Of the Priests the Levites Of the priestly tribe of Levi, who have no land, Jehovah is the inheritance, and they shall live by the offerings to Him (Deuteronomy 18:1 f.), which are detailed (Deuteronomy 18:3 f.); He chose Levi and his sons as His priests for ever (Deuteronomy 18:5). If a rural Levi... [ Continue Reading ]
_The priests the Levites_ This double title, peculiar to D, is found both in the Code, Deuteronomy 17:9; Deuteronomy 17:18; Deuteronomy 24:8 (cp. Deuteronomy 21:5: _the priests the sons of Levi_) and in Deuteronomy 27:9 (edit.?), cp. Deuteronomy 31:9. By God's appointment (Deuteronomy 18:5) all memb... [ Continue Reading ]
As in Deuteronomy 10:9: read with Heb. HE, HIS, HIM for _they, their, them_and see introd. to this law.... [ Continue Reading ]
_And this shall be the priests" due_, etc.] Heb. _mishpaṭ_, as in 1 Samuel 2:13, where render: _and the priests" due from the people_. _from them that offer a sacrifice_ Heb. _slay_, or _sacrifice, a sacrifice_, a comprehensive phrase including every victim offered at the Altar where alone sacrifice... [ Continue Reading ]
_the firstfruits_ or, it may be, _the best_. Heb. _reshîth_, not _bikkûrim_(Deuteronomy 12:6). See Deuteronomy 26:2 f.; cp. E, Exodus 23:19, J, Exodus 34:26, and P, Numbers 18:12. On _corn, wine_and _oil_, see Deuteronomy 7:13; Deuteronomy 12:17; D [ Continue Reading ]
Sam. and some Codd. of LXX read: _to stand before the Lord_[_thy God to minister_[_unto him and to bless in his name_, as in Deuteronomy 10:8 (_q.v._); and for the _unto this day_of _that v_. some have _all the days_; others read, _he and his sons among the sons of Israel_.... [ Continue Reading ]
_a Levite … from any of thy gates_ any of the tribe who had ministered at any of the rural sanctuaries now disestablished by the concentration of the cultus at Jerusalem. _Thy gates_, see Deuteronomy 12:12. _Out of all Israel_, emphatic addition to the usual phrase. _where he sojourneth_ Heb. _is a... [ Continue Reading ]
_then he shall minister_ See on Deuteronomy 10:8. If he comes to the one place at which sacrifice is valid, the rural Levite may discharge the priestly office equally with the Levites who already minister there.... [ Continue Reading ]
_They shall have_ Sam. LXX: _he shall have_. _beside that which cometh of the sale of his patrimony_ a paraphrase of the difficult Heb.: _beside his sales_, or realised _values_, or _prices, on the fathers_(LXX, πλὴν τῆς πράσεως τῆς κατὰ πατριάν). EVV."s paraphrase is generally accepted; cp. Jeremia... [ Continue Reading ]
_When thou art come into the land_ Characteristic of the Sg.; cp. Deuteronomy 9:5. _which the Lord thy God_ IS TO GIVE _thee_ Peculiar to D; see on Deuteronomy 1:20; Deuteronomy 4:21 f. _learn to do_ Only here. _abominations_ See on Deuteronomy 7:25, and cp. Deuteronomy 12:31.... [ Continue Reading ]
Of Prophets in contrast to Diviners, etc. In the promised land Israel must have nothing to do with the abominations of its peoples (Deuteronomy 18:9); with any one passing his children through the fire, or diviner, soothsayer, augur, sorcerer, spell-binder or trafficker with the dead (Deuteronomy 1... [ Continue Reading ]
_There shall not be found with thee_ Deuteronomy 17:2. _that maketh his son … to pass through the fire_ See on Deuteronomy 12:31: the want of a conjunction following this clause (so also Sam. and LXX except in some codd.) is remarkable, and raises a doubt as to the originality of the clause. On th... [ Continue Reading ]
_a charmer_ With Sam. LXX omit _or_: the name is in apposition to the preceding. Heb. _ḥober heber, weaving spells, spell-binder_; either of the tying of knots as malignant charms, common among Semites and other races (Campbell Thompson, _Sem. Magic_162 173, Frazer, _Golden Bough_i. 394 ff.; mention... [ Continue Reading ]
_abomination_ See Deuteronomy 18:9. _unto the Lord_ Sam. LXX add _thy God_, and LXX B omits this in next clause. _doth drive them out_ Heb. _is to dispossess them_, see on Deuteronomy 9:5; cp. Deuteronomy 4:38.... [ Continue Reading ]
_perfect blameless_; not elsewhere in D, but twice in P in this moral sense (Genesis 6:9 of Noah, Deuteronomy 17:1 required of Abraham as the condition of God granting him His covenant) and frequent in a physical sense, Leviticus 1:3; Leviticus 1:10; Leviticus 3:1, etc. The sense of the incompatibil... [ Continue Reading ]
A PROPHET FROM THE MIDST [OF THEE] OF THY BRETHREN LIKE UNTO ME SHALL THE LORD THY GOD RAISE UP TO THEE] Such is the emphatic order of the original, missed by EVV. _A prophet_not individual but collective 1 [143], i.e. a succession of prophets, for the whole spirit of the passage is that God shall... [ Continue Reading ]
See on Deuteronomy 5:22 (_assembly_), 25, 27 f. Cullen (pp. 143 ff.) denies the dependence of Deuteronomy 18:15 on Deuteronomy 5:19-28.... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will raise … like unto thee_ These words are not in Deuteronomy 5:25 ff. _put my words in his mouth_ Cp. Deuteronomy 5:31; Jeremiah 1:9; Jeremiah 5:14.... [ Continue Reading ]
_whosoever will not hearken … I will require it of him_ Cp. the confidence of Jeremiah 26:12-15; Jeremiah 29:8 f., Jeremiah 29:18 ff. (the punishment exacted for not hearkening to God's word), Jeremiah 35:13 ff. LXX B omits _my words_; Sam. LXX most codd. _his words. Require, darash_, Jeremiah 23:21... [ Continue Reading ]
_the prophet_, etc.] These special cases prove that throughout this passage no single prophet but a succession of prophets is meant. _which shall speak presumptuously_, etc.] Heb. _who shall be presumptuous_(Deuteronomy 17:12, see on Deuteronomy 1:43) _to speak a word_, etc. It is notorious how man... [ Continue Reading ]
_if thou say in thine heart_ Deuteronomy 8:17.... [ Continue Reading ]
The falseness of such a prophet is exposed by the non-fulfilment of his predictions. Jeremiah states the converse: if any prophet prophesy peace (which in the seventh century the false prophets usually did) _and his word come to pass, then shall the prophet be known that the Lord hath truly sent him... [ Continue Reading ]