Shoftim in a Nutshell
Deuteronomy 16:18–21:9
The name of the Parshah, “Shoftim,” means “Judges” and it is found in Deuteronomy 16:18.
Moses instructs the people of Israel to appoint judges and law enforcement officers in every city. “Justice, justice shall you pursue,” he commands them, and you must administer it without corruption or favouritism. Crimes must be meticulously investigated and evidence thoroughly examined—a minimum of two credible witnesses is required for conviction and punishment.
In every generation, says Moses, there will be those entrusted with the task of interpreting and applying the laws of the Torah. “According to the law that they will teach you, and the judgment they will instruct you, you shall do; you shall not turn away from the thing that they say to you, to the right nor to the left.”
Shoftim also includes the prohibitions against idolatry and sorcery; laws governing the appointment and behaviour of a king; and guidelines for the creation of “cities of refuge” for the inadvertent murderer. Also set forth are many of the rules of war: the exemption from battle for one who has just built a home, planted a vineyard, married, or is “afraid and soft-hearted”; the requirement to offer terms of peace before attacking a city; and the prohibition against wanton destruction of something of value, exemplified by the law that forbids to cut down a fruit tree when laying siege (in this context the Torah makes the famous statement, “For man is a tree of the field”).
The Parshah concludes with the law of the eglah arufah—the special procedure to be followed when a person is killed by an unknown murderer and his body is found in a field—which underscores the responsibility of the community and its leaders not only for what they do, but also for what they might have prevented from being done.
Chapter 16: יו
16:18-20] Shoftim and Shotrim
N: Perhaps simple, but foundational rules upon which to build a just society.
n16:18-20] Establishment of just courts
n16:18] לֹֽא־תַטֶּ֣ה מִשְׁפָּ֔ט—do not pervert justice. מִשְׁפָּ֔ט is generally referred to as law, but here it means justice. May all law and laws be just.
n16:18] וְשָֽׁפְט֥וּ אֶת־הָעָ֖ם מִשְׁפַּט־צֶֽדֶק—They shall judge… with righteous judgement.
The mere appointment of personages to staff the courts is not sufficient; they must be qualified and righteous, so that they will judge honestly and correctly (Rashi). If the community has a hand in appointing unqualified judges, G-d holds them all responsible for the resultant perversions of judgement. [see below, regarding kings]
n16:19] לֹ֥א תַכִּ֖יר פָּנִ֑ים—Do not respect anyone’s presence.
n16:19] לֹֽא־תִקַּ֣ח שֹׁ֔חַד—Bribe.
n16:20] צֶ֥דֶק צֶ֖דֶק תִּרְדֹּ֑ף—Righteous righteousness shall you pursue.
It is not enough to seek righteousness; it must be done through honest means. Torah does not condone the pursuit of a holy end through improper means.
N Note here the word for right(eousness) is צֶ֥דֶק, tzedek, not ישׁר, yashar, which means essential straight (probably in the sense of the “straight and narrow” path of righteousness).
16:21-22] The Altar of HaShem
n16:21-22] Forbidden trees and pillars אֲשֵׁרָ֖ה—idolatrous tree.
A tree that is meant for worship, and any kind of tree near the Temple Altar, because it was custom of idolators to build their temples to attract worshippers (Ramban).
…the Torah places an emphasis on what takes place inside the courts and synagogues, not on the beauty of the exteriors.
It is also forbidden to set up a pillar i.e. a single stone for any sort of worship—even for the worship of the true G-d. He hates stones since they had become associated with idol worship. For His service, G-d has specified an altar made of stones or earth (Exodus 20:21-22).
Chapter 17 יז
17:1] Blemishes
n17:1] כֹּ֖ל דָּבָ֣ר רָ֑ע—Any bad thing.
The flow of the passages is:
(a) The importance of proper justice;
(b) the integrity of the Temple and the places of worship must be preserved, for a perversion of justice will lead to the disgrace of holy places in the guise of beautification; which will lead to
(c) invalid animals being used as offerings, and stolen funds being used to purchase offerings.
What is worse, the transgressors will insist that everything they have done is right and proper, because they did it for the sake of G-d’s glory. Such are the wages of disregard for the righteous administration of justice.
17:2-5] What is evil?
n17:2] אֶת־הָרַ֛ע … לַֽעֲבֹ֥ר בְּרִיתֽוֹ—What is evil … to violate the covenant.
Idol worship is the evil, the ultimate violation of G-d’s covenant, for it constitutes a denial of His very existence. No obligation or threat can ever justify idolatry.
n17:3] אֲשֶׁ֥ר לֹֽא־צִוִּֽיתִי—which I have not commanded you to worship (Rashi), even though they are my handiwork (Ibn Ezra).
