Deuteronomy 18:1-19:21 Comments by Stephen Ricker

The Prophet With God's Words in his Mouth
Comments for Study 16

Deuteronomy 18:1-19:21
Memory Verse: 18:15

SORRY, THE COMMENTARY FOR THIS BOOK HAS NOT BEEN FINISHED.
CLICK HERE FOR A LIST OF BOOKS THAT ARE COMPLETED.

BEFORE READING PLEASE CLICK HERE TO ANSWER THE QUESTIONS.
BEFORE READING PLEASE CLICK HERE TO VIEW A MAP OF THE DIVISION OF THE PROMISED LAND.
BEFORE READING PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR A TIMELINE FROM MOSES TO DAVID.
BEFORE READING PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT ISRAEL'S HISTORY.

. Offerings for Priests and Levites (18:1-8)

>1. How was Levi's tribe to be different than the others? (1)

* Deuteronomy 18:1 "The priests, who are Levites--indeed the whole tribe of Levi--are to have no allotment or inheritance with Israel. They shall live on the offerings made to the LORD by fire, for that is their inheritance."

>What inheritance was theirs? (2)

* Deuteronomy 18:2 "They shall have no inheritance among their brothers; the LORD is their inheritance, as he promised them."

>How is this the same for Abraham and us? (Gen. 15:1)

* Genesis 15:1 "After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward."

* Revelation 20:6 "Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years."

>2. As the Levites stand and minister in the Lord's name what can they be sure of? (3-5)

* Deuteronomy 18:3-5 "This is the share due the priests from the people who sacrifice a bull or a sheep: the shoulder, the jowls and the inner parts. You are to give them the firstfruits of your grain, new wine and oil, and the first wool from the shearing of your sheep, for the LORD your God has chosen them and their descendants out of all your tribes to stand and minister in the LORD's name always."

>How did Jesus assure of the same thing? (Matt. 6:33-34)

* Matthew 6:33-34 "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

>What if a Levite wanted to serve the Lord in the unnamed place for the temple? (6-8)

* Deuteronomy 18:6-8 "If a Levite moves from one of your towns anywhere in Israel where he is living, and comes in all earnestness to the place the LORD will choose, he may minister in the name of the LORD his God like all his fellow Levites who serve there in the presence of the LORD. He is to share equally in their benefits, even though he has received money from the sale of family possessions."

II. Detestable Practices (18:9-13)

>3. What are the detestable acts of the Canaanites the Israelites were not to practice (9-11)

* Deuteronomy 18:9-11 "When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead."

>How was their detestable acts the reason the Lord pronounced judgment on Canaan? (12-13; Gen. 15:12-16)

* Deuteronomy 18:12-13 "Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the LORD your God."

* Genesis 15:12-16 "As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the LORD said to him, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure."

>How is the people of our generation similar to the Canaanites of Moses' time? (2 Tim. 3:1-9)

* 2 Timothy 3:1-9 "But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God-- having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth--men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone."

III. The Prophet (18:14-22)

>4. What is sorcery and divination and what is the outcome of those who practice it? (14; Rev. 21:7-8)

* Deuteronomy 18:14 "The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the LORD your God has not permitted you to do so."

* Revelation 21:7-8 "He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars--their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."

>Who did the Lord promise to send and why might this promise follow the previous sentence? (15)

* Deuteronomy 18:15 "The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him."

>Why was the prophet going to be sent? (16; Exo. 20:18-19, 33:1-6)

* Deuteronomy 18:16 "For this is what you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, "Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die."

* Exodus 20:18-19 "When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, "Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die."

* Exodus 33:1-6 "Then the LORD said to Moses, "Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, 'I will give it to your descendants.' I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way." When the people heard these distressing words, they began to mourn and no one put on any ornaments. For the LORD had said to Moses, "Tell the Israelites, 'You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go with you even for a moment, I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments and I will decide what to do with you.'" So the Israelites stripped off their ornaments at Mount Horeb."

