Scripture Reading
We're actually looking at Deuteronomy 17 verses 8 to 20 tonight, but last week we started the section in chapter 16 at verse 18. We remember that Moses is preparing the people for entrance into the land of Canaan. They're poised on the plains of Moab, getting ready to go in and conquer the promised land. And so there is a series of statutes, ordinances, and laws given on how they were to conduct themselves once they got into the land.
And specifically here, what we're looking at is civil government, the structures in society put in place to deal with criminal offenses, civil offenses, things that needed judgment and leadership. And so what God, through Moses, is doing is specifying those particular structures. So I'll just pick up reading in chapter 16 at verse 18, read to the end of chapter 17, and then tonight we're going to consider the higher court and the monarchy or rules or principles governing the monarchy or the kings in Israel. So Deuteronomy 16, 18, you shall appoint judges and officers in all your gates, which the Lord your God gives you according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment.
You shall not pervert justice, you shall not show partiality, nor take a bride, for a bride blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. You shall follow what is altogether just, that you may live and inherit the land which the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not plant for yourself any tree as a wooden image near the altar which you build for yourself to the Lord your God. You shall not set up a sacred pillar which the Lord your God hates.
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. If there is found among you, within any of your gates, which the Lord your God gives you, a man or woman who has been wicked in the sight of the Lord your God, in transgressing his covenant, who has gone and served other gods and worshipped them, either the sun or moon or any of the hosts of heaven, which I have not commanded, 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, 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. 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. 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. 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.
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. 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, 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. 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 and all the people shall hear in fear and no longer act presumptuously. 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, 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. 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.
Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away. Nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself. 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. 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 in these statutes, 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.
Amen."
Introduction
As I introduced last week a quote from Meredith Klein, he says, this section contains a series of stipulations concerning theocratic government. Theocratic is God ruling directly over the people. We often think of democratic rule by the people. Well, Israel in the Old Covenant was a theocracy.
God ruled directly through his appointed messengers to be sure, but nevertheless, the final and sole authority was him. And so he says this section contains a series of stipulations concerning theocratic government with primary emphasis on the judiciary. So specifically given here are rules concerning judges at the local level or we might call it a lower court. Notice then we looked at the prohibition of certain cultic offenses in chapter 16 verse 21 to chapter 17 verse 1 and then a judicial procedure for judging offenses.
In chapter 17, verses 2 to 7, there was a crime, there was an investigation, there was a punishment, there was a specific requirement of two to three witnesses in a capital offense, and then there was a prescribed manner. The witnesses must first be the ones to cast the stones and then all of the assembly would join in with that so if there were difficulties in the lower court there was then provided a higher court and that's what's taken up in chapter 17 verses 8 to 13 the function of the higher court we might call it the supreme court we might call it the central tribunal whatever the case may be There were certain situations, certain circumstances that were difficult to judge at the local level, and so God the Lord instituted this central tribunal, or this higher court, to deal with and adjudicate these particular matters. So that's chapter 17, verses 8 to 13. and then there are principles governing kings. Remember, he's preparing the people for entrance into the promised land.
Eventually, they would have a monarchy. As we'll see tonight, it's not necessarily a bad thing. When the people cried out for a king at the time of Samuel, it wasn't bad necessarily to want a king. It wasn't bad necessarily to want a king to be like the other nations.
What was bad is trusting in the king rather than in the king of kings. So in other words, they trusted in the monarchy in and of itself to provide victory and to provide protection and all those sorts of things. So kingship or kingdom or monarchy is not a bad thing. What is bad is when the people trust in it more than they trust in the living God.
When we trust the structure over God, then we are in error and in rebellion. So that's what we'll look at tonight, these two broad categories.
Function of the Higher Court
Notice first the function of the higher court. was similar or this is the natural outflow of what already transpired during the wilderness years. Remember Jethro counseled Moses and said, if you listen to all of these cases, you're going to drop dead. There's no possible way. I don't know if he said it just like that, but that's the vernacular.
I mean, it was too much for Moses, lone man, to be able to hear all of the sort of infighting, all of the sort of issues going on among Israel. So Jethro gave him that sound counsel to appoint men to delegate authority. Now, out of those delegates, there would be difficult situations, there would be more grave situations, and certainly Moses would hear those as well. So what we have here is nothing new in the development of the judiciary, but rather again it is with reference to their place in the land of Canaan.
So
Difficult Cases and the Central Tribunal
the difficult cases were to be brought. Notice in verse 8, "...if a matter arises which is too hard for you to judge," this referring to the lower courts, those cities, those places that had their own gates, their own extent or their own existing judges or elders within the city. If a matter arises which is too hard for you to judge and then he gives certain examples between degrees of guilt for bloodshed. This is a real live issue.
