Глава 18

Repetition of the law of the inheritance of the Levites. – Protection from idolatry and infatuation with false prophets. The promise of a prophet like Moses. Deut.18:1. The priests of the Levites, the whole tribe of Levi, will have no part or inheritance with Israel: they must eat the sacrifices of the Lord and His part; Deut.18:2. But there will be no inheritance for him among his brothers: the Lord himself is his inheritance, as He told him. Deut.18:3. This is what should be due to the priests from the people, from those who sacrifice oxen or sheep: they must give the priest the shoulder, jaws and stomach; Deut.18:4. Also, the firstfruits of your bread, your wine, and your oil, and the firstfruits of the fleece of your sheep, you shall give to him. Deut.18:5. For the Lord your God has chosen him out of all your tribes, to stand [before the Lord your God], to serve [and to bless] in the name of the Lord, he and his sons all the days. Wed. Ref. 29:26–28; Lev.2:2, 10, 6:24–29, 7:6–14, 28–36, 9:31–38, 10:12–18, 14:13, 23:20; Number 18:1. With the entry into the land of Canaan, the command given in the desert was canceled that every clean animal should be slaughtered before the tabernacle as a sacrificial one (Deut. 12), through which the maintenance of the priests was reduced to a significant extent. Therefore, in addition to the “breasts and shock” and “shoulder of heave”, “jaws and stomach” are also included. The first fruits of wool from sheep are added to the number of offerings of first fruits (Vlastov, Holy Let.). Deut.18:6. And if the Levite comes from one of your dwellings, from all the land of Israel where he dwelt, and comes according to the desire of his soul to the place that the Lord will choose, Deut.18:7. and he will serve in the name of the Lord his God, like all his brothers the Levites who stand there before the Lord, Deut.18:8. then let them use the same share, in addition to what they received from the sale of their father’s property. The Levite, who forever left the boundaries of his Levitical city and transferred to permanent service at the tabernacle, received his maintenance from the funds of the latter, keeping with himself what he “received from the sale of his father’s property” (v. 8). Deut.18:9. When you enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you, then do not learn to do the abominations that these nations have done: Deut.18:10. There shall not be among you one who guides his son or daughter through fire, a soothsayer, a fortune-teller, a sorcerer, a sorcerer, Deut.18:11. charmer, conjurer of spirits, magician and interrogator of the dead; Deut.18:12. For everyone who does this is an abomination to the Lord, and for these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you; Deut.18:13. be blameless before the Lord your God; Deut.18:14. For these nations, whom you are driving out, listen to fortunetellers and soothsayers, but the Lord your God has not given you that. Wed. Lev.19.31; Deut 18.10; “Conducting his son or daughter through the fire”, in honor of the gods of paganism. Deut.18:15. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet from among you, from among your brothers, like me. Hear ye him. Deut.18:16. for as thou didst ask of the Lord thy God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, Let me no more hear the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, lest I die. Deut.18:17. And the Lord said to me: It is good that they spoke [to you]; Deut.18:18. I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brothers, and I will put My words in His mouth, and He will speak to them everything that I command Him; Deut.18:19. but whoever does not listen to My words, which [that Prophet] will speak in My name, I will require from him; According to the instructions of the New Testament Scripture (John 5:46; Acts 3:22, 23, 7:37) and the interpretations of Christian writers, in the commented verses one should see a prediction of the Messiah, since of the ordinary prophets who spoke in Israel after Moses, none can be compared with the latter (Deut. 34.10–12). “I will raise up for them a Prophet from among their brothers, like you.” Moses was a leader, prophet, legislator of the Old Testament, a mediator between God and people, distinguished by his special closeness to Jehovah (Num. 12.6–8); Messiah Jesus Christ is the Leader, Prophet, Lawgiver of the New Testament, Intercessor between God and people, according to His divine nature - the Only Begotten Son of God. Moses freed the Jews from slavery in Egypt and brought them to the land of promise; Christ Jesus, by His life, teaching, and death, freed humanity from the yoke of spiritual Egypt and opened access to the abode of promised bliss. Deut.18:20. but the prophet who dares to say in My name what I did not command him to say, and who speaks in the name of other gods, such a prophet must be put to death. Deut.18:21. And if you say in your heart: “How can we know a word that the Lord has not spoken?” Deut.18:22. If a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, but the word does not come true and is not fulfilled, then it was not the Lord who spoke this word, but the prophet who spoke this out of his boldness, do not be afraid of him. Wed. Deuteronomy 13.1–5. Deuteronomy 13.1–5 notes one sign of a prophet’s “uncalledness”: teaching that is not in accordance with the spirit of the divine law; here another one is indicated: failure to fulfill predictions. You might be interested in: