Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy 18
1The priests and the Levites—all the tribe of Levi—shall have no portion nor inheritance with Israel. They shall eat the offerings of Yahweh made by fire and his portion. 2They shall have no inheritance among their brothers. Yahweh is their inheritance, as he has spoken to them. 3This shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep, that they shall give to the priest: the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the inner parts. 4You shall give him the first fruits of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep. 5For Yahweh your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand to minister in Yahweh’s name, him and his sons forever.
6If a Levite comes from any of your gates out of all Israel where he lives, and comes with all the desire of his soul to the place which Yahweh shall choose, 7then he shall minister in the name of Yahweh his God, as all his brothers the Levites do, who stand there before Yahweh. 8They shall have like portions to eat, in addition to that which comes from the sale of his family possessions.
9When you have come into the land which Yahweh your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the abominations of those nations. 10There shall not be found with you anyone who makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who tells fortunes, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer, 11or a charmer, or someone who consults with a familiar spirit, or a wizard, or a necromancer. 12For whoever does these things is an abomination to Yahweh. Because of these abominations, Yahweh your God drives them out from before you. 13You shall be blameless with Yahweh your God. 14For these nations that you shall dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery and to diviners; but as for you, Yahweh your God has not allowed you so to do. 15Yahweh your God will raise up to you a prophet from among you, of your brothers, like me. You shall listen to him. 16This is according to all that you desired of Yahweh your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, “Let me not hear again Yahweh my God’s voice, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I not die.”
17Yahweh said to me, “They have well said that which they have spoken. 18I will raise them up a prophet from among their brothers, like you. I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him. 19It shall happen, that whoever will not listen to my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. 20But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.”
21You may say in your heart, “How shall we know the word which Yahweh has not spoken?” 22When a prophet speaks in Yahweh’s name, if the thing doesn’t follow, nor happen, that is the thing which Yahweh has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You shall not be afraid of him.
Commentary on this chapter
What others are saying
3 commentators · 30 notes on this chapter
Matthew Henry3
Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.
Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.
Magistracy and ministry are two divine institutions of admirable use for the support and advancement of the kingdom of God among men. Laws concerning the former we had in the close of the foregoing chapter, directions are in this given concerning the latter…
One would not think there had been so much need as it seems there was to arm the people of Israel against the infection of the idolatrous customs of the Canaanites. Was it possible that a people so blessed with divine institutions should ever admit the…
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…
John Gill22
The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.
Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.
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…
Therefore shall they have none inheritance among their brethren,.... Neither of the field, nor of the vineyard, as the above Targum, because provision was made for them otherwise, and especially because the Lord is their inheritance, as he hath said unto…
And this shall be the priest's due from the people, from them that offer sacrifice,.... Not from the priests, as Jarchi observes, but from those that bring the sacrifices to the priests, particularly the peace offerings: whether it be ox or sheep; the one of…
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown5
The concise option. Three authors split the canon, so the voice shifts between sections. Expect brief, sober, conservative notes that resolve difficulties rather than dwelling on them — useful for orientation, thinner than Gill or Clarke where a passage is genuinely contested.
Why this voice is here: The quickest way to see what the mainstream Reformed reading of a passage is. Start here, then go to Gill or Clarke when it matters.
this shall be the priest's due from the people--All who offered sacrifices of thanksgiving or peace offerings (Lev 7:31-33) were ordered to give the breast and shoulder as perquisites to the priests. Here "the two cheeks" or head and "the maw" or stomach…
if a Levite . . . come with all the desire of his mind--It appears that the Levites served in rotation from the earliest times; but, from their great numbers, it was only at infrequent intervals they could be called into actual service. Should any Levite…
THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE NATIONS ARE TO BE AVOIDED. (Deu 18:9-14) thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations--(See on Lev 18:21; Lev 19:26; Lev 19:31; Lev 20:4). In spite of this express command, the people of Canaan, especially the…
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