◄ Deuteronomy 17:4 ►
and if it is reported and you hear about it, you must investigate it thoroughly. If the report is true and such an abomination has happened in Israel,
Study Bible
and if you are told
The phrase "and if you are told" suggests the importance of community vigilance and communication within the Israelite society. The Hebrew root here is "נָגַד" (nagad), which means to declare or make known. This implies a responsibility among the people to report wrongdoing, emphasizing the communal aspect of maintaining holiness and justice. In a conservative Christian perspective, this reflects the call for believers to be watchful and to hold each other accountable in love and truth.

or hear of it
The phrase "or hear of it" underscores the necessity of being attentive to reports and rumors within the community. The Hebrew word "שָׁמַע" (shama) means to hear or listen, indicating that leaders and individuals alike must be discerning and responsive to information that may affect the moral and spiritual health of the community. This aligns with the Christian duty to be discerning and to test all things against the truth of Scripture.

then you must investigate it thoroughly
The command "then you must investigate it thoroughly" highlights the requirement for due diligence and careful examination. The Hebrew root "דָּרַשׁ" (darash) means to seek or inquire, suggesting a thorough and earnest investigation. This reflects the biblical principle of justice, where accusations must be substantiated by evidence. In a conservative Christian context, this emphasizes the importance of truth and fairness, avoiding rash judgments and ensuring that justice is served according to God's standards.

If it is true and confirmed
The phrase "If it is true and confirmed" points to the necessity of establishing facts before taking action. The Hebrew word "אֱמֶת" (emet) means truth, and "נָכוֹן" (nakon) means established or confirmed. This underscores the biblical mandate for truthfulness and reliability in judgment. For Christians, this serves as a reminder that truth is foundational to justice and that decisions must be based on verified facts, reflecting God's character as a God of truth.

that this detestable thing
The term "detestable thing" refers to actions that are abominable or repugnant in the sight of God. The Hebrew word "תּוֹעֵבָה" (to'evah) is often used to describe idolatry and other grave sins. This highlights the seriousness with which God views sin, particularly those that lead His people away from Him. In a conservative Christian view, this serves as a warning against compromising with sin and underscores the call to holiness and separation from practices that dishonor God.

has been done in Israel
The phrase "has been done in Israel" indicates that the sin in question has occurred within the covenant community. The historical context here is crucial, as Israel was called to be a holy nation, set apart for God's purposes. This reflects the Christian understanding of the Church as a community called to live in holiness and obedience to God. It serves as a reminder that sin within the community must be addressed to maintain the integrity and witness of God's people.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Israel
The nation chosen by God, consisting of the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In this context, Israel is the community responsible for upholding God's laws and standards.

2. Judges and Leaders
Although not explicitly mentioned in this verse, the context involves the leaders and judges of Israel who are responsible for investigating and adjudicating matters of law and justice.

3. Detestable Thing
Refers to acts of idolatry or other serious sins that violate God's commandments, which are considered abominations in the sight of God.
Teaching Points
The Importance of Thorough Investigation
God commands His people to seek truth and justice diligently. This requires careful examination and discernment to ensure that accusations are valid and not based on hearsay or falsehood.

Community Responsibility
The community of believers is responsible for maintaining holiness and purity. This involves addressing sin and wrongdoing in a manner that aligns with God's standards.

The Seriousness of Sin
Sin, especially idolatry, is a serious offense against God. It must be addressed with the gravity it deserves, recognizing its potential to lead others astray and damage the community's relationship with God.

The Role of Leadership
Leaders and judges have a critical role in upholding justice and righteousness. They must act with integrity and impartiality, ensuring that God's laws are applied fairly and consistently.

Restoration and Reconciliation
While addressing sin is necessary, the ultimate goal should be restoration and reconciliation. This reflects God's desire for His people to live in harmony and obedience to His will.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the requirement for thorough investigation in Deuteronomy 17:4 reflect God's character and His desire for justice?

2. In what ways can the principles of investigation and justice in this verse be applied to modern-day church discipline and conflict resolution?

3. How does the concept of community responsibility in addressing sin challenge or affirm your understanding of accountability within the church?

4. What role do leaders play in maintaining the holiness of a community, and how can they ensure they are acting with integrity and fairness?

