Deuteronomy 18:1-22

Deuteronomy: God’s Law of Love

Love and Obey the *LORD your God

Deuteronomy

Philip Smith

Chapter 18

v1 ‘The priests are *Levites. They and all the *tribe called Levi, will not have any share of the land in *Israel. The people burn *offerings in order to give them to the *LORD. But part of those offerings (that they do not burn) will be food for the *Levites. That is their share. v2 The *Levites will not own any land in the country as the other *tribes do. The *LORD will supply everything that they need. He promised that to them.

v3 This is what the people must do. When the people *sacrifice a *bull or a sheep, they must give the shoulder to the priest. They must also give the lower part of the head and the stomach of the animal to the priest. v4 You must give to the priests the first share of the corn, wine, oil and the wool from your sheep. v5 The *LORD your God has chosen the *Levites and their *descendants out of all your *tribes. They must serve him as priests for always.

v6 Any *Levite can come from any town in *Israel. He can come to the place that the *LORD will choose. v7 He can serve the *LORD his God there. He will be like all the other *Levites. They serve there in front of the *LORD already. v8 He might have received money from his family. But all the *Levites will receive the same amount of food.’

*Israelites would look after the priests, because the priests did not own any land. The priests worked at the chief place of *worship. There they gave *sacrifices. The rest of the *tribe called Levi had other duties. They included their duty to teach the *Israelites about the law. The *Israelites gave *offerings that they burned with fire. They were the *burnt offering and the grain *offerings, the *peace offerings and the *guilt offerings. People burned the *burnt offering completely, but the priests could have a share of the other *offerings. God had chosen the *Levites to serve him and his people. Verses 6-8 refer to *Levites who were not priests. They could serve God at the chief place of *worship if they wanted to. They would receive their share of the food, even if they had money of their own.

In 1 Corinthians 9:7-14, Paul says this. ‘Those who announce the good news should live from the good news.’ That was their work so they should receive payment, food or goods as their wages.

v9 ‘You will enter the country that the *LORD your God is giving to you. Do not learn the terrible practices of the nations that are there. v10 Do not *sacrifice your children in the fire. Do not say what will happen in the future. Do not use words that have magic power. You must not use objects that have magic powers. Do not be a person who does acts of magic. v11 Do not use secret powers. Do not talk with evil *spirits. Do not try to contact the *spirits of dead people. v12 The *LORD hates people who do those terrible things. That is why the *LORD your God will force the nations out of the country in front of you. v13 Be completely loyal to the *LORD your God.

v14 You will possess the country of those nations. Some people there say what will happen in the future. And they listen to those people. They listen to people with magic powers. But the *LORD your God does not allow you to do that.’

Moses told the *Israelites what God did not want them to do. They must not *sacrifice their children. Other nations did that. They hoped that their false gods would forgive their *sins. Micah refers to this in Micah 6:7. Micah says that a man might try to offer his oldest son to God. But that gift would not be able to pay for the man’s *sin. Even the death of that son would not be sufficient.

God did not allow the *Israelites to contact dead people. They should not try to use words with magic powers or use magic in any other way. They should not study the stars to see if the stars direct events.

We need to warn people about this. Many people do those things today. Magic is wrong. Some people believe that they have special powers. But those special powers belong to God only. That is why magic is wrong.

v15 ‘The *LORD your God will send to you a *prophet who is like me. He will come from among your own nation. You must listen to him. v16 All this is a result of what you wanted from the *LORD your God at *Mount Sinai. When you gathered, you asked God this. “Do not let us hear the voice of the *LORD our God again. Do not let us see this great fire again. Otherwise we will die.”

v17 The *LORD said this to me. “What they say is good. v18 I will send to them a *prophet like you from among their own nation. I will tell him what to say. He will tell the people all that I order him. v19 This *prophet will speak a message from me. If someone does not listen to the *prophet, that person is responsible to me. v20 A *prophet might proudly pretend to speak a message from me that I have not given to him. Also a *prophet might speak and use the name of false gods. If that happens, you must kill the *prophet.”

v21 You might ask this. “How will we know that the *LORD has not given a particular message?” v22 The *prophet will say from the *LORD that certain things will happen. If those things do not happen, the *LORD did not give that message. That *prophet has spoken because he was proud. Do not be afraid of him.’

