Devarim (Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22)  
 
From the Weekly Parsha Column on www.KabbalaOnline.org, Mystical Classics, An anthology of explanations from the Ramban, Rebbeinu Bachya, the Shelah, the Alsheich, and the Ohr HaChaim

By Rebbeinu Bachya

Judge and Judgment

Translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk.

...for the judgment is G-d's. (Deut. 1:17)

The words "for the judgment is G-d's" (Deut. 1:17) emphasize the connection between judge and justice. The judge receives his input, inspiration from the attribute of  gevura, also known as the attribute of Justice. This is the reason why the Judge of the universe is known as  Elo-him, seeing He draws on that emanation gevura, situated on the left side of the diagram of the  sefirot. Seeing that G-d, in the attribute of Elo-him, is described by Asaph as both G-d and judge (Psalms 82:1), it is not surprising that the attribute Elo-him is applied by the  Torah to judges who perform G-d's work.

" The face of the ox was on the left...." 
 
Then the Torah speaks of "...the causes of both parties shall come before G-d" (Ex. 22:8), the meaning is not that the dispute has to be submitted to G-d, but that it be submitted to mortal judges. Seeing the judge performs G-d's function, he is accorded this title. If such title is accorded to man, on occasion, it is most certainly also accorded to angles who, by definition, always perform G-d's work as his agents. Both the angels and the mortal judges receive their input from the attribute of Justice, the  sefira of gevura.

You should appreciate that seeing the sefira is situated on the left side of the diagram of the sefirot, as is known from Ezekiel 1:10: "...and the face of the ox was on the left [of the angelic creatures]." The Great Sanhedrin was also known as "navel" (as in Song of Songs 7:3);  Rashi explains that its seat was at the navel of the earth - in the center, at the Temple. The office where the deliberations were held was known as "Lishkat Hagazit" [literally, the "office of cutting"], i.e. where definitive judgments were made, where after deliberations the judgment became [in colloquial terms] "cut and dried".

[Selected from the seven-volume English edition of "The Torah Commentary of Rebbeinu  Bachya".]

Reprinted with permission from www.KabbalaOnline.org and www.AscentofSafed.com. To learn more about Kabbalistic and Chasidic perspectives on the Torah, please visit their sites.