“... 19:5. appointment of judges. In the Mari documents from the Old Babylonian Period in Syria (c. 2000-1600 B.C.), judges were appointed by the king to perform special tasks, such as assisting in the administration of a territory, acting as a territorial governor, conducting military campaigns and intervening in domestic legal affairs. One can assume that the judicial appointments of Jehoshaphat had more narrowly focused tasks, primarily in the arena of legal affairs. As evidenced by the preface to the Code of Hammurabi (c. 1750 B.C.) and the statements made by the “Eloquent Peasant” in Egyptian wisdom literature (c. 2100 B.C.), the standard for behavior for those in authority is to protect the rights of the poor and weak in society. “True justice” (see Lev 19:15) is expected of kings, officials and local magistrates. In fact, the “world turned upside down” theme found in the book of Judges and in prophetic literature (Is 1:23), describes a society in which “laws are enacted, but ignored” (for example, in the Egyptian Visions of Neferti [c. 1900]). An efficiently administered state in the ancient Near East depended on the reliability of the law and its enforcement. To this end every organized state created a bureaucracy of judges and local officials to deal with civil and criminal cases. It was their task to hear testimony, investigate charges made, evaluate evidence and then execute judgment (detailed in the Middle Assyrian Laws and the Code of Hammurabi). There were some cases, however, that required the attention of the king (see 2 Sam 15:2-4), and appeals were occasionally forwarded on to that highest magistrate (as in the Mari texts). ...”