Judgement

We can see in Exodus 21 that The people were the fundamental interpreters of the law with a right of appeal to a network of men who did not go up by steps but by charitable service to the people. A major change to what had been the earlier Hammurabi codification of law was replacing the human king with Yahweh as lawgiver. But that lawgiver would need to write upon the heart and mind of people who were not accustomed to living at the expense of their neighbor nor instituting force and violence in covetous practices.

Moses had set up the people's courts in Exodus 18 because he could not hear every dispute himself and it was right that the people were going to have to take back their responsibility for tending to the weightier matters of law if they were going to learn the the way of the kingdom of God and the righteousness of God.

Exodus 18:22 makes it clear "And let them judge the people".

The responsibility of tending to the weightier matters would be a hot issue with Jesus and the Pharisees but to understand what that means people may need to have a better understanding of what words like judgement, statutes, ordinances, law actually mean and what the cities of refuge were and what being on a Jury in America use to mean concerning the power of jury Nullification, which is the power of the people to decide of fact and law.

Judgement in the Torah

The word Judgement appears in the biblical text over 400 times and at least least eighty times in the Torah.

Genesis 18:19 For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment <04941>; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.

The true children of Abraham are the people who walk in the faith of Abraham.

Genesis 18:25 That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right <04941>?

Genesis 40:13 Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head, and restore thee unto thy place: and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh’s cup into his hand, after the former manner <04941> when thou wast his butler.

Exodus 15:25 And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD shewed him a tree, [which] when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance <04941>, : and there he proved them,

Exodus 21:1 Now these [are] the judgments <04941> which thou shalt set before them.

Exodus 21:9 And if he have betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner <04941> of daughters.

Exodus 21:31 Whether he have gored a son, or have gored a daughter, according to this judgment <04941> shall it be done unto him.

Exodus 23:6 Thou shalt not wrest the judgment <04941> of thy poor in his cause.

Exodus 24:3 And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments <04941>: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD hath said will we do.

Exodus 26:30 And thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion <04941> thereof which was shewed thee in the mount.

Exodus 28:15 And thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment <04941> with cunning work; after the work of the ephod thou shalt make it; [of] gold, [of] blue, and [of] purple, and [of] scarlet, and [of] fine twined linen, shalt thou make it.

Exodus 28:29 And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment <04941> upon his heart, when he goeth in unto the holy [place], for a memorial before the LORD continually.

Exodus 28:30 And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment <04941> the Urim and the Thummim; and they shall be upon Aaron’s heart, when he goeth in before the LORD: and Aaron shall bear the judgment <04941> of the children of Israel upon his heart before the LORD continually.

Leviticus 5:10 And he shall offer the second [for] a burnt offering, according to the manner <04941>: and the priest shall make an atonement for him for his sin which he hath sinned, and it shall be forgiven him.

Leviticus 9:16 And he brought the burnt offering, and offered it according to the manner <04941>.

Leviticus 18:4 Ye shall do my judgments <04941>, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I [am] the : LORD your God.

Leviticus 18:5 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments <04941>: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I [am] the LORD.

Leviticus 18:26 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments <04941>, and shall not commit [any] of these abominations; [neither] any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you:

Leviticus 19:15 Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment <04941>: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: [but] in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.

Leviticus 19:35 Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment <04941>, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure.

Leviticus 19:37 Therefore shall ye observe all my statutes, and all my judgments <04941>, and do them: I [am] the LORD.

Leviticus 20:22 Ye shall therefore keep all my statutes, and all my judgments <04941>, and do them: that the land, whither I bring you to dwell therein, spue you not out.

Leviticus 24:22 Ye shall have one manner of law <04941>, as well for the stranger, as for one of your own country: for I [am] the LORD your God.

Leviticus 25:18 Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep my judgments <04941>, and do them; and ye shall dwell in the land in safety.

Leviticus 26:15 And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments <04941>, so that ye will not do all my commandments, [but] that ye break my covenant:

Leviticus 26:43 The land also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her sabbaths, while she lieth desolate without them: and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity: because, even because they despised my judgments <04941>, and because their soul abhorred my statutes.

Leviticus 26:46 These [are] the statutes and judgments <04941> and laws, which the LORD made between him and the children of Israel in mount Sinai by the hand of Moses.

Numbers 9:3 In the fourteenth day of this month, at even, ye shall keep it in his appointed season: according to all the rites of it, and according to all the ceremonies <04941> thereof, shall ye keep it.

Numbers 9:14 And if a stranger shall sojourn among you, and will keep the passover unto the LORD; according to the ordinance of the passover, and according to the manner <04941> thereof, so shall he do: ye shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger, and for him that was born in the land.

Numbers 15:16 One law and one manner <04941> shall be for you, and for the stranger that sojourneth with you.

Numbers 15:24 Then it shall be, if [ought] be committed by ignorance without the knowledge of the congregation, that all the congregation shall offer one young bullock for a burnt offering, for a sweet savour unto the LORD, with his meat offering, and his drink offering, according to the manner <04941>, and one kid of the goats for a sin offering.

Numbers 27:5 And Moses brought their cause <04941> before the LORD.

Numbers 27:11 And if his father have no brethren, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his kinsman that is next to him of his family, and he shall possess it: and it shall be unto the children of Israel a statute of judgment <04941>, as the LORD commanded Moses.

