Deuteronomy 17:17

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.

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."

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.

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 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.

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).

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.

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.