SR
← On the Institution of a King (De institutione regia)/Book 1 · De institutione regia
Chapter 7JonasInstReg.1.7

CAPUT V. De periculo regis, et quod bene agentes remunerare, male vero agentes sua auctoritate comprimere, causamque pauperum ad se ingredi debeat facere.

The King's Delegation of Judgment

The king must not abandon his office to wicked judges but should appoint capable, God-fearing men to share the burden of judgment, as Scripture commands.

It's a sin of the king when he entrusts the carrying out of his office to wicked judges and officials; for he must not administer his office only through others and cut himself off from it. So we're not saying that he alone should hear and investigate the people's disputes and complaints and settle them, since he can by no means manage all that; rather, that he should appoint under himself men who fear God and hate greed, through whom he will not offend the King of kings.✦✦1 As for what sort of men should be appointed, the book of Deuteronomy shows clearly. There we read: You shall appoint judges and officers in all your gates that the Lord your God gives you, throughout your tribes, so that they may judge the people with just judgment and not turn aside to one side (Deut.✦ 16:18).✦ Likewise the same book: And I said to you at that time: I cannot bear you alone, because the Lord your God has multiplied you, and today you are as numerous as the stars of heaven.✦ (May the Lord, the God of your fathers, add to this number many thousands, and bless you as he has spoken.) I cannot alone bear your affairs and the burden and the disputes.✦ Choose from among yourselves wise and experienced men whose way of life is proven among your tribes (Deut.✦ 1:9).✦2

The Example of Job's Righteous Judgment

The honor and authority of a righteous judge are illustrated by Job's experience at the city gate, where even elders and leaders showed him reverence.

Job: When I went out to the city gate, and in the square they prepared a seat for me.✦ Young men saw me and hid themselves; and the old men rose and stood.✦ The leaders stopped speaking, and put their finger to their mouth (Job✦ 27:9).3

Moses and the Model of Shared Governance

Exodus shows how Moses, following Jethro's advice, appointed capable judges to handle lesser matters while reserving the greatest for himself, ensuring peace and obedience to God.

The book of Exodus also shows with whom the king should share the weight of his rule. There we read: Look carefully, then, among all the people for capable men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate greed, and appoint from among them leaders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, to judge the people at all times. But whatever is greater, let them bring to you, and let them judge only the lesser matters themselves. And once the burden is shared with others, it will be lighter for you. If you do this, you will fulfill God's command, and you will be able to uphold his precepts; and all these people will return to their places in peace (Exod. 18:21).4 When Moses heard this, he did everything the man had suggested. Having chosen capable men from all Israel, he appointed them as leaders of the people—leaders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens—who judged the people at all times; but whatever was more serious, they brought to him.5

The King's Duty to the Poor and to Justice

The king must personally attend to the poor, reward the good, punish the wicked, and is held accountable for appointing corrupt judges, as taught by Scripture, Bede, and Isidore.

But that the king ought to let the cases of the poor come before him and carefully investigate them is made clear by what we read: that in ancient times judges sat at the gate for judgment for this very reason—so that no one would find it hard to approach them, and so that no citizen would have to endure violence or false accusation. That is also why Jerusalem was called the city of the just for as long as judgments were carried out in it: because rulers were not allowed to remain entrenched there.✦6 But that the king should promote the good and restrain the wicked, the apostle Peter teaches when he writes: Be subject, then, to every human institution for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors as men sent by him for the punishment of wrongdoers and for the praise of those who do good (1 Pet.✦ 2:13). Bede explains those words as follows: "Not that all the governors sent by kings know how to punish wrongdoers or to praise those who do good; rather, it simply sets out what the duty of a good governor should be—namely, that he restrain those who do evil and reward those who act well." So in pagan history it is said that this was the custom of the Romans: to spare the conquered and subdue the proud.7 That when corrupt judges are set over the people of God the guilt lies with the one who appointed them is clear from Isidore's words, in which he says: "It is the princes' offense when they set corrupt judges over the faithful people against the will of God." For just as it is the people's offense when their princes are evil, so it is the prince's sin when the judges are unjust.

The Character of Good Judges

Good judges are impartial, incorruptible, and serve for eternal reward, while the king must carefully appoint them, knowing that both he and they will answer to God, as Jehoshaphat's example shows.

