Deuteronomy 1:13

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11 ^aMay the Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times more numerous than you are, and bless you ^bas He has promised you!

12 ^aHow can I alone bear your problems and your burdens and your complaints?

13 Choose wise, understanding, and knowledgeable men from among your tribes, and I will make them¹ heads over you.’

14 And you answered me and said, ‘The thing which you have told us to do is good.’

15 So I took ^athe heads of your tribes, wise and knowledgeable men, and¹ made them heads over you, leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties, leaders of tens, and officers for your tribes.

16 “Then I commanded your judges at that time, saying, ‘Hear the cases between your brethren, and ^ajudge righteously between a man and his ^bbrother or the stranger who is with him.

17 ^aYou shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small as well as the great; you shall not be afraid in any man’s presence, for ^bthe judgment is God’s. The case that is too hard for you, ^cbring to me, and I will hear it.’

Commentaries:

No entry exists in Forerunner Commentary for Deuteronomy 1:13.

Deuteronomy 1:13-15

Do you see what that says there? The Israelites elected their own leaders That was a republic in the making, it is almost like a democracy. In neither case did God object to the people’s request that these people be our leaders between us and you, He just accepted them. That is why I said earlier that God does not necessarily appoint everybody that is in office. He does pass on them, that is different. As the ruler over all, He is sovereign and He has ultimately the responsibility.

We can see here that there is a pretty good chance that He is going to give these people a chance to do right, even though it not a government of His. He did not appoint it, He even allows the people to have a part in saying who will be their leaders.

Once He accepts them, they are now constituted authority. They may have been good old Joe my next door neighbor, but now he is a councilman, a senator, a representative, a policeman, school principal. I have to respect him, and that is good. Deference is due to these people and that is the lesson for this day.

Excerpted from Ecclesiastes Resumed (Part Twenty-Nine) by John W. Ritenbaugh (1932-2023)

**Other Forerunner Commentary entries containing Deuteronomy 1:13:**

Ecclesiastes 4:1-3

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