There were many restrictions concerning kings in today's reading.
Deu 17:14-17
You
will enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you. You will
take possession of it and live there. You will say, "Let's have our own
king like all the other nations around us." Be
sure to appoint the king the LORD your God will choose. He must be one
of your own people. Never let a foreigner be king, because he's not
one of your own people. The king must never own a large number of horses
or make the people return to Egypt to get more horses. The LORD has
told you, "You will never go back there again." The king must never have a large number of wives, or he will turn away from God. And he must never own a lot of gold and silver.
Yet two of the greatest kings, David and Solomon had great numbers of horses, multiple wives, and great wealth.
What kind of country would we have now if our leaders obeyed the following guidelines of a king?
Deut 17:18-20
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. 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 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.
It seems as if each king is to hand write these laws for himself.
There are provisions for respect for rulers. Do not "curse the ruler of your people." No matter how we may feel about a ruler, leader, or boss, we must honor the office. A good practice would be to pray for them daily.
The two witness rule is listed in today's reading. Any sin must be testified to by at least two witnesses.
Deu 19:15
One
witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any
sin, in any sin that he sins. At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the
mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be made sure.
Interestingly, a Jesus' "trials" there were no two witnesses who agreed on the charges brought against Jesus.
What a packed verse this is, “Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong.” Exo 23:2a
What
are the ways that we as Believers in Jesus might follow the crowd in
doing wrong? Sometimes following the crowd may be just to speak a
careless word, just as the rest of the crowd does.
Matt 12:36
But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. Ouch!
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