In Justice: Pinchas

 “Justice, Justice you shall pursue, so that you’ll live, and you’ll take possession of the land that the Lord, your God is giving you”

Deuteronomy 16:20

Prior to Deuteronomy’s “justice” pronouncement, a particular family became embroiled in a property rights dispute. The legal decision’s implications were of nationwide interest.

The Portion Pinchas describes the legal proceedings. The big question that emerges is: “can a “just” nation have an unjust land distribution formula?”

The Prophet’s Scheme

The Hebrew Prophets’ societal criticisms form the basis of a scheme. Beyond the Ten Commandments, societies essentially consist of three “rails” or “paths.” They are Truth, Justice and Righteousness. Each one is a fundamental constant for a functioning society.

Proper Maintenance

These constants, however, require debate and refinement.

One of the most recent examples of debate and refinement occurred during a Supreme Court Judge confirmation hearing. The nominee was asked to define the word “woman.” This inquiry was indicia of an societal struggling on the identity issues.

Truth

How does a country operate based upon truths? What can they be?

The United States’ Declaration of Independence serves as an excellent example of a nation’s expression of held truths. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

The Declaration evidences that the belief in a higher authority, equality, and some unalienable rights are societal truths. The society functions based upon them. As a result, the United States litigates a variety of matters addressing these matters.

Justice

Does a country have a functional and competent judicial system?

In Deuteronomy, the Israelites were instructed that they “shall put judges and officers in all your gates that the Lord, your God, is giving you, for your tribes, and they shall judge the people: judgment with justice.” Deut 16:18.

The Torah defines the quality of the judges. Moses was instructed by his father-in-law Jethro that the Prophet’s role was to enlighten the people. Essentially, he was to teach them the laws and instructions. He was instructed to find worthy individuals who fear God, who are truthful, and who hate bribery. Exodus 18:19-23.

The judiciary was to be well-staffed to handle both matters small and big. There was an appreciation that there are big matters deserved adjudication by their national leader/lawgiver and their Deity.

Righteousness

Does the country operate with compassion? Does it provide relief to individuals incapable of assisting themselves?

An example of compassion comes from the Book of Leviticus. Commandments were instituted to provide food assistance to both the poor and the alien. To assist those in need, individuals were instructed to leave the gleanings of the corners of their field. They were also instruction not gather their vineyard’s fallen fruit. Leviticus 19:9-10.

The Continuous Challenge

The citizen’s challenge is to “fine tune” their country’s three rails. Governments, like fine musical instruments, need adjustments. While a Stradivarius violin is capable of playing any piece of classical music, from time to time it requires re-tuning. The same is true with government. Likewise, times change with technology and social structure.

For instance, not everyone owns fields that produce food product. LIkewise, not every poor person lives near fields or vineyards. Thus, societies must adapt their measures of righteousness or compassion to meet situational realities.

The Portion Pinchas

The Torah Portion Pinchas addresses the Israelite nation’s “justice” rail. As the Promised Land is being parceled, Tlelozhad’s daughters raise a grievance. Their family was to be denied their portion of real estate. The reason being that their father had passed and did not have a son to inherit land.

The daughters’ grievance is detailed in the Torah: “And the daughters of Zelophehad…came forward….And they stood in front of Moses and in front of Eleazar, the priest, and in front of the congregation at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting saying, “Our father died in the wilderness….And he had no sons. Why should our father’s name be subtracted from among his family because he didn’t have a son? Give us a possession among our father’s brothers.” Numbers 27: 1-4.

Moses brought the matter to the highest authority- God. The Lord indicated that the “daughters speak right. You shall give them a possession for a legacy among their father’s brothers.” Numbers 27:6-7.

With that, the daughters’ won their appeal and obtained the land they had sought.

Recap

The Portion Pinchas demonstrates an effective and transparent judicial system at work. The daughters were afforded due process. They were recognized as individuals who had standing to bring a claim. They had the opportunity to present their case in front of “the people” – both the Leaders and the congregation. Given the matter’s complexity, they were afforded the highest level of review. The top human lawgiver, Moses, sought the opinion from the ultimate authority.

The daughters resoundingly won. In this instance, a well-reasoned position on the legal dispute prevailed.

In sum, a functional justice system was evidenced. A grievance was heard, addressed and remedied. At the moment, for the Israelite’s Rail of Justice was deserving of high marks.

Conclusion

In sum, the Portion Pinchas illustrates how a judicial system can effectively operate to provide justice. The law was interpreted to provide justice.

One can see that profile legal matters are often benchmarks as to whether the “Rail of Justice” is functioning.

In the present instance with the daughter’s property dispute, transparency, competent and effective judges and litigants, won the day.

Be well!!

Please like, follow, share or comment.