1 Thou shalt not sacrifice unto the LORD thy God any bullock, or sheep, wherein is blemish, or any evilfavouredness: for that is an abomination unto the LORD thy God.
2 If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant,
3 And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded;
4 And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and inquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel:
5 Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die.
6 At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.
7 The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So thou shalt put the evil away from among you.
8 If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates: then shalt thou arise, and get thee up into the place which the LORD thy God shall choose;
9 And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and inquire; and they shall show thee the sentence of judgment:
10 And thou shalt do according to the sentence, which they of that place which the LORD shall choose shall show thee; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee:
11 According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall show thee, to the right hand, nor to the left.
12 And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth to minister there before the LORD thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel.
13 And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously.
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.
1 Thou shalt not sacrifice H2076 unto the LORD H3068 thy God H430 any bullock, H7794 or sheep, H7716 wherein is blemish, H3971 or any evilfavouredness: H7451 H1697 for that is an abomination H8441 unto the LORD H3068 thy God. H430
2 If there be found H4672 among H7130 you, within any H259 of thy gates H8179 which the LORD H3068 thy God H430 giveth H5414 thee, man H376 or woman, H802 that hath wrought H6213 wickedness H7451 in the sight H5869 of the LORD H3068 thy God, H430 in transgressing H5674 his covenant, H1285
3 And hath gone H3212 and served H5647 other H312 gods, H430 and worshipped H7812 them, either the sun, H8121 or moon, H3394 or any of the host H6635 of heaven, H8064 which I have not commanded; H6680
4 And it be told H5046 thee, and thou hast heard H8085 of it, and enquired H1875 diligently, H3190 and, behold, it be true, H571 and the thing H1697 certain, H3559 that such abomination H8441 is wrought H6213 in Israel: H3478
5 Then shalt thou bring forth H3318 that man H376 or that woman, H802 which have committed H6213 that wicked H7451 thing, H1697 unto thy gates, H8179 even that man H376 or that woman, H802 and shalt stone H5619 them with stones, H68 till they die. H4191
6 At the mouth H6310 of two H8147 witnesses, H5707 or three H7969 witnesses, H5707 shall he that is worthy of death H4191 be put to death; H4191 but at the mouth H6310 of one H259 witness H5707 he shall not be put to death. H4191
7 The hands H3027 of the witnesses H5707 shall be first H7223 upon him to put him to death, H4191 and afterward H314 the hands H3027 of all the people. H5971 So thou shalt put H1197 the evil H7451 away H1197 from among H7130 you.
8 If there arise a matter H1697 too hard H6381 for thee in judgment, H4941 between blood H1818 and blood, H1818 between plea H1779 and plea, H1779 and between stroke H5061 and stroke, H5061 being matters H1697 of controversy H7379 within thy gates: H8179 then shalt thou arise, H6965 and get thee up H5927 into the place H4725 which the LORD H3068 thy God H430 shall choose; H977
9 And thou shalt come H935 unto the priests H3548 the Levites, H3881 and unto the judge H8199 that shall be in those days, H3117 and enquire; H1875 and they shall shew H5046 thee the sentence H1697 of judgment: H4941
10 And thou shalt do H6213 according to the sentence, H6310 H1697 which they of that place H4725 which the LORD H3068 shall choose H977 shall shew H5046 thee; and thou shalt observe H8104 to do H6213 according to all that they inform H3384 thee:
11 According to the sentence H6310 of the law H8451 which they shall teach H3384 thee, and according to the judgment H4941 which they shall tell H559 thee, thou shalt do: H6213 thou shalt not decline H5493 from the sentence H1697 which they shall shew H5046 thee, to the right hand, H3225 nor to the left. H8040
12 And the man H376 that will do H6213 presumptuously, H2087 and will not hearken H8085 unto the priest H3548 that standeth H5975 to minister H8334 there before the LORD H3068 thy God, H430 or unto the judge, H8199 even that man H376 shall die: H4191 and thou shalt put away H1197 the evil H7451 from Israel. H3478
13 And all the people H5971 shall hear, H8085 and fear, H3372 and do no more presumptuously. H2102
14 When thou art come H935 unto the land H776 which the LORD H3068 thy God H430 giveth H5414 thee, and shalt possess H3423 it, and shalt dwell H3427 therein, and shalt say, H559 I will set H7760 a king H4428 over me, like as all the nations H1471 that are about H5439 me;
