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 and her younger brothers Aaron and Moses were Israelites from the tribe of Levi. When Moses was 80 years old and Aaron was 83, the Lord God sent them to speak to the Israelite elders and Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. After the Lord God brought the 10th and final plague upon Pharaoh and Egypt, Moses and Aaron led the Israelites, and those with them, 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 the prophetess died and was buried in Kadesh, in the desert wilderness of Zin. Upon Mount Hor, 123-year-old Aaron the high priest died. Sometime thereafter, the Israelites in the tribe of Reuben, and the tribe of Gad asked to be given some of the land that the Israelites had passed through and conquered, and Moses gave them, and 1/2 the tribe of Manasseh, the requested land. Before Moses went upon Mount Nebo, and the Lord God showed Moses the Promised Land, and 120-year-old Moses the prophet 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 aide and successor from the tribe of Ephraim, and Moses spoke to the priests and elders. After the Lord God spoke to Moses, Moses transcribed 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. The Israelites in the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Simeon, the tribe of Levi, 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, the maidservant of Jacob's 2nd wife Rachel. The Israelites in the tribe of Gad and the tribe of Asher descended from Jacob and Zilpah, Leah's maidservant. The Israelites in the tribe of Joseph and the tribe of Benjamin descended from Jacob and Rachel. However, the tribe of Joseph became the tribe of Manasseh and the tribe of Ephraim after Jacob proclaimed Manasseh and Ephraim, the sons born to Joseph and his wife Asenath, to be his own sons. 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, and every Israelite lived within their own tribe's territory. The tribe of Levi was the tribe of the priests and their assistants, and they did not receive a land allotment, according to the command of the Lord God. 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