Deuteronomy

The Supreme Court

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Pentateuch

Lesson: 55-110

Genre: Talk

Track: 055

Dictation Name: RR187AD55

Location/Venue:

Year: 1993

Let us worship God. How amiable are thy tabernacles oh Lord of Hosts, a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand. For the Lord God is the sun and shield, the Lord will give grace and glory, no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly. Oh Lord of Hosts blessed is the man that trusteth in Thee. Let us pray.

Oh Lord our God our trust is in Thee, Thou art the author of all things, apart from Thee we are nothing. Give us grace therefore day by day and know Thee and to know ourselves, to know Thy purpose and our duty that we may serve Thee all the days of our life in faithfulness and in gratitude. In Christ’s name we pray, Amen.

Our scripture is Deuteronomy 17: 8-13. Deuteronomy 17: 8-13, our subject: The Supreme Court.

“If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates: then shalt thou arise, and get thee up into the place which the Lord thy God shall choose;

9 And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and enquire; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment:

10 And thou shalt do according to the sentence, which they of that place which the Lord shall choose shall shew thee; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee:

11 According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall shew thee, to the right hand, nor to the left.

12 And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth to minister there before the Lord thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel.

13 And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously.”

Our text now turns to the legal requirement for Supreme Court. It must be first according to verse ten at that place which the Lord shall choose. Those nations of antiquity that had courts of appeal vested that power in the king or the ruling civil hierarchy of the state. The state as the lawgiver also assumes responsibility for appeals, God having given the law requires that all appeals be in terms of His government at the sanctuary city, God’s throne city. Second the Supreme Court had two kinds of judges. It was made up of priestly Levites, men who were experts in God’s law, a presiding judge or judges who rendered the decision. The Levites as experts in the law decided what the relevant law was in that particular case, its meaning, penalty and application. The non-Levitical judge decided on the guilt or innocence. Third, the types of cases heard on appeal are cited in verse nine. Between blood and blood means that the Levitical judges decided whether or not the case involved manslaughter or murder. Between plea and plea has reference to property disputes, between stroke and stroke means cases calling for compensation for injuries and matters of controversy between thy gates refers to a variety of local disputes. The Levites established the nature of the case and the relevant law or laws while the non-Levitical judge decided on guilt or innocence. Fourth the decision handed down had to be a religious one. It had to be determined by God’s law to further God’s justice. In verses eleven through thirteen to reject a decision handed down in terms of God’s law means to act presumptuously. It means rejecting God’s justice in favor of a man’s and the penalty for this is death. The penalty in a case might not be death but to set aside God’s law does require the death penalty because however slight the case justice must not be sacrificed.

By analogy this applies to the judges also. Then fifth, the non-Levitical judge could be the king if he sought to take part. In Judges it was the ruling judge of Israel. With the monarchy we see the king presiding at times. In First Kings 3:16-23 we see Solomon presiding in the famous case of the two harlots. Amos 2:3 declares that God will bring final judgment on corrupt judges and princes and Micah 5:1 has a similar reference. Because the law is God’s law there is a severe penalty for contempt of court. Because the court is God’s court, the penalty falls on the judges who pervert God’s law. Sixth, strictness and the enforcement of God’s law will become a deterrent. Verse six says and all the people shall hear and fear and do no more presumptuously. Humanistic law has moved to drop the deterrents factor and we see the consequence of this. In Singapore the deterrence factor is very real because justice is swift. No delays for five, ten, twenty years. Seventh, Deuteronomy 19:17 makes clear that there could be more than one non-Levitical judge in the court of appeals. In Exodus 18:13-16 we see the origin of such courts. In Second Chronicles 19:5-11 we find that basic to King Jehoshaphat’s reformation was a return to such courts with a strong emphasis not only on the use of Levites but priests also. Eight, these courts, the supreme court of the land, would at times be called to render a decision in cases the lower courts found too hard according to verse eight. These were cases with unusual aspects which the lower court found puzzling or confusing. One such case appears in First Kings 3:16-23 where two harlots come before King Solomon asking for a decision. Now this case is of particular importance in a number of ways. It does make very clear that courts of justice must be open to everyone whether or not of bad character or criminal background, justice must govern all situations and even a wrong doer is entitled to justice when he is in the right.