15 Thou shalt in any wise H7760 set H7760 him king H4428 over thee, whom the LORD H3068 thy God H430 shall choose: H977 one from among H7130 thy brethren H251 shalt thou set H7760 king H4428 over thee: thou mayest H3201 not set H5414 a stranger H5237 H376 over thee, which is not thy brother. H251
16 But he shall not multiply H7235 horses H5483 to himself, nor cause the people H5971 to return H7725 to Egypt, H4714 to the end that he should multiply H7235 horses: H5483 forasmuch as the LORD H3068 hath said H559 unto you, Ye shall henceforth H3254 return H7725 no more that way. H1870
17 Neither shall he multiply H7235 wives H802 to himself, that his heart H3824 turn H5493 not away: neither shall he greatly H3966 multiply H7235 to himself silver H3701 and gold. H2091
18 And it shall be, when he sitteth H3427 upon the throne H3678 of his kingdom, H4467 that he shall write H3789 him a copy H4932 of this law H8451 in a book H5612 out of that which is before H6440 the priests H3548 the Levites: H3881
19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read H7121 therein all the days H3117 of his life: H2416 that he may learn H3925 to fear H3372 the LORD H3068 his God, H430 to keep H8104 all the words H1697 of this law H8451 and these statutes, H2706 to do H6213 them:
20 That his heart H3824 be not lifted up H7311 above his brethren, H251 and that he turn not aside H5493 from the commandment, H4687 to the right hand, H3225 or to the left: H8040 to the end that he may prolong H748 his days H3117 in his kingdom, H4467 he, and his children, H1121 in the midst H7130 of Israel. H3478
1 Thou shalt not sacrifice unto Jehovah thy God an ox, or a sheep, wherein is a blemish, `or' anything evil; for that is an abomination unto Jehovah thy God.
2 If there be found in the midst of thee, within any of thy gates which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that doeth that which is evil in the sight of Jehovah thy God, in transgressing his covenant,
3 and hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, or the sun, or the moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded;
4 and it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, then shalt thou inquire diligently; and, behold, if it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel,
5 then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, who hath done this evil thing, unto thy gates, even the man or the woman; and thou shalt stone them to death with stones.
6 At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is to die be put to death; at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.
7 The hand of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So thou shalt put away the evil from the midst of thee.
8 If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates; then shalt thou arise, and get thee up unto the place which Jehovah thy God shall choose;
9 and thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days: and thou shalt inquire; and they shall show thee the sentence of judgment.
10 And thou shalt do according to the tenor of the sentence which they shall show thee from that place which Jehovah shall choose; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they shall teach thee:
11 according to the tenor of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do; thou shalt not turn aside from the sentence which they shall show thee, to the right hand, nor to the left.
12 And the man that doeth presumptuously, in not hearkening unto the priest that standeth to minister there before Jehovah thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel.
13 And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously.
14 When thou art come unto the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are round about me;
15 thou shalt surely set him king over thee, whom Jehovah thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee; thou mayest not put a foreigner over thee, who is not thy brother.
16 Only he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he may multiply horses; forasmuch as Jehovah 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 Jehovah 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.
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.
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,
3 and 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 --
4 and 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 --
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.
6 By 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;
7 the 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.
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,
9 and 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,
10 and 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.
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.
12 And 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,
13 and all the people do hear and fear, and do not presume any more.
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, --
15 thou 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.
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.
