“You shall appoint judges and officers in all your gates, which יהוה your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment.[1]
YAH tells the children of Israel to appoint Judges and officers in all your gates. These judges were to listen to and decide on all the cases that were brought before them; and so they took on the responsibility of deciding issues between the children of Israel.
This verse and deeper implications that just setting up the judicial system. I have been told and maybe you too have heard that Torah is like an onion; Onions have many layers and you can unpeel an onion layer by layer . So too Torah has many levels and as you search for deeper meanings and understanding of The Word of YAH. So let’s unpeel a layer or two from this verse.
On the top layer is seems straight forward, appoint judges and officers in all your gates; But how does this apply to us personally? How can this verse change our lives and lastly how can this make us more pleasing in the sight of YAH?
We each have seven “gates” ; Our two ears, our two eyes, our two nostrils and our mouth. We need to set Judges and the police at all seven gates.
Constantly our ears are listening. Our ears hear gossip and lies, deceitful and damaging word. WE need to set judges to oversee what we hear. At what point do we say, “enough, I don’t want to hear any more of this evil talk, this gossip”. We need to be able to judge what we listen to, whether it is true, pure, lovely or worthy. We also need the police to enforce what the judge has ruled.
Our eyes are constantly looking all day and very few people know how to guard their eyes. We watch thing on the internet or television that is inappropriate. We let our eyes wonder to check out this person or that person. We begin to envy and covet what we see someone else has. Marriages fall apart because we start looking for “something I think I’m missing”. We need judges to lay out what is appropriate and inappropriate for us to look at.
Our nostrils can get us in trouble as well. It could be the scent of the perfume that person is wearing that causes you to take a second look. It might be you are gluten intolerant and the fresh French bread just came out of the oven and you eat it. Maybe you have a sugar problem and you smell the hot fresh donuts from the bakery as you pass and you make a unexpected sharp left turn , into the bakery. We need judges over our nostrils.
Last and the greatest gate that needs a judge and police is our mouth.
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue”,[2]
“The heart of the righteous studies how to answer, But the mouth of the wicked pours forth evil”.[3]
“Keep your tongue from evil, And your lips from speaking deceit”.[4]
The list could go on and on and on. We speak deceit, lies, gossip, hatred; killing peoples reputations and destroying lives. Our tongue can do more damage than a category 5 hurricane or a forest fire being fanned by a hundred mile an hour wind. We definitely need to set judges and a whole regiment of police to guard over our tongues!
While we listen to that gossip or those lies, even those off colored jokes… He hear them… He hears it ALL! We often forget that YAH sees what we are looking at and He knows you thoughts about what you just saw or took a second look at. He sees it all, hears it all and he listens to every word that comes out of our mouths.
On that day when we have to give an account for what we said, what we listened to and saw what will we say, as our lives are replayed on the big screen in the heavenly courtroom? How hot will the guilt and shame burn in our souls? There are those who say “no problem, I’m saved by grace”. You may or may not be, but how will you feel on that day when you stand to give an account before all of heaven and when ALL “your sins will find you out”?[5]
Today it is popular to want to de fund the police and take power away from judges, but as sure as the sun came up this morning you will regret not appoint judges and officers in all your gates.
We must live our lives, we must have the mind set of “I have set יהוה always before me”.[6] I must, we must set the all mighty judge before our gate. As we set His word as our standard, He will, “in that still small voice”[7] will tell us when to turn a deaf ear or look the other way; He will even tell us when to “Sheket” be quiet.
The problem with even us setting Him as our judge and police before us is… are we willing to listen to Him or not. When we choose not to listen we become law breakers. In Hebrew the word is עוך avon which means; iniquity, guilt perversity, depravity. In Greek the word iniquity is anomia and its root is the word anomos which means… destitute of (the Mosaic) law.
Just like in the city you live in, the laws have been set, statutes and ordinances have been enacted and the judgments for breaking then have been established; so too with YAH, the law has been given, statutes and ordinances have been enacted and the judgments for breaking then have been established.
Everything we need to guard our gates is right there, in front of us. All we have to do is do it!
“He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does יהוה require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God”.[8]
[1] De16:18
[2] Pr 18:21
[3] Pr 15:28
[4] Ps34:13
[5] Nu 32:23
[6] Ps:16:8
[7] 1Ki 19:12
[8] Mic 6:8