This is something the Old Testament law speaks to. There is a difference between premeditated murder and manslaughter. The scripture gives the very specific instance of a man chopping wood. If while he's chopping wood the axe head flies off accidentally and strikes his neighbor, well then he's guilty of manslaughter.
But if he lies in wait for his neighbor, you know, sits behind his cedar hedge when he comes home at night and purposefully buries his axe in the man's head, Well, he's crossed over from manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, into the realm of murder. Now, if it's an involuntary manslaughter, there are cities of refuge prescribed where he may go, where he may sit out the time, and then eventually return. If, however, it is murder, It is a capital offense and he is to be executed. So there are rules, there are differences, there are degrees of guilt for bloodshed.
Now to be sure, if that was a difficult thing to ascertain or determine on the local level, well, we'll take it to the higher court. Also, notice between one judgment or another, there might be an issue, a dispute. Well, this should be my payback, or this should be my remuneration, or this should be the retribution. If there was a dispute concerning the punishment, the degrees of punishment, well, then you would go to the central tribunal.
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. Harmon says the general principle is that if problem cases could not be solved satisfactorily at the local level, then they could be referred to a central tribunal which met at the central sanctuary. The types of cases which required referral to this tribunal were complex cases in which it was hard to determine whether an accident had taken place or whether there was deliberate intent to cause harm or even death. So you see the situation.
This is God's wisdom. You're going into the land of Canaan. God knows there's going to be disputes. God knows there's going to be criminal activity.
What do we do? We put structures in place in order to deal with that criminal activity. Some people don't like those structures whatsoever. Those structures are helpful.
Those structures are good. They serve as parameters to keep the people hedged in, but as well to be able to speak to controversies that people have in a sinful world. If there were no sin, we wouldn't need a central tribunal. If there were no sin, we wouldn't need lower courts.
If there were no sin, we wouldn't need judges. We wouldn't need panic bars. We wouldn't need locks. We wouldn't need those things.
But because of sin, God puts into place legislation to regulate how sinners function together within a civil polity. It's a good thing. It's a wise thing. And remember, in light of Deuteronomy 4, They were to function in such a way that the nations around them would look at them and would see a testimony of a nation governed according to the wisdom and the glory of God Most High.
So it's really a wonderful thing. There is a difficult case. If you have a difficult case, you're not left without redress. You have this tribunal to whom you are to go.
Notice it is located at the central sanctuary. This is, again, the emphasis in chapter 12. Remember, when you go into the land, you're not free to worship wherever you want. If you think that you're okay to worship over here with the Baal worshippers, but you're actually going to worship Yahweh, it won't be long before you're bowing to Baal.
So God would establish a centralized sanctuary. Eventually, we know, of course, it would be in Jerusalem. And so He's speaking to those situations that would occur. So that is where the place would be.
Then you shall arise and go up to the place which the Lord your God chooses. And it's interesting. It's going to be at the place where they worship the Lord their God. So what is implicit in this structure or in this statement is that God the Lord is the supreme judge.
We can rest assured that when the priests and the Levites and And the lower judges, in terms of men, hear these cases. They are being governed ultimately by the supremacy of God the Lord. So priests, Levites, and judges functioned in this capacity in this central tribunal. Now, the priest would occupy this position of preeminence, if you will, until the monarchy.
You'll see the priest function in a very powerful way. Now, they still did at the time of the monarchy, but perhaps not as much in terms of civil dispute and criminal justice as we find here.
The Verdict and Required Obedience
Notice the verdict rendered. Verse 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." Now, again, this isn't an appeals court. This is the law of the land. This is the Supreme Court.
When they make this determination, you don't say, well, wait a minute, I don't like this. You don't say, well, can't we rethink this through? No, this is the final verdict in the land. It says, they shall pronounce upon you the sentence of judgment.
Here's your responsibility. Interestingly enough, our dear brother prayed this way tonight. We just need to do what God says. The sooner we get that in our minds, the better off we're going to be.
The same was the case in Old Covenant Israel. if you got to the point where you're at the central court and central tribunal and there's this higher court situation you presented your case the witnesses testified the judges heard and they made their pronouncement all that was left for you was to do what you were told, verse 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." So not only do it, but it needs to be careful obedience to the law of the land. You see, God takes seriously civil authority. That's something we need to take away from a study of this particular passage. We find ourselves in a different situation.
We don't have a monarchy, and there's not a central sanctuary, and we're not a theocracy. But nevertheless, the principle holds true. We are to respect the governing authorities. Paul tells us this in Romans chapter 13 verses 1 to 4.
We are to submit to the governing authorities. Why, Paul? For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. So when we look at even a wicked magistrate, according to Romans chapter 13, we have to conclude that that wicked magistrate is ruling by the command and decree of God Most High.