17 And 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.
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,
19 and 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;
20 so 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.
1 Thou shalt not sacrifice to Jehovah thy God an ox or sheep wherein is a defect, or anything bad; for it is an abomination to Jehovah thy God.
2 If there be found in thy midst in any of thy gates which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that doeth what is evil in the sight of Jehovah thy God, in transgressing his covenant,
3 and goeth and serveth other gods, and boweth down to them, either to the sun or to the moon, or to the whole host of heaven, which I have not commanded;
4 and it be told thee, and thou hearest of it; then thou shalt make thorough inquiry, and if it be truth [and] the thing be certain, that this abomination hath been wrought in Israel,
5 thou shalt bring forth that man or that woman, who committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, the man or the woman, and shalt stone them with stones, that they die.
6 At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is to die be put to death: he shall not be put to death at the mouth of one witness.
7 The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hands of all the people; and thou shalt put evil away from thy midst.
8 If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between cause and cause, and between stroke and stroke, matters of controversy within thy gates, then shalt thou arise, and go up to the place which Jehovah thy God will choose.
9 And thou shalt come unto the priests, the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and inquire; and they shall declare unto thee the sentence of judgment;
10 and thou shalt do according to the tenor of the word, which they of that place which Jehovah will choose shall declare unto thee; and thou shalt take heed to do according to all that they instruct thee:
11 according to the sentence of the law which they shall declare unto thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the word which they shall declare unto thee, to the right hand, or the left.
12 And the man that shall act presumptuously, and not hearken unto the priest that standeth to serve there before Jehovah thy God, or unto the judge, that man shall die; and thou shalt put away evil from Israel.
13 And all the people shall hear, and fear, and no more act presumptuously.
14 When thou comest unto the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are about me;
15 thou shalt only set him king over thee whom Jehovah thy God will choose: from among thy brethren shalt thou set a king over thee; thou mayest not set a foreigner over thee, who is not thy brother.
16 Only he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor lead back the people to Egypt, to multiply horses; for Jehovah hath said unto you, Ye shall not return again any 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 for himself 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 Jehovah 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; that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his sons, in the midst of Israel.
1 You shall not sacrifice to Yahweh your God an ox, or a sheep, in which is a blemish, [or] anything evil; for that is an abomination to Yahweh your God.
2 If there be found in the midst of you, within any of your gates which Yahweh your God gives you, man or woman, who does that which is evil in the sight of Yahweh your God, in transgressing his covenant,
3 and has gone and served other gods, and worshiped them, or the sun, or the moon, or any of the host of the sky, which I have not commanded;
4 and it be told you, and you have heard of it, then shall you inquire diligently; and, behold, if it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is done in Israel,
5 then shall you bring forth that man or that woman, who has done this evil thing, to your gates, even the man or the woman; and you shall stone them to death with stones.
6 At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he who is to die be put to death; at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.
7 The hand of the witnesses shall be first on him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall put away the evil from the midst of you.
8 If there arise a matter too hard for you in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within your gates; then shall you arise, and go up to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose;
9 and you shall come to the priests the Levites, and to the judge who shall be in those days: and you shall inquire; and they shall show you the sentence of judgment.
10 You shall do according to the tenor of the sentence which they shall show you from that place which Yahweh shall choose; and you shall observe to do according to all that they shall teach you:
11 according to the tenor of the law which they shall teach you, and according to the judgment which they shall tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside from the sentence which they shall show you, to the right hand, nor to the left.
12 The man who does presumptuously, in not listening to the priest who stands to minister there before Yahweh your God, or to the judge, even that man shall die: and you shall put away the evil from Israel.
13 All the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously.
14 When you are come to the land which Yahweh your God gives you, and shall possess it, and shall dwell therein, and shall say, I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are round about me;
15 you shall surely set him king over you, whom Yahweh your God shall choose: one from among your brothers shall you set king over you; you may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother.
