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Deuteronomy Chapter
Seventeen
New King James Version (NKJV)
INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 17
This
chapter begins with a caution not to sacrifice anything to the Lord that is
blemished or ill favoured, Deuteronomy 17:1,
an order is given to put to death men or women guilty of idolatry, where it is
clearly proved upon them, Deuteronomy 17:2
and it is directed that when cases are too hard for inferior judges to
determine, they should be brought to Jerusalem to the priests, Levites, and
judges, which formed the great consistory there, whose sentence was to be
adhered unto on pain of death, Deuteronomy 17:8,
and rules are given about the choice of a king, and he is informed what he must
not do, and what he should do, Deuteronomy 17:14.
Deuteronomy 17:1 “You shall not
sacrifice to the Lord your God a bull or sheep which
has any blemish or defect, for that is an abomination to the Lord your God.
YLT
1`Thou dost not sacrifice to
Jehovah thy God ox or sheep in which there is a blemish -- any evil thing; for
it [is] the abomination of Jehovah thy God.
Thou shalt not sacrifice unto the Lord thy God any bullock or
sheep wherein is blemish,.... No sacrifice of any sort, whether burnt offering, sin
offering, or peace offering, was to have any blemish in it; typical of the unblemished
and immaculate Lamb of God, who, being without sin, offered himself without
spot to God, and so could take away the sins of others by the sacrifice of
himself; see Leviticus 22:18,
or any evilfavouredness; any sickness
or disease upon it of any sort, which made it ill favoured to the sight, or
disagreeable to the smell, or however unacceptable for sacrifice:
for that is an abomination to the Lord thy God; every such
blemished and ill favoured sacrifice; see Malachi 1:8.
Deuteronomy 17:2 2 “If
there is found among you, within any of your gates which the Lord your God gives you, a man or a woman who has been wicked in the
sight of the Lord your God, in transgressing His covenant,
YLT
2`When there is found in thy
midst, in one of thy cities which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee, a man or a
woman who doth the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah thy God by transgressing
His covenant,
If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the
Lord thy God giveth thee,.... In any of their cities in the land of Canaan:
man or woman that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the Lord
thy God: as all that is wrought is in the sight of the omniscient God;
here it means not any kind of wickedness, for there is none lives without
committing sin of one sort or another, all which is known to God the searcher
of hearts, but such wickedness as is after described:
in transgressing his covenant; that is, his law, and
particularly the first table of it, which respects divine worship, and which is
in the nature of a marriage contract or covenant; which, as that is
transgressed by adultery committed by either party, so the covenant between God
and Israel was transgressed by idolatry, which is spiritual adultery, and going
a whoring after other gods, as it follows:
Deuteronomy 17:3 3 who
has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, either the sun or moon or
any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded,
YLT
3and he doth go and serve
other gods, and doth bow himself to them, and to the sun, or to the moon, or to
any of the host of the heavens, which I have not commanded –
And hath gone,.... The Targum of Jonathan adds, after the
evil imagination or concupiscence, lusting after other lovers, and forsaking
the true God, and departing from his worship:
and served other gods; strange gods, the idols
of the people, other gods besides the true God; the creature besides the
Creator:
and worshipped them; by bowing down before
them, praying to them, or ascribing their mercies and blessings to them, and
giving them the glory of them:
either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven: the two great
luminaries, and the planets, constellations, and stars, any of them; which kind
of idolatry very early obtained, and was in use at this time among the
Heathens, and was an iniquity to be punished by the judge, Job 31:26, which
sin, though so strictly forbidden, the people of Israel sometimes fell into, 2 Kings 21:3.
which I have not commanded: and which is a
sufficient reason, in matters of worship, to avoid and abstain from anything,
that God has not commanded it; for in things of that nature nothing should be
done but what he has ordered, who is a jealous God, and will not suffer any to
take upon them to direct what should be done as a religious service and duty;
and if any are so presumptuous, they must expect it will be resented; see Isaiah 1:12 and
especially with respect to the object of worship, as here, and which relate to
things if not forbid expressly, yet tacitly, to do which was an abomination to
the Lord.
