible for the perversions of judgement. It seems a far cry from the way our judges are today. The Hebrew word for “righteous” is “tzaddik”, צדק. We first find the word tzaddik in Leviticus 19:15: “Do no unrighteousness in right ruling. Do not be partial to the poor or favor the face of the great, but rightly rule your neighbor in righteousness.
We also see that “you shall not respect someone’s presence”. Simply explained, The court is to treat everyone equally. If a judge shows more respect to one person over another, the other feels at a disadvantage. Obviously, in our story the Rabbi might have had some question as to whether the court might respect his wife over that of the maid, therefore he would go along to make sure this didn’t happen.
The Torah puts much emphasis on accepting a “bribe” or “shochad”, שחד, in Hebrew. Even if a judge accepts a bribe without any oblighation whatsoever, it is almost impossible for the judge not to be swayed. The first we find the word Shochad in the Scripture is in Exodus 23:8: “And do not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the seeing one and twists the words of the righteous.” Solomon writes in Ecclestiastes 7:7 “For oppression makes the wise one mad, and a bribe destroys the heart”
Notice in verse 20, we have the words, “Righteousness, righteousness shall you pursure”. It is not enough to seek righteousness; it must be done through honest means. Righteousness cannot be obtained through injustice or inappropriate means.
Truth and righteousness is the way the Torah. Yeshua, Our Messiah, spoke that He is “The Way” and “The Truth”. Therefore Yeshua represents the Torah Himself, after all, He fulfilled it! We are obligated to distance ourselves from a false word, from evil. Although truth is not fully obtainable in this world, we are charged to pursue it. We must continue in faith that the truth will come to its full splendor in the World to Come.
All of this so we can live in peace. The appointment of honorable judges is so important. Justice is the backbone of existence. Living in a land of peace depends on our respect for such righteous justice. The Sages teach that “whoever appoints an unworthy court is like one who planted an idol near the Sanctuary of G~d.” (Sanhedrin 7b). By carrying out justice in a righteous manner our society could even inspire other nations to correct their own actions and behaviors toward the Creator.
The promise of the ultimate King by the prophet Isaiah: Of the increase of His government and shalom there will be no end~on the throne of David and over His Kingdom~to establish it and uphold it through justice and righteousness from now until forevermore. The zeal of ADONAI-Tzva’ot will accomplish this. ~Isaiah 9:6. Our great “Defender”! Continue to pursue justice so that you may “live”. There is coming a day when the Prince of Peace will return to rule and reign! HalleluYah!
Shalom, Happy day!
Hallelujah Girl
Tags: #judges, #ReadYourBible #ItsAllAboutYeshua #TorahIsTruth, bribe, government, justice, president, righteous