It's a difficult pill to swallow sometimes, especially when they're godless men. But it was a difficult pill back then as well. You had certain monarchs that were not godly. You had certain kings that were very wretched in Israel and in Judah.
In fact, the two kingdoms, you had the northern tribes, you had the southern tribes. There wasn't one king in the north who ever did good. Not one of them. There were a few within the southern kingdom.
There were a few within the southern tribes of Judah that did good. You'll read those summary statements. But none in the north. If you lived in the northern kingdom, you never had a time when there was a righteous and godly man on the throne executing the judgments of the Lord.
But nevertheless, you were called to submit. Same thing when Paul wrote Romans chapter 13. Who do you think was in charge when Paul wrote Romans 13? Nero, that's right, Nero was not a godly man.
Nero was not a bulwark of righteousness and morality. Now, arguably, Nero was a lot better at the time Paul wrote Romans than he would become. But nevertheless, Paul wasn't saying, this man who sits upon the throne in the Roman Empire is such a wonderful sterling specimen of a human being. we ought to just willingly and lovingly submit. No, we willingly and lovingly submit for the Lord's sake.
Remember, built into the structure, at least for the Christian, well, not at least, for the Christian of both Testaments, is that we are free to disobey when they command us to dishonor God. That's why you see Daniel, when the decree was made that he could not worship Yahweh, Daniel worshiped Yahweh anyway. When the apostles were forbidden in Jerusalem to preach the name of Jesus Christ, they said, we must obey God rather than men. So built into the structure for the Christian, for the God-fearer, is that when the government tells us to dishonor or disobey the Lord God Most High, we must obey God rather than men.
But in those instances where they're not commanding us to sin against God, those instances where they're not commanding us to do things contrary to the law of God, we need to submit ourselves to the governing authority. Again, this isn't always the easiest thing, but nevertheless, there are certain persons who have outlined this section of the book of Deuteronomy according to the Ten Commandments. And they see in this particular section an explanation of the Fifth Commandment. Remember, the Fifth Commandment deals with authority.
Honor your father and your mother. Now remember, that commandment was given to adults. So it's not just about parental authority. It's about authority in all spheres of society.
So just the way a child is submit to his ungodly parents, nevertheless, an adult needs to submit to an ungodly magistrate, even a Nero, a Manasseh, an Ahab, or whatever the case may be. And Obama had to be said. I'm just, that's. There's bad things.
I mean, no civil government, no magistrate operates accordingly, perfectly according to the law of God. So this is the emphasis in the situation. We need to obey.
Civil Authority and Romans 13
God takes these things seriously. So it is to be obedience. It is to be careful obedience.
Contempt of Court and the Death Penalty
Notice the contempt of court. What happens to the man who says, well, you know, I'm not happy with the ruling of that court. I'm not happy with what the Supreme Court has spoken. I'm not happy with, and I see things differently.
You see this in the church. The church, you know, might rule on a particular issue. Well, I'm not happy with that. Well, I'm not happy with the decisions that my father makes.
I'm not happy with the decisions that my husband makes. I'm not happy with the decision that the civil government makes. Well, if a man's not happy with it and he fails to obey, verses 12 to 13 specify what is going to happen. Well, let's go back to verse 11 for a moment.
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. It's the same principle governing the king when he reads the law of God. He's not supposed to turn to the right or to the left.
What's that mean? Don't deviate. You're not supposed to improvise when it comes to the law of God. That's another very important principle we ought to take away from our study in the book of Deuteronomy.
We are not free to be creative with the law. Well, you know, I like it to apply this way. No. You are to apply it the way the Lord himself has spoken it.
Do not turn aside to the right hand or to the left from the sentence which they pronounce upon you. Verse 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 contempt for the Supreme Court in Israel meant the death penalty. And again, the fact that this is being published on the plains of Moab before they get into the land of Canaan is an act of kindness.
They're not going into a land where they're scratching their heads wondering, how do we function? How do we operate? The rules are being set forth plainly here, so that when we do get into the land a month, two months, three months, five months later, we're not saying, well, why, I just said no. Well, then you should have paid attention.
It's upon you to listen, to understand, and to know the laws that are operative in the land in which you're going. So this man could not say, well, I didn't know I couldn't appeal the Supreme Court. Well, listen, pal, you should have listened better on the plains of Moab. Everybody, follow along here.
This is what you need to understand. 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. Now notice, so you shall put away the evil from Israel and all the people shall hear and fear and no longer act presumptuously. There's a remedial effect in this ruling by the Supreme Court.
