A Skeptics Journey through the Bible

Deuteronomy 17

Summary: God says to kill anyone with different religious beliefs, to kill anyone who doesn’t listen to the priests and sets up rules for when the Israelites elect a king. 

17:1 Do not sacrifice to the LORD your God an ox or a sheep that has any defect or flaw in it, for that would be detestable to him.

17:2 If a man or woman living among you in one of the towns the LORD gives you is found doing evil in the eyes of the LORD your God in violation of his covenant,

17:3 and contrary to my command has worshiped other gods, bowing down to them or to the sun or the moon or the stars of the sky,

17:4 and this has been brought to your attention, then you must investigate it thoroughly. If it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done in Israel,

17:5 take the man or woman who has done this evil deed to your city gate and stone that person to death.

17:6 On the testimony of two or three witnesses a man shall be put to death, but no one shall be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.

17:7 The hands of the witnesses must be the first in putting him to death, and then the hands of all the people. You must purge the evil from among you.

God says that if you discover and investigate someone who you think has different religious beliefs than their own, and you and others find out that it is true, that person must be put to death. This is a powerful reminder why religion should never be given the kind of power it had to carry out these commands that it once did. Also, why would a merciful God expect the Israelites to immediately kill someone who has different religious beliefs? Wouldn’t he desire the person to repent and come back to worshipping him before the person was killed – and thus command the Israelites to try and reason with that person? 

17:8 If cases come before your courts that are too difficult for you to judge—whether bloodshed, lawsuits or assaults—take them to the place the LORD your God will choose.

17:9 Go to the priests, who are Levites, and to the judge who is in office at that time. Inquire of them and they will give you the verdict.

17:10 You must act according to the decisions they give you at the place the LORD will choose. Be careful to do everything they direct you to do.

17:11 Act according to the law they teach you and the decisions they give you. Do not turn aside from what they tell you, to the right or to the left.

17:12 The man who shows contempt for the judge or for the priest who stands ministering there to the LORD your God must be put to death. You must purge the evil from Israel.

17:13 All the people will hear and be afraid, and will not be contemptuous again. 

God says that all cases that can’t be solved in a regular court should be brought before the Levites for a final verdict. God says that the Israelites are to listen to these priests and says that anyone who does not listen to the priests must be killed. 

17:14 When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,”

17:15 be sure to appoint over you the king the LORD your God chooses. He must be from among your own brothers. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not a brother Israelite.

17:16 The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the LORD has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.”

17:17 He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold. 

In verses 14-20, God provides rules for when the Israelites elect a king. He says that they must elect a king of God’s choosing, and that this king can not be a foreigner. He also says that this king cannot have many wives, lots of money, or have a lot of horses (specifically from Egypt – even though Egypt wouldn’t have many horses after the plauges – Exodus 9:1-7; Exodus 11:5-6.) 

17:18 When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the priests, who are Levites.

17:19 It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees

17:20 and not consider himself better than his brothers and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel. 

Finally, God says that this king must carry on his person a copy of God’s law, and that he must read it every day of his life so that he doesn’t do things contrary to that law.

Final Thoughts on Chapter 17:

This chapter makes it very obvious that God wanted (or at least expected) the Israelites to have a king. If we look ahead, the Book of Judges explains the first 400 years of the Israelites in the Promised Land, and in two places we see that in all this time, Israel did not have a king. As Judges 17:6 and Judges 21:25 both put it: “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.” Later in 1 Samuel 8:3-5, we learn that the judge of Israel, Samuel, was pleaded with by the Israelites to elect a king over them, so that his corrupt sons wouldn’t become a judge themselves. In 1 Samuel 8 through 1 Samuel 12, we learn that Saul is appointed as king, but after sometime steps down from his position. In his parting speech he tells the Israelites:

“Now then, stand still and see this great thing the LORD is about to do before your eyes! Is it not wheat harvest now? I will call on the LORD to send thunder and rain. And you will realize what an evil thing you did in the eyes of the LORD when you asked for a king. Then Samuel called on the LORD, and that same day the LORD sent thunder and rain. So all the people stood in awe of the LORD and of Samuel.” (1 Samuel 12:16-18)

This tells us that both God and Samuel viewed having a king as sinful, so much so that God punished the Israelites for doing so. God even says that he considers their wanting a king a rejection of God being their king (1 Samuel 8:7). But way before that, we see God telling the Israelites to elect a king here in this chapter. These verses do not fit into the overall storyline and that is why many scholars feel that they were added much later, when kings had been established in the nation, and so we find a contradiction.