March 17: Deuteronomy 16:18 – Deuteronomy 2:9

Justice

• The people are to appoint judges and officers in their towns to provide judgment. These men are not to pervert justice or show partiality. They are to follow justice, that they may live and inherit the land God has given to them.

Forbidden Forms of Worship – Deuteronomy 17

• The people are not to plant any tree as an Asherah beside the altar of the Lord, and they are not to set up pillars, which the Lord hates. They are not to sacrifice an animal with any type of blemish, for that is an abomination. If anyone worships another god, they are to be taken outside the city and stoned. There must be at least two or three witnesses. In this way, they are to purge evil from their midst.

Legal Decisions by Priests and Judges

• If a case cannot be successfully tried within the towns or cities, the people are to go to the place where God instructs and He will decide. They are to go to the Levitical priests and the judge and consult them for a decision. Any man who doesn't obey the decision  will die.

Laws Concerning Israel's Kings

• Moses instructs the people that when they go into the Promised Land, they may decide they want a king, whom God will then choose. This person will not be foreigner, and he may not acquire many horses or instruct the people to return to Egypt to acquire horses, as God has told them never to return there. The king is also not to acquire many wives for himself, or excessive silver and gold. When the king sits on his throne, he is to write for himself a copy of the Law approved by the Levtical priests. He is to read it every day and follow God's instructions, so he may continue long in his kingdom.

Provision for Priests and Levites – Deuteronomy 18

• The Levitical priests are to have no portion or inheritance with Israel, but are to eat of the Lord's food offerings as their inheritance. If a Levite comes from his town to the place the Lord chooses, he may have equal portions to eat besides what he receives from the sale of his patrimony.

Abominable Practices

• When the people go into the Promised Land, they are not to follow the abominable practices of the nations there. They are not to sacrifice their children, practice divination, or inquire of the dead. God is driving out these people because of their practices, and the Hebrew people are to be blameless before the Lord.

A New Prophet Like Moses

• The Lord will raise up a line of prophets that the people are to listen to. God will put His words in these men's mouths.

Laws Concerning Cities of Refuge – Deuteronomy 19

• Moses again explains cities of refuge and the laws concerning them.

Property Boundaries

• The people are not to move their neighbor's landmark, because the land is given to people by God.

Laws Concerning Witnesses

• For any crime, there must be at least two or three witnesses. When a person accuses another of wrongdoing, they are to go before the Lord, before the priests and judges. Justice will then be served.

Laws Concerning Warfare – Leviticus 20

• When the Israelites go to war, they are not to fear their enemies, for the Lord is with them. When they draw near to battle, the priest will come forward and remind the people not to fear. The officers are to ask if certain people are present (those who have built a house but not dedicated it, those who have planted a vineyard but not enjoyed its fruit, those who are betrothed but have not taken their wives, those who are fearful or fainthearted), and to instruct them to return to the people. When they draw near a city, they are to offer terms of peace. If the terms are accepted, the people of that city will do labor for them. If the peace is not accepted, they are to make war against them. They are to kill all the men, and take the women, children, and everything else as spoils.
• In certain cities, they are to destroy everything (cities of the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites) so these peoples will not teach them according to their abominable practices. They are not to destroy the fruit trees in any city, but they may eat from them. Only the trees that don't produce fruit can be destroyed.

Atonement for Unsolved Murders – Leviticus 21

• If a man is found murdered in a field and no one knows what happened to him, the priests and judges will investigate. The nearest city will bring a heifer that has never worked down to a valley with running water and will break her neck there. The Levites will come, and the elders of the nearest city will wash their hands over the heifer and testify that their hands did not shed the man's blood, nor did their eyes see it happen. By doing this, they will purge the blood of the innocent from their midst.