Only he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor lead back the people to Egypt, to multiply horses; for Jehovah hath said unto you, Ye shall not return again any more that way.
God gave this law long before Israel had a king, warning the future ruler against three things: horses, wives, and money. The first ban raises the sharpest question: why may a king not build up his cavalry, and why does buying horses mean going back to Egypt?
One writer notes how far ahead this law looked, and that God gave both the warning and the remedy.
In the days of Moses, the great lawgiver, God's all-seeing eye ran across the centuries. He foresaw the future kings of Israel and their special dangers, and He put the warning they needed in His Word. He also provided the antidote. He ordered that the future king should write his own copy of the law and always keep it with him, so that he could read it all the days of his life.
The same passage was a comfort, not just a restraint. Israel later asked for a king at the wrong time and with wrong motives, yet the law itself showed God had already thought about the matter.
To any true-hearted person among them, how comforting such a portion of the law must have been. It showed that, whatever they might do in their wilfulness and unbelief, God had given directions which, if carried out, would be for the welfare of all concerned when a king should be set over them.
A stable of war horses was a statement about where safety came from.
Of course people thought war horses were necessary to protect the kingdom. Could faith not depend on God for such protection rather than on horses? See Psalm 33:17; Hosea 14:3.
God shaped Israel to look weak, and this rule was part of the plan.
Outward weakness was the characteristic the Lord intended for Israel's national life. The people were to know that "they did not win the land by their own sword, and their own arm did not save them, but Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your face, because You delighted in them." For this reason God forbade them to multiply horses. For this reason too, three times a year they left their borders entirely unguarded, while all their males gathered at Jerusalem before the Lord.
A king who wanted cavalry had to trade with the land his people had been slaves in. That is why the verse ties the two bans together.
Egypt was famous for its horses and chariots, and the Lord's prohibition to the king takes note of it. Their redemption from Egypt and all its power should have been final. Nothing should have tempted them to return. But in the reign of Solomon we find that horses were a chief article of trade with Egypt.
One ban ignored led straight into the next.
We find Solomon importing horses for military use from Egypt. He also multiplied wives, until he had seven hundred wives who were princesses and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away. All this was despite the prohibition in Deuteronomy 17:16. Wisdom did not keep Solomon, and it will not keep any one of us; but holding fast to the Lord will.
The three bans read like a summary of Solomon's life.
Sad to say, he broke down in the most deplorable way. He failed at every point on which the law of his God had spoken so definitely and so clearly. God told him not to multiply silver and gold, and yet he multiplied them. God told him not to go back to Egypt for horses, and yet to Egypt he went for horses. God told him not to multiply wives, and yet he had a thousand of them, and they turned his heart away.
Before Solomon, the record is almost bare of horses.
There is no mention of a horse in Israel up to the days of Solomon. The only exceptions are the few that David captured and kept (2 Samuel 8:4), and Absalom, who prepared chariots and horses for himself when making his bid for the kingdom (2 Samuel 15:1).
One King did match the pattern Moses laid down, and He showed it by the animal He chose.
In the purest days of Jewish government, the leading men in Israel used no animals but donkeys (Judges 5:10; 10:4; 12:14). Horses only came in during the corrupt times of Solomon. So when the Lord took up the title "King of Israel," He took every feature, however small, that belonged to the only pure and true form of that character. That is why He told His disciples to bring Him a donkey's colt... Moses had laid down that the king who would one day rule over Israel must not surround himself with display that might lift his head in pride above his brothers. Christ the King would surely conform Himself to the model Moses had provided.
- Foreseen — Centuries before Israel had a king, God named the exact temptations a king would meet.
- Weakness — God built Israel to look weak: no cavalry, and unguarded borders three times a year.
- Egypt — Horses came from the land of slavery, so a stable reopened the road God had closed.
- Solomon — The wisest man broke all three bans in order: horses, then wives, then a heart turned away.
