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Deuteronomy 17 General Notes
Special concepts in this chapter
Witnesses
In the ancient Near East, it was common for a person to be punished by the testimony of a single person, especially if this was an important person. The rules in this chapter give protection to people, especially the poor by requiring multiple witnesses. This allowed justice to be done. (See: rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/witness and rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/justice)
King
Israel was not to have a king because Yahweh was their king. Knowing the sinfulness of the people, Yahweh anticipated that one day Israel would have a king. Therefore, this passage gives commands about their king prophetically. They were not allowed to collect chariots because they were a sign of earthly power and the king was to trust in Yahweh. (See: rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/prophet, rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/sign, rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/trust and rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-explicit)