The Judge as Worshipper: Justice Modeled on God's Fear

Jehoshaphat's reformation of Judah's judiciary reveals a principle largely lost in modern jurisprudence: that the judicial function itself is an act of worship. The king did not separate religious and civil reform—in a theocracy where Yahweh was King, such division was impossible. His charge to the peasant magistrates throughout the land centered entirely on the religious character of their office.…