Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 17:11
According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall show thee, [to] the right hand, nor [to] the left.
11. law ] Heb. torah, usually of the directions given by priests in questions of ritual, covers here their decisions in civil cases as well. Teach, rather direct, is the vb from which Torah is derived.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee: these words are a manifest limitation of the foregoing assertion, that they were to do according to all that the judge or judges informed him. And they seem to limit and regulate,
1. The judges in their sentence, that they shall not, upon pretence of this supreme authority put into their hands, presume to teach or direct otherwise than the law prescribes.
2. The people in their obedience; first they shall not simply obey them in all things, but so far forth as their sentence is according to the law and word of God, but not when their commands are evidently contrary to Gods laws, for then, say even popish commentators on this place, they must obey God rather than man. And this cannot be denied by any man of sense, upon supposition that this place speaks of, and this power given to the priest or judge reacheth to, all controversies or questions of faith and manners, as the papists would extend it: for put case these priests or judges should give a sentence directly contrary to the express words of Gods law, Thou shalt worship a graven image, as Aaron did in the case of the calf, thou shalt profane the sabbath, thou shalt dishonour thy father and mother, thou shalt murder, steal, commit adultery, &c., I ask, were the people in this case bound to do as the judge determined, or not? If any say they were, such a bold and wicked assertion must need strike all sober Christians with horror; and if they say they were not, then this must needs be taken for a limitation. But this place speaks only of particular suits between man and man, as is apparent from the notes on See Poole “Deu 17:8“. And in all such cases, although the judge be hereby confined and tied to his rule in giving the sentence, yet it seems but fit and reasonable that people should be bound simply to acquiesce in the sentence of their last and highest judge, or else there would have been no end of strife.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee,…. For they were not to make any new law, but to teach the law of God, and so far as their sense and opinion of things agreed with that law they were to be regarded:
and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do; what were law and justice, what were fit and right to be done, according to the will of God, which they should declare unto them, that was carefully to be done by them:
thou shalt not decline from the sentence they shall show thee, to the right hand nor to the left; by setting up after, all their own judgments against theirs to whom they had applied for information and direction, which to have done would have been very insolent and affronting; they were not to depart from the determination they made of the case, on pretence of knowing better, nor even in any minute circumstance to deviate from it, but strictly and closely to keep unto it; though not to follow them so implicitly as to receive from them and embrace things the most absurd and unreasonable, as Jarchi suggests; who says, that their sense was to be abided by, even if they should say that the right hand is the left, and the left hand the right.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
they shall teach thee. This was the great duty of the Priests. See Deu 33:10. Lev 10:11. Ezr 7:10. Jer 18:18. Hag 2:11, Hag 2:12. Mal 2:7.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
According to: Jos 1:7, Mal 2:8, Mal 2:9, Rom 13:1-6, Tit 3:1, 1Pe 2:13-15, 2Pe 2:10, Jud 1:8
to the right: Deu 17:20, Deu 5:32, Deu 28:14, Jos 1:7, Jos 23:6, 2Sa 14:19, Pro 4:27
Reciprocal: 2Ch 34:2 – declined
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
17:11 According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, {g} thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall shew thee, [to] the right hand, nor [to] the left.
(g) You shall obey their sentence that the controversy may have an end.