Deuteronomy 18:15 Komentář

In this chapter, I. The rights and revenues of the church are settled, and rules given concerning the Levites' ministration and maintenance (Deu 18:1-8). II. The caution against the idolatrous abominable customs of the heathen is repeated (Deu 18:9-14). III. A promise is given them of the spirit of prophecy to continue among them, and to centre at last in Christ the great prophet (Deu 18:15-18). IV. Wrath threatened against those that despise prophecy (Deu 18:19) or counterfeit it (Deu 18:20), and a rule given for the trial of it (Deu 18:21, Deu 18:22).

Here is, I. The promise of the great prophet, with a command to receive him, and hearken to him. Now, 1. Some think it is the promise of a succession of prophets, that should for many ages be kept up in Israel. Besides the priests and Levites, their ordinary ministers, whose office it was to teach Jacob God's law, they should have prophets, extraordinary ministers, to reprove them for their faults, remind them of their duty, and foretel things to come, judgments for warning and deliverances for their comfort. Having these prophets, (1.) They need not use divinations, nor consult with familiar spirits, for they might enquire of God's prophets even concerning their private affairs, as Saul did when he was in quest of his father's asses, Sa1 9:6. (2.) They could not miss the way of their duty through ignorance or mistake, nor differ in their opinions about it, having prophets among them, whom, in every difficult doubtful case, they might advise with and appeal to. These prophets were like unto Moses in some respects, though far inferior to him, Deu 34:10. 2. Whether a succession of prophets be included in this promise or not, we are sure that it is primarily intended as a promise of Christ, and it is the clearest promise of him that is in all the law of Moses. It is expressly applied to our Lord Jesus as the Messiah promised (Act 3:22; Act 7:37), and the people had an eye to this promise when they said concerning him, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world (Joh 6:14); and it was his Spirit that spoke in all the other prophets, Pe1 1:11. Observe, (1.) What it is that is here promised concerning Christ. What God promised Moses at Mount Sinai (which he relates, Deu 18:18), he promised the people (Deu 18:15) in God's name. [1.] That there should come a prophet, great above all the prophets, by whom God would make known himself and his will to the children of men more fully and clearly than ever he had done before. He is the light of the world, as prophecy was of the Jewish church, Joh 8:12. He is the Word, by whom God speaks to us, Joh 1:1; Heb 1:2. [2.] That God would raise him up from the midst of them. In his birth he should be one of that nation, should live among them and be sent to them. In his resurrection he should be raised up at Jerusalem, and thence his doctrine should go forth to all the world: thus God, having raised up his Son Christ Jesus, sent him to bless us. [3.] That he should be like unto Moses, only as much above him as the other prophets came short of him. Moses was such a prophet as was a law-giver to Israel and their deliverer out of Egypt, and so was Christ: he not only teaches, but rules and saves. Moses was the founder of a new dispensation by signs and wonders and mighty deeds, and so was Christ, by which he proved himself a teacher come from God. Was Moses faithful? So was Christ; Moses as a servant, but Christ as a Son. [4.] That God would put his words in his mouth, Deu 18:18. What messages God had to send to the children of men he would send them by him, and give him full instructions what to say and do as a prophet. Hence our Saviour says, My doctrine is not mine originally, but his that sent me, Joh 7:16. So that this great promise is performed; this Prophet has come, even Jesus; it is he that should come, and we are to look for no other. (2.) The agreeableness of this designed dispensation to the people's avowed choice and desire at Mount Sinai, Deu 18:16, Deu 18:17. There God had spoken to them in thunder and lightning, out of the midst of the fire and thick darkness. Every word made their ears tingle and their hearts tremble, so that the whole congregation was ready to die with fear. In this fright, they begged hard that God would not speak to them in this manner any more (they could not bear it, it would overwhelm and distract them), but that he would speak to them by men like themselves, by Moses now, and afterwards by other prophets like unto him. "Well," says God, "it shall be so; they shall be spoken to by men, whose terrors shall not make them afraid;" and, to crown the favour beyond what they were able to ask or think, in the fulness of time the Word itself was made flesh, and they saw his glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, not, as at Mount Sinai, full of majesty and terror, but full of grace and truth, Joh 1:14. Thus, in answer to the request of those who were struck with amazement by the law, God promised the incarnation of his