Deuteronomy 17:4 4 and
it is told you, and you hear of it, then you shall inquire diligently.
And if it is indeed true and certain that such an abomination has
been committed in Israel,
YLT
4and it hath been declared
to thee, and thou hast heard, and hast searched diligently, and lo, truth; the
thing is established; this abomination hath been done in Israel –
And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and inquired
diligently,.... A report of this kind was not to be neglected; though it was
not to be concluded upon as certain by hearsay, it was to be looked into, and
the persons that brought it thoroughly examined; so the Targum of
Jonathan,"and inquired the witnesses well,'what proof and evidence they
could give of the fact, who the persons were, when and where, and in what
manner the sin was committed:
and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain; upon
examining the witnesses the case is plain and out of all question:
that such abomination is wrought in Israel; to do it in
any country was abominable, but much more so in the land of Israel, among the
professing people of God, who had the knowledge of the true God, and had had so
many proofs of his deity, his power and providence, as well as received so many
favours and blessings from him, and had such laws and statutes given them as no
other people had.
Deuteronomy 17:5 5 then
you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has committed that
wicked thing, and shall stone to death that man or woman with stones.
YLT
5`Then thou hast brought out
that man, or that woman, who hath done this evil thing, unto thy gates -- the
man or the woman -- and thou hast stoned them with stones, and they have died.
Thou shall bring forth that man or that woman which have committed
the wicked thing,.... Idolatry in any of the above instances: this must be
supposed to be done after he or she have been had before a court of judicature,
and have been tried and found guilty, and sentence passed on them, then they
were to be brought forth to execution:
unto thy gates; the Targum of Jonathan says, unto the gates
of your sanhedrim, or court of judicature; but Jarchi observes, that this is a
mistake of the paraphrase, for he says, we are taught by tradition that
"thy gate" is the gate in which he has served or committed idolatry;
and so says MaimonidesF4Hilchot Sanhedrin, c. 15. sect. 2. , they do
not stone a man but at the gate where he served or worshipped; but if the
greatest part of the city are Heathens, they stone him at the door of the
sanhedrim; and this is received from tradition, that "to thy gates"
is the gate at which he served, and not where his judgment is finished:
even that man or
that woman; this is repeated, and the woman as well as the man is expressed,
to show that no compassion is to be had on her as is usual, nor to be spared on
account of the weakness and tenderness of her sex, but she as well as the man
must be brought forth and executed according to her sentence, without any mercy
shown; and this is observed to show the resentment of the divine Majesty, and
his indignation at this sin:
and shalt stone them with stones until they die; of the manner
of stoning men and women; see Gill on Acts 7:58.
Deuteronomy 17:6 6 Whoever
is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three
witnesses; he shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness.
YLT
6By the mouth of two
witnesses or of three witnesses is he who is dead put to death; he is not put
to death by the mouth of one witness;
At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that
is worthy of death be put to death,.... The idolater found
guilty was to be stoned; two witnesses were sufficient to prove a fact, if
three the better, but, on the testimony of one, sentence might not be
pronounced. Aben Ezra observes, that some say, if two witnesses contradict two
other, a third turns the scale and determines the matter; and others say, that
two who are wise men will do, and three of others; and because it is said
"at the mouth" of these witnesses, it is concluded, that a testimony
should be verbal and not written; should not be recorded, neither in pecuniary
cases nor in capital ones, but from the mouth of the witnesses, as it is said
"at the mouth", &c. at their mouth, and not from their
handwritingF5Maimon. Hilchot Eduth, c. 3. sect. 4. :
but at the mouth of one
witness he shall not be put to death; so careful is the Lord
of the lives of men, that none should be taken away but upon full and
sufficient evidence, even in cases in which his own glory and honour is so much
concerned.
