If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates: then shalt thou arise, and get thee up into the place which the LORD thy God shall choose;
If there arise a matter too hard for thee (cf. Deuteronomy 1:16-17; Exodus 18:22). civil or criminal cases, where there was any doubt or difficulty in giving a decision, the local magistrates were to submit them by reference to the tribunal of the Sanhedrim-the supreme council, which was composed partly of civil and partly of ecclesiastical persons. The principal of these officers were to be "the priests, the Levites" - i:e., the Levitical priests, a select number of them, including the high priest, who were members of the legislative assembly, and who, along with a proportion of brethren from the other tribes, are called by enallage (see the note at Deuteronomy 19:17) "the judge" (cf. Wilkinson's 'Ancient Egypt.,' 1:, p. 282; Hengstenberg, 'Egypt and Books of Moses, Clarke's edition, pp. 150, 151, note; Michaelis' 'Annotation' on this passage; Graves 'On the Pentateuch,' 2:, p.
22). Their sittings were held in the neighbourhood of the sanctuary, because in great emergencies the high priest had to consult God by Urim (Numbers 27:21).
From their judgment there was no appeal; and if a person were so perverse and refractory as to refuse obedience to their sentences, his conduct, as inconsistent with the maintenance of order and good government, was then to be regarded and punished as a capital crime.