- The true King — Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey's colt, fitting the humble pattern Moses set.
Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away; neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.
God set limits on Israel's kings long before Israel had one. Two of them stand in this verse — many wives and piled-up wealth — and the verse says what is at stake: a heart that turns away.
Moses gave this law long before any king sat on Israel's throne. One writer notes how far ahead God was looking.
In the days of Moses, the great lawgiver, God's all-seeing eye had already looked ahead down the centuries. He saw the future kings of Israel and the special dangers they would face. So He put the warning they needed in His Word. He also gave the cure: He ordered that the future king should write out his own copy of the law, keep it with him always, and read it every day of his life.
Read the three bans of verses 16 and 17 together and one phrase keeps returning. Older translations read "multiply to himself"; the ESV has "acquire ... for himself." The problem is not horses, marriage, or money itself, but a king piling them up for his own gain.
First, he was NOT to multiply horses to himself, and thereby cause the people to return to Egypt. Second, he was NOT to multiply wives to himself, that his heart should not be turned away. Third, he was NOT to multiply to himself silver and gold. Notice how the word "multiply" keeps coming back, and the third time it is "greatly multiply." Each time it is "multiply to himself."
The command comes with its reason attached: the king's heart must not turn away. Solomon broke this one on a staggering scale. Two warnings had already reached him.
Nor was a king to "multiply wives for himself" (v.17), for this would turn away his heart from the Lord. In this also Solomon grossly disobeyed God, having 700 wives as well as 300 concubines, and "his wives turned away his heart after other gods" (1 Kings 11:4). Not only did this Scripture (Deut. 17) warn him, but he reports himself that his mother warned him, "Do not give your strength to women, your ways to those who destroy kings" (Prov. 31:1-3). His great wisdom did not preserve him from sin.
The danger runs two ways, and one writer presses it past the throne room into everyday life.
We are in danger of going out to the world, or of letting the world come in to us. The second danger may be even greater than the first... Little by little the world works its way into our homes and lives, and often, by the time we see the danger, it is already too late. "They will surely turn away your heart after their gods," the Lord had said. Marriage with the world is bound to lead us to the religion of the world.
The verse gives no reason for the limit on wealth. One writer points to the same danger: the heart.
The king was also not to "greatly multiply to himself silver and gold," because there is always the danger that the heart will trust in the riches it has gained rather than in the source of all blessing.
God had promised Solomon wealth. What the law forbade was the grasping for more.
The Lord promised Solomon that He would give him "riches and wealth and honor" (2 Chron. 1:12), but this was not enough for Solomon, just as other wealthy men grasp after more and more... and he laid heavy taxes on the people (1 Kings 12:3-4, 11).
David took extra wives with the books of the law within reach. His failure was neglect, not ignorance.
Had he inquired of the Lord before doing so, what would the Lord have replied? Read my Word! Dependence on God and dependence on His Word are one and the same thing. David had the books of the law in hand, and he only needed to think them over to see his path... By human reasoning he could have had all kinds of good reasons for what he did — securing a royal line, and so on. But this was not God's way.
No king of Israel ever met this standard. So who did God have in view all along?
When God looks forward to a king for His people, He really looks on to the Lord Jesus, His absolute ideal. Here the king was to be one whom God would choose from among his own brothers, not a foreigner... Both Moses and Christ measure up to these standards.
- Heart. Both bans in this verse guard one thing — the king's heart. Wives turn it away; riches invite it to trust what it has gathered.
- Himself. The repeated phrase is "to himself." A ruler heaping up for his own account is the sin, not marriage or money as such.
- Wisdom. Solomon was the wisest man alive. This law warned him, his mother warned him, and he still fell. Wisdom alone preserves no one.
- Word. David had the scroll in hand and did not consult it. Most disobedience starts as neglect, not defiance.
- King. No son of David kept this list. The standard points beyond them to Christ, the King who measures up.