I don’t know if there is any role more prominent in the Old Testament than that of Israel’s king. In fact, throughout the Old Testament, the future and health of the nation of Israel itself seemed to reply upon whether or not its king was pursuing and obeying God. So, it’s difficult to overemphasize the weight which God placed upon the person who would hold the scepter in his hand. Therefore, it seems to me that the instructions which God would have given this leader might have some significance to us today. We find a short list of directives from God about what the king of Israel is and is not supposed to do. And I think there’s some significant application to our lives today.
It is in Deuteronomy 17:14-20 that God delivers a handful of lessons to a king. The first few lessons are in the negative—what the king is not supposed to do—while there is only one in the affirmative.
THE NEGATIVES:Â What a king is not supposed to do
1. (Vs 16) He must not acquire a great number of horses. In the ancient world horses equaled military power. An Israelite king could easily begin to trust too much in his own military might and fail to trust God. The issue here seems to be about the real danger of leaning on our own capabilities rather than upon God’s. Solomon, though he did not always live this out, reminded his reader to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight” (Prov 3:5-6).
NOTE: (Vs 17) He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold. Amassing large amounts of wealth could be seen as a close connection with the above item (military power). The danger with gathering large amounts of wealth is that one’s sense of security can easily be turned to it rather than upon God. If you remember, Jesus had much to say about the dangers of wealth.
2. (Vs 17) He must not take many wives, or his heart will be lead astray. A king’s harem of wives grew as he made peace and trade treaties with surrounding nations and kings. As a part of a national treaty, a king would often marry the daughter of the foreign king, ensuring a peaceful future (you wouldn’t want to invade a country and kill your own daughter). However, the foreign daughter would bring with her the god(s) of her family or nation. And Israel’s God saw that the wife would eventually influence her husband, the king. He would find himself worshiping other God’s (as Solomon did). The first step was usually just appeasing his wife by building a small temple to her god where she could worship.Â
I think there are some other obvious implications why a king wasn’t supposed to have multiple wives. Clearly, God’s standard for what a marriage was supposed to be is seen in Gen 2—one man and one woman (Jesus affirmed the same Genesis intent as the standard in Mk 10:5-9). The marriage relationship is supposed to be a bond of mutual encouragement and deepest trust. A man who has many wives will not develop the yawning intimacy with that one woman he is called to meticulously study and know. And so, he will not have that one voice speaking to him who wants nothing but his best. Rather, he will have competing voices, each trying to claw their way to the top, while forwarding their own agendas (and the latter is exactly what you see scattered across the history is Israel’s kings).Â
POSITIVE: What the king is supposed to do
3. (Vs 18) He is to write for himself a copy of God’s law (this would have been the Torah or Pentateuch—the first 5 books of the OT).Â
Some Observations:
(a) It’s interesting that this is to be the very first official action when one takes the office of king. The first actions of a ruler send a clear signal of what his administration will be about. Note that this would also not be a quick process (imagine copying Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy by hand!). It would have reminded him that before he ever seeks to make royal or personal decisions his must pause to first spend time seeking God’s counsel.
(b) His copy of the Torah is to be kept with him, not stored away somewhere, and he is to read it. He’s not to rely upon someone else (e.g., a priest) to understand God’s will and purposes for his life and for the kingdom. The job of copying the Torah was the job of a priest (later a scribe). But the king was to become a specialist in knowing God’s Word. He was not allowed to leave that to the “experts.”
(c) From regularly reading and internalizing God’s Word, he is to learn several things: (i) to revere or be in awe of his God. Worship is a natural response to this; (ii) to live in obedience to God’s commands and desires; (iii) to not consider himself better than others. All people are sinful and no one stands in a place of superiority with God.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION
1. What are possible dangers in your life if you neglect these above lessons from God?
2. Pick out a Psalm or Proverb that is especially meaningful to you, copy it by hand, and reflect about this process. If you’re not familiar with any, try Ps 1 or 19).
3. What other insights do you have about why God might have told the king to make his own copy of the Torah?
2 Comments on “Lessons from God to a king . . . to us”
The role of the king is to base himself on the teachings of Torah. It is not enough for the king to simply read the laws, edicts and statutes. He must make a copy for himself. But it is not enough to write and then place this writing in an archive. The Torah must travel with him both physically and figuratively. He must constantly study it, review it and keep it close to his heart at all times. By studying these “instructions” and living a life based on these “teachings,” the king keeps himself humble and serves as a “check” on his own power.
I can’t help but try to find parallels to our modern “kings.” I’m sure God did not intend for the above lessons to apply only to Old Testament Israelite kings, but to all rulers and governments who claim to follow Him. With that in mind, it begs questions about our own American government. Never did our nation officially claim to be Christian per se. So, it’s left up to every Senator, Congressman, President, etc. to react to Deut 17:14-20 on their own as appropriate. Getting to the point, if one of our national leaders claims to be Christian, it is my belief that they should abide by these and all other verses in the Bible providing guidance to “kings.”
For Deut 17:14-18 in particular, how would our leaders stand up to those lessons? Have we put too much faith in our military or in our economy? Have we, in making international allies, begun taking on their religious practices and worshiping their gods? Do our leaders carry the Word of God with them, and do their actions both in the office and in their homes reflect that?