The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 17:8-13
The priest and the judge. The priests, in association with a judge or judges ( Deuteronomy 19:17 ), constituted a supreme tribunal to which difficult causes were carried, and whose judgment was to be final. The priest had naturally a place in this supreme court: 1. As representing God in the theocracy. 2. As a member of the distinctively learned class of the nation. 3. As one whose special office it was to teach and interpret the Law of God (Le Deuteronomy 10:11 ; ... read more
The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 17:8-13
Religion the guard of justice. In the preceding chapter, Deuteronomy 17:18-20 , judges and officers are specified as appointed by Goel to be the guardians of justice and right. The Hebrew is very emphatic in Deuteronomy 17:20 , "Justice, justice, shalt thou follow," etc. Manifold complications, however, would be sure to arise as the nation advanced, and as the primitive simplicity of their first settlement passed into more fixed arrangements as to property, etc. In such difficult... read more