5. How can the process of addressing sin within a community lead to restoration and reconciliation, and what steps can individuals take to facilitate this outcome?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Deuteronomy 13:14
This passage also emphasizes the need for thorough investigation when reports of idolatry arise, highlighting the importance of justice and truth in the community.

1 Corinthians 5:1-13
Paul addresses the need for the church to judge and address sin within its community, drawing a parallel to the Old Testament requirement for purity and holiness among God's people.

Matthew 18:15-17
Jesus outlines the process for addressing sin within the church, emphasizing the importance of confronting and resolving issues in a manner that seeks restoration and truth.
Sermons
Idolatry a Capital CrimeR.M. Edgar Deuteronomy 17:1-7
Idolatry a Crime Against SocietyD. Davies Deuteronomy 17:2-7
Criminal ProcedureJ. Orr Deuteronomy 17:4-8
People
Levites, Moses
Places
Beth-baal-peor, Egypt
Topics
TRUE, Abomination, Behold, Care, Declared, Detestable, Diligently, Doubt, Ears, Established, Evil, Hast, Hearest, Inquire, Inquired, Inquiry, Investigate, Proved, Searched, Thorough, Thoroughly, Truth, Wrought
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Deuteronomy 17:2-5

     1461   truth, nature of

Deuteronomy 17:2-7

     5201   accusation

Library
Bethphage
There is very frequent mention of this place in the Talmudists: and, certainly, a more careful comparison of the maps with those things which are said by them of the situation of this place is worthy to be made; when they place it in mount Olivet, these make it contiguous to the buildings of Jerusalem. I. In the place cited in the margin, the case "of a stubborn judge" (or elder) is handling. For when, by the prescript of the law, difficult matters, and such things as concerning which the lower councils …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica

The Reign of Saul.
I Sam. 8-31; I Chron. 10 The Demand for a King. The last period saw one tribe after another come to the front and assert itself through some leading man as an emergency arose, but now the tribes are to be united into a monarchy and this, too, at their own request made in the form of a desire for a king. Several things no doubt influenced them to make this request. (1) From the days of Joshua there had been no strong national bond. They were only held together by the law of Moses and the annual assemblages …
Josiah Blake Tidwell—The Bible Period by Period

'Make us a King'
'Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel, onto Ramah, 5. And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. 6. But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. 7. And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected Me, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Adonijah
BY REV. ALFRED ROWLAND, D.D., LL.B. It is notorious that the sons of devout men sometimes prove a curse to their parents, and bring dishonour on the cause of God. When Eve rejoiced over her first-born, she little suspected that passions were sleeping within him which would impel him to slay his own brother; and the experience of the first mother has been repeated, though in different forms, in all lands and in all ages. Isaac's heart was rent by the deceit of Jacob, and by the self-will of Esau. …
George Milligan—Men of the Bible; Some Lesser-Known

Jehoiada and Joash
'And when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal. 2. But Jehosheba, the daughter of king Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king's sons which were slain; and they hid him, even him and his nurse, in the bedchamber from Athaliah, so that he was not slain. 3. And he was with her hid in the house of the Lord six years. And Athaliah did reign over the land. 4. And the seventh year Jehoiada …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Bible in the Days of Jesus Christ
[Illustration: (drop cap S) Reading from a Roll--old Roman Painting] Slowly but surely, as time went on, God was adding to His Book, until about four hundred years before the birth of Jesus Christ the Old Testament Scriptures, in their present shape, were completed. Many questions have been asked as to how the canon of the Old Testament was formed--that is, how and when did the Jews first begin to understand that the Books of the Old Testament were inspired by God. About the first five Books--the …
Mildred Duff—The Bible in its Making

Josiah, a Pattern for the Ignorant.
"Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before Me; I also have heard thee, saith the Lord. Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place."--2 Kings …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII

