Deuteronomy 17:1-13
1 “You shall not sacrifice to the LORD your God a bull or sheep which has any blemish or defect, for that is an abomination to the LORD your God.
2 “If there is found among you, within any of your gates which the LORD your God gives you, a man or a woman who has been wicked in the sight of the LORD your God, in transgressing His covenant, 3 who has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, either the sun or moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded, 4 and it is told you, and you hear of it, then you shall inquire diligently. And if it is indeed true and certain that such an abomination has been committed in Israel, 5 then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has committed that wicked thing, and shall stone to death that man or woman with stones. 6 Whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses; he shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness. 7 The hands of the witnesses shall be the first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So you shall put away the evil from among you.
8 “If a matter arises which is too hard for you to judge, between degrees of guilt for bloodshed, between one judgment or another, or between one punishment or another, matters of controversy within your gates, then you shall arise and go up to the place which the LORD your God chooses. 9 And you shall come to the priests, the Levites, and to the judge there in those days, and inquire of them; they shall pronounce upon you the sentence of judgment. 10 You shall do according to the sentence which they pronounce upon you in that place which the LORD chooses. And you shall be careful to do according to all that they order you. 11 According to the sentence of the law in which they instruct you, according to the judgment which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left from the sentence which they pronounce upon you. 12 Now the man who acts presumptuously and will not heed the priest who stands to minister there before the LORD your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So you shall put away the evil from Israel. 13 And all the people shall hear and fear, and no longer act presumptuously.
Presumption and disobedience to the laws of the land require deliberation for sound and righteous judgment of a court. Evil must be dealt with, either with repentance or sentencing for the crime with fair sentencing to match the crime. We see here this begins with worshiping and acknowledging only the living God in heaven and not imaginary gods of man’s creation as what we live for. In the days of Israel, those unrepentant idolaters and immoral citizens were punished harshly after diligence in determining innocence or guilt. There had to be credible witnesses, not just the word of one person, and if found guilty the offender was to face the death penalty by stoning, with the witnesses casting the first stones to face their judgment that they just passed. Evil must be put away from the population to avoid it spreading by emboldened criminals when they see crimes left unpunished. We do not put people to death today for blasphemy or idolatry, and much immorality is now considered acceptable by the godless of our government laws because there is no theocratic government on earth anymore. The principles of justice still apply with due diligence and proof by multiple witnesses to the crimes committed who themselves are held accountable for the sentence they pass. Judges then were the priests to inquire further and then determine the just sentence of sound and godly judgment which was to be carried out by the people when determined. That judgment was to be upheld and not changed to the right or left and not defied presumptuously as if we know better. In those times, such persons were held in the utmost contempt of both court and God Himself and faced the death penalty for defying the sentence given under His guidance. This was to cause the people to fear God’s judgment and respect the laws against doing evil in any form. Laws with punishment to fit the crime need to be followed through with equally fitting sentences as a warning to others bent on evil. We base some of our laws on these principles, minus the component of God’s honor and respect as the basis of the judgment and consequences, for we are not governed by God anymore but laws of faulty people, yet we are still called upon to follow those laws (Romans 13:1-2, 3-4) because God put those leaders over us and our consciences (Romans 13:5) are being tested for obedience to Him in this way.
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