Deuteronomy 17
ECFDeuteronomy 17:6
Tertullian: “Two angels, however, appeared there.” For just so many honorary companions were required by the Word of God, which usually prescribes “two witnesses.” Moreover, the women, returning from the sepulcher and from this vision of the angels were foreseen by Isaiah, when he says, “Come, you women, who return from the vision”; that is, “come” to report the resurrection of the Lord. — AGAINST MARCION 4.43.2
Deuteronomy 17:11
Augustine of Hippo: Just as a person has to pick his way between fire and water so as to be neither burned nor drowned, so we should steer our way between the pinnacle of pride and the whirlpool of sloth, as it is written, “turning neither to the right nor to the left.” For there are some who, through fear of being carried up to the heights on the right, slip and are drowned on the left. Others … fear to be sucked in by the soft ease of sloth on the left and are ruined and destroyed by the ostentation of boasting on the other side, and [they] vanish into smoke and ashes. — LETTER 48
Deuteronomy 17:14
Augustine of Hippo: If you get to enter the land that the Lord your God gives you in luck and you inherit it and live in it, you will say: “I will set princes on me as the other nations that are around me.” You must put a prince over you who has chosen the Lord your God, from among your brothers you will put a prince on you; You can not put a foreign man on you, because he is not your brother. We can ask ourselves why the people disliked the Lord, wishing to have a king, (Cf 1R 8,7) when here it appears as a permitted thing. From this passage it is necessary to understand rather that they did not do it reasonably according to the will of God, since God did not command them to do it, but only allowed it to those who wanted it. What he did command was that they did not make a foreigner king, but a brother, that is, a person from the same town, not a foreigner. The words: You can not mean: “you should not”. 27 (Deuteronomy 17.17). When speaking of the king, the text says: And he will not have many women, so that his heart will not go astray. Neither will much silver or gold be sought. Based on this text, we can ask if David did not act against this precept, since he did not have a single woman (Cf 2R 5,13). Solomon clearly transgressed this precept, not only as regards women, but as regards silver and gold. But from here it follows rather that the kings were allowed to have more than one woman. They were forbidden to have many. This prohibition was not transgressed if a king had few women, as was the case of David. But you should not have many, like Solomon. When the text adds: so that his heart does not go astray, it seems rather to mean that he should not have a large number, so that he does not have foreign women, which, in the case of Solomon, made his heart turn away of God (Cf 1R 11,1-6). But a large number of women were forbidden in a general way, so that, even if it were a large number of Hebrew women, it could reasonably be said that the king in this case would have acted contrary to this precept. — QUESTIONS ON DEUTERONOMY, Q. 26 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)
Deuteronomy 17:20
Basil of Caesarea: You are a wayfarer, like to him who prayed, “Direct my steps.” “Give heed to yourself” that you may swerve not from the path, that you decline neither to the right nor the left. Keep to the king’s highway. The architect should lay the firm foundation of faith which is Jesus Christ and let the builder look to his materials: not wood, nor hay nor stubble but gold, silver, precious stones. — HOMILY ON THE WORDS ‘GIVE HEED TO YOURSELF.’