The Targum Jonathan on (Deuteronomy 17) puts hard numbers on royal power. The Hebrew says the king shall not "multiply horses" or "multiply wives." But how many is too many? The Targum answers with precision: no more than two horses, and no more than eighteen wives.
The horse limit comes with a specific reason. The king may have only two, "lest his princes ride upon them, and become proud, neglect the words of the law, and commit the sin of the captivity of Mizraim." Excess horses lead to pride, which leads to Torah neglect, which leads to Egypt. The Targum draws a straight line from cavalry to spiritual collapse. And it ends with a devastating callback: "By that way ye shall return no more." The road to Egypt runs through the royal stable.
Eighteen wives is a number that directly references King David, who according to rabbinic tradition had exactly eighteen wives. The Targum sets David's practice as the maximum legal limit. Solomon, who had hundreds, exceeded the law—and the Targum adds that the danger is not merely personal but political: too many wives "pervert his heart." Silver and gold are also limited, "lest his heart be greatly lifted up, and he rebel against the God of heaven." The Targum uses "God of heaven" rather than "the Lord your God"—a more imperial-sounding title appropriate for addressing a king.
The legal system described earlier in the chapter creates a detailed judicial hierarchy. When a case is too difficult for local courts—involving "unclean and clean blood, cases of life or of money, or between a plague of leprosy or of the scall"—the case goes up to the central court at the Temple. The Targum calls the local courts "your beth din" and the central authority "the priests of the tribe of Levi and the judge who will be in those days."
Defying the court's ruling carries the death penalty. "The man who will act with presumption, and not obey the judge or the priest"—the Targum says this is necessary so that "all the people will hear, and be afraid, and not do wickedly again." Judicial authority is enforced through public deterrence.
The chapter ends with the king's primary obligation. He must keep a Torah scroll "at his side" and "read it all the days of his life." The elders must write "the section of this law" for him specifically. The Targum envisions a king defined not by his army or his wealth but by his daily reading of the Torah—a monarch whose power is bounded by the book he carries.
You shall not sacrifice before the. Lord your God a bullock or lamb which hath any blemish or evil in it, or which is torn or rent; for that is abominable before the Lord your God.
If there be found among you in one of your cities that the Lord your God will give you a man or woman who doth what is evil before the Lord your God in transgressing His covenant,
and, following after evil desire, shall serve the idols of the Gentiles, and worship them, or the sun, or the moon, or all the host of the heavens, which I have not commanded;
and it be told you, and you hear and make inquiry by witnesses fairly; and, behold, if this word be true and certain, that such abomination is wrought among you,
then you shall bring forth that man or woman who hath done this evil thing, unto the gate of your house of judgment, the man or the woman, and you shall stone them that they die.
Upon the word of two witnesses or of three he shall die who is guilty of death; they shall not be put to death on the word of one witness.
The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to kill him, and afterward the hands of all (any of) the people; and so shall you bring down the evil doer among you.
If there be with you an extraordinary matter for judgment between unclean and clean blood, cases of life or of money, or between a plague of leprosy or of the scall, with words of controversy in your beth din, then you shall arise and go up to the place which the Lord your God will choose;
and you shall come to the priests of the tribe of Levi, and to the judge who will be in those days, and inquire of them, and they will show you the process of judgment.
Then shall you do according to the word of the custom of the law that they will show you at the place the Lord will choose, and observe to do whatsoever they teach you.
According to the word of the law that they will teach you, and the manner of judgment they pronounce, you shall do. You shall not turn aside from the sentence they will show you, to the right or to the left.
And the man who will act with presumption, and not obey the judge or the priest who standeth there to minister before the Lord your God, that man shall be put to death; so shalt you put down the doer of evil from Israel,
and all the people will hear, and be afraid, and not do wickedly again.
When you enter the land which the Lord your God giveth you, and possess, and dwell in it, and you say, Let us appoint a king over us, like all the nations about me,
you shall inquire for instruction before the Lord and afterward appoint the king over you: but it will not be lawful to set over you a foreign man who is not of your brethren.
Only let him not increase to him more than two horses, lest his princes ride upon them, and become proud, neglect the words of the law, and commit the sin of the captivity of Mizraim; for the Lord hath told you, By that way ye shall return no more.
Neither shall he multiply to him wives above eighteen, lest they pervert his heart; nor shall he increase to him silver or gold, lest his heart be greatly lifted up, and he rebel against the God of heaven.
And it shall be that if he be steadfast in the commandments of the law he shall sit upon the throne of his kingdom in security. And let the elders write for him the section (pharasha) of this law in a book before the priests of the tribe of Levi;
and let it be at his side, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law, and all these statutes to perform them:
that his heart may not be arrogant toward his brethren, nor decline from the precepts to the right or the left, and that his days may be prolonged over his kingdom, his and his sons among Israel.
