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Rev. Ronald C.
Purkey, an ordained Baptist minister, claims no originality for this Bible study
outline.
However,
every Bible study posted on this website has been taught by Rev. Purkey.
To see more Bible
study outlines go to page two: More Bible Study Outlines.
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January 23, 2022
SCRIPTURE: Deuteronomy 16:18-20; 17:8-13
KEY VERSE: “You shall appoint judges and officers in all your gates,
which the LORD your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall
judge the people with just judgment.” (Deuteronomy 16:18)
INTRODUCTION: Becoming a judge is a demanding, rigorous and
expensive process.
1. The process
includes specialized, post-graduate education at an accredited law school to
earn a JD (juris doctor) degree, passing a state bar exam, completing a
judicial clerkship, and practicing law by prosecuting and/or defending cases in
court. Only at that point does a person stand a chance of being appointed or
elected to the bench. The entire process often takes decades. The education,
training, and experience a potential judge receives during years of preparation
provide the necessary foundation needed to render good and right judgments
based on laws.
2. But becoming
a judge in the Old Testament in Israel was radically different from the process
required today. But a necessary element for continuing as a judge remains the
same as it did some 35 centuries ago -- a key issue in this week’s Bible study.
3. Remember that
the civil and religious Laws of Israel are God’s helpful principles to govern
mankind and society (see Deuteronomy 27:1-26:19). In Deuteronomy chapters 16,
17, and 18 we come to a section which deals with the regulations that would
control a priest, and a prophet, and a king. These were the three main offices
in the nation of Israel, in the theocracy which God had set up for these
people. God laid down rules for each of these offices.
I. GENERAL
GOALS: Regulations For Judges. (Deuteronomy 16:18-20)
INSIGHT: Deuteronomy chapter 16 concludes with
commandments regarding judges.
(Deuteronomy
16:18) “You shall appoint judges and officers in all your gates,
which the LORD your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall
judge the people with just judgment.”
1. The judges and officials were to be appointed from each of the
tribes in all the towns the Lord God had given them. They were to judge the
people fairly.
2. The
courthouse in that day was not a building in the center of town or even in a
courthouse square. Instead of being in the center of town, it was at the edge
of town, at the gate in the wall around the city. The reason for that was that
it was the place where all the citizens entered or left the city. It was the
gathering place, just as the square is the gathering place in some of our
little towns.
3. Knowing the
human heart as God does, He warns against distorting justice, about respect of
persons, and about accepting a bribe.
INSIGHT: The judges were to never twist
justice or show partiality. They were never to accept a
bribe, for bribes blind the eyes of the wise and corrupt the decisions of the
godly. They were to let true justice prevail, so that they might live and
occupy the land that the Lord God would give them.
(Deuteronomy 16:19-20) “You shall not pervert
justice; you shall not show partiality, nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds
the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.20 You
shall follow what is altogether just, that you may live and inherit the
land which the LORD your God is giving you.”
4. 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 (Deuteronomy 16:18) -- just as the Lord would.
5. 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 (Deuteronomy
16:19-20). God’s leaders -- those of yesterday and today -- are not to pursue
selfish gain but to pursue….justice alone.
(Deuteronomy
16:21–22) “You shall not plant for yourself any tree, as a
wooden image, near the altar which you build for yourself to the LORD your God.
22 You shall not set up a sacred pillar, which the LORD
your God hates.”
6. A grove was
connected with idolatry and with sinful worship in that day. That was the
reason they were not to make groves. It was in those groves that the altars and
images and idols were made to heathen and pagan gods. You can see that this is
very close to the worship of the Druids in Europe. Paganism goes in for that
type of thing, and God is warning His people against it. Anything or any person
we put in place of the God of the Bible is an idol.
7. The
theocratic nature of Israel’s government is clearly seen in these verses. Moses
suddenly seemed to change subjects from the duties of judges to forbidden forms
of worship. But the two topics were intricately related because in Israel, even
the civil rulers were responsible for guarding the nation’s purity of worship
and punishing offenders. Moses put the leaders on alert to watch for violations
of true worship (see Deuteronomy 16:21–17:1).
INSIGHT: Israel was the only theocracy ever ordained by God.
And as much as some believers might wish it were so in the U.S.A., this country
is not a theocracy. More importantly, our kingdom calling as the church is not
to make it so. Nevertheless, we can (and should) call our civil leaders to
account based on the righteous standards of God’s Word. If they refuse to
acknowledge the objective standards of justice and righteousness set by the
Creator, we can seek to replace them with leaders who will.
Getting It Right On The
Inside
By Joe Stowell,
INSIGHT: We all have to
get our hearts right with God and with others. Simply put, we need to get it
right on the inside!
