Deuteronomy 17

THou shalt not sacrifice unto the LORD thy God any bullock or sheep (i. e.) Either greater or smaller sacrifices, all being comprehended under the two most eminent kinds. See on Levit. 22. 20, 21., wherein is blemish, or any evil-favouredness: for that is an abomination (i. e.) Abhominable, as Deut. 18. 12. unto the LORD thy God.

If there be found among you within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman The weakness and tenderness of that Sex shall not excuse her sin nor prevent her punishment. that has wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant i. e. In Idolatry, as it is explained v. 3. which is called a transgressing of Gods Covenant made with Israel, partly because it is a breach of their faith given to God and of that Law which they covenanted to keep, and principally because it is a dissolution of their matrimonial Covenant with God, a renouncing of God and his worship and service, and a choosing other Gods.:

And has gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or the moon, or any of the host of heaven Those glorious creatures, which are to be admired as the wonderful works of God, but not to be set up in Gods stead, nor worshipped as Gods; see Iob 31. 26. By condemning the most specious and reasonable of all Idolatries, he intimates, how absurd a thing it is to worship stocks and stones, the works of mens hands., which I have not commanded (i. e.) I have forbidden, to wit, Exod. 20. Such negative expressions are oft emphatical and imply the contrary, as Prov. 10. 2. and 17. 21. and 24. 23.:

And it be told thee By any person, thou shalt not sleight so much as a rumour or flying report of so gross a crime., and thou hast heard of it, and enquired diligently By sending messengers, examining witnesses, &c., and behold, it be true: and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel:

Then 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.

At the mouth (i. e.) Upon the Testimony delivered upon oath before the Magistrates. of two witnesses, or three witnesses To wit, credible and competent witnesses. The Jews rejected the Testimonies of Mad-men, Children, Women, Servants, familiar Friends or Enemies, persons of dissolute lives and evil fame., 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.

The hand of the witnesses shall be first upon him Either laid upon his head to design the person, or stretched out to throw the first stone at him. God thus ordered it, partly for the caution of witnesses, that, if they had through malice or wrath accused him falsely, they might now be afraid to imbrue their hands in innocent blood; partly for the security and satisfaction of the people in the execution of this punishment., to put him to death and afterward the hand of all the people Who being all highly and particularly obliged to God, are bound to express their zeal for his honour and service, and their detestation of all persons and things so highly dishonourable and abominable to him.: so thou shalt put the evil away from among you.

If there arise a matter too hard for thee He speaks to the inferiour Magistrates, who were erected in several Cities, as appears by the opposition of these to them at Ierusalem. If, faith he, that thou hast not skill or confidence to determine so weighty and difficult a cause. in judgment, between blood and blood (i. e.) In capital causes in matter of bloodshed, whether it be wilful or casual murder, whether punishable or pardonable by those laws, Exod. 21. 13, 20, 22, 28. and 22. 2. Numb. 35. 11, 16, 19. Deut. 19. 4, 10., between plea and plea In civil causes or suits between plaintifs and defendants about words or Estates., and between stroke and stroke (i. e.) Either 1. In Ceremonial causes, between plague and plague, between the true leprosie, which is oft times called the plague, and the seeming and counterfeit leprosie; which was oft times hard to determine. And under this, as the most eminent of the kind, may seem to be contained all ceremonial uncleannesses. But this seems not probable. 1. Because the final determination of the matter of leprosie is manifestly left to any particular Priest, Levit. 13. and 14. 2. because the person suspected of leprosie was not to be brought to Ierusalem, to be tryed there, but was to be shut up in his own city and house, Levit. 13. 4, 5. and the Judges at Ierusalem neither could nor would determine his case without once seeing the person. 3. Because the case of leprosy was not hard or difficult, as those causes are said to be, but plain and evident, and so particularly and punctually described, that the Priest needed only eyes to decide it. Or rather, 2. In Criminal Causes, concerning blows, or wounds inflicted by one man upon another, and to be requited to him by the sentence of the Magistrate according to that law, Exod. 21. 23, 24, 25. wherein there might be many cases of great difficulty and doubt, about which see the Annotations there., being matters of controversie (i. e.) Such things or matters of blood and pleas and strokes being doubtful, and the Magistrates divided in their opinions about it, for if it was a clear cause, this was not to be done. Some make this an additional clause to comprehend these and all other things thus, as if he had said, and in general, any words or matters of strifes or contentions. within thy gates: then shalt thou arise, and get thee up into the place which the LORD thy God shall choose To wit, to set up his Worship and Tabernacle, or Temple there; because there was the abode, both of their Sanhedrim, or chief Councel, which was constituted of Priests and civil Magistrates, who were most able to determine all controversies, and of the High-Priests, who were to consult God by Urim, Numb. 27. 21. in great matters, which could not be decided otherwise.:

