SEV Biblia, Chapter 16:18
¶ Jueces y alcaldes te pondrás en todas las puertas de tus ciudades que el SEÑOR tu Dios te dará en tus tribus, los cuales juzgarán al pueblo con juicio de justicia.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 16:18
Verse 18. Judges and officers shalt thou make] JUDGES, µyfp shophetim, among the Hebrews, were probably the same as our magistrates or justices of the peace. OFFICERS, µyrf shoterim, seem to have been the same as our inquest sergeants, beadles, &c., whose office it was to go into the houses, shops, &c., and examine weights, measures, and the civil conduct of the people. When they found any thing amiss, they brought the person offending before the magistrate, and he was punished by the officer on the spot. They seem also to have acted as heralds in the army, chap. xx. 5. See also Rab. Maimon in Sanhedrin. In China, for all minor offenses, the person when found guilty is punished on the spot, in the presence of the magistrate or mandarin of justice.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 18. Judges and officers shall thou make thee , etc.] Judges were fixed in the sanhedrim, or court of judicature, and those that have lawsuits come before them; officers are masters of the staff and whip, and they stand before the judges, and go into markets, streets, and shops, to order the weights and measures, and to smite all that do wrong; and all they do is by order of the judges; so Maimonides f178 : the qualifications of judges to be chosen and constituted by the people are thus described by him. In the sanhedrim, greater or lesser, they place only men wise and understanding, expert in the wisdom of the law, and masters of great knowledge, and that know some of the other sciences, as medicine, arithmetic, astronomy, and astrology, the ways of soothsayers, diviners, and wizards, and the vanities of idolatry, that they may know how to judge them; and they set in the sanhedrim only priests, Levites, and Israelites, who are genealogized; nor do they set an old man there, nor an eunuch, nor a king, but an high priest, if he is qualified with wisdom; and they must be free from blemishes, and of a good stature and appearance, and understand many languages, and not hear by an interpreter; and though all this was not precisely required of the sanhedrim of three judges, yet these same things ought to be in everyone of them, wisdom, and meekness, and fear, and hatred of money, and love of truth, and love of men, and to be of a good report and these were to be placed in all thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee throughout thy tribes ; that is, in every city, as Onkelos, and so Jarchi; and usually the courts of judicature were held in the gates of cities, and it was only in the land of Israel, not without it, that they were obliged to set up courts of judicature, as Maimonides observes; who also asks, how many courts were fixed in Israel, and what the number they consisted of? to which he answers, they fixed at first the great court in the sanctuary, and it was called the great sanhedrim, and its number were seventy one; and again, they set up two courts of twenty three, one at the door of the court, and the other at the door of the mountain of the house (and so in the Misnah) f181 ; and they set up in every city in Israel, in which were one hundred and twenty (men or families) or more, a lesser sanhedrim, which sat in the gate, and their number were twenty three judges; in a city in which there were not one hundred and twenty, they placed three judges, for there is no court less than three f182 : and they shall judge the people with just judgment ; give a right and just sentence in all cases that come before them, according to the laws of God, and the rules of justice and equity.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 18-22 - Care is taken for the due administration of justice. All persona regards must be laid aside, so that right is done to all, and wrong to none. Care is taken to prevent following the idolatrous customs of the heathen. Nothing belies God more, or tends more to corrupt the minds of men, than representing and worshipping, by an image, that God, who is an almighty and eternal Spirit, present every where. Alas! even in gospel days, and under a better dispensation, established upon bette promises, there is a tendency to set up idols, under one form of another, in the human heart __________________________________________________________________
Original Hebrew
שׁפטים 8199 ושׁטרים 7860 תתן 5414 לך בכל 3605 שׁעריך 8179 אשׁר 834 יהוה 3068 אלהיך 430 נתן 5414 לך לשׁבטיך 7626 ושׁפטו 8199 את 853 העם 5971 משׁפט 4941 צדק׃ 6664
