๐ [Deuteronomy 18] God Will Raise Up a Prophet and Put His Words in His Mouth...
AI-generated image
๐ Key Points of Deuteronomy 18
Following Deuteronomy 17, chapter 18 presents three channels through which God would guide Israel and reveal His will in the generations to come.
Chapter 17 presents instructions concerning the king, while chapter 18 addresses the Levitical priests and the prophet whom God would raise up. ๐
① The Levitical Priests Are Mentioned (Verse 1)
Until this point, whenever the priesthood was mentioned, the Bible specifically referred to Aaron, the sons of Aaron, or their descendants, because the priesthood had been entrusted to Aaron's family.
Here, however, we encounter for the first time the expression “the Levitical priests.” ๐
This makes us consider whether this expression may be indicating that, after entering Canaan, the role of the Levites, who would live scattered among the different tribes of Israel, would take on an even broader dimension.
✔️ We can also see God's grace toward the Levites, who would receive no territorial inheritance, because the Lord Himself would be their inheritance. God also established various provisions for their livelihood.
② Do Not Imitate the Abominable Practices of the Nations (Verses 9–14)
After entering Canaan, Israel was commanded not to imitate the peoples living there or allow among them those who practiced such things:
diviners and those who practiced fortune-telling;
sorcerers and those who practiced witchcraft;
those who consulted spirits;
mediums and those who consulted the dead.
→ God declares all these practices to be abominable and says that it was because of such abominable practices that those nations were being driven out of the land.
✔️ In chapter 17, God had already shown that offering an animal with a defect and practicing idolatry were abominable things.
✔️ Now, in chapter 18, He clearly identifies the people who practiced these abominable things. ๐
③ God Will Raise Up a Prophet (Verses 15–19)
Moses declares that, in the future, God would raise up a prophet like him from among the people.
This is connected to what happened at Mount Horeb, when the people were afraid to hear God's voice directly. Therefore, God promised that He would speak to His people through a prophet.
→ “I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.”
→ “And whoever will not listen to My words that he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him.”
❌ This does not refer to the words of those who practiced the abominable things mentioned above...
✔️ It refers to listening to the words of the prophet into whose mouth God has placed His own words. ๐
AI-generated image
④ How to Distinguish a False Prophet (Verses 20–22)
One who speaks in God's name without God having commanded him to speak;
One who speaks in the name of other gods.
If what the prophet proclaims does not happen or come true, it becomes clear that the word did not come from the Lord, but was spoken on his own initiative.
→ God commands: “Do not be afraid of him.”
๐ Final Thoughts
In Deuteronomy 18, God makes it clear that Israel was not to follow those who practiced abominable things, but was to listen to the words of the prophet whom God would raise up.
When we look back at the life of Saul, the first king of Israel, however, his life seems almost like a demonstration in advance of the warning given in Deuteronomy 18.
He crossed the boundaries of the priestly role and personally offered the sacrifice. Then he failed to obey fully the words of the prophet Samuel, who conveyed God's word to him. Finally, he went so far as to seek out a medium who consulted the dead—one of the very practices that God had declared abominable.
It is almost as if Deuteronomy 18 had already shed light on the path that Saul would eventually take.
In the end, Samuel never again went to see Saul, and until the day of his death, Samuel mourned for him.
(1 Samuel 15:35)
๋๊ธ
๋๊ธ ์ฐ๊ธฐ