Read Deuteronomy 18
Offerings for Priests and Levites
18 The Levitical priests—indeed, the whole tribe of Levi—are to have no allotment or inheritance with Israel. They shall live on the food offeringspresented to the Lord, for that is their inheritance. 2 They shall have no inheritance among their fellow Israelites; the Lord is their inheritance, as he promised them.
3 This is the share due the priests from the people who sacrifice a bull or a sheep: the shoulder, the internal organs and the meat from the head. 4 You are to give them the firstfruits of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the first wool from the shearing of your sheep, 5 for the Lord your God has chosen them and their descendants out of all your tribes to stand and minister in the Lord’s name always.
6 If a Levite moves from one of your towns anywhere in Israel where he is living, and comes in all earnestness to the place the Lord will choose, 7 he may minister in the name of the Lord his God like all his fellow Levites who serve there in the presence of the Lord. 8 He is to share equally in their benefits, even though he has received money from the sale of family possessions.
Occult Practices
9 When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. 10 Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, 11 or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. 12 Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord; because of these same detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you. 13 You must be blameless before the Lord your God.
The Prophet
14 The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so.15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. 16 For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.”
17 The Lord said to me: “What they say is good. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. 19 I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name. 20 But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, is to be put to death.”
21 You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” 22 If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed.
Go Deeper
The Levites are God’s people specifically set apart as the ministers of Israel. In Numbers 18:6-7 their position is described this way: “and behold I have taken your brothers the Levites from among the people of Israel. They are a gift to you, given to the Lord to do the service of the tent of meeting.” They are instructed not to earn money or seek a fortune for themselves, but instead God takes care of them. They are a gift to Him, set apart to do His work, take care of His temple, offerings, and sacrifices. How great that God has thought about how to provide for them and sets laws in place for His people to be taken care of. Every single person is thought of and taken care of in His plan for His people.
Verses 9-14 might feel like obvious truths to be warned against, but even today–both inside and outside of the church–people practice this or have similar heart postures and actions. It is popular to be superstitious and to look for answers outside of God. People lean toward curiosity in regards to these behaviors, and the warning is against them. The reason isn’t because He is a selfish God and He wants all the attention to himself. He is a good God who knows these practices are evil, empty, and false. All of these practices are a disgrace to God, diminishing our view of who He is and His plan for us. And there are reasons bigger than what we see, these things are not from Him and thus are not good- they are against His character. He calls us higher, because His judgment is better than our own and what we perceive as being good (Isaiah 55:8-9). Tara-Leigh Cobble (from The Bible Recap) says it this way: “God does not synthesize with anything else.”
Amidst all these laws, we see the promise of Jesus in the last verses of this chapter. Acts 3:19-26 and 7:37 clearly tell us that the prophet talked about here is Jesus; that he will be a mediator between them and God, and that He will be from them and for them. Though they are seeking guidance in practices that only lead to false words and destruction, God doesn’t leave them without an answer for where true guidance is found. He is the answer, the one we are looking for; nothing in this world completes us in the way that knowing Jesus as our Lord in Savior does!
Questions
- What does this chapter reveal to us about God’s character?
- Galatians 5:7-8 describes the life we live as the “good race.” How do these verses fit in with the context of the instructions of this chapter? How does it bring clarity to His character?
- Verse 12 says “you must be blameless before the Lord your God.” Why do you think this is?
Listen Here
For more on how we should approach the spirituality practices of our culture, listen to episode 172 of Becoming Something titled “Manifestation, Mediums, and Spiritual Things.”
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4 thoughts on “Deuteronomy 18”
We’ve been a part of the body of Harris Creek for close to 25 years and have been led by amazing, gifted people. Doing a roll call throughout the years brings tears to my eyes. God used and continues to use these leaders to shape the body of Christ for his glory. How do we seek to honor these who have surrendered to God’s calling to lead and shepherd his church? Our first call is to cover them in prayer, give generously, and join and support them in the mission of making Christ known to the world. It’s a willingness to be discipled and make disciples. Not all are called to lead, but all are called to serve in the body of Christ. May every “ask” of God be met with a resounding “yes” as we join him where his Spirit leads.
You need to go somewhere else to read chapter 18 as some way chapter 17 is duplicated here.
Being influenced by all the bombardment of the world, especially in the last couple of years where all we had was social media to know what was going on and technology, has made it more difficult for everyone to protect our hearts. We are to guard our hearts in what we see and listen to, the last years made it a million times harder. Gal 5 13-15 gives us some answers, 13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh[a]; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[b] 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
We have to keep running the race, putting God first in ALL!!!!! You cannot watch that show!! It will throw you off in some way or the other. You cannot listen to that music, it will make your mind go where it is not suppose to. You cannot look at that social media it will suck your brain out of your head and turn it to a pile of mush.(so says a mama). Go find a prayer room and PRAY, go outside and walk, go find like minded people and go speak JESUS!!!! Find someone to help hold you accountable, be authentic and transparent. Never have I ever done this until the last year and my oh my how God is changing my world!!!!!
God I thank You for the people reading this BRP and help guide them and me to more of YOU!!!! Help us to be Your people for a time such as this!! Help us to live our lives to the best of our abilities according to Your word and Your ways. Help us see Your people with Your love goggles!! Help us to speak JESUS with all our breath. Give us Your wisdom as we walk this world to be able to glorify You in all we say and do in Jesus name amen
WOOHOO!!!!!
Amy,
I love that ” speak Jesus with all our breath.”
John 10:9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
Father God, I pray for the sheep that have gone astray from your word, Lord. I pray that you open the sheepfolds and allow your Holy Spirit to outpour His gracious love and power! May we, the lost sheep of this world, confess and turn back to allow you to work through us, God. Bring revival to our Nation, LORD!! Open The Gate! We love you, God. We are hungry for YOU! In Jesus’ name, Amen!! 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙏🏻