Deuteronomy
17: 14-20
When
you enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you have (take)
possession of it and settled it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like
all the nations around us,” be sure to appoint over you the king the Lord your
God chooses. He must be from among your own brothers. Do not place a foreigner
over you, one who is not a brother Israelite. The king (1) must
not acquire great numbers of horses for himself, or make the people return
to Egypt to get more of them; for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go
back this way again.” He (2) must not take many wives, or his
heart will be led astray. He (3) must not accumulate large
amounts of silver and gold. When he takes the throne of his kingdom, (4) he is to write
for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the priests,
who are Levites. It is to be with him and he is to (5) read it
all the days of his life, so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God,
and to (6) follow carefully all the words of this law and these
decrees, and (7) not consider himself better than that of his
brothers; and turn away from the law to the right or to the left. Then he
and his descendants will reign a long time over the kingdom of Israel.
NOTE: The decrees
are quite explicit in the Deuteronomist version but it seems that Solomon didn’t
know about it, or instead, chose to ignore it entirely (Cp. 1 Kings 10: 14-21, 22a, 28; 1 Kings 11: 1-5).
This also brings up another important point, namely, that the Torah (including
the book of Deuteronomy) was not written down or orally transmitted during his
reign or lifetime.
1
Samuel 8: 4-7, 9-17
So
all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They
said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint
a king to lead us.” This disturbed Samuel, so he inquired to the Lord. And the
Lord said to him, “Listen to all that the people are saying to you: It is not
you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. Now listen to
them: but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who reigns over
them will do.” Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were
asking him for a king. He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you
will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and
horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be
commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his
ground and reap his harvest; and still others to make weapons of war and
equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and
cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive
groves and give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of your grain and
of your vintage, and give it to his officials and attendants. Your menservants
and maidservants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his
own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become
his slaves.
1
Samuel 10: 25a
Samuel
explained to the people the regulations of the kingship. He wrote down on a
scroll and deposited it before the Lord.
NOTE: This last part
would imply that Samuel placed these decrees in the custody of the priests, the
Levites who ministered before the Lord in the temple. It is also worth noting
that Samuel‘s version doesn’t seem to be a continuation of Moses’ law but
something different altogether. The source in Deuteronomy anticipates the request
for a king as a natural progression, whereas in Samuel’s version the Israelites
reject God ruling over them outright, using the excuse that it was due to
Samuel’s old age and his sons’ bad behavior.
2
Kings 11: 12a
Jehoiada
brought out the king’s son [Joash] and put the crown on him; he presented him
with a copy of the Covenant and proclaimed him king.
2
Kings 22: 8; 23: 2
And
Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found
the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah gave the book to
Shaphan, and he read it. The king went up to the house of the LORD and all the
men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests and
the prophets and all the people, both small and great; and he read in their
hearing all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the
house of the LORD.
CONCLUSION:
It
seems that the Book of the Law/Torah (incl. Deuteronomy) wasn’t found until the
time of King Josiah, which means that it must have been lost. This makes sense
because Solomon would have devoted his heart fully to the Lord if it had
existed at the time; at least, this is what I think. Jehoiada the priest
probably found a copy of the scroll written by the prophet Samuel, which he
used to administer the oath of office to Joash. The Mosaic commandment
contained in Deuteronomy was still unknown or missing until the High priest
Hilkiah discovered either the entire Torah or portions of it in the temple some
eleven chapters later.
Robert
Randle
776
Commerce St Apt 701Tacoma, WA 98402
October 25, 2016
robertrandle51@yahoo.com
