Translation: ESV
You shall not sacrifice to the LORD your God an ox or a sheep in which is a blemish, any defect whatever, for that is an abomination to the LORD your God.
God must receive the best. Offering what is left over or defective is treating God with contempt.
▸Sacrifices offered to God must be without blemish.
Sacrifices offered to God must be without blemish. Offering something defective is an act of treating God with contempt. One must always offer God the best.
If there is found among you, within any of your towns that the LORD your God is giving you, a man or woman who does what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God, in transgressing his covenant,
The covenant with God goes beyond a personal matter and affects the entire community.
▸The regulations dealing with idolatry cases begin.
On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses the one who is to die shall be put to death; a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness.
Justice must be based on evidence. Do not condemn a person on fragmentary information.
▸Two or three witnesses are required for a death sentence to be carried out.
If any case arises requiring decision between one kind of homicide and another, one kind of legal right and another, or one kind of assault and another, any case within your towns that is too difficult for you, then you shall arise and go up to the place that the LORD your God will choose.
The humility of entrusting difficult problems to wise leaders is necessary.
▸Cases too difficult for local courts must be brought to the central court.
When you come to the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, 'I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,'
The desire to follow the ways of the world is natural, but maintaining God's ways is more important.
▸This is a prophetic regulation concerning the monarchical system.
you may indeed set a king over you whom the LORD your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother.
Leaders must be established not by human desire but by God's choice.
▸Two conditions for the king: he must be one chosen by God, and he must be an Israelite.
Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the LORD has said to you, 'You shall never return that way again.'
True security is dependence on God, not military power.
▸Three prohibitions for the king begin.
And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold.
The three temptations of those in power—military force, pleasure, and wealth—are tests that transcend every age.
▸Second, he must not acquire many wives.
And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests.
A leader must know God's Word thoroughly and govern according to it.
▸The king's obligation is presented.
And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them,
A leader must learn God's Word throughout life and maintain the fear of God.
▸The king must keep the law beside him and read it all his life.
that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.
Meditation on the Word prevents pride and keeps one on the right path. Humility and obedience to the Word are the secret to lasting blessing.
▸Two effects of meditating on the law are presented.