If the man acts presumptuously, if the man rejects that good instruction, if the man is disobedient to the law of the land via God Most High, then he is put to death. And what is to happen? The rest of Israel shall hear this, they shall fear, and they will certainly think twice about acting presumptuously themselves. So you see within the law code, within the structure, is built in this deterrent effect.
I mentioned this last week in the book of Romans. Sometimes you'll meet with people that are opponents to capital punishment, and they'll say something like, well, the death penalty doesn't deter anyone. It most certainly does deter people. It deters the criminal who is guilty, and it deters people like you and I who hear and fear and will refuse to act presumptuously.
If you know that you will die if you engage in a certain act, Hopefully, you're wise enough not to do it. I like to think that most of you here would say, well, not most of you, all of you. If I know that me doing this is going to result in this, then I'm not going to do that. I think you already operate that way, don't you?
You know that if you run a red light, you'll get a ticket. So doesn't that help keep you from running red lights? I mean, yes, love to God, duty to the Father, love to our fellow man. Yeah, those are good motives as well.
But knowing that if you blow through that red light, you're going to get a nice hefty fine, there's enough in there to make you fear that so that you will not undertake. There is a deterrent effect when the law is effectively put into practice. Romans 13 verse 1, let every soul be subject to the governing authorities for there is no authority except from God and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authority, resists the ordinance of God.
And those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil works. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the saints.
In other words, when that policeman's behind you, just obey the rules of the road. You shouldn't have to be panicking. You shouldn't have to be fretful and fearful. You shouldn't have to be biting your fingernails to the nubs. if you're doing what you're supposed to be doing.
You don't have to be afraid of that, right? Isn't that the logic here? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same. Praise here doesn't mean that if you don't run red lights, you go down to city square and they throw money at you.
No, the idea is they leave you alone. Just do what you're supposed to do, for the most part, and they will leave you alone. That's praise. When the government doesn't mess with you, I count that a great deal of praise.
I'd love to be praised by the government in that particular way. Verse 4, for he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, here it is, be afraid. If you're going to engage in evil works, you ought to be afraid.
So when people say this does not deter, I would argue a failure to execute punishment doesn't deter. But when you're executing punishments, it does deter. This is Paul's point. He is God's minister to you for good.
If you do evil, be afraid. Why? For he does not bear the sword in vain, for he is God's minister and avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. So God, through the Apostle Paul, says, do what is good and you don't have to be afraid.
If you do what is evil, then be afraid, because the magistrate is going to visit you with punishment. The book of Ecclesiastes indicates something about this as well. In Ecclesiastes chapter 8, We'll jump right into the midst of the context and just read verse 11. I think the idea here is that justice and judgment properly executed will have a positive effect upon society.
Notice what happens when we do not carry out justice and we do not carry out judgment. We saw it in Romans 13, if we do what is evil, be afraid. Why? Because the magistrate has the sword and he is God's avenger to execute wrath.
Notice in verse 11 of Ecclesiastes 8, because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. This is what I would argue is what we see. We don't see punishment being inflected. There are people that break and enter into houses and steal things and they get caught many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many times.
Why is that? Because nothing's happening to them, right? They might go into jail overnight and they're out, you know, not long after that. If they were punished, if there was a fear of punishment, according to the biblical author, because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
So in all of these benevolent practices where we don't want to punish evildoers, where we want to help them or rehabilitate them, we're actually adding fuel to their fire to be that much more wicked. We're really not doing them any favors. You see, justice, biblically and properly implemented, is the best thing for the criminal. If he's afraid to go out and engage in criminal activity, that's helpful for him.
He should be afraid to go out into society and continue to perpetrate sin against God. and hatred toward his fellow man. So there is a remedial effect upon all the people in Israel when the Supreme Court issues their verdict and then the man acts presumptuously, does not do what he's told, he shall die. And all the people shall hear and fear and no longer act presumptuously. Did you hear about brother so-and-so?
He challenged the Supreme Court, he was executed. Children, what do you learn from that? Don't challenge the Supreme Court. Bingo.
That's the rule. That's the take home lesson. So you see, the structures were put into place to hear these cases. If there was something too difficult at the lower level, it came to this higher court.
Once the higher court had heard, and again, all those rules of evidence, the two or three witnesses, the procedure, the investigation, the diligent search, the inquiry, all of those things were in place. The judges, the Levites, the priests heard the case, heard the testimony, and then they gave verdict, and they pronounced sentence. Once that was done, the people were to take it seriously. and to obey, and to obey carefully.
Principles Governing Kings
So that is the function of the higher court, and then the chapter ends on principles governing kings, verses 14 to 20.
Application to Church Discipline
steps are within the church as well. Absolutely. Right. It's very clear, obey your leaders.
If I disagree with you, we cannot work it out. Our confession says what we call a council. That's right. And we've got to obey that council.
