Charles Ellicott Commentary Deuteronomy 17:14-20

"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; 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. 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. Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. 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: 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; 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." — Deuteronomy 17:14-20 (ASV)

Deuteronomy 17:14–20. THE LAW OF THE KINGDOM.

When you come to the land. These are not the words of a legislator who is already in the land. Those who say that this law dates from later times must be prepared to assert that this clause is expressly framed to suit the lips of Moses, and is consequently a deliberate forgery.

And you shall possess it, and dwell in it. That is, you shall complete the conquest and settle. It is not contemplated that the king would be desired immediately after the conquest.

I will set a king over me, like all the nations. There is an evident allusion to this phrase in 1 Samuel 8:20, That we also may be like all the nations. It is noticeable that Moses in this place says nothing in disapproval of the design. In fact, his words might easily have been cited by the people in support of their proposal.

Moses said we should need a king; why should we not ask for one? Looked at this way, the citation of the words of Deuteronomy in Samuel is perfectly natural.

The people confirm their request by presenting it in the very words of Moses. But if we suppose (with some modern writers) that the passage in Deuteronomy was constructed from that in Samuel, there are several difficulties:

1. Why is there no disapproval here of the plan, which Samuel so strongly disapproved?
2. How does the writer in Deuteronomy contrive to be so completely unconscious either of the royal tribe or of the royal family?

Precisely the same unconsciousness of the locality of the place which Jehovah should choose in Palestine appears in every reference to it in this book. In Moses this is perfectly natural. But that any later writer should be so totally regardless of the claims of Judah, David, and Jerusalem, and say nothing either for or against them, is inconceivable. Samuel could hardly have written about the king without betraying disapproval of Israel’s desire for him. No later writer could have avoided some allusion to the choice of David’s family, and the promises to David’s son.

Whom the Lord your God shall choose ... from among your brethren. This precept seems almost needless from the standpoint of later history. As years passed by, the Israelites were less and less tempted to accept the supremacy of foreign princes. But Moses can never have forgotten that for two-thirds of his own lifetime the Israelites had been subject to the kings of Egypt; and that even since the exodus they had proposed to make a captain to return there; whom we do not know, but very possibly an Egyptian. The chief thing dreaded by Moses was a return to Egypt, as appears by the next verse.

But see the note on Deuteronomy 31:11 for an incident that illustrates the feeling.

He shall not multiply horses ... wives ... neither shall he greatly multiply ... silver and gold. It is not a little remarkable that these are the very things which Solomon did multiply, and that under him the monarchy attained its greatest glory. But the prophecy avenged itself by its literal fulfillment: When Solomon was old ... his wives turned away his heart (1 Kings 11:4). Yet it is easier to read the words as prophecy than as later history. What Israelite could have written this sentence after the time of Solomon without some passing allusion to the glories of his reign? Compare the recorded allusion in Nehemiah 13:26: Did not Solomon, king of Israel, sin by these things? Yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel; nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin.

The question of how Solomon came to transgress these orders may easily be met by another: How did David come to attempt the removal of the ark of God in a cart? The wealth which Solomon had is represented as the special gift of Jehovah. His many marriages may be partly accounted for by the fact that only one son is mentioned, and he was born before his father became king. The question, Who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? is singularly applicable to this individual. And one of the Psalms, which is by its title ascribed to Solomon, pursues a similar line of thought (Psalms 127).

The caution against multiplying horses marks the profound wisdom of the writer. The Israelite infantry was Israel’s strength. The conquest of Canaan was entirely effected by infantry. There are not many battlefields in Canaan suited for chariots and cavalry. An army of infantry can choose its own ground.