Support for the Levites
Study note
The Levitical priests had no land inheritance in Israel. Instead, they lived off the offerings made to the Lord. The people were to give them specific portions of sacrificed animals, plus the first harvest of grain, wine, oil, and wool. Any Levite could serve at the central sanctuary.
1 "The Levitical priests -- Levi's entire tribe -- will not receive a share of land like the rest of Israel. Their livelihood comes from the offerings presented to the Lord by fire. That is their rightful share. The priests the Levites, and all the tribe of Levi, shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel: they shall eat the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and his inheritance.
2 They will not own any land among their brothers. The Lord himself is what they receive, exactly as he promised. Therefore shall they have no inheritance among their brethren: the LORD is their inheritance, as he hath said unto them.
3 Whenever the people bring an ox or sheep as a sacrifice, the priests get these parts: the shoulder, the jaw, and the stomach. And this shall be the priest's due from the people, from them that offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep; and they shall give unto the priest the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw.
4 You must also give them the first portion of your grain, new wine, olive oil, and the first wool when you shear your sheep. The firstfruit also of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the first of the fleece of thy sheep, shalt thou give him.
5 The Lord your God chose them and their children out of all the tribes to stand before him and serve in his name forever. For the LORD thy God hath chosen him out of all thy tribes, to stand to minister in the name of the LORD, him and his sons for ever.
6 "A Levite might move from wherever he lives in Israel. He might come eagerly to the place the Lord picks. And if a Levite come from any of thy gates out of all Israel, where he sojourned, and come with all the desire of his mind unto the place which the LORD shall choose;
7 he may serve in the name of the Lord his God. He can serve right alongside all the other Levites who are already there. Then he shall minister in the name of the LORD his God, as all his brethren the Levites do, which stand there before the LORD.
8 He should get an equal share of the food, on top of whatever he may have earned from selling family property. They shall have like portions to eat, beside that which cometh of the sale of his patrimony.
Forbidden Occult Practices
Study note
Moses listed practices that were strictly forbidden: child sacrifice, fortune-telling, interpreting omens, sorcery, casting spells, consulting mediums or psychics, and calling up the dead. These practices were the reason God was driving out the nations of Canaan. Israel was to be completely devoted to God alone.
9 "You will move into the land the Lord your God gives you. Do not copy the evil ways of the nations already there. When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.
10 Nobody among you should ever sacrifice their child by fire. Nobody should practice fortune-telling, read omens, dabble in witchcraft, There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,
11 cast spells, consult a spirit medium or psychic, or try to communicate with the dead. Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
12 The Lord finds anyone who does these things revolting. It is precisely because of these disgusting practices that the Lord your God is clearing those nations out ahead of you. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.
13 You must be completely devoted and loyal to the Lord your God. Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God.
14 The nations you are about to push out consult fortune-tellers and sorcerers. But the Lord your God has not allowed you to do anything like that. For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.
The Promise of a Prophet Like Moses
Study note
God promised to raise up a prophet like Moses from among the Israelites. This prophet would speak God's words, and the people must listen. Anyone who spoke in God's name without being sent by him, or who spoke for other gods, would die. The test of a true prophet was whether their predictions came true.
15 "The Lord your God will raise up a special prophet from among your own people -- a prophet like me. You must listen to him. The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;
16 This is exactly what you asked for at Horeb on the day everyone gathered. You begged, 'Do not make us hear the Lord our God's voice or see this terrifying fire anymore, or we will die.' According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.
17 The Lord told me, 'Their request makes sense. And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken.
18 I will raise up a prophet like you from among their own people. I will place my words in his mouth, and he will pass along everything I tell him to say. I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.
19 A person might refuse to listen to that prophet. The prophet speaks on my behalf. I will hold that person to account. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.
20 But a prophet might dare to speak in my name without my say. Or a prophet might speak for other gods. That prophet must die.' But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.
21 "You might wonder, 'How do we tell whether a message truly comes from the Lord?' And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?
22 If a prophet claims to speak for the Lord but the prediction does not come true, that message was not from the Lord. The prophet made it up. You do not need to fear that person." When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.