Deuteronomychapter 18
22 verses · Moses, by tradition · 15th to 13th century BC · The Law
There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,
Introduction
Moses, by tradition, The Law, Deuteronomy Overview.
Moses gave this law on the plains of Moab near the end of his life, with the crossing ahead of the people and his own death close. His hearers were about to live beside nations that kept diviners, mediums and readers of omens. Every neighbour would offer them a way to learn the will of the gods. The chapter settles who would serve and speak for God in Israel. It begins with the priests and Levites who held no land, then closes one door and opens another. Listen for the promise at its centre and for the test a hearer could apply to anyone who spoke in God's name.
Context
- Who
- A generation that would be offered supernatural help by every neighbour it had
- What
- The portions of the priests and Levites, the ban on the practices the nations used to learn the will of their gods, and the promise of a prophet like Moses.
- Where
- The plains of Moab east of the Jordan, facing a land whose shrines kept diviners and mediums.
- When
- The fortieth year after the Exodus, about 1406 BC on the early date this site keeps.
- Why
- To give Israel God's own word through His prophet in place of the diviners of Canaan, with a test to tell a true prophet from a false one.
Historical context
The chapter is Moses speaking, in the fortieth year after the Exodus, near the end of his life and with the crossing ahead of him. The book dates the address to that year and places it beyond the Jordan, and the house reading puts it at about 1406 BC, which is a reading rather than a settled date. The place is the plains of Moab, east of the river, with the land of Canaan across the valley. The occasion is the settling of three offices before Israel enters, the priests and Levites who serve, the arts that are shut off, and the prophet who is promised instead. A first hearer knew that each practice named at verses 10 and 11 was a paid profession in that world. Mesopotamian scholars wrote manuals on reading the liver of a sacrificed sheep and the movement of oil on water, so a king with a decision to make had somewhere to go. A first hearer also knew that the priests and Levites held no fields. Their income was fixed in kind instead, the shoulder and the jowls and the stomach of a sacrifice, with the first of the grain, wine, oil and wool. The gap left where a whole industry stood is filled in this chapter by one person.
Significance
The chapter answers a practical fear. Everyone else had a way of finding out what the gods wanted before acting, and Israel was told it had none of them. The answer given is that God will raise up a prophet like Moses from among their own brothers and put His words in his mouth. The test attached to it was one a hearer could apply, since a word spoken in the LORD's name that does not come to pass was not His.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
This chapter settles what the priest lives on. The measures were fixed by the rabbis rather than by the text. Rashi records that Scripture sets no minimum for the heave offering, the first of the corn (Rashi on Deuteronomy 18:4:1, citing Talmud Yerushalmi Terumot 4:3). The rabbis fixed it between a fortieth and a sixtieth. A generous eye gives one fortieth, a grudging one a sixtieth, an average one a fiftieth.
For the first of the fleece he records one sixtieth (Rashi on Deuteronomy 18:4:2, citing Chullin 137a and Sifrei Devarim 166:9). A flock must hold at least five sheep before the gift falls due. Rabbi Akiba derives the five from the wording of the verse itself. From the words about standing to minister Rashi derives the rule that the sacrificial service is performed standing (Rashi on Deuteronomy 18:5:1, citing Sifrei Devarim 167:1 and Sota 38a). Sforno reads the same verse as the ground of the people's duty to feed and clothe the priest, so that he is free for the Temple service (Sforno on Deuteronomy 18:5:1, Munk translation, CC-BY). These dues attach to the altar and to the priestly courses, so the practice they describe stands with the Temple service.
How it is read
Two passages are read closely here. The first is the ban on the diviner, where Rashi separates study from practice. He writes "thou shalt not learn to do, but you may learn their practices in order to understand them and to teach others" (Rashi on Deuteronomy 18:9:1, citing Sifrei Devarim 170:3 and Sanhedrin 68a). On the command to be whole with God he reads a posture rather than a rule. The words are "walk before him whole-heartedly, put thy hope in Him and do not attempt to investigate the future" (Rashi on Deuteronomy 18:13:1, citing Sifrei Devarim 173:3). He takes the passage as a whole to mean that Israel is turned from the diviner because God has given it the prophets and the Urim and Thummim (Rashi on Deuteronomy 18:14:1).