The Story of the Adulteress.
(Jerusalem.) ^D John VII. 53-VIII. 11. [This section is wanting in nearly all older manuscripts, but Jerome (a.d. 346-420) says that in his time it was contained in "many Greek and Latin manuscripts," and these must have been as good or better than the best manuscripts we now possess. But whether we regard it as part of John's narrative or not, scholars very generally accept it as a genuine piece of history.] ^d 53 And they went every man unto his own house [confused by the question of Nicodemus, …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Golden Eagle is Cut to Pieces. Herod's Barbarity when He was Ready to Die. He Attempts to Kill Himself. He Commands Antipater to be Slain.
1. Now Herod's distemper became more and more severe to him, and this because these his disorders fell upon him in his old age, and when he was in a melancholy condition; for he was already seventy years of age, and had been brought by the calamities that happened to him about his children, whereby he had no pleasure in life, even when he was in health; the grief also that Antipater was still alive aggravated his disease, whom he resolved to put to death now not at random, but as soon as he should …
Flavius Josephus—The Wars of the Jews or History of the Destruction of Jerusalem

A Sermon on Isaiah xxvi. By John Knox.
[In the Prospectus of our Publication it was stated, that one discourse, at least, would be given in each number. A strict adherence to this arrangement, however, it is found, would exclude from our pages some of the most talented discourses of our early Divines; and it is therefore deemed expedient to depart from it as occasion may require. The following Sermon will occupy two numbers, and we hope, that from its intrinsic value, its historical interest, and the illustrious name of its author, it …
John Knox—The Pulpit Of The Reformation, Nos. 1, 2 and 3.

Subjects of Study. Home Education in Israel; Female Education. Elementary Schools, Schoolmasters, and School Arrangements.
If a faithful picture of society in ancient Greece or Rome were to be presented to view, it is not easy to believe that even they who now most oppose the Bible could wish their aims success. For this, at any rate, may be asserted, without fear of gainsaying, that no other religion than that of the Bible has proved competent to control an advanced, or even an advancing, state of civilisation. Every other bound has been successively passed and submerged by the rising tide; how deep only the student …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life

Second Stage of Jewish Trial. Jesus Condemned by Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin.
(Palace of Caiaphas. Friday.) ^A Matt. XXVI. 57, 59-68; ^B Mark XIV. 53, 55-65; ^C Luke XXII. 54, 63-65; ^D John XVIII. 24. ^d 24 Annas therefore sent him bound unto Caiaphas the high priest. [Foiled in his attempted examination of Jesus, Annas sends him to trial.] ^b and there come together with him all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes. ^a 57 And they that had taken Jesus led him away to the house of Caiaphas the high priest, ^c and brought him into the high priest's house. ^a where …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Easter Tuesday
Second Sermon. Same Text. Acts 13, 26-39. THE WORD AND THE RESURRECTION.[1] [Footnote 1: This sermon appeared first in the Church Postil, the Explanation of the Epistle and Gospel Texts from Easter to Advent. Printed by Hans Lufft, Wittenberg, 1559.] 1. This sermon was preached by Paul in the synagogue at Antioch of Pisidia, where were gathered with the Jews some Greek converts. Wherever in a city Jews were to be found, there also were their synagogues in which they taught and preached; and many …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II

The Medes and the Second Chaldaean Empire
THE FALL OF NINEVEH AND THE RISE OF THE CHALDAEAN AND MEDIAN EMPIRES--THE XXVIth EGYPTIAN DYNASTY: CYAXARES, ALYATTES, AND NEBUCHADREZZAR. The legendary history of the kings of Media and the first contact of the Medes with the Assyrians: the alleged Iranian migrations of the Avesta--Media-proper, its fauna and flora; Phraortes and the beginning of the Median empire--Persia proper and the Persians; conquest of Persia by the Medes--The last monuments of Assur-bani-pal: the library of Kouyunjik--Phraortes …
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 8

Deuteronomy
Owing to the comparatively loose nature of the connection between consecutive passages in the legislative section, it is difficult to present an adequate summary of the book of Deuteronomy. In the first section, i.-iv. 40, Moses, after reviewing the recent history of the people, and showing how it reveals Jehovah's love for Israel, earnestly urges upon them the duty of keeping His laws, reminding them of His spirituality and absoluteness. Then follows the appointment, iv. 41-43--here irrelevant (cf. …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

Links
Deuteronomy 17:4 NIV
Deuteronomy 17:4 NLT
Deuteronomy 17:4 ESV
Deuteronomy 17:4 NASB
Deuteronomy 17:4 KJV

Deuteronomy 17:4 Commentaries

Bible Hub
Deuteronomy 17:3
Top of Page
Top of Page