(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Deuteronomy 17:1–7, “Thou shalt not sacrifice unto the LORD thy God any bullock, or sheep, wherein is blemish, or any evilfavouredness: for that is an abomination unto the LORD thy God. If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant, And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded; And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and enquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel: Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die. At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So thou shalt put the evil away from among you.”
The Lord chose Israel to be His own beloved people (see Deut 32:10, “He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.”) when they were facing genocide (Ex 1:15–17 , “And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah: And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live. But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive.”). The Lord saved them from this terrible situation and gave them the very best Land available at that time. In response to this, Israel were called upon to give the Lord the best back. They were allowed to keep many good things but they were not allowed to give the Lord something that was useless. They were to understand that the Lord is God over all the earth and there was no room for worshipping other gods. The penalty for refusing to acknowledge that the Lord is the only true god was death. This penalty was to be exacted. However, two or three witnesses were requited. If only one witness was required then someone could make up a lie to attack someone who was righteous but he disliked personally.
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