Deuteronomy 17:7 7 The
hands of the witnesses shall be the first against him to put him to death, and
afterward the hands of all the people. So you shall put away the evil from
among you.
YLT
7the hand of the witnesses
is on him, in the first place, to put him to death, and the hand of all the
people last; and thou hast put away the evil thing out of thy midst.
The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to
death,.... Of everyone of them, as Aben Ezra; they were to cast the
first stone at him, which would be a further trial and confirmation of their
testimony; for if they readily and without reluctance first began the stoning
of the idolater, it would not only show their zeal for the honour of the divine
Being, but an unconsciousness of guilt in their testimony, and be an
encouragement to others to proceed with safety:
and afterwards the hands of all the people; should be
employed in taking up stones, and casting at him until he was dead:
so thou shall put the evil away from among you; both the evil
man and the evil committed by him, which by this means would be prevented from
spreading, seeing by his death others would be deterred from following his
example; as well as the evil of punishment, which otherwise would have come
upon the nation, had they connived at so gross an iniquity.
Deuteronomy 17:8 8 “If
a matter arises which is too hard for you to judge, between degrees of guilt
for bloodshed, between one judgment or another, or between one punishment or
another, matters of controversy within your gates, then you shall arise and go
up to the place which the Lord your God chooses.
YLT
8`When anything is too hard
for thee for judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and
between stroke and stroke -- matters of strife within thy gates -- then thou
hast risen, and gone up unto the place on which Jehovah thy God doth fix,
If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment,.... This is
spoken to inferior judges in cities in the country, who sometimes might have
cases too wonderful and mysterious, as the word signifies, or secret and
hidden, such as were out of their reach and beyond their capacity, and so be
very difficult for them to determine what should be done:
between blood and blood; that is, whether a man
is guilty of shedding innocent blood or not; when such a case is depending
between a person charged with it and the relatives of the deceased, or between
a man slayer and the avenger of blood, and the question is, whether he may have
the benefit of a city of refuge or not, and there are some circumstances
attending it which make it difficult how to determine:
between plea and plea; of the plaintiff on one
side and of the defendant on the other, and both have so much to say in their
own cause, that it is hard to decide which is in the right and which is in the
wrong, whether in capital or pecuniary cases; it chiefly if not solely respects
civil things in controversy:
and between stroke and stroke; blow or wound which one
man received from another, and for which he commences a suit of law upon it, Exodus 21:18 or for
assault and battery; and so Aben Ezra interprets it of blows and bruises; but
the Jewish writers generally interpret it of the plague, or stroke of leprosy;
so the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem; but the examination of such a case
did not belong to the civil magistrate, but to a priest; nor was such a person
had up to Jerusalem to be searched, but was shut up in a house until further
evidence could be got; and, besides, the signs of the leprosy are so distinctly
given, that at waiting a proper time, there was seldom or ever any difficulty
about determining it:
being matter of
controversy within thy gates; or what are matters of controversy about
anything else; for the phrase is general, as Aben Ezra observes, and takes in
everything in which anything difficult might occur; so Jarchi interprets it of
things which the wise men of a city are divided about; one pronounces a person
or thing unclean, another clean, one condemning and another justifying, and so
far rightly; for this respects not controversies between men, that may be
brought into courts of judicature, but controversies or divisions arising in
these courts upon them, between the judges themselves, they not agreeing in
their opinions:
then shalt thou arise and get thee up into the place which the
Lord thy God shall choose; to Jerusalem, to the great sanhedrim or
court of judicature, to which the inferior judges were to apply themselves, in
matters of moment and difficulty, for instruction, information, and direction;
it being supposed that in such a court such like cases may have been brought
before them, and they were expert and understanding in them.
Deuteronomy 17:9 9 And
you shall come to the priests, the Levites, and to the judge there in
those days, and inquire of them; they shall pronounce upon you the
sentence of judgment.