That's right. Yeah, I agree. So it's not just in our civil, it's in our church. And the church has said it in a similar manner.
Absolutely. Absolutely. And you'll notice that specifically in the New Testament documents, when it comes to the issue of church discipline in Matthew chapter 18. It sounds very similar to what we find here in Deuteronomy 17.
Now, dealing in the church discipline, we're not engaged in capital punishment. The church has never been given the sword to execute that judgment. You notice in Romans 13, it's the civil authority that bears the sword of God. He is God's deacon, God's servant, God's civil authority to execute wrath.
He has the monopoly on God's vengeance in history. Within the church, however, the same sort of structure is in place in terms of two or three witnesses, in terms of inquiring diligently, in terms of hearing both sides. You know, when your brother sins against you, go to him. If he hears you, he repents you've won your brother.
If he doesn't, then what do you do? You take two or three witnesses. Again, the principle is the same for the way the civil court functions. If he doesn't listen to the two or three witnesses, then what happens?
Then you tell it to the church. If he still will not hear the church, well, then the church issues this authoritative declaration. He is now to be treated like a heathen and a tax collector. There is in that statement the execution of ecclesiastical wrath.
The church has spoken on behalf of the living God and said, this man is a heathen and a tax collector. Now, of course, if he repents, you receive him back. You forgive him, you love him, you hug him, and you rejoice that your brother who was lost is found. You don't ostracize him.
I mean, people sin. And under the good effect of church discipline, they repent. It's a beautiful thing. God's plan actually works.
Well, the same principle is seen later in 1 Timothy chapter 5. Do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses. Again, it ought not to be the case where one individual can harass an elder. If it is the case that there is a legitimate problem, then go through the process accordingly, prosecute the case the way God says, and if the elder is in sin, then he will be dealt with.
But what can happen is that there is a lack of protection for the eldership. It becomes a harassment situation, which is not good for anybody. So if you have an accusation against the elder, bring the two or three witnesses and deal with it like men. Don't be little babies or little girls that harass the elder, but rather take your concern to him in the biblical manner.
Again, this reflects God's wisdom in providing not only justice for the bad guy, but protection for the good guy. It might be the case that somebody has an axe to grind against somebody else in the church. It might be the case that somebody has an axe to grind against an elder. And if the guilty elder ought to be prosecuted, the innocent elder ought to be protected.
And God's law functions in such a capacity so that we can make calculated decisions under God, hopefully to regulate affairs, without everybody getting bent out of shape, taking their marbles, and going home. We ought to be able, under God, by the Spirit, to deal with our situations in a biblical manner. So yes, excellent point, Steve. The Church is founded upon the same sort of structure, the same sort of idea, though a bit of a different application.
If a man is guilty in the church, we don't kill him, so that all the church hears and fears. But if he is guilty, and he is excommunicated, and the church has identified him as a tax collector and a heathen, certainly the church ought to hear, and the church ought to fear, and the church ought to realize, hey, If I continue on in sin, and I am unrepentant, and I don't listen to the church, then they're going to treat me like a tax collector and a heathen as well. Those things ought to be in the heart, in the soul, to hopefully hedge us in. So yes, good observation, Steve.
Okay, the principles governing kings. A couple of things. Notice first, the request for a king.
The Request for a King
it's not again a bad thing 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 if you go back to Genesis chapter 17 Genesis chapter 17 again I wanna clarify this because the first Samuel 8 instance is in our minds I have no doubt when we read Deuteronomy 17 we read it through first Samuel chapter 8 And then we say, well, wait a minute, I don't know what's going on here. Well, in Genesis chapter 17, the promise made to Abraham, notice in verse 6, I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. Now, again, that's a neutral statement. It doesn't say evil kings.
It doesn't say a wicked monarchy. It just says kings will come from Abraham. This is repeated again in verse 16 in the chapter. And I will bless her and also give you a son by her.
Then I will bless her and she shall be a mother of nations. Kings of peoples shall be from her. A similar instance in Genesis 35 11. Genesis chapter 35 verse 11 with reference to Jacob.
I am God Almighty, be fruitful and multiply a nation and a company of nations shall come from you and kings shall come from your body. So you see there, it's not treated as a bad thing. It's not treated as a wicked thing. It's not treated as an evil thing.
Neither is it here in Deuteronomy chapter 17. When you come to the land which the Lord your God is giving you and possess and dwell in it and say, I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me. he then gives prescriptions on how the king is to function. He doesn't say, if you go into the land and you ask for a king, I'm going to reject your request, because it's evil and wicked, and that's just not the way we're going to roll. No.
Why would he say, here's how the king is to function, if the king in and of itself is a bad thing? When we get to 1 Samuel chapter 8, there is commentary or explanation given in 1 Samuel 12. And essentially, the argument goes like this. When you were oppressed in Egypt, God delivered you.
