Week 10 Deuteronomy 17
Moses is talking about Israel’s leaders – the priests and judges – but he suddenly looks forward and predicts that Israel-in-the-Promised-Land will decide they want a king.
Wanting a king is okay. And it’s maybe inevitable. But the Lord has some guidelines. A future king is supposed to:
Be chosen by the Lord
Be a native-born Hebrew
Not collect a lot of horses
Not have a lot of wives
Not use his position to gain personal wealth
Keep a copy of the law on hand
Read that law…and obey it…and fear the Lord
Not be proud or arrogant.
Since I’ve read about the kings I know there’ll be trouble ahead. I think about the Big Three only – Saul-David-Solomon. They check the first two boxes. But look at the three “NOT” guidelines. David and Solomon had a bunch of wives. Solomon collected stables full of horses. And I don’t know how much wealth the others acquired but Solomon had buckets of cash. Fearing the Lord and not being arrogant are harder to assess. But it’s safe to say that Saul & Solomon fell seriously short in those categories.
So even in this short list it’s really only David who makes the cut (and I know the big majority of kings after Saul-David-Solomon fail too).
But the guidelines are there. And like all the other regulations it’s a matter of watching to see who pays attention to them.
Note: Moses’ guidelines for kings are in Deuteronomy 17:15-20.