14-15 When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, ‘Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,’  be sure to appoint over you a king the Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite.  16 The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, ‘You are not to go back that way again.’  17 He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.

18 When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. 19 It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left. 20 Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel. Deuteronomy 17:14-20 New International Version. (English Standard Version link)

When Christians say that 'God knows all things even before they happen' they’re not talking about some philosophical theory, but simply saying what the Bible shows us, and it’s a very practical truth. What had God told Moses the Israelites would do many years in the future, and why they’d want to do it? (vs 14-15)

Even though Israel had seen how God led them out of Egypt, the day would come when they would 'want to be like other nations' who had a King. What a lesson this is for us that we should not want to copy the ways of the world but rather build our lives on Jesus Christ. But, knowing they would want a King, God gives them some instructions in advance. Who should do the choosing and where should the King come from (vs 14-15), and why do you think God said this?

Surely the reason is that God knows people better than we do. We tend to look on outward appearances – God sees the heart. And if they chose a foreigner he might want to introduce foreign gods to the nation. The reason for forbidding the King to gather lots of horses is probably that the people could be tempted to rely on chariots instead of God. So too with many wives. They would be taken from surrounding nations and would bring their foreign gods into the Kingdom. A big example of that was when King Ahab married a wicked woman named Jezebel and she encouraged the worship of an idol called Ba'al. So the whole idea of many horses, many wives and much wealth was probably the custom of the pagan countries.

But what was the most important instruction God told Moses to teach them in advance? (vs 18-20)

Can you imagine a King writing his own copy of the portion of the Bible that existed in his time - or at least having one of his servants copy it out? I'm sure it was more than just the Ten Commandments. It would be all the commandments God gave through Moses for their worship and way of life. The King was never to think he was above ordinary people when it came to God. Can you imagine how much better life would be today if those in power were to revere God and apply His words and wisdom in governing the land?

Two thoughts come to my mind. Firstly, a few of the Kings Israel eventually had did try to follow God's ways, but many of them didn't. Even the good ones often fell short. But we have a perfect King in the Lord Jesus Christ. He obeyed the Father always. Secondly, if God wanted Kings to have His word with them always and to read it all the days of their life – how much more should we do that too. We've been given so much more of God's light in Jesus Christ and we must never take that for granted. Verse 19 should be our goal and we should ask the Holy Spirit to be our daily teacher.