Son, though we may suppose it far from the thoughts of those that made that request. (3.) A charge and command given to all people to hear and believe, hear and obey, this great prophet here promised: Unto him you shall hearken (Deu 18:15); and whoever will not hearken to him shall be surely and severely reckoned with for his contempt (Deu 18:19): I will require it of him. God himself applied this to our Lord Jesus in the voice that came out of the excellent glory, Mat 17:5, Hear you him, that is, this is he concerning whom it was said by Moses of old, Unto him you shall hearken; and Moses and Elias then stood by and assented to it. The sentence here passed on those that hearken not to this prophet is repeated and ratified in the New Testament. He that believeth not the Son, the wrath of God abideth on him, Joh 3:36. And how shall we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven? Heb 12:25. The Chaldee paraphrase here reads it, My Word shall require it of him, which can be no other than a divine person, Christ the eternal Word, to whom the Father has committed all judgement, and by whom he will at the last day judge the world. Whoever turns a deaf ear to Jesus Christ shall find that it is at his peril; the same that is the prophet is to be his judge, Joh 12:48. II. Here is a caution against false prophets, 1. By way of threatening against the pretenders themselves, Deu 18:20. Whoever sets up for a prophet, and produces either a commission from the true God, shall be deemed and adjudged guilty of high treason against the crown and dignity of the King of kings, and that traitor shall be put to death (Deu 18:20), namely, by the judgment of the great sanhedrim, which, in process of time, sat at Jerusalem; and therefore our Saviour says that a prophet could not perish but at Jerusalem, and lays the blood of the prophets at Jerusalem's door (Luk 13:33, Luk 13:34), whom therefore God himself would punish; yet there false prophets were supported. 2. By way of direction to the people, that they might not be imposed upon by pretenders, of which there were many, as appears, Jer 23:25; Eze 13:6; Kg1 22:6. It is a very proper question which they are supposed to ask, Deu 18:21. Since it is so great a duty to hearken to the true prophets, and yet there is so much danger of being misled by false prophets, how shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken? By what marks may we discover a cheat? Note, It highly concerns us to have a right touchstone wherewith to try the word we hear, that we may know what that word is which the Lord has not spoken. Whatever is directly repugnant to sense, to the light and law of nature, and to the plain meaning of the written word, we may be sure is not that which the Lord has spoken; nor that which gives countenance and encouragement to sin, or has a manifest tendency to the destruction of piety or charity: far be it from God that he should contradict himself. The rule here given in answer to this enquiry was adapted chiefly to that state, Deu 18:22. If there was any cause to suspect the sincerity of a prophet, let them observe that if he gave them any sign, or foretold something to come, and the event was not according to his prediction, they might be sure he was not sent of God. This does not refer so much to the foretelling of mercies and judgments (though as to these, and the difference between the predictions of mercies and judgments, there is a rule of discerning between truth and falsehood laid down by the prophet, Jer 28:8, Jer 28:9), but rather to the giving of signs on purpose to confirm their mission. Though the sign did come to pass, yet this would not serve to prove their mission if they called them to serve other gods; this point had been already settled, Deu 13:1-3. But, if the sign did not come to pass, this would serve to disprove their mission. "When Moses cast his rod upon the ground (it is bishop Patrick's explanation of this), and said it would become a serpent, if it had not accordingly been turned into a serpent, Moses had been a false prophet: if, when Elijah called for fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice, none had come, he had been no better than the prophets of Baal." Samuel's mission was proved by this, that God let none of his words fall to the ground, Sa1 3:19, Sa1 3:20. And by the miracles Christ wrought, especially by that great sign he gave of his resurrection the third day, which came to pass as he foretold, it appeared that he was a teacher come from God. Lastly, They are directed not to be afraid of a false prophet; that is, not to be afraid of the judgments such a one might denounce to amuse people and strike terror upon them; nor to be afraid of executing the law upon him when, upon a strict and impartial scrutiny, it appeared that he was a false prophet. This command not to fear a false prophet implies that a true prophet, who proved his commission by clear and undeniable proofs, was to be feared, and it was at their peril if they offered him any violence or put any slight upon him.

