Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Deuteronomy · About this commentary
The Court at the Chosen Place
Deuteronomy 17:1-13
1 You shall not sacrifice to Yahweh your God an ox or a sheep in which is a defect or anything evil; for that is an abomination to Yahweh your God. · WEB
A capital charge requires diligent inquiry and two witnesses, and the witnesses must throw the first stones.
The procedure set out here is the closest thing in the law to a criminal code, and every clause of it slows the process down.
A report arrives. The response is not action but investigation: you shall inquire diligently. Behold, if it is true, and the thing certain Deuteronomy 17:4. The same three-verb requirement was placed on the case of a whole town Deuteronomy 13:14. Hearsay does not start a trial.
Then the evidentiary rule, and it is the foundation of the law's whole approach to testimony. At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death. At the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death Deuteronomy 17:6.
One witness is never enough, whatever his standing and however certain he is. The rule is repeated later for all serious charges Deuteronomy 19:15, and the New Testament carries it into the church's own discipline Matthew 18:16 and applies it to accusations against elders 1 Timothy 5:19.
What follows is the provision that makes the rest real. The hands of the witnesses shall be first on him Deuteronomy 17:7.
The men whose testimony convicted must begin the execution. No official carries it out for them, and no crowd absorbs the responsibility. A man contemplating a false accusation has to picture himself throwing the first stone, and the law puts that picture in front of him before he opens his mouth.
The second half establishes an appeal. Cases too hard for you in judgment go up from the local court to the chosen place, to the priests and the judge in office Deuteronomy 17:8–9. The categories are listed — bloodshed, civil pleas, assault — and the referral is for difficulty rather than for importance.
The verdict from that court is binding: you shall not turn away from the sentence which they announce to you, to the right hand, nor to the left Deuteronomy 17:11. And refusal to accept it is treated with the gravity of rebellion Deuteronomy 17:12.
That is a strong grant of authority, and its limit is set two verses earlier by what the court is doing. It gives the decisions of the law which they shall teach you Deuteronomy 17:11. The judges are not making the law; they are applying a text that stands over them, and the same book has just forbidden anyone to add to it or take from it Deuteronomy 12:32.
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