16 Only he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he may multiply horses; because Yahweh has said to you, You shall henceforth return no more that way.
17 Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart not turn away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.
18 It shall be, when he sits on 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 Yahweh his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them;
20 that his heart not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he not turn 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.
1 No ox or sheep which has a mark on it or is damaged in any way may be offered to the Lord your God: for that is disgusting to the Lord your God.
2 If there is any man or woman among you, in any of the towns which the Lord your God gives you, who does evil in the eyes of the Lord your God, sinning against his agreement,
3 By becoming a servant of other gods and worshipping them or the sun or the moon or all the stars of heaven, against my orders;
4 If word of this comes to your ears, then let this thing be looked into with care, and if there is no doubt that it is true, and such evil has been done in Israel;
5 Then you are to take the man or woman who has done the evil to the public place of your town, and they are to be stoned with stones till they are dead.
6 On the word of two or three witnesses, a man may be given the punishment of death; but he is not to be put to death on the word of one witness.
7 The hands of the witnesses will be the first to put him to death, and after them the hands of all the people. So you are to put away the evil from among you.
8 If you are not able to give a decision as to who is responsible for a death, or who is right in a cause, or who gave the first blow in a fight, and there is a division of opinion about it in your town: then go to the place marked out by the Lord your God;
9 And come before the priests, the Levites, or before him who is judge at the time: and they will go into the question and give you a decision:
10 And you are to be guided by the decision they give in the place named by the Lord, and do whatever they say:
11 Acting in agreement with their teaching and the decision they give: not turning to one side or the other from the word they have given you.
12 And any man who, in his pride, will not give ear to the priest whose place is there before the Lord your God, or to the judge, is to be put to death: you are to put away the evil from Israel.
13 And all the people, hearing of it, will be full of fear and put away their pride.
14 When you have come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and have taken it for a heritage and are living in it, if it is your desire to have a king over you, like the other nations round about you;
15 Then see that you take as your king the man named by the Lord your God: let your king be one of your countrymen, not a man of another nation who is not one of yourselves.
16 And he is not to get together a great army of horses for himself, or make the people go back to Egypt to get horses for him: because the Lord has said, You will never again go back that way.
17 And he is not to have a great number of wives, for fear that his heart may be turned away; or great wealth of silver and gold.
18 And when he has taken his place on the seat of his kingdom, he is to make in a book a copy of this law, from that which the priests, the Levites, have in their care:
19 And it is to be with him for his reading all the days of his life, so that he may be trained in the fear of the Lord his God to keep and do all the words of this teaching and these laws:
20 So that his heart may not be lifted up over his countrymen, and he may not be turned away from the orders, to one side or the other: but that his life and the lives of his children may be long in his kingdom in Israel.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Deuteronomy 17
Commentary on Deuteronomy 17 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Not only did the inclination to nature-worship, such as the setting up of the idols of Ashera and Baal , belong to the crimes which merited punishment, but also a manifest transgression of the laws concerning the worship of Jehovah, such as the offering of an ox or sheep that had some fault, which was an abomination in the sight of Jehovah (see at Leviticus 22:20.). “ Any evil thing ,” i.e., any of the faults enumerated in Leviticus 22:22-24.
