Chapter Seventeen

Repetition of laws. On the quality of sacrificial animals. — On the punishment of idol worshipers. Organization of the courts. The election and qualities of the future king of the Hebrews.

Deuteronomy 17:1. Do not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep on which there is a defect or anything bad, for that is an abomination to the Lord your God. Cf. Lev 22:19-25.

Deuteronomy 17:2. If there is found among you, in any of your settlements that the Lord your God is giving you, a man or a woman who does evil in the sight of the Lord your God by transgressing his covenant, Deuteronomy 17:3. and goes and serves other gods and worships them, or the sun, or the moon, or all the host of heaven, which I have not commanded, Deuteronomy 17:4. and it is told to you, and you hear it, then you shall inquire carefully; and if it is indeed true and certain that this abomination has been done in Israel, Deuteronomy 17:5. then bring out that man or woman who has done this evil thing to your gates and stone them to death. Deuteronomy 17:6. On the testimony of two witnesses or three witnesses the one who is to die shall be put to death; the person may not be put to death on the testimony of one witness; Deuteronomy 17:7. the hands of the witnesses shall be against him first to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people; and so you shall purge the evil from among you. Cf. Exod 20:1-6, Lev 20:1-6; Deut 13:1.

Deuteronomy 17:8. If any case arises that is too difficult for you to decide between one kind of bloodshed and another, between one kind of legal right and another, between one kind of assault and another — cases of dispute within your gates — then arise and go up to the place that the Lord your God will choose, so that his name may be invoked there, Deuteronomy 17:9. and come to the Levitical priests and to the judge who will be in office at that time, and consult them, and they will declare to you the decision; Deuteronomy 17:10. and you shall carry out the verdict that they declare to you from that place that the Lord will choose, and you shall be careful to do everything they instruct you in; Deuteronomy 17:11. according to the law that they teach you and according to the ruling that they tell you, you shall act, and you shall not turn aside from what they tell you, neither to the right nor to the left. Deuteronomy 17:12. Anyone who acts presumptuously by not listening to the priest who stands there to serve before the Lord your God, or to the judge — that person shall die, and so you shall purge the evil from Israel; Deuteronomy 17:13. and all the people shall hear and be afraid, and shall not act presumptuously again. During the wandering in the wilderness the highest judicial authority among the Jewish people was Moses (Exod 18:19). After the death of the great leader, this authority was to be assumed by a council of priests and judges at the tent of meeting under the presidency of the high priest, who has the ability to inquire of God through the Urim and Thummim (Num 27:2). The rabbis maintain that the minor Sanhedrin received its institution on the basis of the book Deut 16:18, and the great Sanhedrin on the basis of Deut 17:8-13.

Deuteronomy 17:14. When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you take possession of it and settle in it and say, “I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me, Deuteronomy 17:15. you may indeed set a king over yourself, the one whom the Lord your God will choose; from among your brothers you shall set a king over yourself; you may not put over yourself a foreigner, who is not your brother. Deuteronomy 17:16. Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, for the Lord has said to you, “You shall never return that way again”; Deuteronomy 17:17. and he shall not acquire many wives for himself, so that his heart does not turn away, and he shall not acquire excessive amounts of silver and gold for himself. Deuteronomy 17:18. And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one kept by the Levitical priests, Deuteronomy 17:19. and it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, and to diligently observe all the words of this law and these statutes; Deuteronomy 17:20. so that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and so that he may not turn aside from the law to the right or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his sons, in the midst of Israel. The Lord himself repeatedly promised the patriarchs that kings would descend from them (Gen 17:6; Gen 35:11). The patriarch Jacob in his prophetic blessing of Judah speaks of kings who would descend from the tribe of Judah until the coming of the Reconciler (Gen 49:10). Moses foresees the coming of royal rule in Israel and therefore gives guiding instructions to the people regarding the election of a king, and to the future king regarding his life and conduct. According to Moses’ direction, the Hebrew king must be a man chosen by God himself from among Israel. The Hebrew king must not think of returning to Egypt, which the rebellious people repeatedly recalled during their wanderings in the wilderness (Exod 14:11-12; Num 11:5) and where they once thought of returning (Num 14:3-4); he must not surround his court with the attributes of pagan luxury, which is harmful to himself and burdensome to the economy of the people.