Deuteronomy 16:18–21:9: Shadows of ‘the Prophet’ and death of the Messiah

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Shadows of the prophet status and crucifixion of the Messiah appear in the Torah passage שֹׁפְטִים Shoftim (“judges”), covering Deuteronomy 16:18–21:9. In a section of the Bible focused on codes of justice still used in modern society, there also is hope for the greatest mercy the world has ever seen, in Yeshua haMashiakh (Jesus the Christ).

Elaboration on the Fifth Commandment

Deuteronomy 16-18 elaborates on the Fifth Commandment, which states:

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you.” (Exodus 20:12 NASB)

This verse doesn’t just apply to our earthy mother and father but also our Heavenly Father. It also applies to the earthly human authorities God appointed to govern us.

The two main things to look at in this section is about how to make judicial decisions and how to discern the truthfulness of a prophet.

The entire book of Deuteronomy is a good bye letter from Moshe to the second generation who are preparing to enter the land. He is giving them a legacy, a history that they carry into the land with them so they know where they come from and where they are to go both physically and spiritually.

We have experienced in the past 250 years a concerted effort to erase the knowledge of God as our Creator in our popular culture.

Every town is to have a court. Every town is to be ruled by the rule of law.

The first advice for a tiered legal system came from Yitro (Jethro) to Moshe (Moses) (Ex. 18:14–26). This system called for leaders of tens, hundreds and thousands. The more difficult cases were handled at increasingly higher levels, until only the most complex cases would reach Moshe.

3 levels of courts in ancient Israel

The Mishna in the tractate called “Sanhedrin” discusses the Israelite court system at length.  The ancient Israel legal system is said to have had had three levels of courts (m.Sanhedrin 1:1-4, 6):

בית דין Beit Din (“house of judgment”). It was for cities with fewer than 120 people, they were to appoint three judges to hear their legal cases and settle modest disputes. They did not hear death penalty level cases.

בית דין הקטן Beit Din haKatan (Small Sanhedrin). Every large city of each tribe or in cities with more than 120 people were to appoint 23 judges to hear more serious cases. They did have authority to level death penalties.

בית דין הגדול Beit Din haGadol (Great Sanhedrin). This is the supreme court, based in Yerushalayim (Jerusalem). There were 71 members, led by the nonvoting High Priest initially then an appointed Nasi (president). A precedent for this was when YHWH told Moshe to select seventy elders of Yisrael to interact directly with Heaven (Num. 11:16–30).

The problem with having a functioning government is that most of us don’t want to obey rules set by other people. That’s why we go back to the 5th commandment about honoring one’s parents. They are our first government. Most of the scripture can be boiled down to confronting those who say “yeah, but….” whenever they are asked to do something for either God or their fellow man.

The point of Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 is Yeshua telling the “elders” of Israel “Who are you fooling?” When you give an offering to the temple as a substitute for honoring one’s father and mother. When God changes our heart, He changes doing the right thing from a “have to” into a “want to.” It’s transforming religion to relationship.

3 levels of leaders originally in the Body of Messiah

In the Body of Mashiakh (Christ), there are three levels of leaders:

1. Deacons, who were appointed in every city or congregation (Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5). Their primary task was to take care of the needs of the congregation, so the apostles could focus on prayer and the service (διακονία diakonia, derivation of deacon) of the Word (Acts 6:1–6).
2. Overseers. This term is associated with “elders” (πρεσβύτερος presbuteros, older or elder, G4245).
3. The highest level were “The apostles,” Yerushalayim Council (Acts 15).

Moshe was telling the people that they have to leave the old man that acted like Egypt behind and come into the Promised Land as new people.

George Washington supposedly said:

“Government is not reason, it is not eloquence ― it is force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful matter. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.”

This is a good summary of all levels of government from the parental household to the king and even the prophets. None of them can be taken lightly. All of these levels deserve respect.

Those who are trustworthy are obviously worthy of trust but even if the leaders are not very respectable, they still deserve respect because of the office they hold. This is the example given to us by the Apostles.

We are also called to give this respect to The Prophet predicted by Moshe, even if He doesn’t act the way our false assumptions tell us He should act.

The Levites do not inherit land. They inherit the LORD Himself, meaning the right to lead the people in worship of the Lord. They inherit the right to eat from the special portions of the offerings given to the Lord, so they never have to worry about lacking food.

God has given all of us a particular task. We are not called to be envious of the position God has given to other people. If we envy the task God gave others while despising the task God gives us and get angry and jealous, that is a recipe for misery.