If such a case should occur, as that a man or woman transgressed the covenant of the Lord and went after other gods and worshipped them; when it was made known, the facts were to be carefully inquired into; and if the charge were substantiated, the criminal was to be led out to the gate and stoned. On the testimony of two or three witnesses, not of one only, he was to be put to death (see at Numbers 35:30); and the hand of the witnesses was to be against him first to put him to death, i.e., to throw the first stones at him, and all the people were to follow. With regard to the different kinds of idolatry in Deuteronomy 17:3, see Deuteronomy 4:19. (On Deuteronomy 17:4, see Deuteronomy 13:15.) “ Bring him out to thy gates ,” i.e., to one of the gates of the town in which the crime was committed. By the gates we are to understand the open space near the gates, where the judicial proceedings took place (cf. Nehemiah 8:1, Nehemiah 8:3; Job. Deuteronomy 29:7), the sentence itself being executed outside the town (cf. Deuteronomy 22:24; Acts 7:58; Hebrews 13:12), just as it had been outside the camp during the journey through the wilderness (Leviticus 24:14; Numbers 15:36), to indicate the exclusion of the criminal from the congregation, and from fellowship with God. The infliction of punishment in Deuteronomy 17:5. is like that prescribed in Deuteronomy 13:10-11, for those who tempted others to idolatry; with this exception, that the testimony of more than one witness was required before the sentence could be executed, and the witnesses were to be the first to lift up their hands against the criminal to stone him, that they might thereby give a practical proof of the truth of their statement, and their own firm conviction that the condemned was deserving of death, - “a rule which would naturally lead to the supposition that no man would come forward as a witness without the fullest certainty or the greatest depravity” (Schnell, das isr. Recht).
(Note: “He assigned this part to the witnesses, chiefly because there are so many whose tongue is so slippery, not to say good for nothing, that they would boldly strangle a man with their words, when they would not dare to touch him with one of their fingers. It was the best remedy, therefore, that could be tried for restraining such levity, to refuse to admit the testimony of any man who was not ready to execute judgment with his own hand” ( Calvin ).)
המּת (Deuteronomy 17:6), the man exposed to death, who was therefore really ipso facto already dead. “ So shalt thou put the evil away ,” etc.: cf. Deuteronomy 13:6.
The Higher Judicial Court at the Place of the Sanctuary. - Just as the judges appointed at Sinai were to bring to Moses whatever cases were too difficult for them to decide, that he might judge them according to the decision of God (Exodus 18:26 and Exodus 18:19); so in the future the judges of the different towns were to bring all difficult cases, which they were unable to decide, before the Levitical priests and judges at the place of the sanctuary, that a final decision might be given there.
Deuteronomy 17:8-9
“ If there is to thee a matter too marvellous for judgment ( נפלא with מן , too wonderful, incomprehensible, or beyond carrying out, Genesis 18:14, i.e., too difficult to give a judicial decision upon), between blood and blood, plea and plea, stroke and stroke (i.e., too hard for you to decide according to what legal provisions a fatal blow, or dispute on some civil matter, or a bodily injury, is to be settled), disputes in thy gates (a loosely arranged apposition in this sense, dispute of different kinds, such as shall arise in thy towns); arise, and get thee to the place which Jehovah thy God shall choose; and go to the Levitical priest and the judge that shall be in those days, and inquire .” Israel is addressed here as a nation, but the words are not to be supposed to be directed “first of all to the local courts (Deuteronomy 16:18), and lastly to the contending parties” ( Knobel ), nor “directly to the parties to the suit” ( Schultz ), but simply to the persons whose duty it was to administer justice in the nation, i.e., to the regular judges in the different towns and districts of the land. This is evident from the general fact, that the Mosaic law never recognises any appeal to higher courts by the different parties to a lawsuit, and that in this case also it is not assumed, since all that is enjoined is, that if the matter should be too difficult for the local judges to decide, they themselves were to carry it to the superior court. As Oehler has quite correctly observed in Herzog's Cyclopaedia, “this superior court was not a court of appeal; for it did not adjudicate after the local court had already given a verdict, but in cases in which the latter would not trust itself to give a verdict at all.” And this is more especially evident from what is stated in Deuteronomy 17:10, with regard to the decisions of the superior court, namely, that they were to do whatever the superior judges taught, without deviating to the right hand or to the left. This is unquestionably far more applicable to the judges of the different towns, who were to carry out exactly the sentence of the higher tribunal, than to the parties to the suit, inasmuch as the latter, at all events those who were condemned for blood (i.e., for murder), could not possibly be in a position to alter the decision of the court at pleasure, since it did not rest with them, but with the authorities of their town, to carry out the sentence.
