Raising Up Virtuous Judges by Jason Whelchel

"Therefore I will be your king the remainder of my days; nevertheless, let us appoint judges, to judge this people according to our law; and we will newly arrange the affairs of this people, for we will appoint wise men to be judges, that will judge this people according to the commandments of God."1 King Mosiah said this during his great speech to the people in crying repentance unto the Nephites. Mosiah knew that not all men were wise and virtuous, and thus it would be possible for a king to take advantage of the people of lead them into sin. In his great wisdom, he decided to dissolve the monarchy and appoint a group of judges to preside over the land, judging the people according to gospel principles. I feel that Mosiah was a wise and noble person and know that, if he had been made a judge during his life, he would have been a wonderful and powerful chief judge over the people of Nephi.


One of the key traits Mosiah noted that all the judges should possess was wisdom, for it would be wise men that were most qualifed to lead the Nephites to be a good and prosperous people. The unwise would be susceptible to corruption and unable to judge in an unbiased and rightous manner. Luckily, Mosiah created a sort of firewall to allow those who did not judge properly to be judged themselves according to the laws of the people. "And now if ye have judges, and they do not judge you according to the law which has been given, ye can cause that they may be judged of a higher judge. If your higher judges do not judge righteous judgments, ye shall cause that a small number of your lower judges should be gathered together, and they shall judge your higher judges, according to the voice of the people."2 This is actually similar to the system of checks and balances that we see in our own government today, and was a brilliant way to try and keep a leash on any judges that attemped to judge unrightously.


Another quality that I feel any judge must possess is virtue. The latin root of the word, virtus, means strength. Personally, when I think of the word virtue I instantly think of the words honesty, charity, love, and rightousness. Interestingly enough, these are all qualities that the Savior himself emphasized during his mortal ministry, and was a perfect example of. But virtue at the root of its meaning means strength not only in body, but also in mind and spirit. I was once told by a teacher that with wisdom comes virtue, and with virtue comes intelligence., and I know for a fact that what he said is true. President Monson also counseled us on the importance of virtue, saying: "You be the one to make a stand for right, even if you stand alone. Have the moral courage to be a light for others to follow. There is no friendship more valuable than your own clear conscience, your own moral cleanliness—and what a glorious feeling it is to know that you stand in your appointed place clean and with the confidence that you are worthy to do so." 3


A judge that judges in wisdom and virtue is a rightous man, and this is something we look for even today when we appoint judges in our legal courts. The people vote during elections to decide which candidate they believe will be the wisest and most morally sound judge, similar to what the Nephites did when they appointed Alma to be not only the high priest of the church, but also the chief judge. Then again, perhaps it was because Alma was the high priest that they appointed him as chief judge. The people knew that Alma was a chosen prophet of the Lord and would lead them in wisdom and virtue, walking uprightly before God. "And now it came to pass that Alma did walk in the ways of the Lord, and he did keep his commandments, and he did judge righteous judgments; and there was continual peace through the land." 4


Finally, I feel that a judge must learn to lead in the example of the shepard king, taking care of the people he has been charged to judge and protecting them. When I was younger, my 5th grade class was taken on a fieldtrip to the county courthouse and we got to see and act out the various roles involved in a trial. Whenever a new person was appointed to be the mock judge, they were always the one who had the final say in judging the person being tried, and we all tried to be as righteous as possible in our judgments, even though they weren't necessarily real. In fact, the one judge that all those who take up the profession should look to as the perfect example is God himself. God is the greatest judge of all, and we can be assured that his judgments shall always be in rightousness, for he is a God of rightousness, love, wisdom, honesty, and virtue. That is why Mosiah said that the judges should always judge according to the commandments of God, because God is the only one who knows and sets the ultimate standards by which man should be judged in their existance both in the mortal world and in the afterlife. During the Restoration, "both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, both the wicked and the righteous; and even there shall not so much as a hair of their heads be lost; but every thing shall be restored to its perfect frame, as it is now, or in the body, and shall be brought and be arraigned before the bar of Christ the Son, and God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, which is one Eternal God, to be judged according to their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil."5 I know that these things are true, and that we must appoint good and wise men to be our judges, who have a virtuous strength that they follow in the footsteps of the Almighty and strive to judge as he would judge, and I leave these things with you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Work Cited
1- Mosiah 29:11
2- Mosiah 29: 28-29
3- Thomas S. Monson, “Examples of Righteousness,” Liahona and Ensign, May 2008, 65.
4- Mosiah 29: 43
5- Alma 11: 44