Deuteronomy 17:15

_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._ Thou mayest not set a stranger - i:e., by their free and voluntary choice. God, in the retributions of His providence, did allow foreign princes to usurp the dominion (Jeremiah 38:17; Matthew 22:17)....

15._Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee. _First of all, God maintains His own supremacy in the appointment of a king, and does not consign the matter to the people’s own suffrages; that thus He may chastise their audacity in demanding a king in accordance with a hasty impulse. Secondly, He commands that he should be taken from the people themselves, and excludes foreigners, because, if they had been admitted, a door was opened to apostasy; for each would have tried to force upon them his native gods, and true religion would have been persecuted by the force and threatenings of the royal power. Behold why God would not suffer a king to be sought elsewhere but from the bosom of His Church; in order that he might cherish and maintain that pure worship which he had imbibed from his childhood....

14-20 God himself was in a particular manner Israel's King; and if they set another over them, it was necessary that he should choose the person. Accordingly, when the people desired a king, they applied to Samuel, a prophet of the Lord. In all cases, God's choice, if we can but know it, should direct, determine, and overrule ours. Laws are given for the prince that should be elected. He must carefully avoid every thing that would turn him from God and religion. Riches, honours, and pleasures, are three great hinderances of godliness, (the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eye, and the pride of life,) especially to those in high stations; against these the king is here warned. The king must carefully study the law of God, and make that his rule; and having a copy of the Scriptures of his own writing, must read therein all the days of his life. It is not enough to have Bibles, but we...

Verse Deuteronomy 17:15. One _FROM AMONG THY BRETHREN SHALT THOU SET KING OVER_ _THEE_] It was on the ground of this command that the Jews proposed that insidious question to our Lord, _Is it lawful to give tribute_ _to Caesar_, OR NO? Matthew 22:17; for they were then under the authority of a _foreign_ power. Had Christ said _Yes_, then they would have condemned him by this law; had he said _No_, then they would have accused him to Caesar. See this subject discussed in great detail in the notes, Matthew 22:16, c....

The king, like the judges and officers (compare Deuteronomy 16:18), is to be chosen by the people; but their choice is to be in accordance with the will of God, and to be made from among “their brethren.” Compare 1 Samuel 9:15; 1Sa 10:24; 1 Samuel 16:1; 1 Kings 19:16. THOU MAYEST NOT SET A STRANGER OVER THEE - The Jews extended this prohibition to all offices whatsoever (compare Jeremiah 30:21); and naturally attached the greatest importa

EXPOSITION SACRIFICES TO BE OF ANIMALS UNBLEMISHED. IDOLATERS TO BE SOUGHT OUT, CONVICTED, AND PUT TO DEATH. THE HIGHER JUDICIAL COURT AT THE SANCTUARY. ELECTION DUTY OF A KING. DEUTERONOMY 17:1 Not only was the setting up of idols an offence to be punished by the judge, but also all profanation of the service of Jehovah, such as the offering in sacrifice of any animal, bullock or sheep, tha

THOU SHALT IN ANY WISE SET [HIM] KING OVER THEE WHOM THE LORD THY GOD SHALL CHOOSE,.... The Jews take this to be a command to set a king over them: whereas it is only a permission in case they should desire and determine on having one, as God foresaw they would; and this with a limitation and restriction to appoint none but whom God should choose, and which was their duty and interest to attend unto; for none could choose better for them, and was what he had a right unto, and it became them to submit to it, since he was their King in a civil and special sense, and another was only his viceregent; accordingly we find, when they expressed their desire to have a king in the time of Samuel, and it was granted, though not without some resentment, the Lord chose their first king for them, Saul, and, after him, David, and even Solomon, David's son; and though, in later times, they appointed kin...

13. JUSTICE AND THE CHOICE OF A KING Chapter S 16:18-17:20 _ 1. Appointment of judges and their instruction (Deuteronomy 16:18; Deuteronomy 17:1)_ 2. The higher court at the place He chooses (Deuteronomy 17:8) 3. The choice and right of the king (Deuteronomy 17:14) This chapter leads us upon new ground. The obligations of the religious life of Israel were stated in the first part of chapter 16 and now the government of the people in the land is commanded. “Just as in its religious worship the Israelitish nation was to show itself to be the holy nation of Jehovah,

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,...

Of the King When Israel elect to have a King like other nations, he must be chosen of God, an Israelite and no foreigner (Deuteronomy 17:14 f.). He must not multiply horses, wives nor silver and gold (Deuteronomy 17:16 f.). He shall write a copy of the Law and always study it, that he may fear God, with a heart not uplifted above his brethren, to the prolonging of his own and his children's days (Deuteronomy 17:18-20). Peculiar to D, and in the Sg address, except in Deuteronomy 17:16 _b_where _unto you_is due to the attraction of the Pl. in the quotation. The obvious references to Sol