Deuteronomy 17:15

thou shalt in any wise set The emphatic Heb. means either thou mayest certainly, or thou shalt only, set.

thy God shall choose So of Saul and David, 1 Samuel 9:15 f., 1Sa 10:24, 1 Samuel 16:1; 1 Samuel 16:12; 2 Samuel 6:21, on which precedents D's law seems based.

one from among thy brethren a Hebrew, see on Deuteronomy 15:12.

thou mayest not put a foreigner, etc.] No such attempt, or temptation, on the part of Israel is recorded; the veto upon it can hardly be intended to cover, or have found its motive in, the nomination of an Israelite king by a foreign power, e.g. Zedekiah. It was this law which caused Agrippa I. to burst into tears as he remembered his Edomite origin. Contrast Cyrus as the Shepherdand the Anointed, of Jehovahof course, in relation to Israel (Isaiah 44:28; Isaiah 45:1).