The Possuk states: שֹׁפְטִים וְשֹׁטְרִים תִתֶּן־לְךָ בְכָל־שְעָרֶּיךָ וגוֹ׳ “You shall set up judges and enforcement officers [see footnote] for yourself in all your cities etc and finishes with the words: ךָוּבִעַרְתָ הָרָע מִקִרְבֶּ “you shall abolish evil from within you .... לוּבִעַרְתָ הָרָע מִיִשְרָא : And you shall abolish evil from Yisroel”. All this corresponds [analogously] to that which our Chachomim of blessed memory expound on the words
Possuk: (16:18) שֹׁפְטִים וְשֹׁטְרִ ים תִתֶּן־לְךָ בְכָל־שְעָרֶּיךָ אֲשֶּר ה׳ אֱלֹקֶּיךָ נֹׁתֵן לְךָ לִשְבָטֶּיךָ וְשָפְטוּ אֶּת־הָעָם מִשְפַּט־צֶּדֶּק “You shall set up judges and law enforcement officials for yourself in all your gates (cities) that HaShem, your G-d, is giving you, for your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment”. Rashi says on the words: “Judges and law-enforcement officials” שֹׁפְטִים are judges who decide the verdict, and שֹׁטְרִ ים are those who chastise the people in compliance with their order, or who strike and bind with rods and straps, until the guilty party accepts the judge’s verdict.
Finishes: The section dealing with laws that are relevant and associated with judges and enforcement officers.
With the words: (17:7) יַּד הָעֵדִים תִִּֽהְיֶּה־ בוֹ בָרִ אשֹׁנָה לַּהֲמִיתוֹ וְיַּד כָל־הָעָם בָאַּחֲרֹׁנָה וּבִעַּרְ תָ הָרָע מִקִרְ בֶּךָ “The hand of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people, and you shall abolish evil from among you”
You shall abolish evil from amongst you: Just before Sheini the Possuk returns to talk about judges and says: וּבִעַּרְ תָ הָרָע מִיִשְרָאֵל “And you shall abolish evil from Yisroel”.
Expound: The Talmud in Nedorim (32B) relates: What is the meaning of that which is written (Koheles 9:14–15): “There was a little city and few men in it, and there came a great king against it, who enclosed it, and built around it great works of siege? Now there was found in it a man poor and wise, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man”? “A little city,” refers to the body; “and few men in it,” refers to the limbs; “and there came a great king against it and besieged it,” refers to the evil inclination; “and built great bulwarks against it,” these are sins. “Now there was found in it a man poor and wise,” refers to the good inclination; “and he by his wisdom delivered the city,” refers to repentance and good deeds that are cause by the good inclination. “Yet no man remembered that same poor man” means that when the evil inclination overcomes the good inclination no one remembers the good inclination. (This is also brought down in the Medrash Koheles Rabbah 9:15).
Possuk: Koheles (9:14) עִיר קְטַּנָה וַּאֲנָשִים בָהּ מְעָט וּבָא־אֵלֶּיהָ מֶּלֶּךְ גָדוֹל וְסָבַּב אֹׁתָהּ וּבָנָה עָלֶּיהָ מְצוֹדִים גְדֹׁלִים “[There was] a small city, with few people in it, and a great king came upon it and surrounded it and built mighty siege works against it.” (9:15) וּמָצָא בָהּ אִיש מִסְכֵן חָכָם וּמִלַּט־הוּא אֶּת־הָעִיר בְחָכְמָתוֹ וְאָדָם לֹׁא זָכַּר אֶּת־הָאִיש הַּמִסְכֵן הַּהּוּא “And there was found therein a poor wise man, and he extricated the city through his wisdom, but no man remembered that poor man”
Big: The Yetzer Hora is called ‘big’ because it is thirteen years older than the Yetzer Tov which only enters one’s body at his Bar Mitzvah whereas the Yetzer Hora is there from birth (Koheles Rabbah 9:15).
King: The Yetzer Hora is called a king because everyone listens to him (Koheles Rabbah 4:13).
Evil inclination: That lives inside the human.
Works against it: This is the work of the Yetzer Hora. Setting ambushes and traps to take and maintain control of the person causing him to stumble and sin.