Moses did not directly institute a superior tribunal at the place of the sanctuary on this occasion, but rather assumed its existence; not however its existence at that time (as Riehm and other modern critics suppose), but its establishment and existence in the future. Just as he gives no minute directions concerning the organization of the different local courts, but leaves this to the natural development of the judicial institutions already in existence, so he also restricts himself, so far as the higher court is concerned, to general allusions, which might serve as a guide to the national rulers of a future day, to organize it according to the existing models. He had no disorganized mob before him, but a well-ordered nation, already in possession of civil institutions, with fruitful germs for further expansion and organization. In addition to its civil classification into tribes, families, fathers' houses, and family groups, which possessed at once their rulers in their own heads, the nation had received in the priesthood, with the high priest at the head, and the Levites as their assistants, a spiritual class, which mediated between the congregation and the Lord, and not only kept up the knowledge of right in the people as the guardian of the law, but by virtue of the high priest's office was able to lay the rights of the people before God, and in difficult cases could ask for His decision. Moreover, a leader had already been appointed for the nation, for the time immediately succeeding Moses' death; and in this nomination of Joshua, a pledge had been given that the Lord would never leave it without a supreme ruler of its civil affairs, but, along with the high priest, would also appoint a judge at the place of the central sanctuary, who would administer justice in the highest court in association with the priests. On the ground of these facts, sit was enough for the future to mention the Levitical priests and the judge who would be at the place of the sanctuary, as constituting the court by which the difficult questions were to be decided.
(Note: The simple fact, that the judicial court at the place of the national sanctuary is described in such general terms, furnishes a convincing proof that we have here the words of Moses, and not those of some later prophetic writer who had copied the superior court at Jerusalem of the times of the kings, as Riehm and the critics assume.)
For instance, the words themselves show distinctly enough, that by “the judge” we are not to understand the high priest, but the temporal judge or president of the superior court; and it is evident from the singular, “ the priest that standeth to minister there before the Lord ” (Deuteronomy 17:12), that the high priest is included among the priests. The expression “ the priests the Levites ” (Levitical priests), which also occurs in Deuteronomy 17:18; Deuteronomy 18:1; Deuteronomy 21:5; Deuteronomy 24:8; Deuteronomy 27:9; Deuteronomy 31:9, instead of “sons of Aaron,” which we find in the middle books, is quite in harmony with the time and character of the book before us. As long as Aaron was living with his sons, the priesthood consisted only of himself and his sons, that is to say, of one family. Hence all the instructions in the middle books are addressed to them, and for the most part to Aaron personally (vid., Ex 28 and 29; Lev 8-10; Numbers 18:1, etc.). This as all changed when Aaron died; henceforth the priesthood consisted simply of the descendants of Aaron and his sons, who were no longer one family, but formed a distinct class in the nation, the legitimacy of which arose from its connection with the tribe of Levi, to which Aaron himself had belonged. It was evidently more appropriate, therefore, to describe them as sons of Levi than as sons of Aaron, which had been the title formerly given to the priests, with the exception of the high priest, viz., Aaron himself. - In connection with the superior court, however, the priests are introduced rather as knowing and teaching the law (Leviticus 10:11), than as actual judges. For this reason appeal was to be made not only to them, but also to the judge, whose duty it was in any case to make the judicial inquiry and pronounce the sentence. - The object of the verb “ inquire ” (Deuteronomy 17:9) follows after “they shall show thee,” viz., “ the word of right ,” the judicial sentence which is sought (2 Chronicles 19:6).
Deuteronomy 17:10-11
They shall do “ according to the sound of the word which they utter ” (follow their decision exactly), and that “ according to the sound of the law which they teach ,” and “ according to the right which they shall speak .” The sentence was to be founded upon the Thorah , upon the law which the priests had to teach.
