Deutéronome 17:16

16 Seulement il ne se procurera point un grand nombre de chevaux, et il ne ramènera point le peuple en Égypte, afin d'augmenter le nombre des chevaux; car l'Éternel vous a dit: Vous ne retournerez plus par ce chemin-là.

Deutéronome 17:16 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 17:16

But he shall not multiply horses to himself
That he might not put his trust and confidence in outward things, as some are apt to trust in horses and chariots; and that he might not tyrannise over and distress his subjects by keeping a number of horses and chariots as a standing army, and chiefly for a reason that follows; he was to have no more than for his own chariot, so Jarchi, and so the Misnah F7 and Maimonides F8; the Targum of Jonathan restrains it to two:

nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should
multiply horses;
which was a country that abounded with them, and therefore he was not to encourage, and much less oblige his subjects to travel thither or trade with that people for the sake of increasing his stock of horses, ( Isaiah 31:1 Isaiah 31:3 )

forasmuch as the Lord hath said unto you, ye shall henceforth return no
more that way;
not that going into Egypt on any account whatsoever was forbidden, as for trade and merchandise in other things, or for shelter and safety, for which some good men fled thither; but for outward help and assistance against enemies, and for horses on that account, and particularly in order to dwell there, from which the Jews in the times of Jeremiah were dissuaded by him, and threatened by the Lord with destruction, in case they should, ( Jeremiah 42:15-22 ) . When the Lord said this is not certain; it may be when they proposed to make a captain, and return unto Egypt; or he said this in his providence, this was the language of it ever since they came out of it, or however this he now said; see ( Deuteronomy 28:68 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F7 Sanhedrin, c. 2. sect. 4.
F8 Hilchot Melachim, c. 3. sect. 3.

Deutéronome 17:16 In-Context

14 Quand tu seras entré au pays que l'Éternel ton Dieu te donne, et que tu le posséderas et y demeureras, si tu dis: J'établirai un roi sur moi, comme toutes les nations qui m'entourent,
15 Tu ne manqueras pas de t'établir pour roi celui que l'Éternel ton Dieu aura choisi; tu établiras sur toi un roi d'entre tes frères; tu ne pourras point mettre sur toi un homme étranger, qui ne soit point ton frère.
16 Seulement il ne se procurera point un grand nombre de chevaux, et il ne ramènera point le peuple en Égypte, afin d'augmenter le nombre des chevaux; car l'Éternel vous a dit: Vous ne retournerez plus par ce chemin-là.
17 Il ne prendra pas non plus un grand nombre de femmes, de peur que son cœur ne se détourne; il ne s'amassera pas non plus beaucoup d'argent et d'or.
18 Et dès qu'il sera assis sur son trône royal, il écrira pour lui dans un livre, un double de cette loi, qu'il recevra des sacrificateurs de la race de Lévi.
The Ostervald translation is in the public domain.