Just as a good judge doesn't know how to harm the citizens, so he knows how to do good to all. Some he subjects to the severity of justice; others he receives with the kindness of judgment, without partiality.8 The flame of greed doesn't weaken his justice, nor does he strive to take from another what he would want for himself. Good judges take up justice only to obtain eternal salvation, and they don't hand it out for gifts they have received; so that, while they don't seek temporal profit from just judgment, they may be enriched with an eternal reward. "From what has been set out above it's made clear that those who after the king must govern God's people—that is, dukes and counts—must be chosen for appointment as men who can be appointed without endangering the one who appoints them, knowing that they have been set in place for this: to recognize Christ's people as by nature equal to themselves, to protect them mercifully, and to rule them justly—not so that they may dominate and oppress them, nor so that they may treat the people as their own property, or subject them to themselves for their own glory; for that does not belong to justice, but rather to tyranny and unjust power."9 For necessity strongly requires that, because the king himself will without doubt give an account to the most just Judge for the ministry entrusted to him, each of the ministers appointed under him also be examined by him with the greatest care, so that he himself may not incur divine judgment on their account.10 The ministers themselves must also be warned that whatever they judge will fall back upon them, according to what is read in the book of Chronicles: So Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem; and he went out again among the people from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim, and brought them back to the Lord, the God of their fathers. And he appointed judges of the land in all the fortified cities of Judah, place by place, and charging the judges he said: See what you do, for you do not exercise the judgment of man, but of the Lord, and whatever you judge will fall back upon you.

The Fear of the Lord in Judgment

The king and his ministers must judge with the fear of the Lord, without partiality or greed, so that they may be rewarded rather than damned for their stewardship.

Let the fear of the Lord be with you, and do everything carefully: for with the Lord our God there is no injustice, no partiality, and no greed for gifts (2 Chron.✦ 19:4). These things, and others like them already laid out above, the king and his ministers must consider carefully, not lazily, and they must bring such earnest care to the office entrusted to them that they will not be damned for it forever, but rather may deserve to be joyfully rewarded by the Lord.

Read the original Latin

Ad peccatum regis pertinet, quando judicibus ministrisque iniquis ministerium suum implendum committit, neque enim ministerium suum per alios tantum administrare, et se ab eo debet alienare. Non ergo dicimus ut solus jurgia et querimonias populi audiat et investiget, et definiat, quoniam nequaquam ad haec sufficere potest; sed magis ut tales sub se timentes, et avaritiam odientes constituat, per quos Regem regum non offendat. Quales autem constituendi sint, liber Deuteronomii manifeste demonstrat, in quo legitur: Judices et magistros constitues in omnibus portis tuis, quas Dominus Deus tuus dederit tibi, per singulas tribus tuas; ut judicent populum justo judicio, nec in alteram partem declinent (Deut. XVI, 18) . Item idem: Dixique vobis illo in tempore: Non possum solus sustinere vos; quia Dominus Deus vester multiplicavit vos, et estis hodie sicut stellae coeli, plurimi. (Dominus Deus patrum vestrorum addat ad hunc numerum multa millia, et benedicat vobis sicut locutus est) non valeo solus negotia vestra sustinere et pondus ac jurgia. Date ex vobis viros sapientes et gnaros, et quorum conversatio sit probata in tribubus vestris (Deut. I, 9) .

Job: Quando procedebam ad portam civitatis, et in platea parabant cathedram mihi. Videbant me juvenes, et abscondebantur; et senes assurgentes stabant. Principes cessabant loqui, et superponebant digitum ori suo (Job. XXVII, 9) .

Cum quibus etiam rex pondus regiminis sui partiri debeat, liber Exodi demonstrat, in quo legitur: Provide autem de omni plebe viros potentes, et timentes Deum, in quibus sit veritas, et qui oderunt avaritiam, et constitue ex eis tribunos et centuriones, et quinquagenarios et decanos, qui judicent populum omni tempore: quidquid autem majus fuerit referant ad te, et ipsi minora tantummodo judicent: leviusque sit tibi partito in alios onere. Si hoc feceris, implebis imperium Dei, et praecepta ejus poteris sustentare; et omnis hic populus revertetur ad loca sua cum pace (Exod. XVIII, 21) . Quibus auditis, Moyses fecit omnia quae ille suggesserat: et electis viris strenuis de cuncto Israel, constituit eos principes populi, tribunos et centuriones, et quinquagenarios et decanos, qui judicabant plebem omni tempore: quidquid autem gravius erat, referebant ad eum.