Ninth the decisions of this supreme court were final. God’s law was the basis of judgment and the court was made of Levites who explained God’s law and judges who applied it. Although perfect justice is impossible in a fallen world we cannot use the fallibility of the process to overturn all courts. God’s law gives the best possible means of attaining Justice. We cannot expect inherency of the fallible men who are the instruments of the law. To demand inerrancy is to invalidate all legal processes and to invite permissiveness and the triumph of evil. Now that’s a very important point because today we have a great many people who call attention to the fact that certain cases have shown finally that this or that man was innocent. Well that’s true. Although it doesn’t mean necessarily when a man is released that he was innocent but that it was not proven and he was convicted on poor evidence. However, if we do what these people say, if we hold that because sometimes a law fails that therefore we have to stop all sentencing of criminals then we have anarchy! And those who’ve gone to legal processes and analyzed all those who are up for trial in county courts, any court on the state level, it is rare that the person who was on trial is not a habitual criminal. Now in federal cases some are not habitual criminals but most of cases that appear in a superior court are people who are flawless [sp?], who have a background of lawlessness. So the idea that innocents are taken to court on various crimes is nonsense. Then tenth it was possible for the key judge such as a king to pronounce judgment upon himself or have it pronounced upon him because God’s law was higher than any court and higher than any ruler. In the case of David and Bathsheba a prophet, Nathan, exposes David’s sin and David acknowledges it. Nathan then pronounces judgment in Second Samuel 1:1-14. Because God’s law not man’s governed all Nathan appealing to God’s law could bring about a judgment.

Ahab, an evil king, still knew that God’s covenantal law is ultimate. Elijah could thus rebuke him and make a hab [unknown] as we see in First Kings 17:21:1-29. Eleventh, in Second Chronicles 19:5-11 we see that Jehoshaphat’s reform meant reestablishing these courts. An important insight in the Chronicles account was that on the local level the non-Levitical judges were said to be chiefs of the fathers of Israel, that is tribal or clan leaders, heads of families. Justice on the local level brought family men and Levites together in a common concern. The presence of the family men and Levites together in a common concern, the presence of the Levite in the court helped prevent an exclusively clan governed decision. Then twelfth, the courts were thus essentially religious courts because the Levites were there to make sure that God’s law was the basis of judgment. The Levites defined the crime and also its punishment whether the clan judges simply decided on guilty or innocence. This kept the courts on a covenant basis. Their waywardness was thus an offense against both God and man wherein in modern humanistic courts corruption is held to be merely an offense against man and the state. Biblical law, biblical faith, these are the guards of justice. Apart from God’s covenant law there is no justice and the state and its courts drift into corruption and injustice. According to C.H. Waller presumption means the proud self assertation against the law. Calvin saw as basic to this text the sovereignty of God. He wrote and I quote:

“But we must weigh well the things that are contained here. It is said that the priest must judge according to the law of God wherein it is showed that our Lord layeth not the bridle loose on the neck, either of all the priests together or the judges that were in those days instead of a king. But all of them ought to be subject to the law and that God meant to reserve the sovereign authority to himself. So as men should receive definitive sentence as at his mouth and that the persons which were to give the sentence should be but as instruments of His holy spirit and expounders of his law. Therefore let us mark well that God meant not here that men should do anything on their own heads but that His law should bear the sway. To deny God is ultimately to deny law. Because man’s will in some form then prevails, as does anarchy, God is the source of all law and the supreme judge. This is the meaning of the last judgment. There is absolute law and there is a final and full accounting. All men and nations shall face that perfect and total accounting either in Christ’s redeeming atonement or in their own guilt. We have today worldwide not only the replacement of God’s law with man’s law but the increasing breakdown of statist law. Juries no longer believe in God’s law or the state’s law, they are less and less prone to convict and in too many states a ten year sentence means a ten month sentence. Law is breaking down so that we nowadays see what was true in the days of judgment. In those days there was no king in Israel and every man did that which was right in his own eyes. God was not king and every man was a law unto himself.”