The second is the prophet like Moses at 18:15, and here the Jewish reading and the Christian reading part. Rashi reads a standing succession, one raised up in Moses' stead "and so likewise from prophet to prophet throughout all ages" (Rashi on Deuteronomy 18:15:1). Ramban grounds the promise in what Israel asked for at Sinai. He draws a duty of belief from it. Israel should "believe in the rest of the prophets who come after me, as well, for I and they are identical" (Ramban on Deuteronomy 18:16:1, Chavel translation, CC-BY). The Christian reading takes the same verse as the promise of one prophet and applies it to Jesus, as Peter does at Acts 3:22. The difference is over whether the verse promises a line or a person. This site states it here rather than settling it. The corpus also holds Ibn Ezra on Deuteronomy 18:19:1 and Malbim on Deuteronomy 18:2:1 without an English text, and both are cited without quotation.
What the rabbis say
On telling a true prophet from a false one the rabbis work from a case. Rashi reports the question of 18:21 as one Israel would actually ask. Hananiah son of Azzur promised a quick return of the Temple vessels from Babylon while Jeremiah promised the opposite (Rashi on Deuteronomy 18:21:1, citing Sifrei Devarim 178:2). Rashi reads the command not to fear such a prophet as a charge to press his guilt without fearing punishment for it (Rashi on Deuteronomy 18:22:2, citing Sifrei Devarim 178:3). The rabbis taught that a word God did not command one prophet to speak may still be the word he commanded another (Rashi on Deuteronomy 18:20:1, citing Sanhedrin 89a).
The corpus carries more locators on this chapter, given for a reader to follow. Bamidbar Rabbah 23:14 and Jerusalem Talmud Bava Batra 8:5:6 stand at 18:1, Avot DeRabbi Natan 2:2 and Bava Kamma 66a:6 at 18:4. Avodah Zarah 18a:2 and Avodah Zarah 43b:15 stand at 18:9, Bereshit Rabbah 34:8 and Bereshit Rabbah 65:11 at 18:10. Aggadat Bereshit 80:1 and Jerusalem Talmud Megillah 1:9:4 stand at 18:18. Jerusalem Talmud Sanhedrin 1:3:1 stands at 18:20, and Jerusalem Talmud Sanhedrin 11:6:2 at 18:22.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Deuteronomy 18:1 to 18:22, Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, public domain, 1929-1934; Sforno, Sforno on Deuteronomy 18:5:1, Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash, CC-BY; Ramban, Ramban on Deuteronomy 18:16:1, Chavel translation, Shilo Pub. House, CC-BY, 1971-1976; Ibn Ezra, Ibn Ezra on Deuteronomy 18:19:1, cited without text; Malbim, Malbim on Deuteronomy 18:2:1, cited without text; The Sefaria corpus on disk, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/deuteronomy/18.json, fetched 2026-09-19, 2026.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Levi's living comes from the offerings
Deuteronomy 18:1-2
Numbers 18:20 said it to Aaron first, and Joshua 13:14 and 13:33 record the land divided with Levi left out. The tribe that handles the offerings holds no ground. Verse 1 puts priests and Levites under one standing, and verse 2 states what they hold as a person rather than a property, “the LORD is their inheritance, as He promised them”.
Deuteronomy 18:1
“The priests, the Levites, and all the tribe of Levi, shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel,.... That is, in the land of Canaan, in the division of it among the tribes: they shall eat the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and his inheritance; the meat offerings, see Lev 2:2, and whatsoever of the sin offerings and peace offerings which were the Lord's; so Ben Melech says, the flesh of the offerings which belonged to the priests was called fire offerings, after part of it was consumed by fire.”
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Deuteronomy 18:1
“Better, “there shall not be to the priests, the Levites, yea the whole tribe of Levi, any inheritance, etc.” And his inheritance - i. e., God’s inheritance, that which in making a grant to His people of the promised land with its earthly blessings He had reserved for Himself; more particularly the sacrifices and the holy gifts, such as tithes and first-fruits. These were God’s portion of the substance of Israel; and as the Levites were His portion of the persons of Israel, it was fitting that the Levites should be sustained from these.”
the Lord is their inheritance: Adam Clarke reads the promise on two levels: the LORD is the portion of their souls, and their bodies live on the offerings made by fire. Psalm 16:5 speaks the same way of the LORD as a chosen portion and cup. Every Levite held that portion.