>5. What was to duty of the prophet? (17-18)

* Deuteronomy 18:17-18 "The LORD said to me: "What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him."

>What does it mean to be called to account before the Lord? (19)

* Deuteronomy 18:19 "If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account."

>How does Jesus fulfill the promised prophet? (John 14:9-11)

* John 14:9-11 "Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves."

>6. How is it possible to know if a prophet is sent by the Lord? (21-22)

* Deuteronomy 18:21-22 "You may say to yourselves, "How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD?" 22 If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him."

>What does this mean to us? (1 John 4:1-6)

* 1 John 4:1-6 "Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood."

IV. Cities of Refuge (19:1-14)

>7. What three special towns were to be set aside? (1-3)

* Deuteronomy 19:1-3 "When the LORD your God has destroyed the nations whose land he is giving you, and when you have driven them out and settled in their towns and houses, 2 then set aside for yourselves three cities centrally located in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess. 3 Build roads to them and divide into three parts the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that anyone who kills a man may flee there."

>Why? (4-5)

* Deuteronomy 19:4-5 "This is the rule concerning the man who kills another and flees there to save his life--one who kills his neighbor unintentionally, without malice aforethought. 5 For instance, a man may go into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and as he swings his ax to fell a tree, the head may fly off and hit his neighbor and kill him. That man may flee to one of these cities and save his life."

>How does this reveal the compassion of the Lord?

>8. The Lord promised that if they obeyed him the territory would increase. What then were they to do? (8-10)

* Deuteronomy 19:8-10 "If the LORD your God enlarges your territory, as he promised on oath to your forefathers, and gives you the whole land he promised them, 9 because you carefully follow all these laws I command you today--to love the LORD your God and to walk always in his ways--then you are to set aside three more cities. 10 Do this so that innocent blood will not be shed in your land, which the LORD your God is giving you as your inheritance, and so that you will not be guilty of bloodshed."

>What was to happen to the man who shed innocent blood? (11-13)

* Deuteronomy 19:11-13 "But if a man hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him, assaults and kills him, and then flees to one of these cities, 12 the elders of his town shall send for him, bring him back from the city, and hand him over to the avenger of blood to die. 13 Show him no pity. You must purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, so that it may go well with you."

>Why was it important to maintain each man's inheritance? (14)

* Deuteronomy 19:14 "Do not move your neighbor's boundary stone set up by your predecessors in the inheritance you receive in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess."

V. Witnesses (19:15-21)

>9. What is repeated in verse 15? (17:6)

* Deuteronomy 19:15 "One witness is not enough to convict a man accused of any crime or offense he may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses."

>How did Jesus reinforce this? (Mat. 18:15-20; 26:59-61)

* Matthew 18:15-20 "If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.' If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."

* Matthew 26:59-61 "The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death. But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward. Finally two came forward and declared, "This fellow said, 'I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.'"

* 2 Corinthians 13:1-3 "This will be my third visit to you. "Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses." I already gave you a warning when I was with you the second time. I now repeat it while absent: On my return I will not spare those who sinned earlier or any of the others, since you are demanding proof that Christ is speaking through me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you."

>10. What were the priests and elders sure to due during an investigation? (16-18)

* Deuteronomy 19:16-18 "If a malicious witness takes the stand to accuse a man of a crime, the two men involved in the dispute must stand in the presence of the LORD before the priests and the judges who are in office at the time. The judges must make a thorough investigation, and if the witness proves to be a liar, giving false testimony against his brother"

>If a witness if proven maliciously wrong what is to be done to him? (19)

* Deuteronomy 19:19 "then do to him as he intended to do to his brother. You must purge the evil from among you."

>What would be the result? (20-21)

* Deuteronomy 19:20-21 "The rest of the people will hear of this and be afraid, and never again will such an evil thing be done among you. 21 Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot."