Deuteronomy 17 continues Moses’ instructions to Israel about how they were to live as God’s covenant people. The chapter focuses on true worship, justice, and leadership. If someone in Israel turned away from God and worshiped other gods, it had to be carefully investigated. A person could not be condemned based on the accusation of just one witness. God required the Israelites to have at least two or three witnesses before someone could be convicted. Jesus also affirmed this principle. He says in Matthew 18:15-16, “If your brother sins against you, go tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he won’t listen, take one or two others with you, so that by the testimony of two or three witnesses every fact may be established.” Ironically, Jesus Himself had multiple witnesses testifying about His identity. John the Baptist testified about Him, His miracles testified about Him, Scripture testified about Him and His disciples testified about Him. Jesus did not ask people to believe blindly. His identity was supported by witnesses, prophecy, His works, His resurrection, and the testimony of Scripture. Jesus was condemned despite false testimony and an unjust trial. During His trial, witnesses were brought against Him, but their testimonies did not agree. The very Law that Israel was supposed to uphold required careful justice, yet Jesus was condemned through corrupted and inconsistent testimony. From the time the law was given to the time Jesus had his trial, humanity had done what it had done to everything else. It had corrupted the Law.
When a case was too difficult for local judges, it was brought to the priests and judges appointed to make a decision. The people were instructed to respect the judgment given according to God’s Law. The problem here is that human judges can make mistakes, Priests can become corrupt, and religious leaders can misunderstand God’s Word. Jesus, however, judges perfectly because He knows the heart. John 5:22 says, “The Father, in fact, judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son.” Jesus isn’t just another religious teacher giving advice about God. According to the New Testament, He has ultimate authority to judge humanity. There is also irony in the fact that the religious leaders who were supposed to administer God’s justice became the ones judging Jesus unjustly. The true Judge of the world stood before human judges.
Also in this chapter God instructed Israel to appoint themselves a king. He gave them instructions for what that king should and should not be. The king was not to acquire many horses, depend heavily on military power, return to Egypt, take many wives, or accumulate excessive amounts of silver and gold. Instead, the king was supposed to be appointed by God, have a copy of God’s Law, read it every day, fear the Lord, obey God’s commands, and remain humble. The king was supposed to be under God’s authority. Israel’s king was never supposed to replace God, he was supposed to reflect God.
Jesus is the perfect King that Israel’s earthly kings failed to be. Jesus was the perfect reflection of the Father because He and the Father are one. Be careful not to miss this because this is the most important part to understand about the downfall of humanity. The moment we begin to think that we are the source of anything in our lives, that is the moment we start to fall. This is what got Satan kicked out of heaven and it is what sends us to eternal separation from God. Im not going to write it out but I would definitely read Ezekiel 28:12-19. It explains how Satan was created with every beautiful stone that was meant to reflect God beautifully. Instead he chose to be his own light through sin. Sin does the same thing to us and that is why we should hit our knees every day and thank Jesus for what he did for us on the cross. He defeated sin so that we would not be separated from him. Sin and death has lost its sting because Jesus Christ is our perfect King and Judge, Our Lord and our Savior. Love y’all. Have a great day!
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