Deuteronomy 17:9

9 and thou shalt come to the priests of the kin of Levi, and to the judge that is in that time, and thou shalt ask of them, which shall show to thee the truth of [the] doom. (and thou shalt come to the levitical priests, and to the judge then in office, and thou shalt ask them, and they shall tell thee the correct judgement and sentence.)

Deuteronomy 17:9 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 17:9

Thou shalt come unto the priests, the Levites
The priests that are of the tribe of Levi, as the Targum of Jonathan, and so Jarchi; for Aben Ezra says there are priests that are not of the genealogy of Levi; such there were indeed in Jeroboam's time, ( 1 Kings 12:31 ) ( 13:33 ) . Maimonides ^F6 observes, that it is ordered that there should be in the great sanhedrim priests and Levites, as it is said: "and thou shalt come unto the priests, and the judge that shall be in those days, and inquire"; judge is here put for judges, of which the great court consisted, being priests, Levites, and Israelites; (See Gill on Deuteronomy 16:18), though others think that only a single person is meant, such as Othniel, Ehud, Gideon, Samson but then as there was not always such an one in being, I should rather think that the judge here, if a single person, is the president or prince of the great sanhedrim, who succeeded Moses, and sat in his place; and of him and his court, the priests, and Levites and Israelites that composed it, inquiry was to be made:

and they shall show thee the sentence of judgment;
give their judgment in the difficult case proposed, and declare what is right to be done, and what sentence is to be pronounced.

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FOOTNOTES:

F6 Hilchot Sanhedrin, c. 2. sect. 2.

Deuteronomy 17:9 In-Context

7 The hand of the witnesses shall first slay him, and at the last the hand of the other people shall be put to, for to throw him down with stones, that thou do away evil from the midst of thee. (The hands of the witnesses shall be the first to stone them, and then the other people shall put their hands to it, and they shall throw their stones, so that thou do away evil from the midst of thee.)

8 If thou perceivest, that hard and doubtful doom is with thee (If thou perceivest, that there is a hard and difficult judgement before thee), betwixt blood and blood, cause and cause, leprosy and not leprosy, and thou seest that the words of [the] judges within thy gates be diverse in their deeming; rise thou, and go up to the place that thy Lord God hath chosen;

9 and thou shalt come to the priests of the kin of Levi, and to the judge that is in that time, and thou shalt ask of them, which shall show to thee the truth of [the] doom. (and thou shalt come to the levitical priests, and to the judge then in office, and thou shalt ask them, and they shall tell thee the correct judgement and sentence.)

10 And thou shalt do, whatever thing they say, that be sovereigns in the place which the Lord choose (who be the rulers in the place which the Lord shall choose), and (who) teach thee by the law of the Lord;

11 thou shalt follow the sentence of them; thou shalt not bow therefrom to the right side, either to the left.