We continue deeper into Deuteronomy. A big theme this portion was around jurisprudence- we open with an admonition to judges to judge impartially before discussing what appeared to be a more general case of punishing idolatry, followed by a brief discussion of witnesses, the function of higher courts and the supreme court in the hands of the Levites and the magistrates, and later on the rules around property line disputes, manslaughter, false witness. There were also discussions of what to do if a body is found outside a town, killed by an unknown person (see which town is closest and sacrifice a heifer about it to absolve blood guilt); the rules of battle and a series of qualifications to leave the battlefield, as well as proscriptions against destroying fruit trees; requirements to demand surrender before attacking a town; and discussions of false prophets and varying sorts of diviner. There was also what was possibly our first discussion of kingship.
This is the portion that a lot of legal principles are derived from, most notably and critically that charging people with crimes fundamentally requires two or more witnesses, as well as establishing a sort of basic unit of testimony. We talked a lot about this, as well as speculated why we got a very similar section on idolatry as in last week's portion, as well as some of the power dynamics of the justice system. There was also a lot of revisiting the question of non-jewish magic and the sort of specificity of what was being named by the text and the sage's interpretation as compared to how we read stuff like "sorcerers" now. We're also unclear why necromancers would put corpses on their genitals or in their armpits like Rashi suggested.
The military section was somewhat surprising in the particular ways it was and was not kind; the highlight is the first time we've seen discussion of preserving fruit trees, as well as the directive to let people who have recently built a house, planted vineyards, or married to leave, as well as those who're afraid. Surprisingly kind! It does make sense on a practical level for a non-professional army. We also got to discuss some of how modern zionism engages with trees as part of their ideological project.
The king section was surprising, as G-d is famously not very excited at the idea of there being a king of Israel- hence, the judges in Judges. The sages take note of the tense of the language and suggest that this section is anticipatory.
So! Commentary.
Ramban made an understatement and mentions the phenomenon of jews having opinions in excess of individuals in the conversation

The Torah has thoughts on kings and horse ownership; speculation appears to indicate that this is about the well-known historical tendency of horse owners to experience hubris

Rashi also gives us an update on the king's wife meta

Apparently this is referring to shorthand for "an ass laden with bread" but it's quite a phrase to run into out of nowhere from Ibn Ezra

Ramban saying the nicest thing we've seen him say about Ibn Ezra. Peace and love on planet earth.

So when you find a body outside a town, there's a whole rigmarole you have to go through of measuring which town is closest, taking a heifer to a wadi, and sacrificing it. Ramban believes this will naturally help lead to the discovery of the murderer, as through the methods of a charming rural murder mystery plot he relays here:
