Deuteronomy 16:18 - Meaning and Application

Here Moses gives two kinds of care for Israel. First, there must be fair courts of justice. Second, the people must avoid every practice that would copy the idol worship of the nations around them.

In the wilderness, they already had judges and officers arranged according to their numbers, rulers over thousands and hundreds (Exodus 18:25). When they entered Canaan, they were to have judges in their towns and cities, at their gates, because courts often met at the city gate. This meant justice would be close at hand, quicker, and less costly. It was a great mercy for the people to have justice brought near to them, and that is a blessing any nation should be thankful for.

These lower magistrates, that is, local judges and officers, were given authority to hear cases and carry out sentences. It does not matter whether such rulers are chosen by a king or by the people, because governing authority is appointed by God (Romans 13:1). Later, this order was followed on a larger scale, with the great Sanhedrin at the sanctuary, made up of seventy elders and a president, and with smaller courts in the cities. Jehoshaphat later renewed this system as well (2 Chronicles 19:5, 2 Chronicles 19:8).

These judges were charged to do justice faithfully. It is better not to judge at all than to judge unfairly, against the law or against the evidence. They were warned not to wrong anyone and not to take gifts, because bribes would tempt them into injustice (Deuteronomy 16:19; Exodus 23:8). They were also told to pursue what is completely right, to hold to the rules of justice, and to keep personal feelings out of their decisions (Deuteronomy 16:20). The magistrate’s aim must be simple, to do right to everyone and wrong to no one.

Moses also warned them not to copy the idolatrous customs of the heathen, that is, the nations who worshiped false gods (Deuteronomy 16:21-22). They must not join in those worships, or even show approval by going to their groves or bowing before their images. They were not to plant a grove or even a tree near the Lord’s altar, because that would make God’s altar look like the altars of false gods.

The heathen used groves for worship either to hide their sins or to add solemnity to their rites. But true worship does not need such help. The worship of the true God is already serious and holy in itself. They also were not to set up any image, statue, or pillar for God, because the Lord hates it. Nothing misrepresents him more, or does more harm to people’s minds, than trying to picture and worship an infinite, eternal Spirit by an image.