YLT
9and hast come in unto the
priests, the Levites, and unto the judge who is in those days, and hast
inquired, and they have declared to thee the word of judgment,
Thou shalt come unto the priests, the Levites,.... The
priests that are of the tribe of Levi, as the Targum of Jonathan, and so
Jarchi; for Aben Ezra says there are priests that are not of the genealogy of
Levi; such there were indeed in Jeroboam's time, 1 Kings 12:31.
MaimonidesF6Hilchot Sanhedrin, c. 2. sect. 2. observes, that it is
ordered that there should be in the great sanhedrim priests and Levites, as it
is said: "and thou shalt come unto the priests, and the judge that shall
be in those days, and inquire"; judge is here put for judges, of which the
great court consisted, being priests, Levites, and Israelites; See Gill on Deuteronomy 16:18,
though others think that only a single person is meant, such as Othniel, Ehud,
Gideon, Samson, &c. but then as there was not always such an one in being,
I should rather think that the judge here, if a single person, is the president
or prince of the great sanhedrim, who succeeded Moses, and sat in his place;
and of him and his court, the priests, and Levites and Israelites that composed
it, inquiry was to be made:
and they shall show thee the sentence of judgment; give their
judgment in the difficult case proposed, and declare what is right to be done,
and what sentence is to be pronounced.
Deuteronomy 17:10 10 You
shall do according to the sentence which they pronounce upon you in that place
which the Lord chooses. And you shall be careful to do according to all that they
order you.
YLT
10and thou hast done
according to the tenor of the word which they declare to thee ([they] of that
place which Jehovah doth choose; and thou hast observed to do according to all
that they direct thee.
And thou shalt do according to the sentence which they of that place
which the Lord shall choose shall show thee,.... The judges of the
inferior courts were to return and proceed on the difficult case according to
the judgment of the great court at Jerusalem, and follow the directions and
instructions they should give them:
and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform
thee; not only observe and take notice of what they say, but put it in
practice, and not in some things and some circumstances only, but in all and
everything they should give them information about relating to the case in
question.
Deuteronomy 17:11 11 According
to the sentence of the law in which they instruct you, according to the
judgment which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside to
the right hand or to the left from the sentence which they pronounce
upon you.
YLT
11`According to the tenor of
the law which they direct thee, and according to the judgment which they say to
thee thou dost do; thou dost not turn aside from the word which they declare to
thee, right or left.
According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee,.... For they
were not to make any new law, but to teach the law of God, and so far as their
sense and opinion of things agreed with that law they were to be regarded:
and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou
shalt do; what were law and justice, what were fit and right to be done, according
to the will of God, which they should declare unto them, that was carefully to
be done by them:
thou shalt not decline from the sentence they shall show thee, to
the right hand nor to the left; by setting up after, all their own
judgments against theirs to whom they had applied for information and
direction, which to have done would have been very insolent and affronting;
they were not to depart from the determination they made of the case, on
pretence of knowing better, nor even in any minute circumstance to deviate from
it, but strictly and closely to keep unto it; though not to follow them so
implicitly as to receive from them and embrace things the most absurd and
unreasonable, as Jarchi suggests; who says, that their sense was to be abided by,
even if they should say that the right hand is the left, and the left hand the
right.
Deuteronomy 17:12 12 Now
the man who acts presumptuously and will not heed the priest who stands to
minister there before the Lord your God, or the judge, that man
shall die. So you shall put away the evil from Israel.