In a book entitled Acts by Larry L. Woody, a beautiful book, in which the author reflects on the book of Acts and then the continuing acts of God in his own life and he says:

“If you removed the law as the standard for measuring the effect of grace in a person’s life or as the measure of your acts you remove the ethics from Christianity and any possibility of an ethical culture.” Unquote.

Well that’s the issue. Take away the law and you end all morality. You end really civilization! Because you no longer have any standard by which any one can function. And this is what is happening around us. This is why God’s law is so important. And without a return to it we will collapse, the whole world will collapse. When you look at Rome what you see is that torture was legal for everything including collecting taxes. The only morality left was that the state had the right to take whatever it wanted from you. Homosexuality was not only accepted but arrogant. People no longer knew what was right or wrong and Rome collapsed! That’s the only thing you can say about the fall of Rome, it wasn’t the barbarians who overthrew Rome, there were millions of Romans. A few tens of thousands of barbarians wandering through found no one ready to defend Rome as I have pointed out more than once. When there is no law, no standard of good and evil, right and wrong, what is there to defend? This is why God’s law is so important because our culture, our civilization, not only has seen the abandonment of God’s law but now the abandonment of statist law and every man doing that which is right in his own eyes. Without a reformation, without a return to the law of God, we are finished. Let us pray.

Almighty God our heavenly Father Thy judgment is upon us for we have indeed departed from Thee. We have each of us done that which is right in our own eyes too often. Lord have mercy upon us, make of us again a people redeemed by Christ’s blood and faithful to the law of the kingdom that we may again see righteousness, justice, in our land and across the face of the earth. In Christ’s name, Amen.

Are there any questions now about our lesson? Yes?

[Unintelligible question]

[Rushdoony] How long does it take to go to anarchy?

[Answer]

[Rushdoony] Oh, well again and again they went into captivity in the Old Testament because they did that which was right in their own eyes. They would no sooner have someone who delivered them and reestablished God’s justice and law then within a generation, the book of Acts tells us, it uses the term forty years over and over again which meant a generation, they slipped right back into their old ways. People don’t want the law because they’re sinners. It’s the natural inclination of the sinner to try and set aside God’s law because then he can do as he pleases. Well, it doesn’t take long when that happens for the society to disintegrate. And without regeneration men will set aside God’s law. And this is what has happened in our time. We not only have godless men setting aside God’s law but we have the churches which profess to be bible believing and profess to believe the bible from cover to cover setting aside God’s law. Well how can a civilization exist? How is there, Woody said, any standard for judgment? Then you reduce good and evil to the same thing. I had a letter which reached me just yesterday when I returned, a letter from someone and this young man in this particular church who professes to be bible believing, who sees no reason why he cannot be a good Christian, or that he isn’t because we’re under grace now not under law.

Now, if that happens as it is in the churches what’s ahead of us? Nothing but anarchy. What does the church stand for? It’ll only stand for a lot of hypocrisy because people will say I’m born again and it doesn’t mean a thing. By their fruit shall you know them the Bible says. And we’re seeing that set aside radically and totally. And when that happens what’s ahead? It means evil has the right to prevail, its given a religious justification for prevailing. Yes?

[Unintelligible question]

[Rushdoony] Yes. Very well put Bob. It’s the so called Christian who is destroying Christianity. Because our Lord makes clear that his true church is established upon Him and the gates of hell cannot prevail or hold out. Well if they can’t hold out what you have to say is where they are making such inroads and triumphing, where hell is ruling, it is because the church is not the church and that which calls itself the kingdom of Christ is not His kingdom. Any other questions? Yes?

[Unintelligible question]

[Rushdoony] Yes it’s a very modern book, very modern, because we fit precisely the motto of the book of Judges. Any other questions or comments?

Well if not let us conclude with prayer. Our Lord and our God we give thanks unto Thee for Thy word and for its plain speaking. Oh Lord our God our land, our world, our time is in desperate of Thy righteousness, Thy justice. Cleanse the nations oh Lord we beseech Thee. Let Thy regenerating grace through Christ flow unto men, women and children the world over and turn their hearts to Thy law word that they may be a strong people in Thee. And now go in peace, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost, bless you and keep you, guide and protect you, this day and always, Amen.