The big picture
Judgment and royal power now concern Moses, the leader of Israel, the people entering God's land. He gives rules for flawed gifts and claims of false worship. Local judges will face hard cases. Some must go to the priests and a higher judge. Moses also looks ahead to a king. The people will want one like their neighbours have. Yet their ruler must remain under God's law, not stand above it.
In this chapter
- A Defective Gift Is Refused Deuteronomy 17:1
Moses says a bull or sheep with a defect must not be offered to God.
- Death Requires More Than One Witness Deuteronomy 17:2-7
A charge of false worship must be checked with care.
- Hard Cases Go to the Central Judges Deuteronomy 17:8-13
When a dispute over death, injury, or another legal claim is too difficult locally, it must go to God's chosen place.
- A King Must Not Hoard Power Deuteronomy 17:14-17
Moses expects the people to ask for a king like those around them.
- The King Must Read the Law Daily Deuteronomy 17:18-20
When the king takes his throne, he must make a copy of the law held by the priests.
Central truth
Israel must investigate grave accusations, respect authorised judgments, and keep any future king subject to God's law rather than his own ambition.
Scripture beside the summary
Deuteronomy · King James Version · 20Deuteronomy 17:1
A Defective Gift Is Refused
Moses says a bull or sheep with a defect must not be offered to God. The flaw makes it unfit for the altar. Naming an animal as a gift does not remove that flaw. Nor does owning it give the owner the right to set the terms of worship. God calls such a gift hateful. The law leaves no room to use the altar as a place for getting rid of unwanted animals. The thing brought must meet God's rule, not only the owner's wish to give.
In everyday life
A piano tuner checks an instrument promised for a recital and finds a cracked support that the owner hoped nobody would notice. She refuses to pass it as ready merely because it has been offered without charge. A gift still needs to be fit. God's altar is not a stage requiring playable equipment.
Notice
Deuteronomy 17:1 The ban applies to a gift offered to God, not merely to an animal sold to another person. Generosity does not cancel the required condition.
Deuteronomy 17:1
King James Version1Thou 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.
Deuteronomy 17:2-7
Death Requires More Than One Witness
A charge of false worship must be checked with care. The charge can concern another god or worship of the sun, moon, or stars. If it is true, the man or woman must be taken to the town gate and stoned. At least two witnesses are needed. One person's word is not enough to put someone to death. Those witnesses must throw the first stones, with the people following them. They have a direct part in the result of what they claim to have seen.
In everyday life
A tournament director receives a cheating accusation from one competitor and refuses to cancel another player's career on that statement alone. He seeks independent accounts and checks the claim before issuing a decision. The stakes require more than confidence in a single voice. Israel's rule concerns execution, not exclusion from a tournament.
Notice
Deuteronomy 17:6 A lone witness is insufficient even for an accusation treated as extremely serious. The severity of the offence does not remove the need for more testimony.
Deuteronomy 17:2-7
King James Version2If 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,
3And 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;
4And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and enquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel:
5Then 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.
6At 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.
7The 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.
Deuteronomy 17:8-13
Hard Cases Go to the Central Judges
When a dispute over death, injury, or another legal claim is too difficult locally, it must go to God's chosen place. The priests and serving judge there give the decision and explain the law. The people must follow that ruling without turning aside from it. Deliberately refusing the authorised judgment brings death. The purpose is to end proud defiance and make others take the law seriously. A difficult case is referred upward rather than settled by private force or endless argument.
In everyday life
A professional chess organiser sends a disputed match procedure to the governing panel when the local officials cannot resolve it. Both players must then follow the panel's ruling instead of restarting the argument at every table. The referral provides an end to the dispute. Israel attaches death to wilful refusal, unlike a game's appeal process.
Notice
Deuteronomy 17:9 The serving judge is named alongside the priests. The rule provides recognised decision-makers for difficult cases, not a search for whichever adviser gives a preferred answer.
Deuteronomy 17:8-13
King James Version8If 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;
9And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and enquire; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment:
10And thou shalt do according to the sentence, which they of that place which the LORD shall choose shall shew thee; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee:
11According 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 shew thee, to the right hand, nor to the left.
12And 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.
13And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously.
Deuteronomy 17:14-17
A King Must Not Hoard Power
Moses expects the people to ask for a king like those around them. They must choose the man God names, from among their own people. The king must not build up great numbers of horses. He must not send people back to Egypt to get more. Many wives can turn his heart away, so he must not gather them either. He must also limit his stores of silver and gold. Being king gives no right to seek endless wealth or strength at the people's cost.
In everyday life
A new club captain is given authority over the team budget but barred from filling the equipment room for his private use. He cannot turn the shared role into a source of personal privilege. The limits come with the position. Israel's king rules a nation under God, not a sports club's accounts.
Notice
Deuteronomy 17:17 The warning about many wives names the danger to the king's heart. The restriction concerns loyalty, not only the cost of maintaining a large household.
Deuteronomy 17:14-17
King James Version14When 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;
15Thou 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.
16But 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.
17Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.
Deuteronomy 17:18-20
The King Must Read the Law Daily
When the king takes his throne, he must make a copy of the law held by the priests. He must keep it near him and read it all his life. This will teach him to fear God and do what the law says. He must not think himself better than the people he rules. Obedience is linked with a lasting reign for him and his children. His crown does not make him the source of right and wrong. He remains a learner under God's commands.
In everyday life
A master carpenter opens the workshop's quality manual before approving his own team's work. His seniority does not let him replace the agreed standard with personal taste. Apprentices see him check his decisions against the same written rules they use. The king's daily reading teaches fear of God, not craft quality alone.
Notice
Deuteronomy 17:20 The law is meant to keep the king from lifting himself above his brothers. Reading is directed toward humility as well as correct decisions.
Deuteronomy 17:18-20
King James Version18And 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:
19And 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:
20That 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.
Details worth noticing
The opening image
Deuteronomy 17:1 begins with “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…”
Where the chapter turns
Deuteronomy 17:5 forms a natural hinge: “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…”
The final note
Deuteronomy 17:20 leaves the reader with “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…”
A word trail through the chapter
The words LORD, death, multiply, sentence, choose, days help reveal the chapter’s repeated concerns.
KJV words made clear
- evilfavouredness
- A serious defect or deformity in the animal being offered.
- presumptuously
- With wilful arrogance, refusing the authority of the stated command.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
