Deuteronomy 17 Study Notes

17:1 The specific infraction here is addressed in detail in 15:19-23. It is a mark of greed and ingratitude.

17:1-5 To worship false gods was an act of high treason, punishable by death. The covenant was founded on the first two commandments—that only the Lord could be worshiped and that images of him or other gods could not be tolerated. See 13:6-18.

17:6-7 The stoning of an idolater must take place only after adequate testimony by credible witnesses. A single witness might have a personal agenda or might have misread what the accused had done. The two or three witnesses required must back up their charges by being the first in putting the evildoer to death, something they would not be likely to do if they harbored any questions about his guilt.

17:8-9 The presence of priests and a judge makes clear that there was no separation between the secular and the sacred and that every violation of the law was a violation of the covenant between the Lord and his people. In the theocracy of OT Israel, sin and crime were one and the same.

17:10-13 Inasmuch as the judge and the priest were serving the Lord, their judgment was final. This suggests that the verdict was achieved by both wise assessment of the evidence and divine revelation. A “too difficult” case, therefore, was one beyond human capacity to resolve (v. 8). The person acting arrogantly against the judgment of the court was in fact acting arrogantly against the Lord and was therefore guilty of a capital offense.

17:14 Israel had lived for more than four hundred years under the Egyptian king. Though God himself was now their King, they would want a human king as a means of establishing peace and stability at a time when anarchy might otherwise prevail (cp. Jdg 21:25). The desire for a king would not in itself be wrong because the Lord had promised Abraham and Sarah that they would produce a line of kings (Gn 17:6,16), and Jacob prophesied that a messianic King would spring from the tribe of Judah (Gn 49:10). At stake here were guidelines by which such future rulers must govern themselves and their people.

17:15 A future king of Israel must be a man whom the Lord . . . chooses, and he must not be a foreigner. The Lord must make the choice because “humans do not see what the Lord sees, for humans see what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart” (1Sm 16:7).

17:16-17 Having been chosen, the future ruler of Israel must adhere to certain standards to assure the success of his reign, placing his confidence in the Lord rather than in many horses and armaments (Is 31:1; cp. Ps 20:7). He must also not participate in polygamy because it would lead him into idolatry when he tried to satisfy all his wives’ religious preferences (cp. Solomon, 1Kg 11:1-3). Finally, he must resist the urge to accumulate riches because these would likely cause him to depend on his own resources rather than on the Lord (Pr 11:28).

17:18 This instruction refers at least to the book of Deuteronomy and possibly to the entire Pentateuch. Having a copy and also writing a copy in the presence of the Levitical priests would establish the word of God deep within the heart and mind of the king and certify before witnesses that he had made the copy himself.

17:19-20 This admonition to consistent Bible reading is designed to help the reader to fear the Lord and to obey all that he commands. Rulers of the OT theocracy (meaning Israel’s rulers) in particular needed to be careful to do this so as not to think of themselves as overly exalted above their countrymen and to protect themselves against deviating from their covenantal obligations to God. Many of Israel’s kings fell short of this ideal, with the result that the Davidic line came to an end and would resume only with the reign of Christ, the son of David (Zch 9:9-10; cp. Mt 21:9).