Sforno comments that this term refutes a common claim of idol worshippers, that the heavenly bodies have independent powers, since G-d commanded them to assume control over such matters as fertility, rainfall, health, and so on. In response to such erroneous beliefs, G-d says that He has not commanded them at all; rather He created certain spiritual or natural forces to serve particular functions, but they have no freedom or power to choose what they will or will not do.
Q Would it then be feasible to compare them to “laws of nature/physics”?
n17:5] The idol has no power to save its worshippers, even in its own locale.
17:6] Witnesses
17:7] Destroy evil
n17:7] בִֽעַרְתָּ֥ הָרָ֖ע מִקִּרְבֶּֽךָ—And you shall destroy the evil from your midst
17:8-13] Judgement
17:8]
n17:8] זקן ממרא—The Rebellious Elder.
17:9] Judges
n17:9] אֶל־הַכֹּֽהֲנִים֙ הַֽלְוִיִּ֔ם וְאֶל־הַ֨שֹּׁפֵ֔ט—To the Kohanim, the Levites and to the judge.
In (Ancient) Judaism one cannot separate the “ceremonial” from the “legal”.
n17:9] אֲשֶׁ֥ר יִֽהְיֶ֖ה בַּיָּמִ֣ים הָהֵ֑ם—Who will be in those days.
God provides us with the leaders who are suited to the needs of the time!
17:10-20] Absolute obedience
17:10] Place that G-d chooses
17:14-20] A Jewish King
n17:14-20] A king in Israel.
Israel as a nation had three commandments once it was established in its Land:
(a) to request a king;
(b) eliminate the offspring of Amalek
(c) to build the Temple (Sanhedrin 20b)
Thus kingship is a desirable condition. However, …they should have asked for a king who would lead them, inspire them, and set an example of selfless and wholehearted service of G-d. Instead they said they wanted a king merely to imitate their neighbours.
Is it G-d’s goal for Israel that it be no different from any other nation, which aspires only for glory, wealth and conquest?
n17:16-19] רק—Only.
Despite the desirability of having a king, it is essential that his values and conduct be Jewish, not an imitation of the surrounding nations. (Ramban) Self-aggrandisement is typical of monarchs. They demonstrate their greatness by the number of their steeds, the size of their harems, and the bulging of their treasures. Not so a Jewish king. Because his glory was the glory of his nation, he was required to maintain the dignity of his office, but he had to curb his appetites and make an example of moderation and obedience to the Torah.
n17:19] וְקָ֥רָא ב֖וֹ כָּל־יְמֵ֣י חַיָּ֑יו לְמַ֣עַן יִלְמַ֗ד לְיִרְאָה֙ אֶת־יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהָ֔יו לִ֠שְׁמֹ֠ר אֶת־כָּל־דִּבְרֵ֞י הַתּוֹרָ֥ה—It shall be with him … and he shall read from it…
Its contents and values should be with king all the days of his life. (Rashi). Thus he should read from it, and acknowledge the significance of it, and learn how to react to the events all the days of his life. (Chatam Sofer)
Chapter 18 יח
n18:1-8] Priestly gifts
The Torah continues with the privileges and duties of the leaders… The king, who is the temporal leader, but must be under the ultimate authority of the Torah and its Giver… [represented by] the Kohanim, who are the teachers of Torah [in addition to their duties at the Temple]. The Kohanim are not given a portion of land so that they can devote themselves primarily to spiritual activities. The Torah provides them their livelihood by assigning them gifts from the people.
18:1-3] Levites due
2 He shall have no inheritance among his brothers; the Lord is his inheritance, as He spoke to him.
n18:1] חלק לנחלה—A portion The cities of the Levites were not considered an inheritance. They merely provided them with a place to live and a minimal amount of farmland, but were not a continuous province.
18:5] Minister in the Name of HaShem
n18:6-8] Moses divided the Kohanim into eight “watches” (משׂמרות), or groups who would take turns performing the Tabernacle service. David and Samuel later increased the number of watches to twenty-four. Each Kohen would be “on duty” for about two weeks of the year. R’ Hirsch explains why the Kohanim are referred to in this passage and elsewhere, as Levites. In the Wilderness the Kohanim were clustered near the Tabernacle and had minimal contact with the nation as a whole. In Eretz Yisrael however, they would be scattered throughout the country, coming to Jerusalem only when their respective shifts performed the service. The rest of the year, however, the Kohanim shared the Levite duty to guide the rest of the nation in the way of the Torah, with formal teaching and by personal example.
18:9-22] Prophecy
Act not according to abominations of the nations
n18:9-13] Prophecy: It is human nature to want to know the future and to utilise whatever means to successfully pursue that end. The Torah forbids us to copy the practices used by the nations to foretell events. To G-d, these practices are abominable… Jews are to have faith that G-d would give us whatever knowledge we needed and then we are to act upon it with faith and loyalty.
