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Deuteronomy

About this book
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 John 12:49

Hebrew Bible · New Testament

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Summary

John draws on Deuteronomy’s image of a prophet who speaks only God’s words to present Jesus as fully authorized by God. In Deuteronomy this figure mediates divine commands, and in John the same language highlights Jesus’ faithfulness.

Passages

Deuteronomy 18:18

Hebrew Bible
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.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Deuteronomy

John 12:49

New Testament
47 If anyone hears my words and does not obey them, I do not judge him. For I have not come to judge the world, but to save the world. 48 The one who rejects me and does not accept my words has a judge; the word I have spoken will judge him at the last day. 49 For I have not spoken from my own authority, but the Father himself who sent me has commanded me what I should say and what I should speak. 50 And I know that his commandment is eternal life. Thus the things I say, I say just as the Father has told me.”
90–110 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in John

References

"... There is also concurrence and correspondence in three of these passages in John. Jesus’ words in 8:26, 28, 12:49–50, and 17:8 are all recorded in contexts where there are clearer allusions to the same book or passage. Moreover, the criterion of correspondence - when more parallels occur in the same context, it increases the probability of an allusion - is found in those three passages as well. As I have noted elsewhere, there are other allusions in those passages so the proposed allusions to Isaiah 49 and 50 in these passages add to the other parallels which are present and increase the likelihood that allusions to the Servant passages are intended. Based on the criterion of uniqueness, there are close affinities between the theme of Jesus speaking the words of the Father with Deuteronomy 18:18 and the prophet-like Moses that is predicted to arise. In fact, there are verbal parallels between Deuteronomy 18:18 and John. Deuteronomy 18:18 contains τὸ ῥῆμά as does John 3:34 and 17:8. Deuteronomy 18:18 states how the prophet will speak the words of God (λαλήσει αὐτοῖς), which is similar to Jesus’ claims that he speaks (λαλεῖ) the words of God (3:34; 8:26, 28; 12:49) ..."
Adam W. Day, Jesus, the Isaianic Servant: Quotations and Allusions in the Gospel of John (Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias, 2018), 175.

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

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Deuteronomy 18:18 and John 12:49

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