Statutes for the King
Introduction: The Politics of God
Every political philosophy is, at bottom, a theology. Men are incorrigibly religious, and when they cease to worship the one true God, they do not then worship nothing. They worship anything and everything else. They will worship the state, they will worship the party, they will worship the revolution, or they will worship the abstraction of "the people." And this worship always manifests itself in the kind of rulers they select and the kind of laws they enact.
Moses, speaking for God, anticipates a moment in Israel's future when they will be settled in the land and will look around at their neighbors. They will see the glittering pomp of pagan kings, the impressive chariot armies, the sprawling palaces, and the harems that served as political treaties. And they will be tempted by envy. They will say, "I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me." This is the perennial temptation of the people of God: to seek security, stability, and significance by imitating the world. It is the desire for a political savior who looks and acts just like the world's saviors.
But God, in His wisdom, does not simply forbid this. He anticipates it, grants the request, and then immediately lays down the law for it. He co-opts their worldly desire and sanctifies it, boxing it in with divine restrictions. He says, in effect, "You want a king? Very well. But he will be My kind of king. He will not be a Pharaoh, or a Hammurabi, or a Caesar. He will be a brother, under law, accountable to Me." This passage is not merely an ancient law for Israel's monarchy. It is the foundational constitution for all godly authority on earth. It gives us the negative constraints and the positive duties for anyone who would wield power in the name of God. And in doing so, it sets up a standard that no earthly king could meet, pointing us forward to the one true King who would.
The Text
"When you enter the land which Yahweh your God gives you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say, 'I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me,' you shall surely set a king over you whom Yahweh your God chooses, one from among your brothers you shall set as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your brother. Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses. Yahweh has said to you, 'You shall never again return that way.' And he shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself.
Now it will be when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear Yahweh his God, to carefully observe all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left, so that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his sons in the midst of Israel."
(Deuteronomy 17:14-20 LSB)
A Concession and a Condition (vv. 14-15)
The first thing to notice is the setup.
"When you enter the land... and you say, 'I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me,' you shall surely set a king over you whom Yahweh your God chooses..." (Deuteronomy 17:14-15)
The desire for a king originates with the people, and it is a desire born of spiritual insecurity. They want to be "like all the nations." This is the same impulse that leads to syncretism in worship and compromise in ethics. It is the fear of man, the desire for worldly respectability. God's ideal, outlined in the book of Judges, was for Him to be their king, ruling directly through His law and raising up deliverers as needed. But He knows His people. He knows their weakness. So He makes a concession, but He immediately attaches a non-negotiable condition: "whom Yahweh your God chooses."
The people may request, but God retains the veto. The people may desire a king, but God does the appointing. This establishes the principle of divine sovereignty over all human government. Rulers do not receive their authority from the consent of the governed, though that is the typical mechanism. They receive their authority from God Himself (Romans 13:1). He is the one who sets up kings and pulls them down. Any government that forgets this becomes a law unto itself, which is the definition of tyranny.
Furthermore, the king must be "one from among your brothers." He cannot be a foreigner. This is not about racial purity. It is about covenantal solidarity. The king must be one of them, under the same covenant, bound by the same laws, and accountable to the same God. The pagan kings of the ancient world were often considered divine, a different class of being. But the Israelite king was to be a brother-king. He was not above the law; he was its chief servant. This is a radical concept, a stake driven through the heart of all political idolatry.
The Three Prohibitions (vv. 16-17)
God then lays down three specific prohibitions, targeting the classic temptations that come with power: military might, sensual pleasure, and material wealth.
"Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses... And he shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself." (Deuteronomy 17:16-17 LSB)
First, he must not multiply horses. Horses were the advanced military technology of the day. A large cavalry was the mark of a great power. But for Israel, a large army of chariots represented a specific kind of temptation: self-reliance. To trust in horses is to not trust in Yahweh. As the psalmist says, "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God" (Psalm 20:7). The explicit link to Egypt is crucial. Egypt was the premier horse market, but it was also the house of bondage from which God had delivered them. For the king to go back to Egypt for horses was to spiritually return to the slave mentality, to trust in the strength of the oppressor rather than the strength of the Redeemer.
