Go to Related Reading
About this book

Deuteronomy

About this book
Chapter 25

1 If controversy arises between people, they should go to court for judgment. When the judges hear the case, they shall exonerate the innocent but condemn the guilty.⁠ 2 Then, if the guilty person is sentenced to a beating, the judge shall force him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of blows his wicked behavior deserves. 3 The judge may sentence him to 40 blows, but no more. If he is struck with more than these, you might view your fellow Israelite with contempt.⁠ 4 You must not muzzle your ox when it is treading grain. 5 If brothers live together and one of them dies without having a son, the dead man’s wife must not remarry someone outside the family. Instead, her late husband’s brother must go to her, marry her, and perform the duty of a brother-in-law.⁠ 6 Then the first son she bears will continue the name of the dead brother, thus preventing his name from being blotted out of Israel. 7 But if the man does not want to marry his brother’s widow, then she must go to the elders at the town gate and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to preserve his brother’s name in Israel; he is unwilling to perform the duty of a brother-in-law to me!” 8 Then the elders of his city must summon him and speak to him. If he persists, saying, “I don’t want to marry her,” 9 then his sister-in-law must approach him in view of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face. She will then respond, “Thus may it be done to any man who does not maintain his brother’s family line!” 10 His family name will be referred to in Israel as “the family of the one whose sandal was removed.” 11 If two men get into a hand-to-hand fight, and the wife of one of them gets involved to help her husband against his attacker, and she reaches out her hand and grabs his private parts, 12 then you must cut off her hand—do not pity her. 13 You must not have in your bag different stone weights, a heavy and a light one. 14 You must not have in your house different measuring containers, a large and a small one. 15 You must have an accurate and correct stone weight and an accurate and correct measuring container, so that your life may be extended in the land the Lord your God is about to give you.⁠ 16 For anyone who acts dishonestly in these ways is abhorrent to the Lord your God. 17 Remember what the Amalekites did to you on your way from Egypt,⁠ 18 how they met you along the way and cut off all your stragglers in the rear of the march when you were exhausted and tired; they were unafraid of God. 19 So when the Lord your God gives you relief from all the enemies who surround you in the land he is giving you as an inheritance, you must wipe out the memory of the Amalekites from under heaven—do not forget!

Texts in conversation

Compare Deuteronomy 25:1 and 1 Kings 8:32

Hebrew Bible

Share:

Summary

1 Kings 8 reflects the legal procedure outlined in Deuteronomy 25, where a dispute is brought before judges to determine guilt or innocence. In Solomon’s prayer, this judicial role is extended to God, who is asked to render verdicts from heaven.

Passages

Deuteronomy 25:1

Hebrew Bible
1 If controversy arises between people, they should go to court for judgment. When the judges hear the case, they shall exonerate the innocent but condemn the guilty. 2 Then, if the guilty person is sentenced to a beating, the judge shall force him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of blows his wicked behavior deserves. 3 The judge may sentence him to 40 blows, but no more. If he is struck with more than these, you might view your fellow Israelite with contempt.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Deuteronomy

1 Kings 8:32

Hebrew Bible
31 “When someone is accused of sinning against his neighbor and the latter pronounces a curse on the alleged offender before your altar in this temple, be willing to forgive the accused if the accusation is false. 32 Listen from heaven and make a just decision about your servants’ claims. Condemn the guilty party, declare the other innocent, and give both of them what they deserve. 33 “The time will come when your people Israel are defeated by an enemy because they sinned against you. If they come back to you, renew their allegiance to you, and pray for your help in this temple,
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Kings

References

"... It is instructive that Solomon requested YHWH to 'hear and forgive' in the 'place of your enthronement' (i.e., the heavenly temple). That the prayer goes up to the 'place of your enthronement' makes the locale where YHWH is enthroned important in the context of his activities. If the purpose of the references to heaven were simply to convey God's transcendence, there would be no need to pray towards the earthly temple and beg YHWH to respond from the place of his enthronement, in heaven. However, the repeated petition that YHWH hear from his heavenly dwelling points to the significance of 'this place' in the bestowal of forgiveness and the execution of other functions to be noted below. Another instructive reference to YHWH's activities in the heavenly temple is provided by 1 Kings 8:32, which is part of the first petition. A few points are relevant here. The text mentions activities that YHWH supposedly would perform in 'heaven.' As clarified by the context, this refers to an interpersonal dispute brought to the earthly temple. (Compare Deuteronomy 25:1) In this situation, the ultimate judgment belonged to YHWH who in heaven (i.e., the heavenly/temple) would judge in order to condemn the wicked, and to declare innocent the righteous one ..."
Elias Brasil de Souza, “The Heavenly Sanctuary/Temple Motif in the Hebrew Bible: Function and Relationship to the Earthly Counterparts” (PhD diss., Andrews University, 2005), 218.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Your feedback

Deuteronomy 25:1 and 1 Kings 8:32

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library