Deuteronomy 16:18-20

Probably the people chose the judges, and the leaders of the nation appointed them (cf. Deuteronomy 1:13). "Judges" were individuals responsible for administering justice, and "officers" were administrators charged with the enforcement of law, perhaps similar to modern police officers. [Note: Craigie, The Book . . ., p. 247.] The number of these in each town probably varied according to the needs of the community.

". . . in order to give the people and the judges appointed by them a brief practical admonition, as to the things they were more especially to observe in their administration of justice, Moses notices by way of example a few crimes that were deserving of punishment (Deuteronomy 16:21-22, and chap. xvii. 1), and then proceeds in chap. xvii. 2-7 to describe more fully the judicial proceedings in the case of idolaters." [Note: Keil and Delitzsch, 3:379-80.]

"For most of us today, the notion that it is always and everywhere wrong for a judge to take a gift from a litigant probably seems so obvious as to be virtually self-evident. Nevertheless, the fact remains that that idea has historically been far from apparent to a large part of humankind. In the ancient Near East, for instance, almost every society regarded the practice of judges taking gifts from litigants as being perfectly moral and absolutely legitimate . . .

". . . a gift-giver placed upon a recipient a binding moral obligation to respond in kind . . .

"Importantly, such reciprocity is not considered morally reprehensible. Indeed the failure of either judge or litigant to reciprocate is what is deemed immoral and unjust . . ." [Note: Goldberg, pp. 15-17.]

In this respect then Israel was to be different from other nations.

". . . in Israel, as in much of the ancient world, the human judge was considered proxy for the divine judge. For instance, . . . in 2 Chronicles 19:6-7 . . ." [Note: Ibid., p. 22.]

"Deuteronomy is passionately concerned about justice (Hebrew tsedeq, mishpat): ’Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue’ (Deuteronomy 16:20, which makes this a condition of living and prospering in the land). This follows from the doctrine of Israel as a community of ’brothers’ equal before God." [Note: Whybray, p. 101.]