YLT
12And the man who acteth with
presumption, so as not to hearken unto the priest (who is standing to serve
there Jehovah thy God), or unto the judge, even that man hath died, and thou
hast put away the evil thing from Israel,
The
judge of the country court that makes his application to that at Jerusalem for
information and direction; if, after all, he is conceited in his own opinion,
and rejects theirs, and is obstinate, and will not be guided and directed, but
will take his own way, and pursue his own sense of things, and act according to
that:
and will not hearken to the priest that standeth to minister there
before the Lord thy God; the priests of the tribe of Levi, of whom the court generally
consisted, Deuteronomy 17:9,
priest for priests; though some think the high priest is meant, to whom the
character very well agrees; but he was not always at the head of the sanhedrim,
nor indeed a member of it, unless he had the proper qualifications; see Deuteronomy 18:18.
or unto the judge; or judges; See Gill on Deuteronomy 17:9. L'EmpereurF7In
Misn. Middoth, c. 5. sect. 3. thinks, that the supreme senate, or grand
sanhedrim, was twofold, according to the diversity of ecclesiastic and
political matters; since where it treats of the supreme senators, or chief
persons in the court, the priest is manifestly distinguished from the judge
(i.e. priests or judges); now the man that has asked advice of them, and will
not be directed by it, but takes his own way, this being so great a contempt
of, and insult upon, the great senate of the nation:
even that man shall die; and this was by
strangling, for so the rebellious older, as such an one is called, was to die
according to the MisnahF8Sanhedrin, c. 10. sect. 2. ; and it is saidF9Maimon.
Issure Biah, c. 1. sect. 6. , that the death spoken of in the law absolutely
(without specifying what kind of death) is strangling:
and thou shall put away the evil from Israel; the evil man
that is rebellious against the supreme legislature of the nation, and the evil
of contumacy he is guilty of, deterring others from it by his death.
Deuteronomy 17:13 13 And
all the people shall hear and fear, and no longer act presumptuously.
YLT
13and all the people do hear
and fear, and do not presume any more.
And all the people shall hear, and fear,.... All the
people of Israel in their own cities, and particularly the judges in those
cities; they shall hear of what is done to the obstinate and disobedient elder,
and shall be afraid to commit the like offence, lest they should come into the
same punishment:
and do no more presumptuously; after his example;
hence, Jarchi says, they wait till the feast comes, and then put him to death;
and so it is saidF11Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 10. sect. 4. , they bring
him up to the great sanhedrim which is at Jerusalem, and there keep him until
the feast (the next feast), and put him to death at the feast, as it is said:
all the people shall hear, and fear.
Deuteronomy 17:14 14 “When
you come to the land which the Lord your God
is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, ‘I will set a king over
me like all the nations that are around me,’
YLT
14`When thou comest in unto
the land which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee, and hast possessed it, and
dwelt in it, and thou hast said, Let me set over me a king like all the nations
which [are] round about me, --
When thou art come unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth
thee,.... The land of Canaan:
and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein; be entirely
in the possession of it, and settled in it; it seems to denote some time of
continuance in it, as it was, before they thought of setting a king over them,
about which are the following instructions:
and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations
that are round about me; which was what would and did lead them to such a thought and
resolution; observing that the neighbouring nations had kings over them, they
were desirous of being like them as to the form of their civil government, and
have a king as they had.
Deuteronomy 17:15 15 you
shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God
chooses; one from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you
may not set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother.
YLT
15thou dost certainly set
over thee a king on whom Jehovah doth fix; from the midst of thy brethren thou
dost set over thee a king; thou art not able to set over thee a stranger, who
is not thy brother.
Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee whom the Lord
thy God shall choose,.... The Jews take this to be a command to set a king over them:
whereas it is only a permission in case they should desire and determine on
having one, as God foresaw they would; and this with a limitation and
restriction to appoint none but whom God should choose, and which was their
duty and interest to attend unto; for none could choose better for them, and
was what he had a right unto, and it became them to submit to it, since he was
their King in a civil and special sense, and another was only his viceregent;
accordingly we find, when they expressed their desire to have a king in the
time of Samuel, and it was granted, though not without some resentment, the
Lord chose their first king for them, Saul, and, after him, David, and even
Solomon, David's son; and though, in later times, they appointed kings without
consulting him, it is complained of, Hosea 8:4 hence
this clause is prefaced in the Targum of Jonathan,
"ye
shall seek instruction from the Lord, and after set him king, &c.'which was
to be done by the mouth of a prophet, or by Urim, as Aben Ezra observes:
one from among thy brethren shall thou set king over thee: that is, one
of their own nation, an Israelite, a brother both by nation and religion:
thou mayest not set a stranger over thee that is not thy brother; one of
another nation, that is not of the family of Israel, as Aben Ezra notes, even
not an Edomite, though called sometimes their brother; and Herod, who was an
Idumean, was set up, not by them, but by the Romans; now in this their king was
a type of the King Messiah, of whom it is said, "their nobles shall be of
themselves", Jeremiah 30:21.
Deuteronomy 17:16 16 But
he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to
Egypt to multiply horses, for the Lord has said
to you, ‘You shall not return that way again.’
YLT
16`Only, he doth not multiply
to himself horses, nor cause the people to turn back to Egypt, so as to
multiply horses, seeing Jehovah hath said to you, Ye do not add to turn back in
this way any more.
But he shall not multiply horses to himself,.... That he
might not put his trust and confidence in outward things, as some are apt to
trust in horses and chariots; and that he might not tyrannise over and distress
his subjects by keeping a number of horses and chariots as a standing army, and
chiefly for a reason that follows; he was to have no more than for his own
chariot, so Jarchi, and so the MisnahF7Sanhedrin, c. 2. sect. 4. and
MaimonidesF8Hilchot Melachim, c. 3. sect. 3. ; the Targum of
Jonathan restrains it to two:
nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should
multiply horses; which was a country that abounded with them, and therefore he
was not to encourage, and much less oblige his subjects to travel thither or
trade with that people for the sake of increasing his stock of horses, Isaiah 31:1.
forasmuch as the Lord hath said unto you, ye shall henceforth
return no more that way; not that going into Egypt on any account whatsoever was
forbidden, as for trade and merchandise in other things, or for shelter and
safety, for which some good men fled thither; but for outward help and
assistance against enemies, and for horses on that account, and particularly in
order to dwell there, from which the Jews in the times of Jeremiah were
dissuaded by him, and threatened by the Lord with destruction, in case they
should, Jeremiah 42:15.
When the Lord said this is not certain; it may be when they proposed to make a
captain, and return unto Egypt; or he said this in his providence, this was the
language of it ever since they came out of it, or however this he now said; see
Deuteronomy 28:68.
Deuteronomy 17:17 17 Neither
shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he
greatly multiply silver and gold for himself.
YLT
17And he doth not multiply to
himself wives, and his heart doth not turn aside, and silver and gold he doth
not multiply to himself -- exceedingly.
Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn
not away,.... From attending to the duty of his office, the care and
government of his people, and from serious religion; and particularly from the
worship of the true God, as the heart of Solomon was turned away from it by his
numerous idolatrous wives, 1 Kings 11:3, it is
a common notion of the Jews that a king might have eighteen wives, and no moreF11Maimon.
Issure Biah, c. 1. sect. 2. Misn. ut supra. (Sanhedrin, c. 10. sect. 4.). T.
Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 21. 1. Targum Jon. & Jarchi in loc. : neither shall he
greatly multiply to himself silver and gold; he might increase his wealth, but
not greatly, lest his heart should be lifted up with pride by it, and lest his
subjects should be oppressed and burdened with taxes for that purpose; or he,
being possessed of so much, should make use of it to enslave them, and
especially should be so elated with it as to deny God, and despise his
providence, and disobey his laws; see Proverbs 30:9. The
Jews generally sayF12Maimon. ib. sect. 4. Misn. ut supra. , that he
ought not to multiply more than what will pay the stipends or wages of his
servants, and only for the treasury of the house of the Lord, and for the
necessity of the congregation (or commonwealth), and for their wars; but not
for himself, and his own treasury.
