Deuteronomy 17:15
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you are to appoint over yourselves the king whom the LORD your God shall choose. Appoint a king from among your brothers; you are not to set over yourselves a foreigner who is not one of your brothers.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
Not only did the inclination to nature-worship, such as the setting up of the idols of Ashera and Baal, belong to the crimes which merited punishment, but also a manifest transgression of the laws concerning the worship of Jehovah, such as the offering of an ox or sheep that had some fault, which was an abomination in the sight of Jehovah (see at Lev 22:20.). "Any evil thing," i.e., any of the faults enumerated in Lev 22:22-24.
Open source ↗The charge of this chapter is, I. Concerning the purity and perfection of all those animals that were offered in sacrifice (Deu 17:1). II. Concerning the punishment of those that worshipped idols (Deu 17:2-7). III. Concerning appeals from the inferior courts to the great sanhedrim (Deu 17:8-13). IV. Concerning the choice and duty of a king (Deu 17:14, etc.).
Open source ↗17:15 the man the Lord your God chooses: Human monarchy was not contrary to God’s will for Israel (cp. 1 Sam 8:6-7)—God promised Abraham and Sarah that their descendants would include kings (Gen 17:6, 16; see also Gen 35:11). But the abuses of kingship were condemned. The theology that views the Messiah in a kingly role (2 Sam 7:11-15; Pss 2; 110; Isa 9:6-7) provides for both human and divine royalty.
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
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Their leader will be one of their own, and their ruler will arise from their midst. And I will bring him near, and he will approach Me, for who would dare on his own to approach Me?” declares the LORD.
He is the one who will build a house for My Name. He will be My son, and I will be his Father. And I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.’
Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the one the LORD has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people.” And all the people shouted, “Long live the king!”
Now these are the numbers of men armed for battle who came to David at Hebron to turn Saul’s kingdom over to him, in accordance with the word of the LORD:
You should have kept your feet from going bare and your throat from being thirsty. But you said, ‘It is hopeless! For I love foreign gods, and I must go after them.’
“I have installed My King on Zion, upon My holy mountain.”
Even in times past, while Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel out and brought them back. And to you the LORD said, ‘You will shepherd My people Israel, and you will be ruler over them.’”
The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together, against the LORD and against His Anointed One:
And of all my sons—for the LORD has given me many sons—He has chosen Solomon my son to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel.
So tell us what You think: Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”