It’s easy to compare the Tabernacle/Temple to an embassy, the High Priest as ambassador and the priests and Levites as his consul general, etc., who then go to the people. Having the office of prophet doesn’t seem to be very orderly.

One of the main purposes of a prophet is to confuse us, to get us to ask ourselves “Did God really say?” They are walking parables, they are to confuse us for our own good, to stretch us to push us into the Word to verify and re-verify what is right and wrong.

“When you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations.” (Deuteronomy 18:9 NASB)

This hearkens back to the tree of good and bad because they are going to a source of knowledge other than God, which gets us in trouble all the time. We are to go to God to know what is right and wrong.

False prophets

The second topic of Deuteronomy 18 is a reminder to the children of Israel that they are not allowed to “learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations.” God gives them specific examples of the detestable things they were not to learn from the people of the land they were coming to occupy and cleanse:

• Burning children in fire as a sacrifice.
• One who uses divination.
• One who practices witchcraft.
• One who interprets omens.
• Sorcerer.
• One who casts a spell.
• Mediums.
• Spiritualists.
• Necromancer.

King Saul had gone so far off track that God stopped talking to him. He didn’t obey what God had to say yet he still wanted to hear what God had to say. At some point, Saul noticed God’s silence and it brought him so much pain that he sought out forbidden knowledge from a necromancer.

God specifically tells Israel they are to drive such people from the land and never learn their practices. If King Saul or his predecessors had done this, there would not have been a necromancer in the Land for Saul to consult.

“You shall be blameless before the LORD your God.” (Deuteronomy 18:13 NASB)

We can’t be blameless before God if we use a standard other than His standard of right and wrong.

Given the context of the command not to consult sources of knowledge other than God in Deut. 18:10-11, why is the prediction of the great prophet in Deut. 18:15-18 so important?

Characteristics of The Prophet

Moses foretells that there will come a time when a special prophet will come and gives a basic characteristics of the identity:

• He will be from “from among you,” i.e., from Yisrael.
• He will be even more powerful than Moses.
• He will have God’s words in His mouth.
• True prophets always speak or act out Heaven’s message.
• Yisrael must listen to this Prophet.

We can look to the life of Moshe for a template of the Prophet. The Hebrew word for prophet is נָבִיא naviʾ (H5030), which can mean spokesman or prince. Early Hebrew lexicon writer Gesenius posited that the verb נָבָא nāḇāʾ came via an ayin softened to an alef from נָבַע nāḇaʿ, which means to bubble up.

In the Prophet, God’s words are like a spring or a fountain “bubbling up” from within. He doesn’t speak in the authority of any one else except God.

The Semitic cognate verb nabaʾa in Arabic means to announce, hence a spokesman. We see this example of an authorized spokesman, in Aharon (Aaron) who was Moshe’s primary representative (Ex. 7:1–2).

We read in the TaNaK about the schools of the prophets, who would come together, work in conjunction with the Priesthood to teach God’s laws to the people.

We have this test of the true prophet but what how do we discern a false prophet and what to do about it?

Signs of a false prophet

Someone who speaks presumptuously in the LORD’s name, i.e., not authorized to do so or given. Some people speak presumptuously in naivety while others are malicious. Both kinds of false prophesy are dangerous. The prophecy of the future Prophet was so important that frauds could not be tolerated.

There are also prophets who blatantly speak in the name of a god other than YHWH. There’s a procedure to deal with prophets who are loyal to other gods than the Creator.

People can fool us very easily. But when we understand the words of God, we are not fooled or intimidated.

Elaboration on the Sixth Commandment

Deuteronomy 18-21 elaborates on the Sixth Commandment, which states:

“You shall not murder.” (Exodus 20:13 NASB)

Killing is the ending of life, murder is the ending of life with malice. This section discusses both an accidental killing and purposeful murder. Killing a human being is bad, it’s the ending of life, but sometimes we are put in a situation where we have to end a person’s life.

Murder is the intentional ending of a life. The surrounding community has to acknowledge that Heaven notices this taking of life. Sometimes we may never know who killed a person, but that death has to be acknowledged.

We are to acknowledge authority from the smallest (parents) to the greatest (King). But there are also instructions for the king to make his own copy of the Torah scroll in the presence of the priest so he would contemplate God’s word all the time. Also during this process the king could ask the priest questions and the priest could highlight important lessons to make sure the king understood what he was writing.

Banner Photo: Yeshua chose 12 Apostles to be His closest students and confidants. After His Ascension, they also became His ambassadors. All who believe in Yeshua believe because of them. (Photo by www.LumoProject.com)

Summary: Tammy.

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