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The fifth commandment
5.3 Honor authorities
The rulers of God’s people are called to exercise just judgment, and they are to be honored and obeyed.
Exodus 22.28
“You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people.”
Acts 23.1-5; Romans 13.5; Titus 3.1
Deuteronomy 16.18-20
“You shall appoint judges and officers in all your towns that the LORD your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous. Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the LORD your God is giving you.”
John 7.24; Acts 14.23; Titus 1.5
Rulers in the communities of ancient Israel were “appointed” to their posts; they had to have the approval of the community to serve in this capacity, which meant they had to be trustworthy men, godly in all their ways, and capable of interpreting the Law of the Lord to the people.
Rulers meet in the gates of the city, for both practical and symbolic reasons. Meeting in the gates symbolized their guardianship over what came into the community. Like shepherds, sitting in the entrance to the sheepfold, the rulers judged the people at the gates of the city and guarded the city from sin. But their deliberations would also have been open for all to see (cf. Ruth 4). Thus, the people would learn how to think about the application of God’s Law to their own lives by listening to the rulers and judges of the city as they deliberated various cases and reached decisions. Their charge was to seek justice, the righteous will of God, so that the good purposes of God – love for God and neighbor – could flourish in each community of the land.
This series of In the Gates we present a detailed explanation of the Law of God, beginning with the Ten Commandments, and working through the statutes and rules that accompany each commandment. For a practical guide to the role of God’s Law in the practice of ethics, get The Ground for Christian Ethics by going to www.ailbe.org and click on our Book Store.