Must Not Acquire Great Numbers Of Horses

Deuteronomy 17:14-16 – When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,” be sure to appoint over you a king the Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite. The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.”

Jeremiah 30:21 – Their leader will be one of their own; their ruler will arise from among them. I will bring him near and he will come close to me—for who is he who will devote himself to be close to me?’ declares the Lord.

Isaiah 2:7 – Their land is full of silver and gold; there is no end to their treasures. Their land is full of horses; there is no end to their chariots.

1 Kings 11:2,4 – They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love…As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been.

Application:

• ·         Unauthorized approaches into God’s presence were punishable by death.
• ·         Accumulating large quantities of “silver and gold…horses” was forbidden to the king. They usually led to a failure to trust in God.
• ·         Foreign women indeed did turn the Israelites hearts after their gods.
• ·         Solomon’s wives turned Solomon’s heart after the foreign women’s gods, as the Lord had warned.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV