Law – Deuteronomy 16-19

In today’s passage, Moses reminded the people on quite a variety of things.  Maybe for us, it is the reminder to keep the Feast of the Tabernacles that is most timely as our Year End Spiritual Meeting starts on Thursday evening next week.

Have you prepared yourself to participate fully this time?  There should be no excuse as next Friday is a public holiday and we should all be able to attend all 3 days.  It’s only 3 days … when you compare it to the 7 days that the Jews had to keep for the Feast of the Tabernacles.

But that is not what I will be sharing today.  What passage made me think more today?

Bible Passage:  Deuteronomy 16-19

The other night my family were reading 1 Peter the other night when we came across the famous verse in 1 Peter 2:9 that says we are a royal priesthood, a special people of God.  I challenged my daughters to think about what this actually meant and of what significance does it hold for us.

Even back in Deuteronomy, way before the start of the kings, God already knew that the people would want to have a king to rule them in the promised land.  That was the reason why specific guidelines that the kings of the Israelites should follow were given even though at that time, Moses was their leader and there was no king in sight.

By following these guidelines, the Hebrews would more likely to install a king who would exercise control in a godly fashion and resist the abuses for which leaders in other nations were notorious for.

We are called royal priests.  We are kings of ourselves with God our ultimate King.  But ultimately, there guidelines for a king is worthy for us to consider today for ourselves as well.

Criteria for a King

Let’s read Deuteronomy 17:14-20 to see what God has laid down for what a king should be…

He Should Be Chosen By God

you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses; one from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother.

Deut 17:15

The king was to be chosen by God from among the Israelites.  The choice is not by popular election or by someone working hard for the position.

It is God’s choosing for the person to be His servant to the nation (Deut 17:20).

This reminds us that we are His totally by His choosing.  We have done nothing deserving of this honour and grace.  We are in this position because God chose us.

What a privilege! How do you repay God for this grace?

He Should Not Be Dependent on the Military

But he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for the LORD has said to you, ‘You shall not return that way again.’

Deut 17:16

The king was not to ‘multiply horses’.  Other kings during those times would build mighty armies and trusted in military might.  Horse drawn charioys were especially prized as a major battlefield technology of the day.

But like so many armaments today, chariots and the horses to pull them were expensive and would lead to excessive taxation.

Not only this, by maintaining a large army, this would drain the resources of the nation.

But worse of all, by having a huge army, it will cause the king to be proud and put his trust in his military powers.

This again reminds us on what do we place our trust in?

Do we expend all our time and efforts in amassing for us wealth and ‘horses’ so that we can feel secure?  Do we place our trust on our bank accounts or careers?

Jesus reminds us that we are to seek first His kingdom and righteousness and all that we need will be added to us.  Do we believe that?  Or we prefer to have our ‘horses’…. just in case?

He Should Not Be Allied with Superpowers

But he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for the LORD has said to you, ‘You shall not return that way again.’

Deut 17:16

Nope… I did not make a mistake and repeat the wrong verse. 🙂

Here the king was not to send envoys to Egypt to trade horses or even to enlist Egyptian armies.  Doing so would lead Israel back to the pagan values and pleasures it had left behind.  Moreever, Egypt had come to depend on horse drawn chariots.  But Israel defeated them by relying on a totally different power – one rooted in the promises and fellowship with God.

It is tempting for us when we are faced with troubles to run around looking for help.  Sometimes we are even willing to make a ‘pact with the devil’ just to get out of trouble – we approach all sorts of people for help… and forget that we have a God who knows our problems even without us having to say anything.

But now we have this Lord of Lords – are we going to going to turn to another for help?  Silly isn’t it?  But why do I still do it?

He Shall Not Multiply Wives for Himself

Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself.

Deut 17:17

It is the desire of many men to have as many beautiful women as possible.

And many of the kings in those days have the power and authority to do so.  They could fulfill the desires of men everywhere.

But God warned that the king against these ties.  Many of the wives would come from other nations – married because of alliances.  And besides it being a sin, these women also tends to turn the hearts of man away from God.  And this proved to be the downfall of Solomon and other kings.

Who is solely in our hearts?  Do we have many ‘wives’ in our hearts?  Do these wives turn our hearts away from whole hearted worship of God?

We must be careful… for where our treasure is, so is our heart.  If we have many things that we treasure, our hearts will not be set only on God … and we will be drawn away.

He Should Not Be Excessively Wealthy

Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself.

Deut 17:17

Again a repeated verse! 🙂

It is all to easy once we are wealthy to become puffed up with pride and forget that God owns everything.

Very much like having too many horses isn’t it?

He Should Devote Himself to The Law

“Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites. ¹⁹ And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes,

Deut 17:18-19

The king was to write his own copy of the Law – perhaps even in his own handwriting – which he was to read daily and observe diligently so that:

• He would remain humble
• He would follow God’s ways
• He would prolong his life; amd
• He would prolong his kingdom through his children

When the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition was in town recently, we saw amongst the exhibits an interesting project that another church had undertaken.  They actually had members or even families writing down different chapters of the Bible in volumes of book.

This reminded me of one of our deacons now, who used to copy out chapters of the Bible in his bible reading.  He did this cause it helped him remember the Bible better.

I think they all had the right idea here.  In putting effort to copy the Words of God, this very action helps to imprint the Word of God better into your mind (and hopefully your heart) than if you just read it.

In fact, this is something we may want to try doing next year!

But the important lesson is that even for the king, he is to read the Scriptures daily and observe them.

This daily Bible Reading is a good habit.  We have come so far this year.  Let’s start again next year!

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