Context No. 2878 of 4322 · Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 1:14-21: in context

14You answered me, and said, “The thing which you have spoken is good to do.” 15So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and respected men, and made them heads over you, captains of thousands, captains of hundreds, captains of fifties, captains of tens, and officers, according to your tribes. 16I commanded your judges at that time, saying, “Hear cases between your brothers and judge righteously between a man and his brother, and the foreigner who is living with him. 17You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not be afraid of the face of man, for the judgment is God’s. The case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.” 18I commanded you at that time all the things which you should do. 19We traveled from Horeb and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which you saw, by the way to the hill country of the Amorites, as the LORD our God commanded us; and we came to Kadesh Barnea. 20I said to you, “You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which the LORD our God gives to us. 21Behold, the LORD your God has set the land before you. Go up, take possession, as the LORD the God of your fathers has spoken to you. Don’t be afraid, neither be dismayed.”

Moses recalls how he appointed wise and respected men as judges over the people, and the charge he gave them: judge righteously between a man and his brother and the foreigner among him, show no partiality, hear the small and the great alike, and do not be afraid of anyone's face, for the judgment is God's. Then he remembers bringing Israel to the edge of the promised land: the LORD has set the land before you; go up, take possession, do not fear or be dismayed.

The charge to the judges is bracing: do not fear the face of man, for the judgment is God's. A judge who is afraid of people will bend justice; only one who remembers he answers to God can judge without partiality. And the same command, do not be afraid, sends the whole nation forward to take the land. Fear of man twists justice, and fear of the future freezes obedience. The cure for both is the same: remembering the God to whom we answer and who goes before us.

Where is fear, of a person's face or of what lies ahead, keeping me from doing what is just or from stepping forward as God has said?

Sources

Deuteronomy 1:17: "You shall not show partiality in judgment... You shall not be afraid of the face of man, for the judgment is God's."
Proverbs 29:25: "The fear of man proves to be a snare, but whoever puts his trust in the LORD is kept safe."
Deuteronomy 1:21: "Go up, take possession... Don't be afraid, neither be dismayed."