Here A Little - There A Little
Moses' Mosaic

   Thus far, Moses has mentioned seven qualifications for public office. Three in Deuteronomy 1:13.  Four more in Exodus 18:21. And another in Deuteronomy 17:14-15. All the information was not in one place.

1. Wise.
2. Understanding. 
3. Known.
    
4. Able men.
5. Such as fear God.
6. Men of truth.
7. Hating covetousness.
    
8. Must be a 'brother' and not a 'stranger'.

Here A Little - There A Little: A key to Bible understanding, and finding the answers to your questions is in the "here a little, there a little" principle mentioned in Isaiah 28:9-11. At first glance Exodus l8:l3-27 and Deuteronomy l:9-18 appeared to be just two accounts of the same event. Closer examination revealed that qualifications for leaders contained in one are not found in the other. We had to examine both accounts to find all the qualifications. A great deal of the Bible is written this way. For example; Samuel, Kings and Chronicles are parallels similar to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Examples are:

Deuteronomy 1:16-17 and Leviticus 19:15.

Deuteronomy 1:16-17 And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear [the causes] between your brethren, and judge righteously between [every] man and his brother, and the stranger [that is] with him. 17 Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; [but] ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment [is] God's: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring [it] unto me, and I will hear it.

Leviticus 19:15 Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: [but] in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.

   Quoting from page 14 of The Biblical Basis of the Constitution by Dan Gilbert, Justice Holmes said, "At the foundation of our civil liberty lies the principle which denies to government officials an exceptional position before the law and subjects them to the same rules of conduct that are commands to the citizen." 

   This central principle of the American Constitution - that no one is above the law, nor beneath the law, that all citizens are 'equal before the law' is derived directly from the Bible. In Leviticus 19:15, it is provided: Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. 

   The American Colonists were the first group of men in the history of the world to write into the enduring law, the Constitution, of their nation a confirmation and enforcement of this Divine Commandment." Chief Justice Taft said, "Equal protection of the laws means and safeguards 'equality of treatment of all persons'. The Divine principle, 'Ye shall not respect persons in judgment', was given its highest human expression in the American Constitution's provision for a 'government of laws not of men."

   The very oath which each Justice of the United States Supreme Court takes upon ascending the Bench is based upon Deuteronomy 1:16-17. That oath is, "I do solemnly swear that I will administer justice without respect of persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, according to the best of my abilities and understanding, agreeably to the Constitution and laws of the United States: So help me God."

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Question 9: Would Moses allow a law that gave special consideration to any particular group as we do in our civil rights and affirmative action laws? (Deuteronomy 1:17, Leviticus 19:15 and 1 Peter 1:17)