Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Deuteronomy 18: A New Prophet?

Deuteronomy 18 contains a message about good religion, bad religion, and a coming religious figure.

The good religion is highlighted by the care and attention given to the Levites (vs. 1-8).  Though they have no inheritance or allotment among Israel, they are to receive from the sacrifices specified portions to eat.  They also may eat of the first fruit offerings.  Even if they come from a distance to the Tabernacle, they are eligible to stand before the Lord and minister.

Contrast this with the bad religion depicted in verses 9-14.  Because of the abhorrent practices described in this section, judgment is coming upon the Canaanite nations (vs. 12).  The Israelites are to refrain from imitating the religion of the current inhabitants of the land, such things as child sacrifice and consulting the dead.

Finally, Moses offers a cryptic, intriguing word about one who will come after him, "a prophet like me" (vs. 15).  Most Christian scholars seem to conclude that this represents a prediction of the Messiah, and thus of Jesus.  We don't normally think of Jesus as a "Prophet," though He did indeed fulfill such as a role, as well as those of Priest and King.  One compelling argument I found is that this passage is what Jesus was referring to when He said, "If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me" (John 5:46).

P.S. While I do not necessarily endorse everything that may be found on this extensive website, I did find the top answer on this section of Deuteronomy to be very interesting, especially its list of the parallels between the lives of Moses and Jesus.  If you are looking for more information, you can check out this analysis as a starting point:
http://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/2275/who-is-the-prophet-moses-mentioned-in-deuteronomy-1815

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