Second, he must not multiply wives. In the ancient Near East, royal marriages were political treaties. A large harem was a display of international power and influence. But God says no. Why? "Or else his heart will turn away." This is not primarily about the logistical nightmare of a thousand mothers-in-law. It is about spiritual adultery. These foreign wives would bring their foreign gods, and the king's heart would be divided. He would be tempted to compromise his worship of Yahweh in order to keep his political alliances happy. This is precisely what happened to Solomon, the wisest man in the world, who was made a fool by this very temptation (1 Kings 11).
Third, he must not greatly increase silver and gold for himself. This is a prohibition on personal avarice and the oppressive taxation required to support it. A king obsessed with enriching himself will inevitably view his people as a resource to be plundered rather than a flock to be shepherded. It leads to pride, luxury, and a deafness to the cries of the poor and the demands of justice. The king is to be a public servant, not a public parasite.
The King's Positive Duty (vv. 18-20)
After the three "he shall nots," we come to the great "he shall." This is the central, positive command for the king. This is his primary job description.
"Now it will be when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests." (Deuteronomy 17:18 LSB)
Before he issues a single decree, before he levies a tax or musters an army, he must perform this foundational act of submission. He is to take a scroll and, with his own hand, write out a copy of God's law. He cannot delegate this. He cannot have a scribe do it for him. The very process of writing forces him to slow down, to meditate on every word, to engage with the text in the most intimate way possible. This act, performed in the presence of the priests, is a public declaration that he, the king, is under a higher authority. He is submitting his reign to the reign of God's Word from day one.
And this is not a one-time coronation stunt. The purpose is lifelong immersion in Scripture. "And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life" (v. 19). The law is to be his constant companion, his chief counselor. The goals of this discipline are explicitly stated. First, "that he may learn to fear Yahweh his God." All true wisdom and just rule begins with the fear of the Lord. Second, "to carefully observe all the words of this law." He is not to be a creative legislator, inventing laws from his own brilliant mind. He is to be a faithful administrator of God's pre-existing law.
The Blessed Results
The passage concludes by outlining the fruit of this kind of law-saturated leadership.
"...that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left, so that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his sons in the midst of Israel." (Deuteronomy 17:20 LSB)
The first result is humility. Reading God's law daily reminds the king that he is a man, a sinner, and a brother, no better than the least of his subjects. It prevents his heart from being "lifted up." Pride is the occupational hazard of leadership, and the only antidote is a steady diet of God's Word, which levels all men before their Maker. He is not a god-king; he is a brother-king.
The second result is stability and faithfulness. The law provides a fixed point, a true north, that keeps him from turning "to the right or the left." He is not swayed by political fads, popular opinion, or pragmatic shortcuts. He walks a straight path. The result of this humble, faithful rule is covenantal blessing: "that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his sons." A just and stable society is the fruit of submission to God's Word. When the king obeys, the kingdom is blessed with longevity and peace.
The King Who Succeeded
Of course, as we read through the history of Israel, we see a tragic story of failure. No king lived up to this standard. The story of Israel's monarchy is largely the story of kings who multiplied horses, wives, and gold, and who did not have the law of God before them. Solomon, who should have been the exemplar, became the great cautionary tale, failing on all three prohibitions spectacularly.
This perfect standard was not given because God expected a fallen man to keep it perfectly. It was given to show Israel their need for a different kind of king. It was given to make them long for the true Son of David who would fulfill this law completely.
Jesus Christ is the King whom Yahweh chose. He is our true brother, not ashamed to call us brethren. He did not multiply horses, but entered Jerusalem on a donkey, in humility. He did not multiply wives, but has one spotless bride, the Church, for whom He gave His life. He did not multiply silver and gold, but had no place to lay His head. He is the King who did not just write the law on a scroll, but had the law written on His heart. He is the living Word of God. His heart was never lifted up in pride, but was humbled to the point of death on a cross. He never turned aside to the right or to the left, but perfectly fulfilled the will of His Father. And because of His perfect obedience, He has prolonged His days in an eternal kingdom, and we, as His sons, will reign with Him forever.
This law for the king is therefore a law for us, His people. We are a royal priesthood. We must guard ourselves against the temptations of power, sex, and money. And we must do so by the same means prescribed for the king. We must have the Word of God with us. We must read it all the days of our lives, so that we might learn to fear God, to obey His commands, and to walk in humility with our brothers. This is the path of the true King, and it is the only path to a life of lasting blessing.