Qualifications for a King

Hello everyone.

Today, I am going to share something I've seen in Deuteronomy recently about leadership.  In Deut. 17:14-20, God reveals that He knows that some day Israel would ask for a king so that they can be like the nations around them.  It gives some instructions for the new king. It  says, in verses 18-20:

"When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of  this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests.  It is to be with him, and he is to read all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left.  Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel."

Now prior to the passage above, god does gives some other instructions about not accumulating too much stuff or taking too many wives.  That such things would lead them astray.  Israel's history, of course, proved God correct in all of that.  But I want to focus on the part of these instructions written above.  It says that the new king must go to the priests and get a copy of the law, then set down and copy it word for word on his own scroll.  He was to carry his copy of the law around with him and read it every day.  So a good king was going to have God's word on his heart and read it every day. So then, what was this daily Bible study going to do for the king? 

It would help him know God better and respect Him more (learn to revere the Lord his God.)  It would help remain obedient (follow carefully all the words of this law.)  It would keep him humble (not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites.)  It would keep him faithful (not turn from the law to the right or to the left.) There is a lot there and it is all good.  So a good king was going to stay in God's word. 

This is good, but my guess is that no monarch's will actually read this post.  But I think this good instructions for any kind of spiritual leadership, because these attributes all thing that we should want.  Any leader, (or any disciple for that matter,) should desire a deeper relationship with God, to be more obedient to Him, to be humble in our dealings with our fellow disciples and to stay faithful. So how do we do that?  Do we need to literally write our own copy the Bible down and then carry it with us everywhere we go? I don't know, but we do need to do whatever it takes to keep God's word on our hearts and then study every day.  This will bring only positive things to us.
Tom