Quod vero rex causam pauperum ad se ingredi facere, et diligenter debeat inquirere, dat intelligi illud quod legimus, antiquitus judices idcirco in porta ad judicandum sedisse, ut nullus accedendi difficultatem, aut quispiam civium vim aut calumniam necesse haberet sustinere. Ideo et Hierusalem civitas justi vocata est, quandiu in ea exercebantur judicia, quod non permittebatur in ea rectoribus permanere. Quod vero rex bonos sublimare, quod malos debeat comprimere, apostolus Petrus docet dicens: Subditi igitur estote omni humanae creaturae propter Dominum, sive regi quasi praecellenti, sive ducibus tanquam ab eo missis ad vindictam malefactorum, laudem vero bonorum (I Petr. II, 13) . Quae verba ita Beda exponit: « Non quod omnes qui a regibus mittuntur duces, vel malefacientes punire, vel benefacientes laudare noverint: sed quae debeat esse actio boni ducis simpliciter narratur, hoc est ut malefacientes coerceat, et bene agentes remuneret. Hinc in historia gentili refertur moris fuisse Romanis, Parcere subjectis, et debellare superbos. » Quod quando pravi judices populo Dei praeferuntur, ad delictum illius pertineat a quo constituuntur, dicta Isidori manifestant, quibus ait: « Ad delictum pertinet principum, qui pravos judices contra voluntatem Dei populis fidelibus praeferunt. Nam sicut populi delictum est, quando principes mali sunt; sic principis est peccatum, quando judices iniqui existunt.

Bonus judex sicut civibus nocere nescit, ita prodesse omnibus novit. Alios vero praestat censura justitiae, alios bonitate judicii sine personarum acceptione suscipi. Non infirmat justitiam avaritiae flamma, nec studet auferre alteri quod cupiat sibi. Boni judices justitiam ad solam obtinendam salutem aeternam suscipiunt, nec eam muneribus acceptis distribuunt; ut dum de justo judicio temporalia lucra non appetunt, praemio aeterno ditentur. « His quae praemissa sunt declaratur quod hi qui post regem populum Dei regere debent, id est duces et comites, necesse est ut tales ad constituendum provideantur, qui sine periculo ejus, a quo constituuntur, constitui possint, scientes se ad hoc positos esse ut plebem Christi sibi natura aequalem recognoscant, eamque clementer salvent, et juste regant, non ut dominentur et affligant, neque ut populum suum aestiment, aut ad suam gloriam sibi illum subjiciant; quod non pertinet ad justitiam, sed potius ad tyrannidem et iniquam potestatem. Valde enim exigit necessitas ut quia ipse procul dubio rex aequissimo judici de commisso sibi ministerio rationem redditurus est, ut etiam singuli qui sub eo constituti sunt ministri diligentissime ab eo inquirantur, ne ipse pro eis judicium incurrat divinum. Ipsis etiam ministris denuntiandum est quod quidquid judicaverint in eos redundabit, juxta illud quod in libro Paralipomenon legitur: Habitabit ergo Josaphat in Hierusalem; rursusque egressus est ad populum de Bersabee usque ad montem Ephraim, et revocavit eos ad Dominum Deum patrum suorum. Constituitque judices terrae in cunctis civitatibus Juda munitis per singula loca, et praecipiens judicibus: Videte, ait, quid faciatis, non enim hominis exercetis judicium, sed Domini, et quodcunque judicaveritis, in vos redundabit.

