Chapter 18

1 The Levitical priests—indeed,⁠ the entire tribe of Levi—will have no allotment or inheritance with Israel; they may eat the burnt offerings of the Lord and of his inheritance. 2 They will have no inheritance in the midst of their fellow Israelites; the Lord alone is their inheritance, just as he had told them. 3 This shall be the priests’ fair allotment from the people who offer sacrifices, whether bull or sheep—they must give to the priest the shoulder, the jowls, and the stomach. 4 You must give them the best of your grain, new wine, and olive oil, as well as the best of your wool when you shear your flocks.⁠ 5 For the Lord your God has chosen them and their sons from all your tribes to stand and serve in his name permanently. 6 Suppose a Levite comes by his own free will from one of your villages, from any part of Israel where he is living, to the place the Lord chooses 7 and serves in the name of the Lord his God like his fellow Levites who stand there before the Lord. 8 He must eat the same share they do, despite any profits he may gain from the sale of his family’s inheritance. 9 When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, you must not learn the abhorrent practices of those nations. 10 There must never be found among you anyone who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire,⁠ anyone who practices divination,⁠ an omen reader, a soothsayer, a sorcerer,⁠ 11 one who casts spells, one who conjures up spirits, a practitioner of the occult, or a necromancer.⁠ 12 Whoever does these things is abhorrent to the Lord, and because of these detestable things the Lord your God is about to drive them out from before you. 13 You must be blameless before the Lord your God. 14 Those nations that you are about to dispossess listen to omen readers and diviners, but the Lord your God has not given you permission to do such things. 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 This accords with what happened at Horeb in the day of the assembly. You asked the Lord your God: “Please do not make us hear the voice of the Lord our God anymore or see this great fire anymore lest we die.” 17 The Lord then said to me, “What they have said is good. 18 I will raise up a prophet like you⁠ for them from among their fellow Israelites.⁠ I will put my words in his mouth and he will speak to them whatever I command.⁠ 19 I will personally hold responsible anyone who then pays no attention to the words that prophet speaks in my name. 20 “But if any prophet presumes to speak anything in my name that I have not authorized him to speak, or speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must die. 21 Now if you say to yourselves, ‘How can we tell that a message is not from the Lord?’— 22 whenever a prophet speaks in my name and the prediction is not fulfilled, then I have not spoken it; the prophet has presumed to speak it, so you need not fear him.”

Texts in conversation

Compare Deuteronomy 18:18 and 4Q175 5

Hebrew Bible · Dead Sea Scrolls, Biblical Interpretation

Summary

In Deuteronomy 18, God promises a prophet like Moses who will speak for him. In 4Q175 from the Dead Sea Scrolls, the promise appears beside passages about royal and priestly figures, placing the prophet within hopes for the last days.

Passages

Deuteronomy 18:18

Hebrew Bible

18 I will raise up a prophet like you for them from among their fellow Israelites. I will put my words in his mouth and he will speak to them whatever I command. 19 I will personally hold responsible anyone who then pays no attention to the words that prophet speaks in my name.

750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Deuteronomy

4Q175 5

Dead Sea Scrolls, Biblical Interpretation · Testimonia

1 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “You have heard the sound of the words of 2 this people, which they spoke to you. They have done well in all that they have spoken. 3 If only this heart of theirs would remain, to fear me and to keep all 4 my commandments always, so that it may go well with them and with their children forever. 5 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers, and I will put my words 6 in his mouth, and he will speak to them all that I command him. And the man 7 who does not listen to my words, which the prophet speaks in my name, I myself 8 will call him to account.” 9 And he took up his oracle and said, “The utterance of Balaam son of Beor, the utterance of the man 10 whose eye is perfect, the utterance of one who hears the words of God and knows the knowledge of the Most High, who 11 sees the vision of the Almighty, fallen down with eyes uncovered. I see him, but not now; 12 I behold him, but not near. A star shall march out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel, and it shall crush 13 the temples of Moab and tear down all the sons of Seth.” 14 And of Levi he said, “Give to Levi your Thummim, and your Urim to your faithful one, whom 15 you tested at Massah and with whom you contended at the waters of Meribah, who said of his father, ‘I have not 16 … him,’ and to his mother, ‘I do not know you.’ His brothers he did not acknowledge, and his son he did not 17 know. For he kept your word and guarded your covenant. They shall make your judgments shine for Jacob, 18 your Torah for Israel. They shall set incense before you and a whole offering on your altar. 19 Bless, O LORD, his strength, and accept the work of his hands. Crush the loins of his adversaries, and those who hate him, 20 so that they do not rise.”

160–60 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 4Q175

References

“... The best known of these excerpted texts at Qumran being 4Q175, variously described as ‘4QTestimonia’ or ‘Messianic Anthology’. 4Q175 was copied by a scribe in the first century BCE on a single sheet. There are four paragraphs with quotations from 1) Deut 5:28-29 and 18:18-19:2) Num 24:15-17; 3) Deut 33:8-11; and 4) Apocryphon of Joshua (= 4QPsJosh [4Q379, fr. 22, col. 2], an interpretation of LXX Josh 6:26). There are short sentences introducing all four paragraphs, but interpretative comment accompanying only the final citation of Joshua 6:26. The verbatim citation of Deuteronomy 33:8-11 is based on a text that is close to 4QDeuth and the final paragraph is in fact a quotation from the Apocryphon of Joshua. Presuming that this latter text is sectarian, the Qumran community would appear to have considered the Apocryphon of Joshua as an authoritative text alongside other books that were eventually included in the canon. Textually, the biblical quotations vary from passage to passage: the combination of Deuteronomy 5:28-29 and 18:18-19:2 is found in the Samaritan Pentateuch at Exodus 20:21b; Joshua 6:26 follows the presumed Vorlage of the Septuagint; and the others the MT. In my view, 4Q175 attests to the phenomenon among Jews and subsequently Christians in late Second Temple period of excerpting texts for various purposes, whether for study, liturgical practice or controversy. Ostensibly, the first three passages selected by the compiler of 4Q175 have a messianic theme. The passages point to the expectation of different messianic figures: a prophetic one like Moses; a royal one according to Balaam’s prophecy; and a levitical or priestly messiah. The fourth passage sits awkwardly with the first three in that it is an interpretation of the curse, found in Joshua, on anyone who rebuilds the city of Jericho. The man is accursed, a man of Belial, who rebuilds the city to fortify it as a ‘stronghold of ungodliness in Israel’. He may have had either two sons or a brother as accomplice, depending upon how one reads the pesheresque exegesis. In the past, this accursed man has been identified with Simon Maccabee and more recently with John Hyrcanus. In any case, 4Q175 illustrates well the nature of excerpts: they were compiled by someone, but without interpretative comment the original intention or raison d’être is lost. ‘Testimony’ or ‘messianic anthology’ is a partial description of only the first three paragraphs of 4Q175. ...”

Timothy H. Lim, “Deuteronomy in the Judaism of the Second Temple Period,” in Deuteronomy in the New Testament, ed. Maarten J. J. Menken and Steve Moyise (London: T&T Clark International, 2007), MS 11–12.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Deuteronomy34 chapters

Compare Deuteronomy 18:18 and 4Q175 5

Summary

Passages

Deuteronomy 18:18

4Q175 5

References

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