God promised that he would speak to the *Israelites by a *prophet. This *prophet would be an *Israelite, he would not be a foreigner. He would be like Moses. The people were too afraid to hear God directly, so God sent his messages by *prophets. The *Israelites must obey the *prophet. If they did not obey him, God would punish them. They must kill any *prophet who did not speak God’s messages. They would know if a *prophet was not a true *prophet by these tests. The first test was if his *prophecy did not happen. The second test was this. The *prophet used the name of false gods when he spoke his messages. The third test was if the *prophet said things just to please people.

There have been many *prophets since the time of Moses. God had spoken to his people by means of those *prophets. But the *New Testament says that Moses’ *prophecy came true in Jesus. (See Acts 3:20-22.)

Lord ~ a name for God. It translates the word ‘Adonai’ in the Hebrew language, which means ‘my ruler’. The word ‘lord’ (without a capital letter) means an ordinary ruler.

LORD ~ God gave this special name to himself. It translates the word ‘Yahweh’ in the Hebrew language. It is the Covenant name for God. It links to the words ‘I am’; it means that God has always been here.

covenant ~ the special promise that God made to his people. God’s covenant with the Israelites established a relationship between him and them. But they must obey him.

Israelite ~ a person from the nation called *Israel; Israelites is another name for the Jews.

Jew ~ a person who belongs to the family of the Israelites. Jews are descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

descendant ~ a person in your family who will live after you.
Levite ~ an Israelite who belonged to the tribe of Levi. Levi was a son of Jacob. Levites had special duties connected to worship. All Israelite priests were Levites.

Israelite ~ a person from the nation called *Israel; Israelites is another name for the Jews.

tribe ~ a group of people from the same race, who all came from one person. The tribes of *Israel were the 12 large families of Jacob’s sons.

worship ~ when people show honour to God, or to a false god. People may sing or pray. Or they may kneel down or give a sacrifice.

Jew ~ a person who belongs to the family of the Israelites. Jews are descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

sacrifice ~ something valuable that people give to God, or to a false god; or, to make such a gift.

descendant ~ a person in your family who will live after you.
tribe ~ a group of people from the same race, who all came from one person. The tribes of *Israel were the 12 large families of Jacob’s sons.
offerings ~ gifts (also called sacrifices) that a person gives to God, or to a false god.

sacrifice ~ something valuable that people give to God, or to a false god; or, to make such a gift.
sacrifice ~ something valuable that people give to God, or to a false god; or, to make such a gift.
bull ~ male farm animal; (the female is called a cow). The Israelites made a metal image of a bull, which they worshipped as an idol.

Israelite ~ a person from the nation called *Israel; Israelites is another name for the Jews.

worship ~ when people show honour to God, or to a false god. People may sing or pray. Or they may kneel down or give a sacrifice.

idol ~ an image of a false god that people give honour to; an object of wood, stone or metal that people worship.

Jew ~ a person who belongs to the family of the Israelites. Jews are descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

sacrifice ~ something valuable that people give to God, or to a false god; or, to make such a gift.

descendant ~ a person in your family who will live after you.
descendant ~ a person in your family who will live after you.
Israelite ~ a person from the nation called *Israel; Israelites is another name for the Jews.

Jew ~ a person who belongs to the family of the Israelites. Jews are descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

descendant ~ a person in your family who will live after you.
worship ~ when people show honour to God, or to a false god. People may sing or pray. Or they may kneel down or give a sacrifice.

sacrifice ~ something valuable that people give to God, or to a false god; or, to make such a gift.

'burnt offering ~ a priest burned the whole animal on the altar.

altar ~ a table on which people give gifts or sacrifices to God or to a false god.

sacrifice ~ something valuable that people give to God, or to a false god; or, to make such a gift.
Mount ~ mountain. For example, ‘Mount Sinai’ means the mountain called Sinai.'New Testament ~ the second part of the Bible. It tells about Jesus Christ and his followers.