Hebrew Bible scholars tend to dismiss Deuteronomy’s “Law of the King” (17:14–20) as a utopian construct that was never realistic and/or historical. Underlying these views, however, are certain assumptions about what is culturally plausible in a world dominated by sacral kingship. Since this is the most common form of government in human history, generalizations about the historicity of Deuteronomic kingship requires an intercultural analysis of theopolitics, divine right of kings, and separation of powers. This article sets Deuteronomic kingship in the larger context of sacral kingship in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. What then emerges is the bridging of a notable false dichotomy in scholarship – Israel’s form of sacral kingship is both distinctive as well as realistic in nature. This suggests that skepticism about the historicity of the “Law of the King” is beholden to a Eurocentric frame of reference which is also skeptical of Western-style absolute monarchy.

中文翻译：

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“耶和华你神所拣选的王”：神圣王权世界中的申命记王权

希伯来圣经学者倾向于将申命记的“国王的律法”（17:14-20）视为乌托邦式的建构，从来不现实和/或历史。然而，这些观点的基础是关于什么是的某些假设。文化上合理的在一个由神圣王权统治的世界里。由于这是人类历史上最常见的政府形式，因此对《申命记》王权历史性的概括需要对神政治、国王神圣权利和权力分立进行跨文化分析。本文将申命记王权置于亚洲、非洲、欧洲和美洲的神圣王权的更大背景下。然后出现的是学术界一个明显的错误二分法的弥合——以色列的神圣王权形式是两个都独特的也本质上是现实的。这表明，对“国王法”历史性的怀疑源于欧洲中心主义的参照系，而该参照系也对西方式的绝对君主制持怀疑态度。