Deuteronomy 18:2
“The Lord is their inheritance - He is the portion of their souls; and as to their bodies, they shall live by the offerings of the Lord made by fire, i. e., the meat-offering, the sin-offering, and the trespass-offering; and whatever was the Lord’s right, in these or other offerings, he gave to the priests.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Deuteronomy 18:3-5
Leviticus 7:31-34 gave the priest the breast and the thigh of the peace offerings, and “the shoulder, the jowls, and the stomach” do not match that list. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown say it is hard to determine whether this is a new injunction or the old one in more detail. Albert Barnes reads the three as head, body and legs, so a portion of the whole animal reaches the priest.
Deuteronomy 18:3
“Here "the two cheeks" or head and "the maw" or stomach, deemed anciently a great dainty, are specified. But whether this is a new injunction, or a repetition of the old with the supplement of more details, it is not easy to determine.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verse
Deuteronomy 18:3
“The maw - The Hebrew word here rendered maw or stomach, may have another signification, and some render it the breast, others take it for the part, which lies under the breast.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Deuteronomy 18:3
“For “maw” read stomach, which was regarded as one of the richest and choicest parts. As the animal slain may be considered to consist of three principal parts, head, feet, and body, a portion of each is by the regulation in question to be given to the priest, thus representing the consecration of the whole; or, as some ancient commentators think, the dedication of the words, acts, and appetites of the worshipper to God. The text probably refers to peace-offerings, and animals killed for the sacrificial meals held in connection with the peace-offerings.”
Numbers 18:12 had already given the priests the freshest oil and the finest new wine and grain offered as firstfruits. The first wool sheared from the flock is added here. Albert Barnes counts such firstfruits among the holy gifts God reserved for himself when he granted the land, and the Levites lived on that reserved portion.
Deuteronomy 18:4
“The first-fruit also of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, etc. - All these firstfruits and firstlings were the Lord’s portion, and these he gave to the priests.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Deuteronomy 18:4
“The first-fruits were devoted to God, and he constituted the priests his receivers; and if God reckons what is, in general, given to the poor, lent to him, to be repaid with interest, much more what is, in particular, given to the poor, lent to him, to be repaid with interest, much more what is, in particular, given to poor ministers.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The charge to stand and minister in the LORD's name repeats 10:8, where the tribe of Levi was set apart to carry the ark and to bless in his name. Albert Barnes calls the Levites God's portion of Israel's people, and it was fitting that they live on his portion of its goods. The choice holds for all time.
Deuteronomy 18:6-8
A Levite from his own town may come “in all earnestness” and serve beside the men on duty, eating equal portions with them. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown add that the admission was orderly, a Gershonite serving among Gershonites, so the established courses stood. His family estate stays his own, and Adam Clarke points to Abiathar at 1 Kings 2:26 and Jeremiah 32:7-8 as Levites holding property.
Deuteronomy 18:6
“These verses presuppose that part of the Levites only will be in residence and officiating at the place of the sanctuary, the others of course dwelling at their own homes in the Levitical cities, or “sojourning” elsewhere; compare the marginal references. But if any Levite out of love for the service of the sanctuary chose to resort to it when he might reside in his own home, he was to have his share in the maintenance which was provided for those ministering in the order of their course.”
1 more voice on this verse
Deuteronomy 18:6
“At the same time, while every facility was afforded for the admission of such a zealous and self-denying officer, this admission was to be in an orderly manner: he was to minister "as all his brethren"--that is, a Gershonite with Gershonites; a Merarite with Merarites; so that there might be no derangement of the established courses.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Albert Barnes explains the setting: only part of the Levites served at the place the LORD would choose at any one time, while the rest lived in their own towns. A Levite who moved from his town out of love for that service would stand and minister with his fellow Levites. 1 Chronicles 24:3 records David later dividing the priests by their offices.
The newcomer eats an equal share with the Levites already serving. John Wesley gives two grounds: the man who waits on the altar should live by the altar, and he should keep his money to redeem what he had sold. Paul makes the same point at 1 Corinthians 9:13.
