Chapter Text
Law Courts
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.
2If 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.
8If 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.
The King
14When 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.
18And 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.
Summary
Moses declares that God will raise up a Prophet like himself from among Israel's brethren, and the people must heed him. Those who refuse this Prophet will answer to God. False prophets who speak presumptuously or in the name of other gods shall die. The test: if a prophet's word does not come to pass, he has spoken presumptuously.
Meaning
The promise of a Prophet like Moses is one of the most significant messianic prophecies in Scripture. Peter and Stephen in Acts identify this Prophet as Jesus Christ. Like Moses, Christ would be a mediator, lawgiver, and deliverer, but greater than Moses in every dimension.
The standard for testing prophets, fulfillment of prediction, provides a practical safeguard against deception. God's people are not left without means to distinguish true revelation from false, protecting the community from spiritual manipulation.
Background
Moses' unique role as mediator, through whom God spoke face to face, set the standard against which all subsequent prophets were measured. Jewish expectation of 'the Prophet' continued into the New Testament era; the crowds asked John the Baptist whether he was this figure. The Samaritans particularly anticipated a Moses-like restorer called the Taheb.
Chapter Outline
- vv. 1Unblemished Sacrifices Required
- vv. 2-7Judgment Against Idolatry and Apostasy
- vv. 8-13The Central Court of Appeal
- vv. 14-17The Law of the King: Selection and Restraints
- vv. 18-20The King's Obligation to God's Word
Key Verses
“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.”— 17:6
This verse establishes the foundational legal principle of multiple witnesses, later cited by Jesus in Matthew 18:16 and by Paul in 2 Corinthians 13:1, shaping both Jewish and Christian jurisprudence.
“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.”— 17:15
This is the divine criterion for Israelite monarchy — the king must be God's chosen from among the covenant people, a principle fulfilled ultimately in Christ as the promised King from the line of David.
“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 the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them.”— 17:18-19
The king's personal copy of the law — the origin of the name 'Deuteronomy' (second law) — establishes that even the highest human authority stands under God's written Word.
People & Places
People
- The Priests the Levites — The Levitical priesthood who served as custodians of the law and the highest judicial authority in difficult legal cases.
- The Judge — The civil magistrate appointed to adjudicate disputes alongside the priestly authority at the central sanctuary.
Places
- The place which the LORD shall choose — The future central sanctuary (ultimately Jerusalem) where the highest court of appeal would convene for difficult cases.
- Egypt — Referenced as the land of bondage to which Israel must never return, symbolizing reliance on foreign military power rather than God.
Prophecy & Fulfillment
The law of the king in verses 14–20 carries significant messianic weight. The requirement that the king be chosen by God from among Israel's brethren foreshadows Christ, who was raised up 'from among thy brethren' as prophesied (cf. Deuteronomy 18:15; Acts 3:22). The ideal king described here — humble, saturated in God's Word, not exalting himself above his brethren — stands as a prophetic portrait that no earthly king of Israel fully embodied, pointing forward to the perfect King who would fulfill every requirement of the law.
Devotional
This chapter reminds us that no one — not the worshipper, the judge, nor the king — stands above God's Word. The sacrificial animal must be unblemished because God deserves our best, not our leftovers. Justice must be careful and evidence-based, never rushed or presumptuous.
Most striking is the portrait of the ideal king: a leader who personally copies Scripture, reads it daily, and lets it shape his character. Authority without humility becomes tyranny. Whether we lead a nation or a household, the principle holds — true leadership begins with placing ourselves under God's instruction and refusing to elevate ourselves above those we serve.
Literary Style
This chapter is legislative discourse, presenting case law in conditional form ('If there be found…then shalt thou…'). It moves from sacrificial regulation to judicial procedure to constitutional law for the monarchy. The repeated phrase 'thou shalt put the evil away' functions as a refrain linking the judicial sections, while the king's law in verses 14–20 employs a distinctive series of prohibitions followed by positive commands.