The passage lists nine forms of sorcery. See Exodus 22:17; Leviticus 18:21; 19:26,31 and 20:2-7,27.
N This is the power of science—to predict the future. Through statistics, it has begun to control huge aspects of our future.
N: Some of the nine forms of sorcery can be used for healing and guidance. However, what is to prevent someone who learns such a form to not be tempted to use it for prophecy?
n18:14-21] God sends His prophets to Israel Jews do not need to fear that these prohibitions against learning the future makes them inferior to their neighbours. God reassured us that He will send us prophets.
18:19] Speak in the name of G-d
n18:19] אָֽנֹכִ֖י אֶדְר֥שׁ מֵֽעִמּֽוֹ—I will exact from him.
N There are many prophets in the world today, nearly all of whom are not acting in accordance with their own prophecies. That is an interesting dividing line between the people that are predicting things that are happening in the world today. The hypocrisy of the vaccine pushers, the conflicting actions of many of the climate-change doomsayers, etc.
18:21-22] If it occurs as he said
n18:21-22] Once he has proven himself a prophet, he need not prove himself every time he speaks… How to tell if the prophet is a fraud? If the supposed prophet predicts a certain event, and it does not come about, he is proven false.
N: Did Moshe Rabeinu ever prophesise? Does a leader need to be a prophet? Though what he predicted certainly came about. But did he ever tell them that what was going to happen, or did he himself not really know?
Not like with Jesus, whose narrative contains clear signs that he knew what was about to transpire.
Chapter 19: יט
19:10-13] Blood-guilt
Remove innocent blood from your midst—בִערת דם־הנקי
This aligns with the removal of a blemish, and the removal of “evil from your midst” previously.
19:13] Do not pity
n19:13] לֹא־תָחוֹס עֵינְךָ עָלָיו—Your eye shall not pity him. By executing the murderer, the nation will ensure that it shall be good for you, because compassion for a murderer breeds further bloodshed, since it frees him and sets and example for others who may be tempted to follow his example.
19:14] Boundary
n19:14] לֹא תַּסִּיג גְּבוּל—You shall not move a boundary. It is forbidden to move a boundary marker stealthily, so as to enlarge one’s property at the expense of one’s neighbour.
19:15-21] Conspiring witnesses - עדים זומְמים
There are a number of issues that arise here.
- Case of two witnesses whose testimony results in a judgement against a defendant. If two subsequent witnesses come forward with a conflicting statement, the second set are to be believed.
- The testimony of a lone witness is not sufficient to cause one to suffer physical punishment. However, a single person is believed as to whether something is permitted or forbidden – for instance, regarding the supervision of Kashrut.
n19:17] לִפְנֵי ה’—Before Hashem. When people appear before a
19:21 Eye for an eye
n19:21] עין בעין—An eye for an eye
According to the Rabbis, this refers to monetary compensation. However, in this context, it refers specifically to the issue of a false witness. In the case of giving false testimony, the sentence that would have been pronounced on the accused is then given to the false witness in like measure – eye for eye, tooth for tooth…
N Ayin b’ayin can also refer to seeing “eye to eye”, as in agreeing or in harmony with one another.
Appear before ה’.
Q: Are the priest representation of ה’ or is there a preparation necessary? What training is required of the Kohen? Or is it purely hereditary?
Chapter 20: כּ
- Do not fear your enemies, because it is G-d Who fights for us.
- Those unfit for battle are exempt from service.
- Offer peace to our foes before the battle begins.
- Do not destroy productive trees during a siege.
20:1-4] Battle
Do not fear for the Lord, your G-d, is with you
n20:1-4] משׁוח מלחמה—The Kohen anointed for battle.
His task is to proclaim the commandment that we must not lose heart, but trust in the salvation of the One for Whom we are about to fight(Sotah 42a). If we deal fairly with one another, we will not need to fear hostile enemies. (Rashi)
20:5-9] Exemptions from battle
- house
- vineyard
- betrothed
- fearful
n20:5-9] Those unqualified to fight.
Anyone not suited for combat should leave the field, lest his fear or lack of enthusiasm erode the moral of his comrades.
n20:10-18] Offer peace - or annihilate everyone. Except for the people on the land: Hittite, Amorite, Canaanite, Perizzite, Hittite, Jebusite. This peace consists of killing all the males, and then using all the women and children as forced labourers, and declaring everything and everyone that remains “for the use of the victors”.
20:19-20] Preservation of fruit trees
n20:19] כִּ֤י הָֽאָדָם֙ עֵ֣ץ הַשָּׂדֶ֔הIs the tree of the field a man…?