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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Deuteronomy 1:9 - 1:18
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The Assistants of Moses
v. 9. And I spake unto you at that time, saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone. Moses does not observe the chronological order of events, but selects such as were of importance for his present purpose. It was while the people were encamped at Horeb that Moses arranged for assistants, Exo_18:13-26. The seventy elders were appointed at a later date, Num_11:14-30.
v. 10. The Lord, your God, hath multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude, as the Lord had promised in the prophecy of the covenant, Gen_15:5 ff; Gen_12:2; Gen_18:18; Gen_22:17; Gen_26:4. And Moses here inserts his own devout wish and prayer,
v. 11. (the Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as ye are and bless you as He hath promised you!)
v. 12. How can I myself alone bear your cumbrance, for the responsibility for the entire people's welfare rested upon him, and your burden, all the business which they had laid upon Moses, which he had assumed as an obligation, and your strife, the many difficulties connected with their quarrels and litigations?
v. 13. Take you wise men and understanding, they were to select these men themselves, since it was necessary to place a great deal of trust in them, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you. These rulers were thus characterized by the fear of God, by good common sense in judging particular cases, and were acknowledged as trustworthy by the people themselves, an excellent combination for the purpose.
v. 14. And ye answered me and said, The thing which thou hast spoken is good for us to do.
v. 15. So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men and known, and made them heads over you, formally invested them with the authority needed, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes.
v. 16. And I charged your judges, for as such these men were to act, at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, more in the capacity of mediators than of executives, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him.
v. 17. Ye shall not respect persons in judgment, literally, "look upon, acknowledge, make a distinction between, faces," said of being partial; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great. Ye shall not be afraid of the face of man, no matter if he be powerful otherwise; for the judgment is God's; and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it, Exo_18:22-26.
v. 18. And I commanded you at that time all the things which ye should do. The chief judicial authority remained with Moses, under the direct leadership of God. The believers of the New Testament have one infallible rule to guide them at all times, the Word of Scripture.