Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment. Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous. That which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the LORD thy God, which thou shalt make thee. Neither shalt thou set thee up any image; which the LORD thy God hateth.-Deuteronomy 16:18-22***Miriam was the older sister of Aaron and Moses, the Israelites from the tribe of Levi who led their fellow Israelites away from Egyptian slavery, across the divinely parted Red Sea, and into the desert wilderness of Shur. During the 40-year journey to Canaan, the Promised Land, Miriam died and was buried in Kadesh, in the desert wilderness of Zin. Upon Mount Hor, 123-year-old Aaron died and was buried. Before Moses went upon Mount Nebo, and the Lord God showed Moses the Promised Land, and 120-year-old Moses died and was divinely buried, Moses spoke to the Israelites about their history, and ancestors Abraham (Abram the Hebrew), Isaac and Jacob (Israel), and covenant with the Lord God, and possible blessings and curses. Moses spoke to Joshua, his successor, and Moses spoke to the priests and elders. After the Lord God spoke to Moses, Moses wrote down a song and the book of the law. Moses gave the book of the law to the Levites, and Moses, with Joshua, taught the song to the Israelites, and Moses blessed the Israelites. Joshua and the other Israelites in the tribe of Ephraim descended from Jacob and his 2nd wife Rachel, their firstborn son Joseph and his wife Asenath, and Joseph and Asenath's 2nd born son Ephraim. The Israelites in the tribe of Manasseh descended from Joseph and Asenath's 2nd born son Manasseh. The divinely inspired Scriptures of the Holy Bible reveal that in Egypt Jacob proclaimed Manasseh and Ephraim to be his own sons. The Israelites in the tribe of Benjamin descended from Jacob and Rachel's 2nd born son Benjamin. The Israelites in the tribe of Levi, the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Simeon, the tribe of Judah, the tribe of Issachar, and the tribe of Zebulun descended from Jacob and his 1st wife Leah. The Israelites in the tribe of Dan and the tribe of Naphtali descended from Jacob and Bilhah, Rachel's maidservant. The Israelites in the tribe of Gad and the tribe of Asher descended from Jacob and Zilpah, Leah's maidservant. Although the Israelites lived throughout the desert wilderness during the 40 years that Moses and Aaron were leading them to the Promised Land, every Israelite knew the identity of their own familial tribe. Sometime after Joshua led the Israelites across the divinely parted Jordan River and onto the land that the Lord God promised to give to Abraham, and Isaac, and to Jacob, and their descendants, Joshua, and Aaron's son and successor Eleazar, and the appointed tribal leaders allotted each tribe their portion of the Promised Land. Thus, every Israelite lived within their own tribe's territory. However, according to a request, the tribe of Reuben, and the tribe of Gad and 1/2 the tribe of Manasseh were given land and made their homes on some of the same land that the Israelites had wandered through during their 40-year journey. The tribe of Levi, the only tribe of priests and their assistants, did not receive a land allotment. Instead, according to the command of the Lord God, the Levites were given cities and pasturelands from the other tribes. Over 1,300 years after 110-year-old Joshua died and was buried in his tribe's portion of the Promised Land, Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, was born. Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary, a virgin, and Jesus was born into the tribe of Judah to Mary and her husband Joseph when Mary was a virgin.-Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, 1 Chronicles 1:1-8:40, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts 1:1-26
Reference Information:
gift = sohad/shochad/shachad = bribe, present, reward
respect = panim = panah/paneh = face of man, face favorably, partiality
wrest = tatteh= natah = stretch, bend, pervert