When you were oppressed in the wilderness, God delivered you. When you came into the land, God delivered you until you saw this particular threat, until you saw this particular enemy, until you saw this particular danger. It was at that point you wanted a king. That betrayed their hand.
They were looking to the earthly king to protect them from the earthly oppressor. They were not looking to Yahweh to do that particular function. 1 Samuel 12 develops this. In fact, Dale Ralph Davis says their help now was not in the straight strong name of Yahweh, but in a new form of government. It is not monarchy, but trust in monarchy that is the villain.
That's the issue in 1 Samuel. They trusted in the monarch to protect them from the bad guys. The role of the kingdom, or the role of the king in Israel, you were to trust in Yahweh to function through the monarch. It was still God's ultimate authority.
The king functioned subordinate to him. It's when we put all of our eggs in the basket of the king that we find problems. So that's the issue. So in Samuel's day, when Samuel bemoans this fact and God the Lord says, it's not you they've rejected, it's me.
It wasn't in the monarchy itself, it was in their trust of the monarchy rather than in their trust of the living and true God. So that's the specific issue facing the people in Samuel's day. So the principles governing kings are now outlined in Deuteronomy chapter 17. Notice the people request, verse 14, the Lord God appoints, verse 15, you shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses.
Now you'll say, Saul was a bad guy. Absolutely. God the Lord is sovereign, even in the appointment of non-righteous kings. You might look at certain monarchies today, or you look at certain administrations today, and you might ask the question, why do we have a less than godly man running the show?
Because at times God uses such means to chasten, to judge, to bring a scourge upon a people. And when Israel would trust in the monarchy rather than in the living God, they would get a monarch that would function in such a way that they would see the error of their ways and bemoan the fact that they ever put their eggs. in the basket of the monarchy. So you see, God is sovereign. Same principle we see in Romans 13.
There is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. So the people make the request, God the Lord makes the choice. Verse 15, you shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses. Notice, 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. He has to be born in Israel. That's a good thing. He's got to have a birth certificate that actually manifests the reality that he was born in Israel.
He couldn't have been born in Philistia. He couldn't have been born over in one of the surrounding pagan nations. He had to be a citizen of the Commonwealth. That's the stipulation.
That is the prescription in this particular situation. Now,
No Weapons, Wives, or Wealth
notice specific instruction for the king. verses 16 and 17. 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. Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself.
You say, what good is being the king? If I don't get horses, wives, and money, what good is it? This cuts the legs right out of a lot of people seeking political office today. They like big paychecks, and they like nice houses, and they like nice prestige, and all that sort of thing.
Notice what God says. No weapons, no wives, and no wealth. Not no. I mean, every king would have certain wealth.
I mean, you know, the Book of Ecclesiastes gets into that. It's folly when you see a fool sitting on the throne or, you know, there's a certain dignity involved in the office. I mean, when you get to Solomon and you get to David and you get to these men living in their palaces, it wasn't the wealth necessarily. What is in view here is the weapons instead of God.
The wives instead of God. The wealth instead of God. Weapons, military, horses. That's what's in view.
It doesn't mean, you know, he can't have a stable of horses because his kids like to ride horses. Or he happens to like horses as pets. I don't know. I guess people like horses as pets.
Big pet. Yeah, the issue is military emphasis. He is not to multiply horses for himself. Again, not that he can't have a standing army, but what is he trusting in?
Is he trusting in the living and true God, or is he trusting in his military might? Is he multiplying horses so that he can be the biggest contender on the block, or is he trusting in the living God who is going to protect his people? You see, you see parallels to this in 1st Samuel. 1st Samuel chapter 8, they cry out for a king. They're trusting in the monarch rather than in God.
If you go back a few chapters in 1st Samuel chapter 4, they trusted in something else rather than the living God. Does anybody remember what that was? The Ark of the Covenant. Remember, they go out to battle, they lose, so they say, let's bring the Ark of the Covenant out and we'll certainly win.
God sends defeat in that instance. What's the take-home message? The Ark of the Covenant isn't your holy horseshoe. The Ark of the Covenant isn't your four-leaf clover.
You don't trot it out and put it down in the midst of the enemies and say, now we'll have victory. The Ark of the Covenant serves a particular function. The Ark of the Covenant has dignity. The Ark of the Covenant is God's footstool.
The Ark of the Covenant reveals certain truths about God. But when you treat it as a lucky charm and you bring it out to the battleground and you station that there and say, well, now certainly we will defeat our enemies. You see, it was a misplaced trust. If the reigning king seeks horses so that he may have the best military instead of trusting in the living God, that's a problem. if he multiplies wives.
