Useful to GodSample

Studious

Looking toward a time when Israel will be established in the Promised Land, God gives Israel instructions related to Israel’s future king. God will choose the king from among the Israelite people (17:15). He is to avoid the trappings of power by depending on God for security rather than acquiring horses (17:16). He will not send them back to Egypt to acquire horses, nor will he trade the people for them (17:16; cf. 1 Kings 9:11-4; 10:26-29).

The king is also to avoid the trappings of status. By marrying multiple wives, the king could build a coalition of nations willing and able to support Israel and allow the king an audience with others in positions of power. The Lord prohibits the king from acquiring many wives “lest his heart turn away” (17:17). Marrying foreign wives could tempt the king to adopt non-Israelite religious practices and beliefs (7:3-4). The alliances forged and the accumulation of wealth (17:17) would also give the king a false sense of security. The more confidence the king places in his military, alliances, and wealth, the less important God may seem. The king would be in danger of using his office for his own purposes and benefit.

Rather than following the logical, political paths of other rulers, Israel’s king was to be a student of the law. Each year he was to write a copy of the law that would be approved by the levitical priests (17:18). The king sits under the authority of God and his law. He is not a law unto himself.

The king is also to read and do the law (17:19). He does not serve his own interests at the expense of the law or the people of Israel (17:20). Instead, through obedience, the king will “continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel” (17:20).

While we are not kings, we need to embed God’s word in our hearts in the same way. As a people called from darkness to light, we must learn to live in the light and help others do so as well (1 Tim 4:11-16; 1 Pet 2:9). To do so requires that we be students of God’s word to avoid the trappings of this world by learning to delight in God’s instruction (Psalm 1:1-2).