Deuteronomy 17:18 18 “Also
it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for
himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests,
the Levites.
YLT
18`And it hath been, when he
sitteth on the throne of his kingdom, that he hath written for himself the copy
of this law, on a book, from [that] before the priests the Levites,
And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom,.... When he
is settled on it, and is even amidst all the pomp and glory of it: that he
shall write him a copy of this law in a book; which copy the Septuagint and
Vulgate Latin versions interpret of this book of Deuteronomy, which is a
summary abstract and repetition of the various laws of God to the people of
Israel; though the Jewish writers commonly understand it of the whole
Pentateuch, the five books of Moses; which perhaps may be enlarging it too
much, as it would be reducing it to too little to restrain it to this law
concerning kings, as the Targum of Jonathan. The word "Mishneh",
rendered "copy", signifies "double"; hence some take it to
mean a double exemplar or copy of the law he was obliged to write out, whereby
it would be the more imprinted on his mind, and he would be furnished with it
for his use at home and abroad, as the Jewish writers observe; so Jarchi by the
copy understands two books of the law, one to be left in his treasury, the
other to go out and in with him. The same is said in the TalmudF13T.
Bab. Sanhedrn, fol. 21. 2. , and with which MaimonidesF14Ut supra
(Maimon. Hilchot Sanhedrin, c. 2.), sect. 1. agrees, whose words are,"at
the time a king sits on the throne of his kingdom, he writes for himself a book
of the law, besides what his fathers left him; and he copies it out of the book
of the court by the order of the sanhedrim of seventy one; if his fathers have
left him none, or it is lost, he writes two books of the law, one he leaves in the
house of his treasures, which he is commanded, as everyone of Israel is, and
the second never departs from him;'but one may seem sufficient on all
occasions, and for all purposes; and this was to be wrote out of that which is
before the priests and Levites; the original copy of it, which was deposited in
the side of the ark; see Deuteronomy 31:26.
Deuteronomy 17:19 19 And
it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he
may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to
observe all the words of this law and these statutes,
YLT
19and it hath been with him,
and he hath read in it all days of his life, so that he doth learn to fear
Jehovah his God, to keep all the words of this law, and these statutes, to do
them;
And it shall be with him,.... Always, when at home
or abroad, sitting on his throne or lying down, or wherever he went, unless in
such places where it was not proper to read it, as the Jews observeF15Maimon.
Hilchot Melachim, c. 3. sect. 1. : and he shall read therein all the days of his
life; every day of his life; meditate on it night and day, as a good man does,
that he might be well versed in it, and know how to govern his people according
to it:
that he may learn to, fear the Lord his God; to serve and worship
him both internally and externally, he having the fear of God always
before his eyes, and on his heart, which the holy law of God directs to and
instructs in:
to keep all the words of this law, and these statutes, to do them; not only such
as concerned him as a king, but all others that concerned him as a man, a
creature subject to the Lord, and as an Israelite belonging to the church and
commonwealth of Israel, and so includes all laws, moral, ceremonial, and
judicial.
Deuteronomy 17:20 20 that
his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from
the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may
prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of
Israel.
YLT
20so that his heart is not
high above his brethren, and so as not to turn aside from the command, right or
left, so that he prolongeth days over his kingdom, he and his sons, in the
midst of Israel.
That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren,.... On
account of his office, the dignity of it, considering that he was subject to
the law of God, and accountable to the Lord for all his actions:
and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand
or to the left; not in the least deviate from the law of God in the whole of his
conduct, and particularly in the exercise of his kingly office:
to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom; ruling well
according to the laws of God being the way to rule long:
he and his children in the midst of Israel; this shows,
as Jarchi observes, that if his son was fit for the kingdom, he was to be
preferred to any other man; for though it was elective, yet to be continued in
the same family, provided they walked in the ways of the Lord, and observed his
laws.
──《John Gill’s
Exposition of the Bible》