Deuteronomy 18:8
“The sale of his patrimony - So we find that, though the Levites might have no part of the land by lot, yet they were permitted to make purchases of houses, goods, and cattle, yea, of fields also. See the case of Abiathar, 1Ki 2:26 (note), and of Jeremiah, Jer 32:7-8 (note).”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Deuteronomy 18:8
“Beside that which cometh - The reason of this law was, because he that waited on the altar, ought to live by the altar: and because it was fit he should keep his money, wherewith he might redeem what he sold, if afterwards he saw occasion for it.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
No one who makes his child pass through fire
Deuteronomy 18:9-11
Nine practices are named, and verse 9 forbids imitating the nations, so what is guarded against is transfer from the neighbours. Albert Barnes reads the list as gathering every known word for these practices, and notes that the necromancer is one who questions the dead. Leviticus 18:21, 19:31 and 20:27 had forbidden most of them singly, and 2 Kings 21:6 reports Manasseh doing nearly the whole list.
Readers divide over the first practice the LORD calls detestable here. John Gill, following Jarchi, describes a son or daughter led between two fires to dedicate the child to Moloch, and Adam Clarke judges a consecration more likely here than a death in the fire. Jeremiah 7:31 speaks of sons and daughters burned in the fire.
Deuteronomy 18:10
“There shall not be found among you anyone that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire,.... To Moloch, which was a sort of lustration by fire, two fires being made, and the child led by a priest between them, and which was an initiation of him into the religion of that deity, and devoting him to it; so Jarchi says, this is the service of Moloch, making piles of fire here and there (on this side and on that), and causing (the children) to pass between them both.”
2 more voices on this verse
Deuteronomy 18:10
“To pass through the fire - Probably in the way of consecration to Molech, or some other deity. It is not likely that their being burnt to death is here intended. See on Lev 18:21 (note). Divination - קסם קסמים kosem kesamim, one who endeavors to find out futurity by auguries, using lots, etc. Observer of times - מעונן meonen, one who pretends to foretell future events by present occurrences, and who predicts great political or physical changes from the aspects of the planets, eclipses, motion of the clouds, etc., etc. See on Gen 41:8 (note).”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Deuteronomy 18:10
“An inchanter - Or, a conjecturer, that discovers hidden things by a superstitious use of words or ceremonies, by observation of water or smoke or any contingencies. A witch - One that is in covenant with the devil.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
ConnectionsIsaiah 47:13
John Wesley reads the Hebrew word behind spiritist as a knowing man, one who seeks hidden things by practices the LORD forbids. Albert Barnes ties the one who casts spells to the serpent charmers of Psalm 58:4 and 5. Isaiah 8:19 sends those who consult the dead to God.
Deuteronomy 18:11
“A charmer - i. e., one who fascinates and subdues noxious animals or men, such as the famous serpent-charmers of the East Psa 58:4-5. A consulter with familiar spirits ... a wizard - Compare Lev 19:31 note. Recromancer - literally, “one who interrogates the dead.” The purpose of the text is obviously to group together all the known words belonging to the practices in question. Compare 2Ch 33:6.”
1 more voice on this verse
Deuteronomy 18:11
“Or, a fortune-teller, that foretelleth the events of men's lives by the conjunctions of the stars. Spirits - Whom they call upon by certain words or rites. A wizard - Hebrew. a knowing man, who by any forbidden way's undertakes the Revelation of secret things.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Deuteronomy 18:12-13
The dispossession is given a stated ground, and it is these practices. Genesis 15:16 held the land back until the iniquity of the Amorites was full, and Leviticus 18:24-25 has the land vomiting out its people for the same acts. Albert Barnes reads the word rendered “blameless” in verse 13 as the one used of Abram at Genesis 17:1, meaning whole rather than faultless.
Albert Barnes reads blameless here as the worship of the true God kept free of every idolatrous mixture. The line stands between the forbidden practices of verses 10 and 11 and the conjurers of verse 14, so it governs where Israel seeks guidance. Joshua 24:14 asks the same sincerity.
Deuteronomy 18:13
“Perfect - As in Gen 17:1; Job 1:1; Mat 5:48. The sense is that Israel was to keep the worship of the true God wholly uncontaminated by idolatrous pollutions.”
The verse says how the nations got their guidance and bars Israel from the same means. Every people around them had a way of asking about tomorrow, and Matthew Henry treats verses 14 and 15 as one movement, the forbidden arts followed at once by the promise of prophecy. Saul at 1 Samuel 28:6-7 found the permitted channel silent and went to a medium.
A prophet like me: and how to test him
Deuteronomy 18:15-17
The promise answers the people's plea at Horeb, “Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God”, and God replies, “They have spoken well”. Readers divide over whether the prophet is the line that followed, one man, or both. Matthew Henry holds it primarily of Christ while allowing the succession, and Albert Barnes records that the messianic reading was already standing among first-century Jews.
