Deuteronomy 17:14-20 - Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

Reader Related Verse
Bible Comments

Law about the King that is to be. This deals exclusively with the theocratic aspect peculiar to D: the picture of the ideal king here drawn was probably suggested by way of contrast to the reigning king (Hezekiah or Manasseh; cf. 1 Samuel 8:5, where D's antipathy to the monarchy inspired by what he saw is reflected).

Deuteronomy 17:15. choose: cf. 1 Samuel 10:24; 2 Samuel 6:21.

Deuteronomy 17:6. horses (for war, Deuteronomy 20:1 *).

Deuteronomy 17:17. wives: 1 Kings 1:14 f. silver and gold (cf. Isaiah 39): as in Solomon's case.

Deuteronomy 17:18. he shall write him: Hebraism = there shall be written for him. a copy: i.e. a duplicate of the Deuteronomic law. The LXX translates wrongly by this repetition of the law, thus originating and confirming the common mistake that D is essentially a later edition of the laws in the previous books of the Pentateuch. This is contrary to the sense of the Heb. and to the contents of Dt., which omits most of the laws in Ex., Lev., and Nu, and contains laws absent from these books (Deuteronomy 17:14-20, etc.).

Related Commentaries of Deuteronomy 17:14

Deuteronomy 17:14-20

14 When thou art come unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me;

15 Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother.

16 But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.

17 Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

18 And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites:

19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them:

20 That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.