Deuteronomy 17:14-20--Laws Concerning Israel's Kings

Deuteronomy 17:14-20
English Standard Version

Laws Concerning Israel's Kings​
14 “When you come to the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ 15 you may indeed set a king over you whom the LORD your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. 16 Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the LORD has said to you, ‘You shall never return that way again.’ 17 And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold.

18 “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. 19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, 20 that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.

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The words that the LORD uses here are identical to the words that the people would use in the days of Samuel the prophet-priest-judge.  Some people call him Samuel the Kingmaker, because he anointed both Saul and David.  The people did not listen to the LORD in their choice of Saul as king, and it went poorly for them, and even Samuel was unsure about the LORD's choice of David as king, but what David lacked in outward appearance, He had in the character that was necessary to lead the LORD's people, and the LORD would call David, "A man after God's own heart."

Even though the LORD tells the people that He will choose the kings for them, He gives them guidance on who not to choose because He knew they would wish to choose their own kings and they would no longer listen to the priests and the prophets (specifically the northern kingdom of Israel who rebelled after the time of Solomon and decided to not only have their own king and kingdom that was not from the line that the LORD had commanded, but they even decided they would make idols and high places for the people to worship at so that the people would not travel to Jerusalem in the southern kingdom to worship).

As far as not acquiring horses (a sign of military strength) and wives and silver and gold, this seems to be a direct warning to King Solomon, though I'm sure there were others that sought after power, pleasure, and wealth, Solomon is the greatest example of these things, especially all of his wives and concubines, turning his heart away from the LORD.  The kings of Israel were not to be like the pagan kings that were in it for themselves, but they were to be servants of the Living God and to represent God to the people and stand as a representative of the people before God.

​Every king was to make a copy of The Book of the Law (what we call Deuteronomy) in his own handwriting as one of his first acts as king, and he was to keep it with him at all times and read from it often.  It was to inform all of his decisions and to keep his heart in check so that he would not become proud or haughty, but would remember to serve his brothers (and sisters) whom he had been chosen to be king over.  The Law would teach the king to fear the LORD as the king would obey all the commandments and statutes written in it and he did not turn to the right or the left from them.

Such kings who would fear the LORD and keep His commandments were promised long lives, long times of ruling on their thrones, and potential dynasties where their children too would rule after them (because they would teach their children by example to fear the LORD and keep His commandments and how to lead the LORD's people well in humility).  Would the children automatically be good if the father was good?  Not necessarily, but we see in the example of Solomon that the LORD continued to bless Solomon and his kingdom for the sake of his father David, even though Solomon was making all the wrong choices and not listening to the LORD about the very things in this section--it is because of what Solomon did that the kingdom would be divided and that both the Northern Kingdom and Southern Kingdom would eventually go into exile.