Deuteronomy 18:15-20
Last year we followed the interesting story of Moses’ life. How he was found in the reds on the banks of the River Nile and rescued by Pharaoh’s daughter and was brought up in Pharaoh’s household. In spite of his privileged upbringing in Pharaoh’s court, Moses never forgets his Hebrew roots. Later God chose Moses to guide the Israelites through the desert to the Promised Land of Canaan.
The writer of Deuteronomy highlights a series of addresses given by Moses to the people of Israel. Moses recalls the events of the past forty years. Moses is the mediator between God and his people. Moses reminds the people how God led them through the wilderness and he appeals to them to remain faithful and obedient to God.
When Moses is addressing the people, he takes the opportunity to remind the people of the meaning of The Covenant that God had made with them, Moses calls on the people to recommit to obeying the laws of the covenant set down in the Ten Commandments.
The writer of Deuteronomy tells us that Moses has become a very old man and that the people were afraid that he was going to die soon and that would have no one to lead them. They were afraid of false prophets. Not people who spoke for false gods, but people who said the wrong things about the true God. But Moses reassures them that God will give them another prophet like himself from among their own people.
Raymond Brown comments that,
- An authentic prophet obeys God’s call. God is the one who calls the prophet.
- An authentic prophet welcomes God’s word. The prophet is to speak the word of God, not his own words.
- An authentic prophet imparts God’s message. When the prophet receives God’s word, he is not to keep it to himself, but share it with God’s people.
