The Sidra of Shoftim is devoted to the establishment of an Israelite state. It contains a large number of Mitzvot, 73 in total. Many of those Mitzvot are major laws regarding setting up the government of the country. The Sidra begins with the appointment of judges and officers who were charged with making sure that the decision of the judges would be enforced. The Hebrew word for an officer is SHOTER, which consists of the same sounds as the well-known Hebrew word SEDER. It reminds us of the English phrase ‘Law and Order’. The judges were in charge of the ‘law’ and the officers were in charge of the ‘order’.
Maimonides gives us a systematic list of seven qualities which Jewish judges require, in his code The Mishneh Torah. They are:
- They should have a superior intellect and intelligence. They should possess a wide range of knowledge in many areas. They should be familiar with the sciences, astronomy, magic and other false beliefs.
- They should be humble and likeable.
- They should be God-fearing. They should not engage in frivolous conversation in the court. They should constantly bear in mind the tremendous responsibility that rests on their shoulders.
- They should hate possessing money. They should not demand their salaries, but wait until it is given to them.
- They should love truth. If they are aware of factual arguments which might help one of the litigants, they must assist him, so that the outcome of the court case should be absolutely truthful.
- They should love other people. They should be popular, yet respected. In their dealings with other people, they should remain calm and generous.
- They should have a good name. They should not do anything that may arouse suspicion. No one should ever be able to find fault in their conduct.
The Sidra continues with the paragraph which refers to the setting up of the Israelite monarchy. In chapter 17, verses 14 and 15, the Torah says as follows: “When you enter the land, which the Lord your God is giving you, and you will possess it and settle in it, you will say: Let me appoint a king over me like all the nations around me. You shall surely appoint a king over you, whom the Lord your God will choose.” The opening sentence of this paragraph is couched in a language which does not suggest that it is a commandment at all. It speaks of the Israelites clamouring to emulate neighbouring nations and demanding to have a king like them. Nevertheless, our ancient rabbis had a tradition that it is, indeed, a commandment to appoint a king. They put the emphasis on the second sentence in which we are told to appoint a king. Therefore, the Sefer Hachinuch, which lists all the 613 Commandments counts this as the 493rd of the commandments of the Torah. The Torah did not want the Israelite nation to be like a flock that has no shepherd- rather that they should appoint a supreme leader who would be able unite all the tribes of Israel and forge them into a nation.
The Torah says that the king had to be chosen by God. This meant, in practice, that the king could only be appointed by a court of 70 elders led by the Prophet. This, indeed, is what happened later in biblical history. Both Saul and David, the first and second kings, were anointed by Samuel.
The reason that the Torah stresses this point, is in order to counter the people’s desire to appoint a king in the same way as all the neighbouring nations. The Almighty does not want Israel to have kings like the nations of the world who reign over their subjects without any regard to an authority above them and without any restraint. God said to us that our king must conduct himself in accordance with a special code, with special rules just for him. The King was also specifically commanded to write for himself a copy of the Torah and to read it every day of his life in order that he should keep it and never be tempted to regard himself as being above the law. This was in sharp contrast to neighbouring kings who made up the laws for their nations, but they themselves did not adhere to those laws.
A whole section in the Sidra deals with the law of the six cities of refuge whose purpose was to make it possible for people who accidentally killed someone, to flee to a protected zone from acts of revenge by relatives. The Torah was determined to root out, from Israelite society, any idea that ordinary people could take the law into their own hands. In those days, this idea was prevalent.
The last section of the Sidra deals with important military laws. Moses was preparing the Israelites for the wars of conquest that would confront them, when they entered the land. In chapter 20 verses 3 and 4 we read that Moses’s warned the people ‘not to let their courage falter, not to fear, not to panic and not to be in dread of their enemies’. Then he added: “For it is the Lord your God who marches with you to do battle for you against your enemies, to bring you victory. The image of God marching with the people can be understood either as a figure of speech, or as a reference to the Ark of the covenant, which was carried into battle. There is a view, recorded in the Jerusalem Talmud, that there were two arks: one with the tablets of the 10 Commandments which stayed behind and one with the broken tablets which went with the army.
Nachmanides adds, that the reassurance that the Almighty was walking with them to give them victory, also served as a warning; this was that they should not think that they were stronger than anyone else, due to their military prowess. Rather, they should bear in mind that only God can give victory. No Jew should ever entertain the thought that his achievements and victories are due to his own efforts alone. It is our trust in God that gives us strength to overcome all the challenges and to win wars on behalf of our people. Nachmanides explains that the last phrase ‘to give you victory’ means, in fact, that Israel would win wars without any loss of life. He says that this is the reason that Joshua was so distressed when he lost 36 people in the attack against the city of EI. Joshua had expected that in a War of Mitzvah, no one would have been killed. Indeed, later, it was discovered, that those 36 people had lost their lives because of the terrible sin that one single person committed in the earlier battle for the conquest of Jericho. Many people died for the sin of just one man. From this we see how careful we have to be. Every Jew is responsible for the lives of many others.