One Preacher called these things, “temptations that go with power!”
And around 1000 BC the Kings of Israel were powerful, indeed.
Therefore God gave them “rules” for proper behavior.
Guarding against “sins that might so easily beset them.”
Today we reach the last of those regulations. (By the way, if these are good guidelines for a King, might they not also be good criteria for any leader to adopt? I think so.)
Today’s Text, a positive act, no longer a prohibition.
“And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall WRITE HIM A COPY of this law IN A BOOK out of that which is before the priests the Levites: and it shall be with him, and he shall READ THEREIN all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them: that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.” Deuteronomy 17:18-20
Write a Copy of the Word of God!
That would be at least the whole Book of Deuteronomy. But perhaps the entire Pentateuch, Genesis through Deuteronomy, all five Books of Moses.
Wow!
But not just “copy” the Scriptures, looks like with his own hand, but READ them regularly … “all the days of his life!” A man of the “Book,” he is to be!
Why?
That he might OBEY the Words of God!
Now note the promised “benefits” of so doing:
The fear of God will be nurtured in his life! “That he may learn to fear the LORD his God.”
Humility will be engendered as well! “That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren.”
Seems like faithfulness, dependability, steadiness will be a byproduct of this habit too. “That he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left.”
And the result?
Long life, a healthy kingdom with blessed offspring! “To the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.”
Thrilling!
And truthfully, the Word of God is just as powerful today as it was back then.
Why don’t we make MORE of the Bible than we do?
Help us, Lord.
— Dr. Mike Bagwell