Does the Torah command Israel to have a king?

No -- Deut 17:14 describes a future request ('I will set a king over me, like as all the nations'), and 17:15 sets conditions for if that request is made. The commandment regulates kingship; it does not require Israel to seek it.

How does 1 Samuel 8 fulfill Deuteronomy 17:14?

Centuries later, Israel's elders said to Samuel almost the same words Deut 17:14 anticipated: 'make us a king to judge us like all the nations' (1 Sam 8:5, 20). God told Samuel in 1 Sam 8:7 that in asking this, 'they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me.'

Who was the first king appointed under this commandment, and how?

Saul. Samuel anointed him privately (1 Sam 10:1), then presented him publicly at Mizpah: 'See ye him whom the LORD hath chosen... And all the people shouted, and said, God save the king' (1 Sam 10:24) -- fulfilling Deut 17:15's 'whom the LORD thy God shall choose... one from among thy brethren.'

How does this commandment connect to the next one, honoring the king?

This commandment establishes how a king is chosen and the conditions on his office. The next commandment addresses how that king, once chosen, must be honored -- even by someone he is actively persecuting, as David's story with Saul shows.

Commandment #142 · Positive · Kingship & Leadership

One from Among Thy Brethren: Appointing a King

Q: What does Deuteronomy 17:14-15 say about appointing a king?

Deut 17:15 says: 'Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother.' Combined with 17:14, it anticipates -- and strictly regulates -- a future request for a king.

מִנּוּי מֶלֶךְ

Source: Deuteronomy 17:14 · Maimonides, Sefer HaMitzvot, Positive #142

Deuteronomy 17:14 is unusual among the commandments: it does not command Israel to want a king. It anticipates that one day Israel will say, 'I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me' (Deuteronomy 17:14) — and answers that future request not by forbidding it, but by fencing it in. Whoever sits on Israel's throne must be 'one from among thy brethren,' chosen by God, never 'a stranger' (Deuteronomy 17:15). Centuries later, when Israel's elders actually made this request (1 Samuel 8:19-20), Samuel anointed Saul in private and then presented him to the nation, who answered with the cry, 'God save the king' (1 Samuel 10:24).

Like As All the Nations

כִּי תָבֹא אֶל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵן לָךְ וִירִשְׁתָּהּ וְיָשַׁבְתָּה וְאָמַרְתָּ אָשִׂימָה עָלַי מֶלֶךְ כְּכָל הַגּוֹיִם אֲשֶׁר סְבִיבֹתָי

"When thou art come unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me;"

Deuteronomy 17:14 — Open in Torah Reader

The structure of Deuteronomy 17:14 is deliberately conditional: 'When thou art come unto the land... and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me.' Moses is not describing Israel's present. He is describing a temptation that has not yet arrived — the pull every settled nation feels to look like its neighbors, with a throne, a court, and a standing army. The Torah anticipates this pull centuries before it becomes Israel's actual demand.

That demand arrives in 1 Samuel 8, almost word for word: Israel's elders tell Samuel, 'make us a king to judge us like all the nations' (1 Samuel 8:19-20). God's response to Samuel is striking — not that the request is forbidden, but that it is a rejection: 'they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them' (1 Samuel 8:7). Deuteronomy 17:14 had already made room for this request; it did not make the request a good idea.

One from Among Thy Brethren

שׂוֹם תָּשִׂים עָלֶיךָ מֶלֶךְ אֲשֶׁר יִבְחַר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ בּוֹ מִקֶּרֶב אַחֶיךָ תָּשִׂים עָלֶיךָ מֶלֶךְ לֹא תוּכַל לָתֵת עָלֶיךָ אִישׁ נָכְרִי אֲשֶׁר לֹא אָחִיךָ הוּא

"Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother."

Deuteronomy 17:15 — Open in Torah Reader

Having permitted the request, the Torah immediately narrows it. Whoever becomes king must meet two conditions that have nothing to do with popularity or political skill. First, he must be 'whom the LORD thy God shall choose' — the throne is not Israel's to fill by its own preference alone. Second, he must be 'one from among thy brethren' — a fellow Israelite, never 'a stranger... which is not thy brother.'

The effect is a quiet but pointed correction of the request itself. Israel asked for a king 'like as all the nations' — but the king they are given to ask for cannot actually be like the kings of the nations. He cannot be a foreign prince installed by treaty or conquest, and he cannot simply seize the throne by his own ambition. Even a request born from a flawed motive (1 Samuel 8:7) is answered within a framework that keeps the kingship tethered to God's choice and to Israel's own family.

God Save the King

וַיֹּאמֶר שְׁמוּאֵל אֶל כָּל הָעָם הַרְּאִיתֶם אֲשֶׁר בָּחַר בּוֹ יְהוָה כִּי אֵין כָּמֹהוּ בְּכָל הָעָם וַיָּרִעוּ כָל הָעָם וַיֹּאמְרוּ יְחִי הַמֶּלֶךְ

"And Samuel said to all the people, See ye him whom the LORD hath chosen, that there is none like him among all the people? And all the people shouted, and said, God save the king."

1 Samuel 10:24 — Open in Nevi'im Reader

Deuteronomy 17:15's two conditions come together in the story of Saul in two distinct moments. First, privately: Samuel takes 'a vial of oil, and poured it upon his head, and kissed him' (1 Samuel 10:1) — the divine choice, made known through the prophet, with no crowd present to witness it.

Then, publicly, at Mizpah: Samuel presents Saul to the assembled tribes with the words 'See ye him whom the LORD hath chosen, that there is none like him among all the people' (1 Sam 10:24). The people's response — 'God save the king,' literally 'may the king live' — becomes the model acclamation for every king who follows. Together, the private anointing and the public acclamation fulfill both halves of Deut 17:15: a king 'whom the LORD thy God shall choose,' presented as 'one from among thy brethren.'

Key Figures

Samuel

The prophet and judge who anointed Saul privately (1 Sam 10:1) and then presented him publicly to the tribes at Mizpah (1 Sam 10:24) — embodying, in a single sequence, the 'whom the LORD thy God shall choose' clause of Deuteronomy 17:15.

Saul

A Benjamite farmer, not a foreign prince, becomes Israel's first king — 'one from among thy brethren' in the most literal sense. His selection fulfills the letter of Deuteronomy 17:15 even as the request that brought a monarchy into being (1 Sam 8) reflected a deeper spiritual failure.

Study Questions

For reflection and group study

What does Deuteronomy 17:14 anticipate Israel will one day say, and how does 1 Samuel 8:19-20 show that happening?

What two conditions does Deuteronomy 17:15 place on any king Israel appoints?

Why does God tell Samuel in 1 Samuel 8:7 that Israel's request is a rejection of Him, even though Deut 17:14-15 permits appointing a king?

How do 1 Samuel 10:1 and 10:24 together fulfill 'whom the LORD thy God shall choose' (Deut 17:15)?

What does it mean that Israel's king must be 'one from among thy brethren' rather than 'a stranger'?

Read the full account of Israel's request for a king in the Torah reader.

Open Deuteronomy 17 in the Torah Reader

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