17:2 If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or {b} woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant,
(b) Showing that the crime cannot be excused by the frailty of the person.
17:2 ln transressing his covenant - That is, in idolatry, as it is explained De 17:3, which is called a transgression of God's covenant made with Israel, both because it is a breach of their faith given to God and of that law which they covenanted to keep; and because it is a dissolution of that matrimonial covenant with God, a renouncing of God and his worship, and a chusing other Gods.
17:1-7 No creature which had any blemish was to be offered in sacrifice to God. We are thus called to remember the perfect, pure, and spotless sacrifice of Christ, and reminded to serve God with the best of our abilities, time, and possession, or our pretended obedience will be hateful to him. So great a punishment as death, so remarkable a death as stoning, must be inflicted on the Jewish idolater. Let all who in our day set up idols in their hearts, remember how God punished this crime in Israel.
