Deuteronomy Chapter 17

At a Glance

  • Deuteronomy 17 addresses governance, justice, and fidelity within Israel’s legal framework.
  • Worship and judicial processes are further clarified: for difficult judgments, the people are to resort to the Levitical priests and the place the LORD will choose.
  • Historical & Literary Context.
  • This chapter belongs to the legal-prophetic strand of Deuteronomy that harmonizes worship, civil governance, and communal ethics.
  • - The seriousness of apostasy and idolatry.

Chapter Overview

Deuteronomy 17 addresses governance, justice, and fidelity within Israel’s legal framework. It begins with prohibiting the worship of defective offerings, stressing the importance of integrity in sacrifice (17:1). The central focus, however, is on judging severe sins—idolatry and covenantal apostasy. If a city or individual is found guilty of worshiping other gods, the prescribed process involves formal inquiry, the testimony of multiple witnesses, and a community response suited to the gravity of the offense. The chapter emphasizes the seriousness of false worship as a contamination that requires communal purification and separation from the evil in the midst of Israel.

Worship and judicial processes are further clarified: for difficult judgments, the people are to resort to the Levitical priests and the place the LORD will choose. The passage underscores due process, forbidding the punishment of capital crimes based on a single witness, which reveals Moses’ concern for justice and fairness within the covenant community. The design is to safeguard Israel from arbitrary justice while maintaining moral clarity about the dangers of idolatry.

Historical & Literary Context

This chapter belongs to the legal-prophetic strand of Deuteronomy that harmonizes worship, civil governance, and communal ethics. The language reflects ancient Near Eastern legal culture but retools it in light of covenant realities. The emphasis on due process, centralization of worship, and the collective responsibility for upholding purity shows how the Deuteronomic authors view order as essential for secure life in the land.

Key Themes

- The seriousness of apostasy and idolatry

- Witnesses and due process in capital cases

- Centralization of worship and priestly authority

- The community’s responsibility to purge evil

- The tension between justice and mercy in covenant life

Modern Application

- Accountability and due process: The text invites modern communities to uphold fairness and due process in dealing with serious offenses, valuing truth, and protecting the vulnerable.

- Guarding worship: The centralization theme challenges contemporary religious settings to guard against syncretism and ensure worship aligns with the revealed will of God.

- Corporate purification: Communities are called to respond to moral corruption decisively but justly, seeking restoration where possible while preserving communal integrity.

- Exodus 22:1-16 (livelihood and justice in family and community)

- Leviticus 24 (blasphemy and punishment)

- 1 Kings 8 (Solomon’s dedication, centralization of worship)

- Matthew 18:15-20 (discipline in the church)

Recommended Personas

- Moses (lawgiving authority and covenant leadership)

- Jesus (fulfillment of the Law and higher righteousness)

- Paul (practice of church discipline and communal life)

- A faithful elder or judge in a community (to translate justice into pastoral care)

Chapter Text

1

Thou shalt not sacrifice unto the LORD thy God any bullock, or sheep, wherein is blemish, or any evilfavouredness: for that is an abomination unto the LORD thy God.

2

If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant,

3

And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded;

4

And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and enquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel:

5

Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die.

6

At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.

7

The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So thou shalt put the evil away from among you.

8

If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates: then shalt thou arise, and get thee up into the place which the LORD thy God shall choose;

9

And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and enquire; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment:

10

And thou shalt do according to the sentence, which they of that place which the LORD shall choose shall shew thee; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee:

11

According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall shew thee, to the right hand, nor to the left.

12

And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth to minister there before the LORD thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel.

13

And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously.

14

When thou art come unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me;

15

Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother.

16

But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.

17

Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

18

And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites:

19

And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them:

20

That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.

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