Modern society has a crime problem. One of the reasons we have a crime problem is because our society has a lax attitude toward crime. We tolerate it. That is very different from what we will read in today’s passage. Moses gave Israel instructions on how to deal with idolaters. There was to be no tolerance for that. Perhaps if we looked at crime the way Israel was to look at idolatry, we would not have so many problems with crime.
Chapter 17 is part of a long dialogue which Moses delivered to the Israelites on the east bank of the Jordan River, preparing them to cross the river into the Promised Land. Yesterday, we finished reading chapter 16 in which Moses reviewed the feasts which Israel was required to celebrate every year. At the end of the chapter, Moses gave an order to appoint judges in every town and emphasized the necessity for the judges to be fair and impartial.
Deut. 17:1 ¶ “You shall not sacrifice to Yahweh your God an ox or a sheep which has a defect or any blemish, for that is an abominable thing to Yahweh your God.
Take note of the word “abominable”. Sacrificing an animal with a defect was an abomination. That is strong language. This should prompt us to ask if it is an abomination when we don’t give God our best.
Deut. 17:2 ¶ “If there is found in your midst, in any of your gates of the towns which Yahweh your God is giving you, a man or a woman who does what is evil in the sight of Yahweh your God, by trespassing against His covenant,
Deut. 17:3 and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun or the moon or any of the heavenly host, which I have not commanded,
Deut. 17:4 and if it is told to you and you have heard of it, then you shall inquire thoroughly. Behold, if it is true and the matter is confirmed that this abomination has been done in Israel,
Once again we see the word “abomination”. Idolatry was an abomination.
Deut. 17:5 then you shall bring out that man or that woman who has done this evil deed to your gates, that is, the man or the woman, and you shall stone them, and they will die.
Look at the word “evil”. Worshipping anything other than Yahweh was evil.
Don’t miss the words “stone” and “die”. Idolaters were to be put to death.
Deut. 17:6 On the mouth of two witnesses or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the mouth of one witness.
Take note that one witness was not enough.
Deut. 17:7 The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.
Don’t miss the fact that the witnesses had to cast the first stone. The Mosaic Law was strict. The death penalty was required for many sins. At the same time, it had huge safeguards against putting an innocent person to death. There had to be more than one witness, and the witnesses had to be so certain about what they saw that they were willing to cast the first stone.
Notice the phrase “you shall purge the evil from your midst.” The success of their justice system required the populace to be willing to purge evil. If the witnesses had too much mercy and were not willing to cast the first stone even though they clearly saw someone commit a sin, then the evil would not be purged.
One of the biggest reasons we have a problem with crime today is that too many people in our society are not willing to deal with crime. Our society has been feminized, and we want to treat criminals with kid gloves rather than punish them for their crimes and prevent them from committing future crimes.
Deut. 17:8 ¶ “If any case is too difficult for you to judge, between one kind of homicide or another, between one kind of lawsuit or another, and between one kind of assault or another, being cases of dispute in your gates, then you shall arise and go up to the place which Yahweh your God chooses.
Deut. 17:9 So you shall come to the Levitical priest or the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall inquire of them, and they will declare to you the judgment in the case.
Deut. 17:10 And you shall do according to the terms of the judgment which they declare to you from that place which Yahweh chooses; and you shall be careful to do according to all that they teach you.
Look at the word “careful”. When a case was taken to the priest or the judge, their determination was final. Their judgment had to be carried out.
Deut. 17:11 According to the terms of the law which they teach you, and according to the judgment which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside from the word which they declare to you, to the right or the left.
Deut. 17:12 And the man who acts presumptuously by not listening to the priest who stands there to minister to Yahweh your God, or to the judge, that man shall die; thus you shall purge the evil from Israel.
The “man who acts presumptuously” refers to any man who did not obey the ruling of the priest/judge. This did not merely refer to criminals who did not obey the priest/judge. Any witness or city leader who did not carry out the judgment ordered by the priest/judge was to be put to death.
Deut. 17:13 Then all the people will hear and be afraid and will not act presumptuously again.
The purpose of putting to death anyone who acted presumptuously was to create fear so that no one else would act presumptuously.
This is another reason we have a crime problem today. Our justice system does not create fear in our society. Criminals are not afraid to commit crime because they know the justice system will be lenient.
Deut. 17:14 ¶ “When you enter the land which Yahweh your God gives you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me,’
Deut. 17:15 you shall surely set a king over you whom Yahweh your God chooses, one from among your brothers you shall set as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your brother.
Deut. 17:16 Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses. Yahweh has said to you, ‘You shall never again return that way.’
This is an interesting prohibition. Horses were used by the military (see Exodus 14:9 and 2 Samuel 8:4). The King of Israel was prohibited from multiplying horses, which limited his ability to form a strong army. I assume the point was that the King of Israel was supposed to rely on God for military victory, not his collection of horses.
There is no indication that King Saul or King David multiplied horses, but Solomon did. He had 40,000 stalls of horses for his chariots (see 1 Kings 4:26). Furthermore, Solomon imported his horses from Egypt, which was prohibited (see 1 Kings 10:28).
Deut. 17:17 And he shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself.
We generally don’t think of King David as one who multiplied wives to himself, but he had multiple wives. King Solomon was certainly guilty of multiplying wives. He had 700 wives and 300 concubines (see 1 Kings 11:3).
Notice the warning that multiple wives would turn his heart away. King David was led astray by his desire to have Bathsheba, a woman who did not belong to him (see 2 Samuel 11). King Solomon’s heart was turned away from God by his foreign wives (see 1 Kings 11:4).
King Solomon was also exceedingly rich.
Modern society has a very different attitude toward crime than the attitude toward idolatry that was prescribed for Israel. The rules that Israel had to follow were designed to create fear in the population, fear that would dissuade people from doing wrong. One of the solutions to the crime problem in our society is to create fear so that criminals are afraid to commit crime.
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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”