Numbers 27:21 And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall ask [counsel] for him after the judgment <04941> of Urim before the LORD: at his word shall they go out, and at his word they shall come in, [both] he, and all the children of Israel with him, even all the congregation.

Numbers 29:6 Beside the burnt offering of the month, and his meat offering, and the daily burnt offering, and his meat offering, and their drink offerings, according unto their manner <04941>, for a sweet savour, a sacrifice made by fire unto the LORD.

Numbers 29:18 And their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, [shall be] according to their number, after the manner <04941>:

Numbers 29:21 And their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, [shall be] according to their number, after the manner <04941>:

Numbers 29:24 Their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, [shall be] according to their number, after the manner <04941>:

Numbers 29:27 And their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, [shall be] according to their number, after the manner <04941>:

Numbers 29:30 And their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, [shall be] according to their number, after the manner <04941>:

Numbers 29:33 And their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, [shall be] according to their number, after the manner <04941>:

Numbers 29:37 Their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullock, for the ram, and for the lambs, [shall be] according to their number, after the manner <04941>:

Numbers 35:12 And they shall be unto you cities for refuge from the avenger; that the manslayer die not, until he stand before the congregation in judgment <04941>.

Numbers 35:24 Then the congregation shall judge between the slayer and the revenger of blood according to these judgments <04941>:

Numbers 35:29 So these [things] shall be for a statute of judgment <04941> unto you throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

Numbers 36:13 These [are] the commandments and the judgments <04941>, which the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses unto the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by Jordan [near] Jericho.

Deuteronomy 1:17 Ye shall not respect persons in judgment <04941>; [but] ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment <04941> [is] God’s: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring [it] unto me, and I will hear it.

Deuteronomy 4:1 Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments <04941>, which I teach you, for to do [them], that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you.

Deuteronomy 4:5 Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments <04941>, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.

Deuteronomy 4:8 And what nation [is there so] great, that hath statutes and judgments <04941> [so] righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?

Deuteronomy 4:14 And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments <04941>, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it.

Deuteronomy 4:45 These [are] the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments <04941>, which Moses spake unto the children of Israel, after they came forth out of Egypt,

Deuteronomy 5:1 And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments <04941> which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them.

Deuteronomy 5:31 But as for thee, stand thou here by me, and I will speak unto thee all the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments <04941>, which thou shalt teach them, that they may do [them] in the land which I give them to possess it.

Deuteronomy 6:1 Now these [are] the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments <04941>, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do [them] in the land whither ye go to possess it:

Deuteronomy 6:20 [And] when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What [mean] the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments <04941>, which the LORD our God hath commanded you?

Deuteronomy 7:11 Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments <04941>, which I command thee this day, to do them.

Deuteronomy 7:12 Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments <04941>, and keep, and do them, that the LORD thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers:

Deuteronomy 8:11 Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments <04941>, and his statutes, which I command thee this day:

Deuteronomy 10:18 He doth execute the judgment <04941> of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.

Deuteronomy 11:1 Therefore thou shalt love the LORD thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments <04941>, and his commandments, alway.

Deuteronomy 11:32 And ye shall observe to do all the statutes and judgments <04941> which I set before you this day.

Deuteronomy 12:1 These [are] the statutes and judgments <04941>, which ye shall observe to do in the land, which the LORD God of thy fathers giveth thee to possess it, all the days that ye live upon the earth.

Deuteronomy 16:18 Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment <04941>.

Deuteronomy 16:19 Thou shalt not wrest judgment <04941>; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.

Deuteronomy 17:8 If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment <04941>, 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;

Deuteronomy 17:9 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 <04941>:

Deuteronomy 17:11 According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment <04941> 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.

Deuteronomy 18:3 And this shall be the priest’s due <04941> from the people, from them that offer a sacrifice, whether [it be] ox or sheep; and they shall give unto the priest the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw.

Deuteronomy 19:6 Lest the avenger of the blood pursue the slayer, while his heart is hot, and overtake him, because the way is long, and slay him; whereas he [was] not worthy <04941> of death, inasmuch as he hated him not in time past.

Deuteronomy 21:17 But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated [for] the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he [is] the beginning of his strength; the right <04941> of the firstborn [is] his.

Deuteronomy 21:22 And if a man have committed a sin worthy of <04941> death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree:

Deuteronomy 24:17 Thou shalt not pervert the judgment <04941> of the stranger, [nor] of the fatherless; nor take a widow’s raiment to pledge:

Deuteronomy 25:1 If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment <04941>, that [the judges] may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked.

Deuteronomy 26:16 This day the LORD thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments <04941>: thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.

Deuteronomy 26:17 Thou hast avouched the LORD this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments <04941>, and to hearken unto his voice:

Deuteronomy 27:19 Cursed [be] he that perverteth the judgment <04941> of the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the people shall say, Amen.

Deuteronomy 30:16 In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments <04941>, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.

Deuteronomy 32:4 [He is] the Rock, his work [is] perfect: for all his ways [are] judgment <04941>: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right [is] he.

Deuteronomy 32:41 If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment <04941>; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me.

Deuteronomy 33:10 They shall teach Jacob thy judgments <04941>, and Israel thy law: they shall put incense before thee, and whole burnt sacrifice upon thine altar.

Deuteronomy 33:21 And he provided the first part for himself, because there, [in] a portion of the lawgiver, [was he] seated; and he came with the heads of the people, he executed the justice of the LORD, and his judgments <04941> with Israel.