According to 28:29 and 30, the breastplate was not only a memorial before the Lord, but was also a plate of judgment. After the Urim and the Thummim were added into the breastplate, it became the breastplate of judgment. Verses 29 and 30 speak of judgment, not of leading or guidance. The judgments mentioned in Deuteronomy 33:10 are related to the Urim and the Thummim in 33:8, where we are told that the priests, the Levites, would have the Thummim and the Urim. The judgments in Deuteronomy 33:10 refer to the judgments in Exodus 28:29 and 30. In both portions of the Word judgment is related to the Urim and the Thummim.
In English judgment may mean the action of judging or a decision of judging. But this is not an accurate understanding of the word judgment as used in these verses. In Deuteronomy 33:10 the judgments are part of God’s law, which is a totality of God’s regulations. Usually when we think of the law of God, we think of the Ten Commandments. However, the law includes more than the Ten Commandments. As we have seen, the Ten Commandments recorded in Exodus 20 are supplemented by the ordinances and regulations recorded in chapters twenty-one through twenty-three. All these regulations are judgments. Therefore, the law not only includes the Ten Commandments, but also includes regulations and ordinances. Some of these ordinances concerned punishment for smiting others, and some were related to making recompense for damage to others’ property. All such regulations are judgments.
The English word judgment used to translate Deuteronomy 33:10 and Exodus 28:29 and 30 can be misleading. It may be regarded as an action of judging or even as an opinion, for our judgment may refer to our opinion. Furthermore, judgment may also involve evaluation. But this is not the meaning of judgment with respect to the breastplate of judgment. The word judgment in these verses indicates that God has a regulation concerning everything among His people. All the regulations will issue in judgments, and these judgments become God’s leading. Thus, the leading of God comes from His judgments, which are based on His regulations.
When we were on Exodus 21 through 23, we pointed out that these chapters are supplements to the Ten Commandments. First God gave the Ten Commandments. Then He issued many regulations and ordinances as supplements to these commandments. The Ten Commandments are the principles of God’s regulations, but the supplements in Exodus 21 through 23 provide the details of these regulations. In these detailed regulations we have God’s judgment. This judgment leads us to certain decisions. As a result, we have God’s leading.
God’s regulations always include His judgment. For this reason, if we would receive the Lord’s leading, many things about us need to be judged by God. Our flesh, our wrongdoings, and our natural life must all be judged by Him. God’s regulations require that all these things be set aside. What remains afterward is truly of God. In this way we come to know God’s leading.