Covenanter Witness Vol. 86 - Rparchives.org

Sabbath SchoolLessonForJulyl8,1971GOD, THE CHRISTIAN,AND CIVIL LAWDeut. 16:18-20; 17:8-1 l;Daniel 6;Acts 4:13-20; I Peter 2:13-17Lesson Helps for the Week of July 18Comments by John K. GaultThere is an intimate connectionbetween God, the Christian and civil law.God, of course, is the supreme Ruler of thewhole universe. He is complete, and inevery sense, sovereign. The Christian, if heis sincere, endeavors to do the will of Godin every activity of life. Civil government,as we learned last Sabbath, is an ordinanceof God, and therefore is to be respectedand obeyed. Blackstone, the famousEnglish jurist said in his Commentaries onLaw, "Law is a rule of civil conductcommanding what is right and prohibitingwhat is wrong." Jesus showed the reality ofthis relationship in His contest with thePharisees and the Herodians who sought tohave Him incriminate Himself, as theysaid, "Master, we know that Thou art true,and teachest the way of God in truth,neither carest Thou for any man: for Thouregardest not the person of man. Tell ustherefore, what thinkest Thou? Is itlawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?But Jesus perceived their wickedness, andsaid, Why tempt ye Me, ye hypocrites?Show Me the tribute money, and theybrought unto Him a penny. And He saidunto them, Whose is this image andsuperscription? They say unto Him,Caesar's. Then saith He unto them, Rendertherefore unto Caesar the things which areCaesar's and unto God the things that areGod's."1: God Directed Israel to Establish aGovernment of Law.In Deuteronomy 16:18, Moses,speaking for God, said, "Judges and officersshalt thou make in all thy gates,which the Lord thy God giveth thee,throughout thy tribes." Moses is soon todie "on Nebo's lonely mountain" and so hemade provision for a system ofrepresentative government. He told thepeople to "make judges and officers" andthat would imply that they were to vote onthem. They were to have a democracyunder God, who had told them to "love thyneighbor as thyself."2: The Civil Law Was to Be AdministeredImpartially.(Deut. 16:18,20)The government officials weredirected to "judge the people with justjudgment" and "That which is altogetherjust shalt thou follow, that thou mayestlive, and inherit the land which the Lordthy God giveth thee." The punishmentdecreed for violation of a law must be thesame for all persons whether they be richor poor. And the advantages of a law mustbe available to all persons who are eligibleregardless of race, color, or religion.3: The Intent of the Law Was Not toBe Changed. (Deut. 16:19)Moses said, "Thou shalt not wrestjudgment." The law was to be administeredin the same way at all times. To "wrest"means to change or twist. To apply a law toa situation whereit was not supposed to beapplied would be "wresting" that law. Jesushad such a situation to contend with whileHe was in the world. Quoting Moses, Jesussaid in Mark 7:10-12,"Honor thy father andthy mother; and whoso curseth father andmother, let him die the death: but ye say,ifa man shall say to his father or mother, it isCorban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoeverthou mightest be profited by me; he shallbe free. And ye suffer him no more to doought for his father or his mother." In thisway the law that a son should care for hisindigent parents was wrested. He escapedresponsibility to his parents and nothingwas done to him because he had made thevow of "Corban" to give a gift to God, butneither God nor his parents received thegift. The intent of a law must not bechanged so as to suit a certain situation.4: It Was the Law that People Wereto Abstain from any Form of IdolatryMoses said, for God, "Thou shalt notplant thee a grove of any trees near untothe altar of the Lord thy God, which thoushalt make thee. Neither shalt thou set theeup any image; which the Lord thy Godhateth." In verse 21 grove is said to be amistranslation and it really is, in theoriginal, "Asherah" which was the nameof a female goddess of fertility. No imagenor likeness was to be set up in any vicinityof the altar of God, in order that the peoplemight not be tempted to worship the imageand in order that monotheism might beestablished in the land. The law was givenfrom Mount Sinai: "Thou shalt have noother gods before me" and "Thou shalt notmake unto thee any graven image, or anylikeness of any thing: thou shalt not bowdown thyself to them, nor serve them: for Ithe Lord thy God am a jealous God."5: The Will of God Should Be Soughtin the Administration of Law.There might be times when it wasimpossible to arrive at a satisfactorysolution to a judicial problem. Moses tookaccount of such a situation and madeprovision for it.He said in 17:8-11, "If therearise a matter too hard for thee injudgment, between blood and blood,between plea and plea, and between strokeand stroke, being matters of controversywithin thy gates: then shalt thou arise,and get thee up into the place which theLord thy God shall choose; and thou shaltcome unto the priests, Levites, and untothe judge that shall be in those days, andenquire; and they shall show thee thesentence of judgment: and thou shalt doaccording to the sentence, which they ofthat place which the Lord shall chooseshall show thee; and thou shalt observe todo according to all that they inform thee."So, when all human efforts failed to adjudicatea matter they were to make adirect appeal to God through the priests.The picture here is that of a fight betweentwo men, in which blows are exchangedand blood is shed. They each accuse theother of having instituted the wrong. Theofficials at the gate cannot tell who is toblame and who isn't. So, they take thematter to the priests beside the altar andthey make the decision which both of thecontending parties are to abide by. Everycourt trial should be opened with prayer toGod and every jury should begin itsdeliberations with prayer to God.6: Christians Make Better PublicOfficials.This fact is shown in Daniel 6. Dariusthe Mede who had become king ofChaldea, appointed 120 princes who wereto rule over tne "whole realm." Threechief officers of whom Daniel was the first,were appointed to high positions amongthe 120. Of Danielit is said in 6:3, "Thenthis Daniel was preferred above thepresidents and princes, because an excellentspirit was in him." Daniel wascapable and efficient because he believedin God and he endeavored to do rightbefore Him.7: God's People May Be PersecutedBecause of their Good Conduct.This was true in the case of bothDaniel and Joseph. The other officials ofthe realm became very angry and jealousbecause Daniel had received suchpreferential treatment. "They sought tofind occasion against Daniel concerningthe kingdom; but they could find noneoccasion nor fault." In order to haveDaniel disposed of they arranged a decreewhich read, "Whosoever shall ask aJUNE 23, 1971 11