Deuteronomy 17:12-13
No one was to resist in pride, to refuse to listen to the priest or to the judge. Resistance to the priest took place when any one was dissatisfied with his interpretation of the law; to the judge, when any one was discontented with the sentence that was passed on the basis of the law. Such refractory conduct was to be punished with death, as rebellion against God, in whose name the right had been spoken (Deuteronomy 1:17). (On Deuteronomy 17:13, see Deuteronomy 13:12.)
Choice and Right of the King. - Deuteronomy 17:14, Deuteronomy 17:15. If Israel, when dwelling in the land which was given it by the Lord for a possession, should wish to appoint a king, like all the nations round about, it was to appoint the man whom Jehovah its God should choose, and that from among its brethren, i.e., from its own people, not a foreigner or non-Israelite. The earthly kingdom in Israel was not opposed to the theocracy, i.e., to the rule of Jehovah as king over the people of His possession, provided no one was made king but the person whom Jehovah should choose. The appointment of a king is not commanded , like the institution of judges (Deuteronomy 16:18), because Israel could exist under the government of Jehovah, even without an earthly king; it is simply permitted , in case the need should arise for a regal government. There was no necessity to describe more minutely the course to be adopted, as the people possessed the natural provision for the administration of their national affairs in their well-organized tribes, by whom this point could be decided. Moses also omits to state more particularly in what way Jehovah would make known the choice of the king to be appointed. The congregation, no doubt, possessed one means of asking the will of the Lord in the Urim and Thummim of the high priest, provided the Lord did not reveal His will in a different manner, namely through a prophet, as He did in the election of Saul and David (1 Sam 8-9, and 16). The commandment not to choose a foreigner, acknowledged the right of the nation to choose. Consequently the choice on the part of the Lord may have consisted simply in His pointing out to the people, in a very evident manner, the person they were to elect, or in His confirming the choice by word and act, as in accordance with His will.
Three rules are laid down for the king himself in Deuteronomy 17:16-20. In the first place, he was not to keep many horses, or lead back the people to Egypt, to multiply horses, because Jehovah had forbidden the people to return thither by that way. The notion of modern critics, that there is an allusion in this prohibition to the constitution of the kingdom under Solomon, is so far from having any foundation, that the reason assigned - namely, the fear lest the king should lead back the people to Egypt from his love of horses, “ to the end that he should multiply horses” - really precludes the time of Solomon, inasmuch as the time had then long gone by when any thought could have been entertained of leading back the people to Egypt. But such a reason would be quite in its place in Moses' time, and only then, “when it would not seem impossible to reunite the broken band, and when the people were ready to express their longing, and even their intention, to return to Egypt on the very slightest occasion; whereas the reason assigned for the prohibition might have furnished Solomon with an excuse for regarding the prohibition itself as merely a temporary one, which was no longer binding” ( Oehler in Herzog's Cyclopaedia: vid., Hengstenberg's Dissertations ).