And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites (i. e.) Unto the great councel, which it is here denominated from, because it consisted chiefly of the Priests and Levites, as being the best Expositors of the Laws of God, by which all those Controversies mentioned v. 8. were to be decided. And the High-Priest was commonly one of that number, and may seem to be understood here under the Priests whereof he was the chief., and unto the judg This Iudge here is, either 1. The supream civil Magistaate, who was made by God the keeper of both Tables, and was by his Office to take care for the right administration both of justice, and of Religion, who was to determine causes and suits by his own skill and authority in civil matters, and by the Priests direction in spiritual or sacred causes. But this seems obnoxious to some difficulties, because this Judge was obliged to dwell in the place of Gods Worship, which the civil Magistrate was not, and oft times did not: 2 This Judge is one whose Office it was to expound and teach others the Law of God, as it here follows, v. 11. therefore not the civil Magistrate. Or 2. The High-Priest, who was obliged to live in this place, to whom it belonged to determine some at least of those controversies mentioned v. 8. and to teach and expound the Law of God. And he may be distinctly named, though he be one of the Priests, partly because of his eminency and superiority over the rest of them, as after all Davids enemies: Saul is particularly mentioned, Psal. 18. title. and partly to show that amongst the Priests, he especially was to be consulted in such cases. But this also seems liable to objections. 1. That he seems to be included under that general expression of the Priests and Levites. 2. That the High-Priest is never in all the Scripture called simply the Iudge, but generally called the Priest, or the High-Priest, or chief-Priest, or the like; and it is most probable if Moses had meant him here, he would have expressed him by some of his usual Names and Titles, and not by a strange Title which was not likely to be understood. 3. That divers controversies between blood and blood, plea and plea, stroke and stroke, were not to be determined by the High-Priest, but by other Persons, as appears by Exod. 18. 22. Deut. 1. 16, 17. Or, 3. The Sanhedrim or Supreme Councel, which as was said before, consisted partly of Priests, and partly of wise and learned persons of other tribes, as is confessed by all the Iewish, and most other writers. And so this is added by way of explication, partly to show that the Priests and Levites here mentioned, as the persons to whom all hard controversies are to be referred, are not all the Priests and Levites which should reside in Ierusalem, but only such of them as were or should be Members of that great Councel, by whom, together with their fellow-Members of other Tribes these causes were to be decided, partly to intimate, that that great Councel which had the chief and final determination of all the abovesaid controversies, was a mixed assembly consisting of wise and good men, some Ecclesiastical, and some Secular; as it was most meet it should be, because many of the causes which were brought unto them were mixed causes. As for the Conjunctive particle, and, that may be taken either disjunctively for or, as it is Exod. 21. 15, 17. compared with Matt. 15. 4. and Numb. 30. 5, 6. compared with Matt. 12. 37. and Levit. 6. 3, 5. 2 Sam. 2. 19. 21. or exegetically, for, that is, or, to wit, as Iudg. 7. 24. 1 Sam. 17. 40. and 28. 3. 2 Chron. 35. 14. and so the sense may be, the Priests, the Levites, or the Iudge, as it is, v. 12. or, the Priests, the Levites, that is, the Iudge, or the Iudges appointed for this work. And though the word Iudge be of the singular number, and may seem to denote one person, yet it is only an Enallage, or change of the number, the singular for the plural, Iudges which is most frequent, as Gen. 3. 2, 7. and 49. 6. 1 Sam. 31. 1. 1 King. 10. 22. and 2 King. 11. 10. compared with 2 Chron. 9. 21. and 23. 9. and in the Hebrew, 1 Chron. 4. 42. where divers Officers are called one Head. And so it is most probably here. 1. Because the following words which belong to this, run altogether in the plural number, they, they, they, &c. here and v. 10, 11. 2. Because here is the same Enallage in the other branch, the same person or persons being called the Priests here, and the Priest, v. 12. 3. Because for the judge here is put the Iudges, Deut. 19. 17. where we have the same phrase used upon the same or a like occasion, the men between whom the controversie is shall stand before the Lord, before the Priests and the Iudges, which shall be in those days. Nor is it strange, but very fit and reasonable, that so many persons being all united in one body, and to give judgment or sentence by the consent of all, or the greatest part should be here called by the name of one Iudge, as indeed they were; and for that reason, the Priests are spoken of in the plural number, because they were many, as also the other members of that Assembly were, and the Iudge in the singular number, because they all constituted but one Judge. that shall be in those days, and enquire, and they shall show thee the sentence of judgment Heb. The word, or matter of judgment, i. e. the true state and right of the cause, and what judgment or sentence ought to be given in it..

And thou shalt (i. e.) Thou shalt pass sentence: for he speaks to the inferiour Magistrates; as was before noted, who were to give sentence, and came hither to be advised about it. do according to the sentence, which they of that place (which the LORD shall choose) shall show thee, and thou shalt observe to do It is very observable that this place does not speak of all controversies of faith; as if they were to believe every thing which they should teach, but only of some particular matters of practise and strife between man and man, to which it is plainly limited, v. 8. And they are not here commanded to believe, but only to do, which is thrice repeated. according to all that they inform thee:

According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee These words are a manifest limitation of the foregoing assertion, that they were to do according to all that the Judge or Judges informed him. And they seem to limit and regulate 1. The Judges in their sentence, that they shall not upon pretence of this supreme Authority, put into their hands, presume to teach or direct otherwise than the Law prescribes: 2. The people in their obedience: that they shall not simply obey them in all things, but so far forth as their sentence is according to the Law and Word of God, but not when their commands are evidently contrary to Gods Law, for then, say even Popish Commentatours on this place, they must obey God rather than Man. And this cannot be denyed by any man of sense, upon supposition that this place speaks of, and this power given to the Priest or Judge reacheth to, all controversies or questions of faith and manners, as the Papists would extend it: For put case these Priests or Judges should give a sentence directly contrary to the express words of Gods Law, Thou shalt worship a graven Image, as Aaron did in the case of the calf; thou shalt prophane the Sabbath, thou shalt dishonour thy Father and Mother, thou shalt Murder, Steal, commit Adultery, &c. I ask, were the people in this case bound to do as the Judge determined, or not? If any say they were, such a bold and wicked assertion must needs strike all sober Christians with horrour; and if they say they were not, then this must needs be taken for a limitation. But if this place speak only of particular suits between man and man, as is apparent from the notes on v. 8. And in all such cases although the Judge be hereby confined and tied to his rule in giving the sentence, yet it seems but fit and reasonable that people should be bound simply to acquiesce in the sentence of their last and highest Judge, or else there would have been no end of strife., and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall show thee, to the right hand, nor to the left.

And the man that will do presumptuously (i. e.) That will proudly and obstinately oppose the sentence given against him. This is opposite to ignorance and errour, Exod. 21. 13, 14., 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 Either 1. The evil thing, that scandal, that pernicious example. Or, 2. That evil, refractary, pernicious person, whose practise herein tends to the dissolution of all Government, and the ruine of the Commonwealth of Israel. from Israel.

And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously.