Deuteronomy 18:15
“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.”
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 6.90patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Deuteronomy 18:15
“The ancient fathers of the Church and the generality of modern commentators have regarded our Lord as the prophet promised in these verses. It is evident from the New Testament alone that the Messianic was the accredited interpretation among the Jews at the beginning of the Christian era (compare the marginal references, and Joh 4:25); nor can our Lord Himself, when He declares that Moses “wrote of Him” Joh 5:45-47, be supposed to have any other words more directly in view than these, the only words in which Moses, speaking in his own person, gives any prediction of the kind.”
Deuteronomy 18:15
“These prophets were like unto Moses in some respects, though far inferior to him, Deut. xxxiv. 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.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Cross references
Deuteronomy 18:15
- Quoted inActs 3:22“For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to Him in everything He tells you.”
'A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up', Peter (Moses' prophet-like-me)
Matthew Henry carries the request forward to the incarnation. The people asked to hear God through a man and be spared the great fire, and in the fullness of time the Word became flesh, full of grace and truth, at John 1:14. Hebrews 12:18 to 22 sets the burning mountain beside Mount Zion.
Deuteronomy 18:16
"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, John i.
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
John Gill points to 5:28, where the LORD first speaks it. There, in 5:29, the LORD adds a longing that the people had such a heart to fear him and keep his commandments always. The LORD approved the words they had spoken and longed for their hearts.
Deuteronomy 18:17
“And the Lord said unto me,.... Unto Moses, who carried the above request to the Lord: they have well spoken that which they have spoken; see Deu 5:28.”
Deuteronomy 18:18-19
Peter quotes both verses at Acts 3:22-23 and Stephen quotes verse 15 at Acts 7:37, so the application to Jesus is stated in the New Testament. John 1:21 and 6:14 show the question alive before that. The wording “I will put My words in his mouth” matches Jeremiah 1:9, and John Gill records that the Targums make God's Word the one who holds the hearer accountable.
Matthew Henry reads the sanction as fulfilled in Christ, to whom the Father has committed all judgment. The prophet is also the judge. At John 12:48 Jesus says that the word he has spoken will judge the one who rejects him on the last day.
Deuteronomy 18:19
“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, John xii.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Deuteronomy 18:20-21
Two offences carry one penalty, a word spoken presumptuously in the LORD's name and one spoken in the name of other gods. Verse 21 puts the question from the hearer's side, who must judge before the outcome is in, and Albert Barnes points to 1 Kings 22:11, where prophets give opposite words about one campaign. Jeremiah 28 shows the statute working, Hananiah contradicting Jeremiah and dying that year.
Deuteronomy 18:20
“We can be prepared to find some prophet even of impiety—and perhaps not just one but several—who will tell us of a word of the Lord, which the Lord has not at all commanded, or a "word of wisdom" which has nothing whatever to do with wisdom. His purpose is to slay us by the word of his mouth.”
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM 8patristic
The question expects a test the hearer can apply to a prophet's message within his own lifetime. Adam Clarke observes that the prophets in general foretold things shortly to come to pass, so the people had the fullest proof that the LORD had sent them. At 1 Kings 22:28 Micaiah stakes his word on the king's safe return.
Deuteronomy 18:21
“And if thou say in thine heart, How ... - The passage evidently assumes such an occasion for consulting the prophet as was usual among the pagan, e. g., an impending battle or other such crisis (compare 1Ki 22:11), in which his veracity would soon be put to the test.”
One test is given here, the outcome, and 13:1-3 supplies the other half, since a sign that comes true is still no warrant for a prophet who turns hearers to other gods. The closing clause, “Do not be afraid of him”, addresses a hearer facing a confident man in public. Deuteronomy 34:10 ends the Torah with no prophet like Moses arisen, so verse 15 stands open.
