Scripture reveals that God rendered His judgment among His people, Israel, through a remarkable variety of people. By your considering the information in this table, I hope you will come to a greater appreciation of the importance of the biblical concept of judicial agency.
| Priests | 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. . . . . 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 (Deut. 17:9, 12). |
| Prophets | Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal (1 Sam. 15:33). |
| Kings | And said unto the king, Let not my lord impute iniquity unto me, neither do thou remember that which thy servant did perversely the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart (2 Sam. 19:19). |
| Princes | Thus saith the Lord GOD; Let it suffice you, O princes of Israel: remove violence and spoil, and execute judgment and justice (Ezek. 45:9). |
| Judges | And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face (Deut. 25:2). |
| Rulers | Moreover thou shalt provide . . . able men, such as fear God . . . and place such over them, to be rulers . . . And let them judge the people at all seasons: and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge (Exod. 18:21-22). |
| Magistrates | Set magistrates and judges, which may judge all the people (Ezra 7:25). |
| Officers | Judges and officers shalt thou make thee . . . and they shall judge the people with just judgment (Deut. 16:18). |
| Governors | I was appointed to be their governor (Neh. 5:14). And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God (13:22). |
| Nobles | By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth. |
| Heads of tribes | It was told Judah, saying, Tamar thy daughter in law hath played the harlot . . . And Judah said, Bring her forth, and let her be burnt (Gen. 38:24). |
| Elders of the city | And the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him and they shall amerce [fine] him (Deut. 22:18-19). |
| Chief of the fathers of Israel | Moreover in Jerusalem did Jehoshaphat set . . . of the chief of the fathers of Israel, for the judgment of the LORD, and for controversies (2 Chron. 19:8). |
| Men of the city | And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die (Deut. 21:21). |
| Witnesses and all the people | The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people (Deut. 17:7). |
| Avengers of blood | The elders of his city shall send and fetch him thence, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die (Deut. 19:12). |
| Parents | Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place (Deut. 21:19). |
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
