Deuteronômio 17

BLIVRE · Chapter 17/34

1Não sacrificarás ao SENHOR teu Deus boi, ou cordeiro, no qual haja falta ou alguma coisa má: porque é abominação ao SENHOR teu Deus.

2Quando se achar entre ti, em alguma de tuas cidades que o SENHOR teu Deus te dá, homem, ou mulher, que tenha feito mal aos olhos do SENHOR teu Deus transgredido seu pacto,

3Que houver ido e servido a deuses alheios, e se houver inclinado a eles, ora ao sol, ou à lua, ou a todo o exército do céu, o qual eu não mandei;

4E te for dado aviso, e, depois que ouvires e houveres indagado bem, a coisa parece de verdade certa, que tal abominação foi feita em Israel;

5Então tirarás ao homem ou mulher que houver feito esta má coisa, a tuas portas, homem ou mulher, e os apedrejarás com pedras, e assim morrerão.

6Por dito de duas testemunhas, ou de três testemunhas, morrerá o que houver de morrer; não morrerá pelo dito de uma só testemunha.

7A mão das testemunhas será primeira sobre ele para matá-lo, e depois a mão de todo o povo: assim tirarás o mal do meio de ti.

8Quando alguma coisa te for oculta em juízo entre sangue e sangue, entre causa e causa, e entre chaga e chaga, em negócios de litigio em tuas cidades; então te levantarás e recorrerás ao lugar que o SENHOR teu Deus escolher;

9E virás aos sacerdotes levitas, e ao juiz que for naqueles dias, e preguntarás; e te ensinarão a sentença do juízo.

10E farás segundo a sentença que te indicarem os do lugar que o SENHOR escolher, e cuidarás de fazer segundo tudo o que te manifestarem.

11Segundo a lei que eles te ensinarem, e segundo o juízo que te disserem, farás: não te desviarás nem à direita nem à esquerda da sentença que te mostrarem.

12E o homem que proceder com soberba, não obedecendo ao sacerdote que está para ministrar ali diante do SENHOR teu Deus, ou ao juiz, o tal homem morrerá: e tirarás o mal de Israel.

13E todo o povo ouvirá, e temerá, e não se ensoberbecerão mais.

14Quando houveres entrado na terra que o SENHOR teu Deus te dá, e a possuíres, e habitares nela, e disseres: Porei rei sobre mim, como todas as nações que estão em meus arredores;

15Sem dúvida porás por rei sobre ti ao que o SENHOR teu Deus escolher: dentre teus irmãos porás rei sobre ti: não poderás pôr sobre ti homem estrangeiro, que não seja teu irmão.

16Porém que não se aumente cavalos, nem faça voltar o povo ao Egito para acrescentar cavalos: porque o SENHOR vos disse: Não procurareis voltar mais por este caminho.

17Nem aumentará para si mulheres, para que seu coração não se desvie: nem prata nem ouro acrescentará para si em grande quantidade.

18E será, quando se assentar sobre o trono de seu reino, que há de escrever para si em um livro uma cópia desta lei, do original de diante dos sacerdotes levitas;

19E o terá consigo, e lerá nele todos os dias de sua vida, para que aprenda a temer ao SENHOR seu Deus, para guardar todas as palavras desta lei e estes estatutos, para praticá-los:

20Para que não se eleve seu coração sobre seus irmãos, nem se desvie do mandamento à direita nem à esquerda; a fim que prolongue seus dias em seu reino, ele e seus filhos, em meio de Israel.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Moses establishes judicial procedures for difficult cases, to be decided by priests and judges at a central tribunal, and presents the first law concerning Israel's monarchy — anticipating that the people would ask for a king, but limiting his power so that he would not accumulate excessive horses, wives, or wealth, and requiring him to copy and read the Law personally every day.

Explanation

It is remarkable that the Law foresees and regulates Israel's future monarchy centuries before it actually existed (it would only become reality with Saul, about 300 years later), showing a long-range prophetic vision of the nation's political structure. The specific limits placed on royal power — no excessive cavalry, no extensive harem, no disproportionate accumulated wealth — were aimed at preventing precisely the abuses of power common among kings of the ancient Near East, and would later be tragically violated by Solomon himself, generations afterward (1 Kings 11). The requirement that the king keep and personally read his own copy of the Law 'all the days of his life' established a revolutionary principle: even the highest ruler was subject to the same law that governed the common people, not above it.

Fun facts

  • The prophecy that Israel would ask for a king 'like as all the nations that are about me' (v. 14) would be fulfilled almost literally centuries later in 1 Samuel 8:5, when the people make that exact request to Samuel using very similar words.
  • The requirement that the king personally write out his own copy of the Law (v. 18) is one of the earliest biblical examples of constitutional limitation of political power through an accessible, binding written text — a remarkably advanced concept for its time.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Deuteronômio 17:1It repeats the quality requirement for sacrifices: no animal with a defect may be offered, because that would be an abomination to God.
  2. Deuteronômio 17:2It addresses the case of someone found practicing idolatry within one of the towns of Israel.
  3. Deuteronômio 17:3It details the kind of idolatry forbidden: serving other gods, or even worshiping the sun, the moon, and the stars — none of which God ever commanded.
  4. Deuteronômio 17:4Before any punishment, the report had to be carefully investigated to confirm whether it was really true.
  5. Deuteronômio 17:5Once the case was confirmed, the penalty was public stoning, carried out at the gates of the town.
  6. Deuteronômio 17:6Requiring two or three witnesses for a death sentence, never just one, is a rare procedural safeguard for the time: a single accusation, however serious, was not enough to take someone’s life.
  7. Deuteronômio 17:7Just as in chapter 13, the one who brings the accusation must be the first to carry out the penalty, followed by the rest of the people.
  8. Deuteronômio 17:8It provides for legal cases too complex for the local judges to settle, which were to be brought up to the central sanctuary.
  9. Deuteronômio 17:9There, the Levitical priests and the judge in office at the time would give the final ruling on the difficult case.
  10. Deuteronômio 17:10The ruling coming from the place God chose was to be followed exactly, without question.
  11. Deuteronômio 17:11It reinforces the duty to follow exactly what the priests and judges taught, turning aside neither to the right nor to the left.
  12. Deuteronômio 17:12Whoever arrogantly disobeyed that official ruling was to be condemned to death, as a way of purging that rebellion from among the people.
  13. Deuteronômio 17:13The purpose of this severe punishment is, once again, to serve as a public example to deter others from the same arrogance.
  14. Deuteronômio 17:14When the people would ask for a king, the law already limits his power in advance: he may not accumulate many horses, many wives, or much silver and gold. It’s a rare restriction for the time, written even before Israel had its first king.
  15. Deuteronômio 17:15If the people asked for a king, the condition was that he be chosen by God and come from among their own people, never a foreigner.
  16. Deuteronômio 17:16It limits the future king’s power: he is forbidden to accumulate many horses, especially if doing so meant sending people back to Egypt to get them.
  17. Deuteronômio 17:17It also forbids multiplying wives, because of the risk of turning the king’s heart away, and limits the excessive accumulation of silver and gold.
  18. Deuteronômio 17:18The king himself had to copy out the law by hand and read it every day: he was not above the law, but subject to it like any other Israelite, at least on paper.
  19. Deuteronômio 17:19Once he was king, he was to read this copy of the law every day, to learn to fear God and keep the commandments.
  20. Deuteronômio 17:20The purpose of the daily reading is to prevent arrogance and straying from the law, ensuring a long reign for him and his descendants.

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