Deuteronomy 17:16

"you shall surely set him whom the LORD your God chooses as king over yourselves. You shall set as king over you one from among your brothers. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother."

Key Reflection

In Deuteronomy 17:16, Moses instructs the Israelites that their king must come from among their own brothers and be chosen by the Lord. This stipulation underscores the importance of maintaining a sense of national unity and loyalty to God; setting a foreigner as king could undermine these values. The original audience would have understood this as a safeguard against the assimilation of foreign customs and the potential loss of their distinct identity, ensuring that the monarchy remained a tool for upholding the covenant between Israel and God.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

The horse was not anciently used in the East for purposes of agriculture or traveling, but ordinarily for war only. He appears constantly in Scripture as the symbol and embodiment of fleshly strength and the might of the creature (comparePsalms 20:7;Psalms 33:16-17;Psalms 147:10;Job 39:19ff), and is sometimes significantly spoken of simply as “the strong one” (compareJeremiah 8:16). The spirit of the prohibition therefore is that the king of Israel must not, like other earthly potentates, put his trust in costly and formidable preparations for war (compareHosea 1:7).

Related Verses

More from Deuteronomy 17

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