Deuteronomy 17:14

Law of the king

14 Once you have entered the land the LORD your God is giving you and you have taken possession of it and settled down in it, you might say: "Let's appoint a king over us, as all our neighboring nations have done."

Deuteronomy 17:14 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 17:14

When thou art come unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth
thee
The land of Canaan:

and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein;
be entirely in the possession of it, and settled in it; it seems to denote some time of continuance in it, as it was, before they thought of setting a king over them, about which are the following instructions:

and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations
that are round about me;
which was what would and did lead them to such a thought and resolution; observing that the neighbouring nations had kings over them, they were desirous of being like them as to the form of their civil government, and have a king as they had.

Deuteronomy 17:14 In-Context

12 And whoever acts rashly by not listening to the priest who is in office serving the LORD your God or to the head judge will die. Remove such evil from Israel!

13 All the people will hear about this and be afraid. They won't act arrogantly anymore.

14 Once you have entered the land the LORD your God is giving you and you have taken possession of it and settled down in it, you might say: "Let's appoint a king over us, as all our neighboring nations have done."

15 You can indeed appoint over you a king that the LORD your God selects. You can appoint over you a king who is one of your fellow Israelites. You are not allowed to appoint over you a foreigner who is not one of your fellow Israelites.

16 That granted, the king must not acquire too many horses, and he must not return the people to Egypt in order to acquire more horses, because the LORD told you: "You will never go back by that road again."