Deuteronomy 18:9-22

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 18:10 f.), for these are abominations to Jehovah to whom Israel must be utterly loyal (Deuteronomy 18:12-14). A prophet shall He raise up from among themselves, to be such a mediator of His word, as in Ḥoreb they had prayed Moses to be; to him shall they hearken (Deuteronomy 18:15-19). The prophet who presumes to speak in God's name what He has not spoken, or in the name of other gods, shall die (Deuteronomy 18:20). The proof of his falseness shall be the non-fulfilment of his predictions (Deuteronomy 18:21 f.). Sg. throughout except for an insertion in Deuteronomy 18:15 (see note) and, acc. to Sam. LXX, the last clause of Deuteronomy 18:22. There are no other signs of a diversity of hands. The spirit is thoroughly deuteronomic, the argument compact and consistent.

Marti reads Deuteronomy 18:9 as belonging to the law of the priests (Deuteronomy 18:1-8) and Deuteronomy 18:14-22 as a later addition (so too Cornill), with this further evidence of its secondary character that it introduces Moses in a way unparalleled in the Code, and in 22 gives a onesided conception of prophecy. But it is most probable that the Code of D, founded on the teaching of the prophets, contained a law of the Prophet in succession to those on Judges, King and Priests; and the emphatic contrast, which the construction of the passage brings out between the native prophet and the foreign diviners (see on Deuteronomy 18:15), is natural and leaves a strong impression of the unity of the whole. Indeed it is easier to argue the secondary character of Deuteronomy 18:10 (as unnecessary before 14 and as containing the term perfectnot applied so elsewhere in D but found in P) than that of Deuteronomy 18:14-22. Nor does Deuteronomy 18:22 give so imperfect a view of prophecy as Marti supposes; the resemblance between it and the tests which Jeremiah applied to himself and the false prophets is wonderfully close. Steuern. takes Deuteronomy 18:10-12 aas an independent law to which an editor has added Deuteronomy 18:9; Deuteronomy 18:12b Deuteronomy 18:22 a, composed by himself with the use of a Pl. narrative (ch. 5) and perhaps an originally separate law on the Prophets. His analysis has more to say for itself than the other but is not convincing. I agree with Berth. that Deuteronomy 18:20 ff. may as well be dependent on Deuteronomy 18:16 ff. as the converse.

It is significant but not surprising that the Law of the Prophet is peculiar to D and not found in other Codes, which contain, however, prohibitions of the foreign practices here forbidden to Israel, E, Exodus 22:18 (17), H, Leviticus 18:21; Leviticus 19:26; Leviticus 19:31; Leviticus 20:2 ff., Leviticus 20:27. It is more important to notice Saul's suppression of those who dealt with ghosts (1 Samuel 28:3), and the frequent protests of the prophets, and their appeals to the word of the living God (Isaiah 2:6; Isaiah 8:19; Micah 3:6 f., Micah 5:12 (11), Jeremiah 27:9; Jeremiah 29:8), for in these we find the real basis of this law of D, as well as the example of its form.

In the Code of Ḫammurabi there are no laws against divination, sorcery or magic. False accusations of laying spells on men are punished, but the ordeal by water is enjoined in one of the two cases mentioned §§ 1 f.