Sit timor Domini vobiscum, et cum diligentia cuncta facite: non est enim apud Dominum Deum nostrum iniquitas, nec personarum acceptio, nec cupido munerum (II Par. XIX, 4) . Haec, et his similia quae praelibata sunt, rex ejusque ministri non desidiose, sed diligenter debent perpendere, et studium de ministerio sibi commisso tale adhibere, ut non pro eo aeternaliter damnari, sed potius a Domino mereantur feliciter remunerari.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Exod.18.21 — And you shall look from among all the people for able men who fear God, men of truth who hate dishonest gain; and you shall set them over the people as leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties, and leaders of tens.
  2. ↩1Tim.6.15;Rev.17.14;Rev.19.16 — which he will display in his own time—the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of those who reign and Lord of those who rule. Rev.17.14 — These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called, chosen, and faithful. Rev.19.16 — And on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written: King of kings and Lord of lords.
  3. ↩Deut.16.18 — You shall appoint judges and officers in all your gates, which the LORD your God is giving you, throughout your tribes; and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.
  4. ↩Deut.16.18 — You shall appoint judges and officers in all your gates, which the LORD your God is giving you, throughout your tribes; and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.
  5. ↩Deut.1.9-Deut.1.10 — And I said to you at that time, 'I cannot bear the burden of you alone. Deut.1.10 — The LORD your God has multiplied you, and here you are today like the stars of heaven in abundance.
  6. ↩Deut.1.11-Deut.1.12 — May the LORD, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand times over and bless you as he has promised you. Deut.1.12 — How can I bear alone your burden, your load, and your disputes?
  7. ↩Deut.1.13 — Choose for yourselves men who are wise, discerning, and experienced, according to your tribes, and I will appoint them as your leaders.
  8. ↩Deut.1.9 — And I said to you at that time, 'I cannot bear the burden of you alone.
  9. ↩Job.29.7 — When I went out to the gate, through the city streets I prepared my seat.
  10. ↩Job.29.8 — The young men saw me and hid themselves, and the aged rose and stood.
  11. ↩Job.29.9 — Princes refrained from speaking, and laid their hand on their mouth.
  12. ↩Isa.1.26 — I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you will be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City.
  13. ↩1Pet.2.13-1Pet.2.14 — Be subject to every human institution for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme, 1Pet.2.14 — or to governors, as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good.
  14. ↩2Chr.19.7 — And now, let the fear of the LORD be upon you. Be careful in what you do, for with the LORD our God there is no injustice, no partiality, and no taking of bribes.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Latin has timentes without an expressed object; rendered 'fear God' from the clear biblical intertext for appointing judges (cf. Exod. 18:21: timentes Deum ... qui oderint avaritiam).
  2. 2 ↩Source cites Deut. 1:9 for a quotation that runs through Deut. 1:9–13; kept as printed.
  3. 3 ↩Source citation reads Job XXVII, 9, but the quoted Latin matches Vulgate Job 29:7–9 (not Job 27). Left the printed citation as 27:9 for fidelity to the supplied witness; Moses-stage resolution should confirm the intended chapter.
  4. 4 ↩Citation closes the open (Exod. from s2; verse given as XVIII, 21 though the quoted material spans 18:21–23.
  5. 5 ↩ille likely refers to Jethro (Exod 18), not named in this sentence; rendered as "that man".
  6. 6 ↩rectoribus permanere is terse; rendered as rulers not being allowed to remain entrenched under a regime of active public justice.
  7. 7 ↩The motto Parcere subjectis, et debellare superbos is the famous Roman imperial formula (Virgil, Aeneid 6.853), cited here as gentile historical exemplum, not as Scripture.
  8. 8 ↩praestat + dual construction: rendered as the good judge's two modes of dealing with people (severity vs. merciful reception). sine personarum acceptione = biblical 'without respect of persons' / without favoritism.
  9. 9 ↩Opening guillemet marks a continuous quoted block (likely Isidore or similar authority) that continues through s6–s8 into the next section's scriptural material.
  10. 10 ↩Medieval Latin has a doubled ut-construction (ut quia...ut etiam...); sense is clear: because the king must answer to God, he must carefully examine his subordinates.

On the Institution of a King (De institutione regia) companion

Rule yourself daily, not just on retreat

Chosen Portion turns the mirror into a daily practice — a short reading and examining question each morning before you lead anyone.

Chosen Portion makes the mirror daily: the ruler-formation questions this collection preserves become a two-minute morning examination in the app.

  • A daily formation reading drawn from centuries of counsel to those in authority
  • One pointed examination question a day — two minutes, before the meetings start
  • Track your practice over weeks and watch the examined life become a habit
Chosen Portion — Daily Prayer (free iOS app) →