Deuteronomy
Chapter 17
You shall not sacrifice to the Lord, your God, an ox or sheep with any blemish or defect because the Lord abhors this.
If there is among you, in any of the cities which the Lord will give you, a man or a woman who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord to the point of breaking his covenant,
if they go to serve other gods and bow before them —to the sun, or the moon, or the stars of heaven—which I have forbidden,
and this has been reported to you or you learn of it, you shall begin to investigate the matter well. If you have proved that this abomination has indeed been committed in Israel,
you shall bring to the gates of the city that man or woman who committed the misdeed, and you shall stone him or her to death.
But you will need the testimony of two or three witnesses to condemn a person to death. The accusation of only one witness will not condemn anyone.
The hands of the witnesses shall throw the first stones to kill the accused. Afterwards, all the people shall stone him. In this way, you will make the evil disappear from your midst.
If a complicated case is presented to you that you cannot resolve in the city tribunal, either about murder, a legal dispute, or a quarrel because of injuries, you shall go up to the place chosen by the Lord, your God;
you shall approach the Levite priests and the judge in office at that time. You shall consult them, and they will inform you of the decision regarding the case.
You shall carry out the decision they have made for you in that place chosen by the Lord. You shall act according to their instructions.
You shall follow the instructions or the verdict they have given you without turning aside either to the right or the left from the decision they made for you.
He who dares to act in another way and does not listen to the priest who stands there in the service of the Lord or to the judge, that man will die. You shall banish evil from Israel.
So all the people, upon knowing this, shall fear and not make decisions without the right to do so.
Law of the King
When you come to the land which the Lord, your God, gives you, when you have conquered it and live in it, you shall perhaps say: “I would like to have a king like all the neighboring nations.”
Then you must appoint a king chosen by the Lord from among your brothers. You shall not appoint a foreign king who is not a brother Israelite.
Ensure that your king does not acquire many horses, lest he send his people to Egypt again to get more horses, for the Lord commanded you never to go back that way.
Neither shall he have many women lest they pervert his heart. And neither let him pile up gold and silver.
When he sits on his royal throne, he must make a copy of this law on a scroll given to him by the Levitical priests.
He shall bring it with him and read it every day of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord, keeping all the sayings of the law and putting his precepts into practice.
So let him not become conceited, look down on his brothers, or turn aside from this commandment either to the right or left, so that he and his children may lengthen the days of their reign in Israel.
Commentaries
The Judges: Administration of Justice.
The final verses of chapter 16 (18-20) establish the core principles for how judges and officials—who were supposed to exist during the tribal period—are to administer justice. The oldest traditions about the Exodus describe Moses’ decision to share governing and judging responsibilities for the people’s disputes among seventy elders. This same tradition is presented in the introductory discourse of 1:15-18 and is referenced again here. The authority of the people depends on judges and officials who cannot act solely on their judgment but must follow a standard of justice reflecting God’s will, which the judge and magistrate are responsible for embodying in their actions.
Let’s remember that this text also stems from a need to address judge corruption and the neglect and contempt for the weak and poor (cf. 1 Sm 8:1-3). Although the guideline appears like a plan for the future, “when you enter the land…”, in reality, the people have already experienced a period of decay in their institutions. The text, therefore, looks back at the past and recognizes that such decay and injustice happened because of a lack of a more substantial commitment to the terms of the Covenant, which included righteousness in judgment (cf. Ex 23:6-8).
Law of the King.
From 1 Samuel 8:1-5, we see that the tribal system in Israel was weakened until the monarchy was established (1 Sm 8:6-22). The monarchy was not God’s original plan, but instead was driven by the people’s authorities. The Deuteronomist tradition (D) is critical of most kings, but it overlooks the fact that the real issue was structural, not just temporary; it was the monarchy and everything it represented that led to injustice and created a divide between the rich and the poor, as well as between the city and the countryside. Therefore, 17:14-20 functions not as a warning “for when you enter the land…” but as a painful acknowledgment of all the damage that the monarchy, as a power system and instrument of injustice, had already caused. Verses 18-20, which should be interpreted as a call to the king’s holiness, show that no matter how holy a leader might be—whether political, economic, or religious—it doesn’t change the core nature of the system until it is completely changed. Jesus understood this fully, and we should see his perspective in the passages about the temptations in the Synoptics (cf. Mk 1:12f; Mt 4:1-11; Lk 4:1-13), his clear refusal to be called king (Jn 6:15), and his stern rebuke of Peter when he opposes his messianic mission based on dedication and service. This same understanding and insight that Jesus had are essential for carrying out our Christian mission in the world. Isn’t it crucial to rediscover it?