Justice (Elders at the Gate)
Elders at the Gate, sometimes called the masters of assemblies, are a local type of justice for each village. The name comes from the Sanskrit word "panchayat". These elders are elected. They are the "government of the people, by the people and for the people", so described many centuries ago in India before Abraham Lincoln made this phrase a by-word on the lips of American school children. They sit in judgment on minor offenses which may arise.
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As a convert to Christianity from Hinduism, Bishop K.C. Pillai came to the Western world on a singular mission: to teach the Eastern culture of the Bible. Although Christianity is generally considered a western religion, the Bible itself was written and set in the Orient, and it must be viewed through the light of that eastern window. The Bible is filled with passages that perplex the Western mind, and yet they were readily understood by the Easterner. When the reader becomes knowledgeable of the oriental idioms, customs, and traditions of the Biblical setting, these Scriptures become clear. God called Bishop K.C. Pillai to reveal these Biblical truths he called Orientalisms. At the time of the Bishop’s early life, his native India had remained an isolated country for thousands of years. Therefore, the customs and manners of the people were still aligned with the Eastern, Biblical culture. For over twenty years, Bishop Pillai taught these Orientalisms, bringing great enlightenment to the Christian world. His crusade of imparting this light of the Eastern Culture carried him to numerous universities and seminaries, as well as every major denomination throughout the United States, England and Canada. Still today, his teachings remain the foremost authority on the rare gems of Biblical customs and culture. Bishop K.C. Pillai’s conversion to Christianity is a witness of God’s heart, as well as a lesson in one of the most significant Eastern customs found in the Bible. The Bishop was raised as a Hindu. When a Hindu child of the ruling class is born, a little salt is rubbed on the baby who is then wrapped in swaddling cloth. This custom invoked one of the oldest and strongest covenants in the Eastern world, the “salt covenant.” In this particular instance, the child was salted for a lifetime of dedication to the Hindu religion. The “salt covenant” is used in like manner throughout the Bible to seal the deepest commitment. As a result of the salt covenant it is difficult for Hindus to convert to Christianity. When they do, their family actually conducts a funeral service to symbolize that the individual is dead to their family, the community and Hinduism. Their family will carry a portrait of the “deceased” to the cemetery and bury it. Many times Bishop spoke of his “burial day” when he was disinherited by becoming a Christian; the only Hindu willing to break that covenant of salt in his community during that time. K.C. Pillai answered God’s call and served as Bishop of North Madras in the Indian Orthodox Church. Sent on a special mission to the United States, he spent the last twenty years of his life acquainting Christians with the Orientalisms of the Bible. The interest Bishop Pillai generated in the field has led to numerous further studies by other scholars in the field of manners and customs in the Bible, as well. His books and teachings continue to illuminate and inspire students of the Bible throughout the world. A solid understanding of Orientalisms is essential to “rightly dividing” the Word of truth, and Bishop K.C. Pillai’s works remain an indispensable reference.
Justice (Elders at the Gate)
In the Eastern countries, there are three kinds of justice available. There are the judges, the Elders at the Gate, and the daysman. Now we will focus on the Elders at the Gate.
Elders at the Gate, sometimes called the masters of assemblies, are a local type of justice for each village. The name comes from the Sanskrit word "panchayat". These elders are elected. They are the "government of the people, by the people and for the people", so described many centuries ago in India before Abraham Lincoln made this phrase a by-word on the lips of American school children. They sit in judgment on minor offenses which may arise.
In Ecclesiastes 12:11 there is a phrase referring to this type of justice:
The Words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.
"Word of the wise" always refers to the Word of God: Easterners say there is only one who is all-wise. "Goads" are the nails fastened at the end of a stick which the plowman uses to correct the oxen. If they go straight down the furrow, they are not touched, but if they stray from the right path, they are pricked with the goad.
The "nails fastened by the masters of assemblies" should be "spears". The nails go with the "goads" in the translation; the objects fastened by the masters of assemblies are spears. When the place is built for the Elders to sit in judgment, the area is surrounded by a line of upright spears which are the traditional symbol of justice. These spears are brought into the judgment place by the shepherds from the surrounding areas; no
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shepherd may bring more than one or two spears so that all of them will be represented in the place of justice.
This verse is saying, however, that God's Word acts as a correction to us and His righteousness and justice are made available to us through one shepherd; Christ is the Good Shepherd through whom God's righteousness comes to us.
When complaints are brought before the Elders at the Gate the offender's name is placed at the top of a notice and his offense or the amount of his delinquent debt is written beneath and this is placed at the gates of the village for all who pass through to read.
When the debt has been repaid, or the wrong some how made right, the page is folded up double so that it is now hidden from the eyes of the public. This explains the puzzling phrase in Isaiah 40:2: "…for she hath received of the LORD's hand double for all her sins." Not a double measure, as some have thought, but folded double: hidden: forgiven as in the notice at the gates of the village when folded double.
Bishop K.C. Pillai, D.D.