(Note: When Riehm objects to this, that if such a prohibition had been unnecessary in a future age, in which the people had reached the full consciousness of its national independence, and every thought of the possibility of a reunion with the Egyptians had disappeared, Moses would never have issued it, since he must have foreseen the national independence of the people; the force of this objection rests simply upon his confounding foreseeing with assuming, and upon a thoroughly mistaken view of the prophet's vision of the future. Even if Moses, as “a great prophet,” did foresee the future national independence of Israel, he had also had such experience of the fickle character of the people, that he could not regard the thought of returning to Egypt as absolutely an impossible one, even after the conquest of Canaan, or reject it as inconceivable. Moreover, the prophetic foresight of Moses was not, as Riehm imagines it, a foreknowledge of all the separate points in the historical development of the nation, much less a foreknowledge of the thoughts and desires of the heart, which might arise in the course of time amidst the changes that would take place in the nation. A foresight of the development of Israel into national independence, so far as we may attribute it to Moses as a prophet, was founded not upon the character of the people, but upon the divine choice and destination of Israel, which by no means precluded the possibility of their desiring to return to Egypt, even at some future time, since God Himself had threatened the people with dispersion among the heathen as the punishment for continued transgression of His covenant, and yet, notwithstanding this dispersion, had predicted the ultimate realization of His covenant of grace. And when Riehm still further observes, that the taste for horses, which lay at the foundation of this fear, evidently points to a later time, when the old repugnance to cavalry which existed in the nation in the days of the judges, and even under David, had disappeared; this supposed repugnance to cavalry is a fiction of the critic himself, without any historical foundation. For nothing more is related in the history, than that before the time of Solomon the Israelites had not cultivated the rearing of horses, and that David only kept 100 of the war-horses taken from the Syrians for himself, and had the others put to death (2 Samuel 8:4). And so long as horses were neither reared nor possessed by the Israelites, there can be no ground for speaking of the old repugnance to cavalry. On the other hand, the impossibility of tracing this prohibition to the historical circumstances of the time of Solomon, or even a later age, is manifest in the desperate subterfuge to which Riehm has recourse, when he connects this passage with the threat in Deuteronomy 28:68, that if all the punishments suspended over them should be ineffectual, God would carry them back in ships to Egypt, and that they should there be sold to their enemies as men-servants and maid-servants, and then discovers a proof in this, that the Egyptian king Psammetichus, who sought out foreign soldiers and employed them, had left king Manasseh some horses, solely on the condition that he sent him some Israelitish infantry, and placed them at his disposal. But this is not expounding Scripture; it is putting hypotheses into it. As Oehler has already observed, this hypothesis has no foundation whatever in the Old Testament, nor (we may add) in the accounts of Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus concerning Psammetichus. According to Diod. (i. 66), Psammetichus hired soldiers from Arabia, Caria, and Ionia; and according to Herodotus (i. 152), he hired Ionians and Carians armed with brass, that he might conquer his rival kings with their assistance. But neither of these historians says anything at all about Israelitish infantry. And even if it were conceivable that any king of Israel or Judah could carry on such traffic in men, as to sell his own subjects to the Egyptians for horses, it is very certain that the prophets, who condemned every alliance with foreign kings, and were not silent with regard to Manasseh's idolatry, would not have passed over such an abomination as this without remark or without reproof.)
The second admonition also, that the king was not to take to himself many wives, and turn away his heart (sc., from the Lord), nor greatly multiply to himself silver and gold, can be explained without the hypothesis that there is an allusion to Solomon's reign, although this king did transgress both commands (1 Kings 10:14. Deuteronomy 11:1.). A richly furnished harem, and the accumulation of silver and gold, were inseparably connected with the luxury of Oriental monarchs generally; so that the fear was a very natural one, that the future king of Israel might follow the general customs of the heathen in these respects.
And thirdly , instead of hanging his heart upon these earthly things, when he at upon his royal throne he was to have a copy of the law written out by the Levitical priests, that he might keep the law by him, and read therein all the days of his life. כּתב does not involve writing with his own hand ( Philo ), but simply having it written. הזּאת התּורה משׁנה does not mean τὸ δευτερονόμιον τοῦτο (lxx), “this repetition of the law,” as הזּאת cannot stand for הזּה ; but a copy of this law, as most of the Rabbins correctly explain it in accordance with the Chaldee version, though they make mishneh to signify duplum , two copies (see Hävernick , Introduction). - Every copy of a book is really a repetition of it. “ From before the priests ,” i.e., of the law which lies before the priests or is kept by them. The object of the daily reading in the law ( Deuteronomy 17:19 and Deuteronomy 17:20) was “ to learn the fear of the Lord, and to keep His commandments ” (cf. Deuteronomy 5:25; Deuteronomy 6:2; Deuteronomy 14:23), that his heart might not be lifted up above his brethren, that he might not become proud (Deuteronomy 8:14), and might not turn aside from the commandments to the right hand or to the left, that he and his descendants might live long upon the throne.