When 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 He only foresees and foretells what they would do, but does not seem to approve of it, because when they did this thing for this very reason here alledged, he declares his utter dislike of it, 1 Sam. 8. 7., like as all the nations that are about me:

Thou shalt in any wise set (i. e.) Appoint, or instal. If you will choose a King, which I shall suffer you to do, I command you to observe this in your choice. him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose Approve of, or appoint. So it was in Saul, and in David. God reserved to himself the nomination both of the Family, and of the person. See 1 Sam. 9. 15. & 10. 24. and 16. 12. 1 Chron. 28. 4, 5.. One from among thy brethren Of the same nation and Religion; partly because such a person was most likely to maintain true Religion, and to rule with righteousness, gentleness, and kindness to his subjects; and partly that he might be a fit type of Christ their supream King, who was to be one of their brethren. shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee To wit, by thy own choice and consent; but if God by his providence and for their sins should set a stranger over them, they might submit to him, as appears from Ier. 38. 17. Ezek. 17. 12. Mat. 22. 17., which is not thy brother.

But he shall not multiply horses to himself To wit, excessively, beyond what the State and Majesty of his place required. Hereby God would prevent many sins and mischiefs, as 1. Pride of heart, and contempt of his people. 2. Oppression and Tyranny, and the Imposition of unnecessary burdens upon his people. 3. Carnal confidence, which by this means would be promoted. See Psal. 33. 17. Prov. 21. 31. 4 Much commerce with Egppt, as it here follows, which was famous for Horses, as appears from Exod. 14. 23. 1 King. 10. 26, 28. 2 Chron. 1. 16. and 9. 28. Isa. 31. 1, 3. Ezek. 17. 5., nor cause the people to return to Egypt Either for habitation; or for trade. This God forbad to prevent, 1. Their unthankfulness for their deliverance out of Egypt; 2. Their confederacies with the Egyptians, their trusting to them for aid, which they were very prone to, and their infection by the Idolatry and other manifold wickednesses, for which Egypt was infamous. 3. Their multiplication of Horses, as it here follows., to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD has said When or where? Answ. Either implicitely, when he showed his dislike of their return to Egypt, as Exod. 13. 17. Numb. 14. 3, 4. or expresly at this time, The Lord has now said it to me, and I in his name, and by his command declare it to you. unto you, ye shall henceforth no more return that way In the way that leads to that place..

Neither shall he multiply wives to himself As the manner of other Kings was., that his heart turn not away To wit, from God and his law, Either 1. To Idolatry and Superstition, to which women are oft times prone, and especially such women as he was likely to choose, even the Daughters of Neighbouring and Idolatrous Kings and Princes, as Solomon did: Or, 2. To other manifold sins and violations of his duty to his people, either by neglect and contempt of his business through effeminacy and sloath, or by oppressing his people, and perverting justice to comply with the vast and exorbitant desires of his Wives. Least this should lift up his heart in confidence and pride, which God abhorrs, and beget in him a contempt of his people; and least it should encline or engage, or enable him to burden his people with immoderate exactions. They are not simply forbidden to be rich, if God made them so either by the voluntary gifts of their subjects, or by the spoils of their enemies, which was the case of David and Solomon, and Iehoshaphat, &c. but they are forbidden either inordinately to desire, or irregularly, to procure great richs by grinding the faces of their poor people, or by other wicked arts and courses, as the manner of their neighbouring Kings was.: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself n silver and gold.

And it shall be when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write Either with his own hand, as the Jews say, or, at least by his command and procurement. him a copy of this law in a book, out of that which is before the priests the Levites (i. e.) Out of the true Original, which was carefully kept by the Priests in the Sanctuary; Deut. 31. 26. 2 King. 22. 8. partly that it might be a true and perfect copy, and partly that it might have the greater authority and influence upon him, coming to him, as from the hand and presence of God..

And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life (i. e.) Diligently and constantly, neither the greatness of his place, nor the weight and multitude of his business shall excuse or hinder him., that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law, and these statutes, to do them:

That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren He intimates, that the Scriptures diligently read and studied, are a powerful and probable means to keep him humble, because they show him that, though a king, he is subject to an higher Monarch, to whom he must give an account of all his administrations and actions, and receive from him his sentence and doom agreeable to their quality, which is sufficient to abate the pride of the haughtiest person in the world, if he duly consider it., 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.