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 18 This chapter gives an account of the provision made for the priests and Levites, with the reason of it, Deu 18:1, of allowance of a country Levite to minister at Jerusalem, and take his portion with the rest, Deu 18:6, and of several persons of bad practices not to be suffered among the people of Israel, Deu 18:9, and of an extraordinary prophet that should be raised up among them, to whom they should hearken, or it would be the worse for them, Deu 18:15, but a false prophet was to be put to death, of whom a sign is given by which he might be known, Deu 18:20.

According to all that thou desiredst of the Lord thy God at Horeb,.... This was promised them, in answer to their request at Horeb or Mount Sinai, when the law was delivered to them in the terrible manner it was: in the day of the assembly; in which the tribes were gathered together to receive the law, when they were assembled at the foot of the mount for that purpose: saying, let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God; which was such a voice of words, attended with so much terror, that they that heard entreated the word might not be spoken to them any more, as the apostle says in Heb 12:19, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not; out of which the Lord spoke; the congregation of Israel is here represented speaking as if a single person.

This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush. He brought them out, after that he had showed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years. This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear. [Deuteronomy 18:15] This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us

It is written in Deuteronomy, “[The Lord] your God will raise up a prophet like me for you from your brothers. You shall hear him; and it shall be that every soul which will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from his people.” Therefore some prophet was specially expected who would be similar to Moses in some respect, to mediate between God and humanity, and who would receive the covenant from God and give the new covenant to those who became disciples. And the people of Israel knew so far as each of the prophets was concerned that no one of them was the [special] one announced by Moses.

“Like me,” says Moses. This means according to the form of the flesh, not to the eminence of majesty. Therefore we find the Lord Jesus called a prophet. Accordingly that woman is no longer greatly in error when she says, “I see that you are a prophet.” She begins to call her husband, to exclude the adulterer. “I see that you are a prophet.” And she begins to ask about a thing that constantly disturbs her.

THE LORD IS THE PRIESTS' AND THE LEVITES' INHERITANCE. (Deu 18:1-8) The priests the Levites . . . shall eat the offerings--As the tribe of Levi had no inheritance allotted them like the other tribes but were wholly consecrated to the priestly office, their maintenance was to arise from tithes, first-fruits, and certain portions of the oblations presented on the altar, which God having by express appointment reserved to Himself made over, after being offered, to His ministers.

CHRIST THE PROPHET IS TO BE HEARD. (Deu 18:15-19) The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet--The insertion of this promise, in connection with the preceding prohibition, might warrant the application (which some make of it) to that order of true prophets whom God commissioned in unbroken succession to instruct, to direct, and warn His people; and in this view the purport of it is, "There is no need to consult with diviners and soothsayers, as I shall afford you the benefit of divinely appointed prophets, for judging of whose credentials a sure criterion is given" (Deu 18:20-22). But the prophet here promised was pre-eminently the Messiah, for He alone was "like unto Moses" (see on Deu 34:10) "in His mediatorial character; in the peculiar excellence of His ministry; in the number, variety, and magnitude of His miracles; in His close and familiar communion with God; and in His being the author of a new dispensation of religion." This prediction was fulfilled fifteen hundred years afterwards and was expressly applied to Jesus Christ by Peter (Act 3:22-23), and by Stephen (Act 7:37).

Laws Concerning the Cities of Refuge, the Sacredness of Landmarks,and the Punishment of False Witnesses - Deuteronomy 19 After laying down the most important features in the national constitution, Moses glances at the manifold circumstances of civil and family life, and notices in this and the two following chapters the different ways in which the lives of individuals might be endangered, for the purpose of awakening in the minds of the people a holy reverence for human life.