Deuteronomy 18:15 - Meaning and Application

This is the promise of the great prophet, along with a command to receive him and listen to him. Some think it means a long line of prophets who would be maintained in Israel for many years. Along with the priests and Levites, the ordinary teachers whose work was to teach God’s law to Jacob, they would also have prophets, special messengers who would rebuke their sins, remind them of their duty, and predict future events, both judgments for warning and rescues for comfort.

With these prophets, they would not need to use divination or consult evil spirits. They could ask God’s prophets about even private matters, as Saul did when he was looking for his father’s donkeys (1 Samuel 9:6). They would also not be left to wander in ignorance or disagreement about their duty, because they would have prophets among them whom they could consult in any hard or doubtful matter. These prophets were like Moses in some ways, though far below him (Deuteronomy 34:10).

Whether or not this promise includes a succession of prophets, it clearly points first to Christ. It is the clearest promise of Christ found anywhere in the law of Moses. The apostles apply it directly to the Lord Jesus as the promised Messiah (Acts 3:22; Acts 7:37). The people also had this promise in mind when they said of Jesus, “This is truly the prophet who is to come into the world” (John 6:14). It was Christ’s Spirit that spoke in all the other prophets (1 Peter 1:11).

What is promised here about Christ? What God promised Moses at Mount Sinai, which Moses later repeats in verse 18, God here promises the people in his name. First, a prophet would come who is greater than all the prophets, through whom God would make himself and his will known more fully and clearly than ever before. He is the light of the world, just as prophecy was the light of the Jewish church (John 8:12). He is the Word through whom God speaks to us (John 1:1; Hebrews 1:2).

Second, God would raise him up from among them. In his birth, he would belong to that nation, live among them, and be sent to them. In his resurrection, he would be raised up at Jerusalem, and from there his teaching would spread to the whole world. In this way God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless us.

Third, he would be like Moses, only far greater, just as the other prophets were far below Moses. Moses was a prophet who gave law to Israel and delivered them from Egypt, and Christ is too. He does not only teach, he also rules and saves. Moses began a new covenant order through signs, wonders, and mighty works, and Christ did the same, showing that he came from God. Was Moses faithful? So was Christ, Moses as a servant, but Christ as a Son.

Fourth, God would put his words in Christ’s mouth (Deuteronomy 18:18). Whatever messages God had for the children of men, he would send through him, and give him full instruction for everything he was to say and do as a prophet. That is why our Savior says, “My teaching is not from myself, but from him who sent me” (John 7:16). So this great promise has been fulfilled. This Prophet has come, even Jesus. He is the one we were to expect, and we should expect no other.

This promise also fits the people’s own request at Mount Sinai, where they said they wanted God to speak to them through a man like themselves (Deuteronomy 18:16, 18:17). There God had spoken in thunder and lightning, from fire and thick darkness. Every word made their ears ring and their hearts tremble, so the whole congregation feared they would die. In that terror, they begged God not to speak that way again, because they could not bear it.

They asked instead that he would speak to them through human messengers, through Moses then, and later through other prophets like him. God agreed. He would speak to them through men whose presence would not fill them with fear. And to show his grace even more than they could ask or imagine, in the fullness of time the Word himself became flesh, and they saw his glory, the glory of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth, not with Sinai’s terror, but with gentleness and mercy (John 1:14). So in answer to the people’s request, though they may not have understood it fully, God promised the coming of his Son in human form.

A command is also given to all people to hear, believe, and obey this great promised prophet: “To him you shall listen” (Deuteronomy 18:15). Anyone who refuses to listen will be judged for that contempt (Deuteronomy 18:19): “I will require it of him.” God himself applied this to Jesus in the voice from the bright cloud: “This is my Son. Listen to him” (Matthew 17:5). Moses and Elijah stood there and agreed. The punishment here announced against those who do not hear this prophet is repeated in the New Testament. “Whoever does not believe the Son will not see life, but God’s wrath remains on him” (John 3:36). “How shall we escape if we ignore the one who speaks from heaven?” (Hebrews 12:25).

The Chaldee paraphrase reads, “My Word shall require it of him,” which points to a divine person, Christ the eternal Word, to whom the Father has given all judgment, and by whom he will judge the world at the last day. Whoever refuses to listen to Jesus Christ does so at his own peril. The same one who is the prophet will also be his judge (John 12:48).

Here is also a warning against false prophets. First, there is a threat against the pretenders themselves (Deuteronomy 18:20). Whoever claims to be a prophet and speaks without a true commission from God is guilty of high treason against the King of kings, and that traitor is to be put to death (Deuteronomy 18:20). In time this was done by the judgment of the great Sanhedrin, which sat at Jerusalem. That is why our Savior says a prophet could not perish anywhere except at Jerusalem, and he places the blood of the prophets on Jerusalem’s own head (Luke 13:33, 13:34). God himself would punish those false prophets, though they were supported there.

Second, there is direction for the people, so they will not be fooled by impostors, of whom there were many, as shown in (Jeremiah 23:25; Ezekiel 13:6; 1 Kings 22:6). The question they are assumed to ask is very fitting (Deuteronomy 18:21): since it is such a duty to listen to the true prophets, and since there is so much danger of being led astray by false ones, how can we know whether a message is really from the Lord? How can we detect a fraud? We should care deeply to have the right test for judging what we hear, so we may know which word the Lord has not spoken.

Anything that clearly goes against common sense, the light and law of nature, or the plain meaning of Scripture cannot be what the Lord has spoken. Nor can anything be from God if it encourages sin or plainly tends to destroy godliness or love. God cannot contradict himself.

The rule given here answers a real question for that time, as explained in Deuteronomy 18:22. If there was reason to doubt a prophet’s honesty, the people were to watch this sign: if he gave a sign or predicted something that would happen, and it did not happen, they could be sure he had not been sent by God. This does not mainly refer to predictions of mercy or judgment, though the prophet Jeremiah gives a rule for telling truth from falsehood in that matter (Jeremiah 28:8-9). It is mainly about signs that were given to prove a prophet’s authority.

Even if the sign came true, that alone would not prove the prophet was sent by God if he was leading people to serve other gods. That question had already been settled in Deuteronomy 13:1-3. But if the sign did not come true, that was enough to expose the prophet as false. Bishop Patrick explains it this way, if Moses threw his rod on the ground and said it would become a serpent, and it had not done so, Moses would have been a false prophet. In the same way, if Elijah had called for fire from heaven to burn up the sacrifice, and no fire had come, he would have been no better than the prophets of Baal.

Samuel’s mission was proved because the Lord let none of his words fall to the ground, meaning every word came true (1 Samuel 3:19-20). Christ’s miracles also proved his mission, especially the great sign of his resurrection on the third day, which happened just as he had said. That showed that he was a teacher sent from God.

Finally, they were told not to fear a false prophet. They were not to be frightened by the punishments he might threaten in order to fool people and stir up fear. They were also not to fear carrying out the law against him when careful and fair inquiry showed that he was false. This command not to fear a false prophet also implies that a true prophet, who proved his authority with clear and undeniable evidence, was to be feared and respected. If they treated him lightly or harmed him, they would do so at their own risk.