for Parshat Shoftim
i
Moses says:
Let a judge not take bribes: for a bribe blinds justice.
Let a king not grow arrogant over his brothers.
Put down the false prophet.
Let the weak-hearted soldier go home
and not dishearten his comrades.
If you find a murdered corpse between cities
and cannot find the murderer,
let the city elders
from the closest city
hold a ceremony, to say:
we did not shed this blood.
And you shall take away bloodshed,
by doing what is right in God’s eyes.
ii
These are Laws
for a time of judges,
kings,
prophets,
wars,
elders:
an established life
in the Land of God’s promise,
the Land with the eyes of God upon it.
*
These are Laws of bribe-taking judges
and arrogant kings
and false prophets
and cowardly soldiers
and city elders stumped by murder
near their own cities.
*
That is the Promised Land.
It is like everywhere else.
iii
But here is the Promise:
a life with the eyes of God upon it;
and you doing what is right in God’s eyes,
under God’s eyes.
The Promise
is the Promise
of an ordinary life
with God.
_________
Shabbat Shalom,
Abe
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