Remember, we already saw this, a reference to this in Deuteronomy 7.3. The people were supposed to go into the land and not marry the Canaanites. More than likely, what was in view in marrying Canaanite women was political alliance. So if a king is reigning and he marries the daughter of a king so that he can build an alliance with that competitor king, that's wrong.
And then wealth. Again, a king is going to have wealth. That's just part and parcel of being a king. David lamented.
Remember that instance where he comes to himself and he says, I'm sitting in a house with cedar and the Lord is dwelling in a tent. Remember when David wanted to build the temple? Remember when David bemoans the fact, I'm dwelling in cedar and God lives in a tent. He says, let's build the temple.
And that's when God says, no, David, we're not going to build the temple. You're a man of war. You're a man of bloodshed. We're going to build the temple under Solomon, whose reign will be one of peace.
But nevertheless, the contrast is stark. David is dwelling in a place of cedar. It's not wealth in and of itself. It's a trust in wealth.
Because I have the most gold, Israel will be the most successful. You see, the weapons, the wives, and the money would ultimately translate into apostasy. That's the prohibition. That's the fault.
That's the issue that God is cautioning against. He shall not multiply horses for Himself. He shall not cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses. Some of the commentators suggest He's sending them back to Egypt to trade for the horses.
You stay there. You serve in Egypt. We want their horses. That might be how the text actually falls out, trading human beings for the horses so that we can build our military.
That's not a good thing. So that's the prohibition. That's why they are being told not to do this. We see an example of this under Solomon.
Solomon does just what is prohibited here. He multiplies wives. What happens? His heart is divided.
He multiplies horses, what happens? These are not good things in the reign and the rule of Solomon. Christopher Wright says, clearly the issue is not merely if Israel should have a king or not. But what kind of king that should be?
What matters fundamentally for Deuteronomy is whether or not the whole covenant people of Israel will remain wholly loyal to their God. The value of a king is assessed solely by the extent to which he will help or hinder that loyalty. You'll see that. Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, what did he do?
He caused Israel to sin. You see, when the king relies on weapons, wives, or wealth, then the whole nation follows suit. And that is detrimental to the people. He says, a king who will trust not in God, but in his own defenses, a king whose heart turns away because of many wives, a king whose great wealth leads to the snares of pride, Such a king will quickly lead the people in the same disastrous directions.
So when you come into the land and you want a king like the nations, that king must resist the tendency, the temptation, the present danger to multiply horses, to multiply wives, and to multiply wealth, because he will put his trust in those things and take it from the living God. And the people will follow suit and look more to money, look more to horses, and look more to political alliances than they will trust in the living and true God who has said, I will protect you in the land.
The King's Primary Duty: the Law
And then finally, notice the primary orientation of the king, verses 18 to 20. First things first, also it shall be when he sits on the throne of his kingdom that he shall write. What's the first order of business for the king of Israel? Appoint his cabinet?
Cut the heads off his enemies? Those are all legit. They'll follow soon. Yeah, you do that.
Remember when David took the throne, Benaiah? What does he do? He goes out and headhunts, and not to get good talent for that regime. Headhunt meant he really cut people's heads off.
So yeah, you appoint a cabinet. You deal with your enemies. You put down rebellion. You do all that.
You clean up what the former king left in terms of the mess. But the first priority, the first order of business is specified in verse 18. 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 before the priests, the Levites. Why would he write his own copy?
Because it will put it into his heart. It'll put it into his head. It will be something that he has with him. It'll be something that he treasures.
It'll be his wide margin Bible that he takes notes in, whatever the case may be. Is this the whole Pentateuch? Is it the Book of Deuteronomy? The commentators are divided, whatever.
It is certainly the Book of Deuteronomy, at least. He is to write this. He is to inscribe it. He shall write a copy of the law.
He shall carry the law with him. What's the point? He is God's servant. He is God's minister.
See, we look at a monarch as being the king, or he is the king, but the absolute authority. Not in Israel. God is the absolute authority. The monarch or the king functions ministerially.
He is to serve the interests of the living and true God by executing his law. So when he writes that law and he carries it with him, he is then to read the law all the days of his life. It's very interesting. Again, Wright says, as is so often the case, Deuteronomy mentions only what matters.
In this case, it avoids the small print of an exhaustive job description for royalty. Notice, what's the king supposed to do? Yeah, appoint a cabinet, deal with his enemies, go to tea, have coffee with dignitaries, have a foreign policy development plan. All that stuff is reality.
All that stuff is true. But what Wright says is it avoids the small print of an exhaustive job description for royalty and concentrates on the fundamental priority. The law is to permeate the king's behavior in every sphere. whether political, administrative, judicial, or military. Whatever decision he makes, it will be in close scrutiny of and consultation with that written law that he keeps in his pocket.