1. I love the story of Jonah! It’s full of drama and
important life lessons. After
stubbornly refusing to do God’s will, Jonah finally preached a revival service
in Nineveh that would have made him one of the most successful missionaries of
his time. When the people repented and turned from their wicked ways -- and
when God relented and turned from His anger against them -- you would have
expected Jonah to rejoice. Instead, he was angry that God was merciful. Why?
Although he was finally obeying God by doing the right thing in the right
place, he was deeply flawed on the inside.
2. Like Jonah, if we are not careful, we can be
spiritually “looking good” on the outside, but far from God in our hearts. He is most
interested in what we are like on the inside. His Word is “sharper than any
two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit” (Hebrews
4:12). With it, He performs divine surgery to remove the greed, dishonesty,
hatred, pride, and selfishness that live in the deep shadows of our hearts.
3. So the next time the Holy Spirit convicts you and
asks you about your bad attitude (see Jonah 4:4) -- listen carefully. Surrender and
let Him change you from the inside out. – Joe Stowell, Our
Daily Bread, June 4, 2012
INSIGHT: In the theocracy, they were to refer their cases to
the priest or to the judges whom God would put over them. In a theocracy they
should never have had a king. We know that later on they asked for a king and
God granted their request. Remember Psalm 106:15: “And he gave them their
request; but sent leanness into their soul.” This was said of their experience
in the wilderness, but it is a truth for all time.
If God would
answer many of our prayers as we pray them, it would be the biggest mistake in
the world. God is gracious and many times refuses our requests. He does that
for me, and I’m sure He does that for you. However, God yielded to Israel’s
request for a king. In fact, way back here -- before they were even in the land
-- He was laying down regulations for their king.
(Deuteronomy
17:8) “If a matter arises which is too hard for you to judge,
between degrees of guilt for bloodshed, between one judgment or another, or
between one punishment or another, matters of controversy within your gates,
then you shall arise and go up to the place which the LORD your God chooses.”
1. If two men
disagree on an important matter, how is it to be solved when evidence seems to
be equally impressive on both sides?
(Deuteronomy
17:9-11) “And you shall come to the priests, the Levites,
and to the judge there in those days, and inquire of them; they
shall pronounce upon you the sentence of judgment. 10 You shall
do according to the sentence which they pronounce upon you in that place which
the LORD chooses. And you shall be careful to do according to all that they
order you. 11 According to the sentence of the law in which
they instruct you, according to the judgment which they tell you, you shall do;
you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left from
the sentence which they pronounce upon you.”
2. Because the
Law didn’t cover every situation, disagreements were to be taken to the priest.
Then the people were to abide by the decision given. Disobedience
to the judgment of the priest was to be punished with the death penalty.
3. The only
instance we have recorded of this being used is in Haggai 2:11. I’m sure there
were many instances like this. If the Law specifically covered an issue and
dogmatically gave a ruling about it, then, obviously, there was no need to take
the matter to the priest. If, however, a matter had to be taken to the priest
or the judge for a decision, that decision was final and was to be obeyed.
(Deuteronomy 17:12-13) “Now the man who acts
presumptuously and will not heed the priest who stands to minister there before
the LORD your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So you shall put away the
evil from Israel. 13 And all the people shall hear and fear,
and no longer act presumptuously.”
INSIGHT: This passage says that anyone arrogant enough to reject the verdict of
the judge or of the priest who represents the LORD God must die. In this way
Israel will purge the evil from Israel. Then everyone else will hear about it
and be afraid to act so arrogantly.
4. 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 (Deuteronomy 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 (Deuteronomy 17:10-11). The leaders were ruling
on God’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 (Deuteronomy 17:12).
5. People who
love the God of the Bible keep His commandments – and one of God’s predominant
commandments is LOVE! If a Christian does not have the Lord’s love prompting
his actions, he has the wrong motivation. Fairness and compassion toward others
will define the life of anyone who truly LOVES the Lord! If God controls you on
the inside, you’ll be genuine on the outside.
INSIGHT: Read Deuteronomy 17:14-20.
God next
provided instructions for that momentous day when Israel would become a
monarchy. That switch in governmental approach, however, wouldn’t mean that God
ceased to be Israel’s King. Rather, the divine King would rule through a human
king. The Lord would still bless the nation, as long as the king obeyed him and
upheld his law. Israel’s history demonstrates that their kings were, for the
most part, failures. It would require God himself coming in human flesh to be
the King that Israel needs.
In its early
years in the promised land, Israel would be ruled by judges and priests. But
the book of Judges reveals how imperfectly that system would work. Eventually,
Israel would clamor for a king like all the nations around them (Deuteronomy 17:14; see 1 Samuel 8:4-5).
In advance of
that day, Moses specified that Israel’s king had to be an Israelite and not a
foreigner (Deuteronomy 17:15). Moreover, he must not acquire
many horses -- which would require going back to Egypt in violation of God’s
command (Deuteronomy 17:16). He was also not to acquire many wives or
acquire very large amounts of silver and gold (Deuteronomy 17:17). And,
most importantly, he was to write a copy of this instruction for himself and
read from it all the days of his life so that he would not turn from this
command (Deuteronomy 17:18-20).
