Deut 18.1-22 tells us about the priests and the Levites who were not to possess an inheritance in the land; pagan detestable practices; the position of a true prophet; false prophets and what to do with them.
v 1…”The Levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi (an inherited position), shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel; they shall eat the Lord’s offerings (there were five of them).
v 2…And they shall have no inheritance among their countrymen; the Lord is their inheritance, as he has promised them (Num 18.20).
v 3…Now this shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those who sacrifice, either an ox or a sheep, of which they shall give to the priest the shoulder and the two cheeks (the whole head, tongue) and the stomach.
v 4…You shall give him the first fruits of your grain, your new wine, and your oil, and the first shearing of your sheep (called the Terumah).
v 5…For the Lord your God has chosen him and his sons from all your tribes, to stand and serve the name of the Lord (the name of Yehovah) forever.
v 6…Now if a Levites comes from any of your towns throughout Israel where he resides, and comes whenever he desires to the place which the Lord chooses (not all Levites lived in Jerusalem, they lived all over the land and some had no fixed place-Judges 17.7-9; 1 Sam 2.36; they should be allowed to come to the central sanctuary and share in the priestly portion),
v 7…then he shall serve in the name of the Lord, like all his fellow Levites (priests) who stand there before the Lord his God (they offered the sacrifices of the people).
v 8…Then they shall eat equal portions (share) besides that which is his due from what they receive from the sale of their father’s estates (they could buy homes and land and leave them to their children; if a Levite had such income, others could not say to him that he had enough and could not expect any priestly portion).
v 9…When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations (This will give limits on who they should seek spiritual advice from, and it is the same for us. We are not to have anything to do with them-Jer 10.1-5; Matt 10.5; we don’t need them).
v 10…There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire (human sacrifices were a part of Molech worship for example), one who uses divination (magical practices, omen taking), one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer (uses drugs or herbs for healing or inflicting diseases),
v 11…or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist (one who consults “ghosts”), or one who calls up the dead (necromancer).
v 12…For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord; and because of these detestable things the Lord your God will drive them out before you.
v 13…You shall be blameless (wholehearted, complete, perfect, not given over to superstition-Matt 5.48) before the Lord your God.
v 14…For these nations which you shall dispossess, listen to those who practice witchcraft and to diviners, but as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do so (Yehovha denounces these practices right before he gives the description for a true prophet. People have a natural desire to know the future or to learn, but Israel does not need these practices to obtain such knowledge).
v 15…The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet (in each generation) like me (not of the same rank but of the line of prophets) from among you, from your countrymen, and you shall listen to him (that prophet; the Messiah will be the ultimate prophet; Yeshua will be greater than Abraham or Moses).
v 16…This is according to all that you asked for of the Lord your God in Horeb (they wanted a mediator in Exo 20.19) on the day of the assembly (Yom Kahal-9.19, 10.4; this was to be Shavuot eventually and in Acts 2 the Eschatological Kahal began, but as we can see the “Kahal” already existed at the time of the giving of the Torah at Sinai), saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, let me not see this great fire anymore, lest we die.’
v 17…And the Lord said to me, ‘They have spoken well (Prophets were then raised up as a result of an agreement in Exo 20.19 and Deut 5.28-31. This agreement said that someone else would hear the words of God and then tell the people. They in turn would “Hear and obey.” This is a good thing and this is called the “Law of the Agent” or “shaliach”).
v 18…I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen (true prophets were Jewish) like you and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him (God would put his exact words in the mouth of that prophet and he shall speak exactly what God said).
v 19…And it shall come about that whoever will not listen to my words which he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.
v 20…But the prophet who shall speak a word presumptuously (pretending he heard from God and was sent) in my name (“thus says Yehovah”; this is key) which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he shall speak in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.
v 21…And you may say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the words which the Lord has not spoken (what will show us that the word spoken is not from God)?’
v 22…When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him (There are two tests that have been mentioned in this book. The first test is in Deut 13.1-5 where what they say does not line up with the Word of God-Isa 8.20; Matt 7.15-20; Acts 17.10-11. The second test is here. If the event that he said was going to happen does not happen, like with Hananiah in Jer 28.1-17, then he is a false prophet. A true prophet does not lie to the people. They will not lead you away from the Lord or the Torah. So that means we must examine what they say according to the Scriptures, like the Bereans did with Paul in Acts 17.10-11. Isa 8.20 says we are to go to the Torah and the prophets. If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no light of understanding. Are there true prophets of God today? We do not believe so, or we are unaware of their presence. There are many today who claim to be prophets, or don’t say anything when others call them a prophet, so this is something we should be aware of. For more information on this concept, we refer you to the teaching called, “Are There True Prophets of God Today” on this website).”
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