Deuteronomy 18:22
“If the thing follow not - It is worthy of remark that the prophets in general predicted those things which were shortly to come to pass, that the people might have the fullest proof of their Divine mission, and of the existence of God’s providence in the administration of the affairs of men.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Deuteronomy 18:22
“If the thing - Which he gives as a sign of the truth of his prophecy. The falsehood of his prediction shews him to be a false prophet. Presumptuously - Impudently ascribing his own vain and lying fancies to the God of truth.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
How this psalm is built
The form: Law restated inside a spoken address, standing in the stipulations of a covenant treaty, as Kline classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| The nine arts named one after another | Verses 10 and 11 name the practices in a run rather than in one word, and the verb that governs them is learn, so what the statute guards against is transfer from the neighbours. Albert Barnes reads the list as an attempt to gather every known word for the practices in question, and he notes that the necromancer is literally one who interrogates the dead.Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament, on Deuteronomy 18:10. | Deuteronomy 18:10, Deuteronomy 18:11 |
| The place the LORD will choose, said again and never named | Verse 6 carries the phrase this book repeats fifteen times between chapters 12 and 26, and the statutes close at chapter 26 without the place ever being named. A Levite from any town may come to it and serve beside the men already on duty.This site's published exposition of Deuteronomy 18:6-8, the store's exposition_notes row on Deuteronomy 18:6-8, which counts the fifteen. | Deuteronomy 18:6 |
| A prophet from among your brothers, put in the second person throughout | The promise at verse 15 is spoken to the hearer as you, and verses 16 to 17 date it to something the hearers themselves asked at Horeb. Verse 21 then puts the hearer's own question into the statute, asking how a message the LORD has not spoken can be recognised.Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, on Deuteronomy 18:15. | Deuteronomy 18:15, Deuteronomy 18:16, Deuteronomy 18:21 |
| Blameless as whole rather than faultless | Verse 13 answers the whole list of nine with one line. Albert Barnes reads the word behind blameless as the word used of Abram at Genesis 17:1 and of Job at Job 1:1. It is also the word standing behind Matthew 5:48, so the sense is whole rather than faultless.Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament, on Deuteronomy 18:13. | Deuteronomy 18:13 |
The New Testament's use
9 more paragraphs on the patterns
Peter quotes verses 18 and 19 at Acts 3:22-23 and Stephen quotes verse 15 at Acts 7:37, so the application to Jesus is stated in the New Testament rather than inferred from it. The question was live before that. John 1:21 has priests asking John the Baptist whether he is that prophet, John 6:14 has a crowd saying it of Jesus after the loaves, and John 7:40 has it said again.
The wording of verse 18 recurs in the prophets. I will put My words in his mouth is the wording God uses to Jeremiah at Jeremiah 1:9.
The debate over the singular Prophet
Readers divide over whether the singular covers the line of prophets who followed Moses, or one man, or both. Matthew Henry holds it primarily of Christ while allowing the succession (Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710). Albert Barnes records that the messianic reading was already the standing one among Jews in the first century (Notes on the Old Testament, on Deuteronomy 18:15). Deuteronomy 34:10 then closes the five books with the line that no prophet has since arisen in Israel like Moses, so the promise of verse 15 stands open where the Torah ends.
The statute in operation
Verse 20 puts two offences under one penalty, a word spoken presumptuously in the LORD's name and a word spoken in the name of other gods, and chapter 13:1-5 had already handled the second. Albert Barnes reads the assumed occasion as a crisis such as a coming battle, and points to 1 Kings 22:11, where two prophets give opposite words about one campaign. Jeremiah 28 is this statute in operation, with Hananiah contradicting Jeremiah in the temple and dying that same year.
The forbidden list has its own case history. Leviticus 18:21, 19:31 and 20:27 had already forbidden most of the nine one at a time. The record at 2 Kings 21:6 and 2 Chronicles 33:6 reports Manasseh doing nearly the whole list in Jerusalem, which is this list read back as an indictment. Saul at 1 Samuel 28:6-7 is the case of a king who found the permitted channel silent and went to a woman with a familiar spirit.
Why the nations were driven out
Verse 12 gives the dispossession a stated ground and it is these practices. Genesis 15:16 held the land back until the iniquity of the Amorites was full. Leviticus 18:24-25 has the land vomiting out her inhabitants for the same class of acts, so three passages give one reason.
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Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The context
Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
The form and classifications
Meredith G. Kline, Treaty of the Great King: The Covenant Structure of Deuteronomy, 1963; Moshe Weinfeld, Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomic School, 1972; This site's published book sections, src/lib/bible/book-sections.ts, the entry "Deuteronomy": "law" and This site's published guide to Deuteronomy, src/components/book/guides/deuteronomy/DeuteronomyGuide.tsx, the section "The Second Address: the Law Restated".
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.