“Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the LORD has said to you, ‘You shall never return that way again.’ And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold.” Deuteronomy 17.16, 17

Our text represents perhaps the first acknowledgement in human history that government must be restrained in its activities or it will surely establish policies favoring its own aggrandizement.

Those who served as kings in ancient Israel were not to covet power, pleasure, of pecuniary reward in their service to the nation. The policies they pursued must not be designed to satisfy their desires or enhance their power or status. The fundamental principle undergirding the decisions and actions of government, herein revealed, insists that those who are called to public service must keep the interests of those served first and foremost, and must guard against all tendencies designed to promote mere personal or political advantage.

The logic of public policy begins, therefore, in understanding that public policy is for the wellbeing of the public, first of all, and not for those who make public policy.

T. M. Moore

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