He pulls it out, he studies it, he scrutinizes it, he knows it, and he rules according to that law. and then he shall prosper as a result of his obedience to the law. Notice verse 19, it shall be with him, he shall read it all the days of his life. Notice that he may learn to fear the Lord as God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes. Why should you read your Bible every day?
Why should you carry a copy of the law with you? Well, this is a blessed effect, so that you may learn to fear the Lord your God and be careful to observe all His words, all the words of this law and these statutes. And then notice verse 20, that his heart may not be lifted up, lifted above his brethren. Can you imagine having a humble political leader?
What's that look like? That's just like foreign. The concept is contrary. We've got megalomaniacs.
We've got men so full of themselves that there's no time for anybody else. Not so when you're carrying the law of God. Not so when you're scrutinizing it. Not so when you're studying it.
Not so when you're humble before the Lord God Most High. You will be humble among your brethren as well. You're not their God, you're their servant. The monarch is to serve.
You know, we often hear Jesus characterized as servant leadership. He's a king of kings. He is the Lord of lords, and he serves his people as king. And that is how he was to function in old covenant Israel, that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren.
Isn't that a great and choice statement? 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." Remember, that was to be an effect of God upon the people. When you go into the land and you obey the word of the Lord, you will prolong your days in the land. The king who ruled accordingly would prolong his days upon the throne. and not only that, he would secure succession.
There would be blessing for his children. He and his children in the midst of Israel. That doesn't just mean that his daughters and his sons would have happy lives. It means that the throne would continue to his son in successive generations.
So that if David rules in a godly manner, his son will sit on the throne. And if he rules in a godly manner, his son It will be a succession of kings. This is the way to ensure godly leadership in Israel. When the man takes the law seriously and he puts it into practice, he ensures succession to the law or to the throne of God.
So that is the instruction or principles governing kings. If you remember in the book of Joshua, Joshua is not a king. He's a military commander. He's a general, basically.
But that instruction is given to him. He's supposed to meditate upon the law. He meditates upon the law day and night, and what happens? His way will be prosperous, and then you will have success.
David exemplifies this particular passage. David had his issues, didn't he? I mean, David had his issues, to be sure. But he was a man after God's own heart.
When he starts to consolidate power, Jerusalem is the place of political power. Jerusalem is the place of religious centrality. David wants the Ark of the Covenant. David wants his rule and his reign to be according to the law of God.
Who wrote Psalm 1? David. Who wrote Psalm 19? David.
Who wrote Psalm 119? David, more than likely. So you see, what we have in David is an exemplification or an example of this particular role. We see this passage ignored by other kings.
I mean, we're just talking about Josiah. Josiah reigned in 640 to 609. They went to rebuild, or they went to renovate the temple, and Hilkiah finds the book of the law. Now, I don't want to say unbelieving.
An unbelieving mindset says, well then, what they found is what we call, that's when they wrote Deuteronomy. See, some people say Deuteronomy was written later in Israel's history. that what Elkiah found, that was basically the writing of Deuteronomy. No, they found it, which indicates that for several generations the people rejected the law of the Lord. Not that that's when the law was given, it's that's when Josiah rediscovers it and he humbles himself under God.
How would the history of Israel look if the kings actually obeyed this particular section of scripture? I mean, think about it. They actually wrote the law, they carried the law, they checked the law, they scrutinized the law, and they ruled according to the law. That's not what happened.
That's why Israel was a mess, because they didn't do what God said to them on the plains of Moab. And then we see the primacy of God's law. Christopher Wright will end with this quote. He says, it is a model, this monarchy in Israel, it is a model that limits military power, prestige, and private gain, and puts all political and executive authority firmly under the authority of the law itself.
He says, the failure of so many of Israel's kings to abide by its standards does not invalidate its moral force. We know how much they failed only and precisely because of the presence of a law like this. It was that Israel, when they went into the land, rejected God's instruction given here on the plains of Moab. Kings did this to the detriment of the people.
Kings did this and led the people astray, and it caused untold harm and tragedy. So that is the principles, or those are the principles governing the kingdom, or the kingship, or monarchy within Israel. God willing, next time we'll see the priests and Levites and other things going on in Deuteronomy 18. Priests, Levites, and prophets.
More function, more roles in society in Old Covenant Israel. Well, let's pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for its clarity. We thank you for the wisdom that we find herein. We pray, God, that you would just help us to take from these things the principles that are so clear, that there is an emphasis upon authority, there is an emphasis upon our obedience to those structures, and we just thank you, Lord God, that you speak to those issues which are most necessary for your creatures.
We just pray now that you would go with us, that you would watch over us, that you would grant us grace to glorify you in the remainder of this week. And we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.