Later, King
Solomon would be called the wisest man who ever lived. However, in his
sinfulness, Solomon broke all of these commandments for kings by accumulating
horses in the thousands, seven hundred wives who led his heart astray, and
wealth that could not be counted. (Just because a person has access to wisdom
doesn’t guarantee he’ll use it.)
Obstacles to
Obedience
Dr. Charles Stanley
Read: 2 Kings 5:11-17
INSIGHT: Obedience is a powerful action that can unleash God’s glory in ways beyond
our imagination. Yet obeying is often difficult because our desires are being
put to the test. Sometimes we’re afraid that by doing what the Lord says, we’ll
end up losing what’s important to us. But choosing not to obey may actually
cost us the very thing we desire most.
Using Naaman as an example,
three obstacles initially kept Naaman from following God’s instructions -- and
almost prevented his miraculous healing from leprosy.
1. Pride. As a high-ranking official, Naaman feared obeying would cost him his
dignity. Conversely, his servants had the wisdom to see pride was robbing him
of life. How often do we balk at doing what God says, for fear of looking
foolish?
2. Self-centered expectations. Naaman was furious when his very specific expectations weren’t met. We,
too, often get angry at the Lord when He doesn’t comply with our demands. But
if we really want His perfect will, we absolutely must “let” Him do things His
way.
3. Unbelief. Because Naaman’s faith extended only to his own vision of how he’d be
healed, he initially didn’t see how obeying would cure his leprosy. It took the
faith of his servants to help him see the truth: that obedience was key to
unlocking God’s answer to his greatest need.
INSIGHT: The call to obey often uncovers strongholds from which the Lord wants to
free us. When we choose to respond in faith, He reveals Himself to us in a new
way that strengthens our trust in Him -- because ultimately, our greatest need
is to know the Lord better. – Adapted from Charles Stanley, In Touch Ministries, November 25, 2018
CONCLUSION: What have we learned from our Bible study of
Deuteronomy 16 and 17 today?
First, Be
Honest: Knowing the human heart as God does, God warns against
Judges distorting justice, about respect of persons, and about accepting a
bribe, and other wrongs. Don’t do it! Get your heart right with God and others.
Do the right thing.
Second, Don’t
Practice Presumption: God’s Word reveals God’s will and we must not go
beyond what God permits. To transgress (Deuteronomy 17:2) means to “cross the
line,” which is presumptuous sin. God says, “Thus far and no farther!” and we
must obey. That obedience applied to sentences of judgment (Deuteronomy
17:8–13). Disobedience to the judgment of the priest was to be punished with
the death penalty. The sinner who challenged the judgment of God’s appointed
leaders was destined to die. “Hear and fear!”
Third, Don’t Be
Prideful. Israel did ask for a king, and God gave them Saul
(1 Samuel 8–10). We do not know whether he obeyed, but we do know that he
failed to obey God’s will (1 Samuel 15). His successor David was a man of God’s
Word, but David’s son Solomon committed many sinful acts (see1 Kings 10–11).
There was great prosperity for a time, but then the nation divided and turned
from God.
INSIGHT: Common citizens, priests, judges, and kings -- all
had an obligation to submit to God’s Word and obey it. The higher the position,
the greater the responsibility. “Hear and fear!”
THOUGHT TO
REMEMBER: “If God controls
you on the inside, you’ll be genuine on the outside.”
REFERENCES: References used in these Bible studies are the Moody Bible Commentary, J. Vernon McGee’s Thru the Bible Commentary: (www.ttb.org), the Scofield Study Bible, the Believer’s Bible Commentary, Dr. Charles
J. Woodbridge Bible Outlines, Dr. Lee Roberson’s Sermons, Dr. Charles Stanley: (http://www.intouch.org/), Don Robinson’s Bible Outlines, Women’s Study Bible, The Bible Reader’s
Companion Ed. 3, The Nelson Study Bible: New King James Version, Dr. Tony Evans (https://tonyevans.org/), KJV Bible Commentary, Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines of the New
Testament ed. 4, Dr. David Jeremiah: (http://www.davidjeremiah.org/site/), Dr. Cliff Robinson’s Bible Outlines, Dr. Robert Jeffress’ Pathway to
Victory (https://ptv.org/), Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines of the Old Testament, Dr. Alan Carr’s The Sermon Notebook (www.sermonnotebook.org), With the Word Bible Commentary, Wiersbe’s “Be” Series: Old & New
Testaments, Radio Bible Class Ministries (http://rbc.org/), selected illustrations and other references.
REV. RONALD PURKEY’S OFFICE
E-mail: Ronald Purkey
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