Friday 5th September
Read Deuteronomy 18:16-18
“For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, ‘Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire any more, or we will die.’
17 The Lord said to me: ‘What they say is good. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him.” (NIVUK)
There are not all that many instances where God declares something is ‘good’. He declares that creation is good repeatedly (Genesis 1) and here He declares that their request for someone to stand between and proclaim His words is also good. It shows a right and true fear of God.
The language used indicates that prophets are a blessing for God’s people. Access to the words and judgments of God is a privilege granted to very few peoples on the earth. Hence why they resort to divination and sorcery… How blessed do you feel that you have access to the prophet’s words?
The Hebrew for ‘raise up’ (v18) is often translated as ‘stand’ or ‘arise’ and it is therefore not surprising that the early church saw in it a reference to Jesus (cf Acts 3). This promised blessing of a prophet from amongst them who will proclaim the commands and words of God had, by the time of Jesus, become an expectation amongst the Israelites – a source of hope.
The people feared they would die if they heard the voice of God directly. But God promised to ‘raise up’ a less fearsome prophet, one like them, who could command obedience without fear…
