Deuteronomy 17:14-20
“When you have come to the land which Yahweh your God gives you, and possess it, and live in it, and shall say, 'I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me;' you shall surely set him king over you, whom Yahweh your God shall choose. You shall set one of your brothers king over you; you may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. Only he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to the end that he should multiply horses; because Yahweh has said to you, 'You shall not go back that way again.' He shall not multiply wives to himself, that his heart not turn away. He shall not greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. It shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write a copy of this law in a book, out of that which is before the priests the Levites. It shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear Yahweh his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them; that his heart not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand, or to the left; to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children, in the midst of Israel.”
Deuteronomy is presented as Moses' farewell speech to the Israelites on the plains of Moab, just before they enter the promised land. This section outlines expectations and regulations for their future life, including the possibility and parameters for having a king, contrasting Israel's future leadership with the typical kingship models of surrounding nations.
What kind of leadership does this passage encourage for any community, beyond just ancient Israelite kings?