Verse-by-Verse Commentary
The Book of Deuteronomy
Chapter 18: The Prophet Like Moses
This chapter moves from the priests, whose inheritance was the LORD Himself, to a sharp warning against every form of witchcraft and dark art, and then to one of the great promises of the Old Testament. Moses tells Israel that God will raise up 'a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me,' and 'unto him ye shall hearken.' The apostles saw this fulfilled in Jesus, the Prophet greater than Moses whom every soul must hear. It is a chapter about finding our portion in God, refusing every counterfeit voice, and listening to the One God promised to send.
About This Commentary
This is a verse-by-verse study of Deuteronomy chapter 18. For each section you will find the KJV text, the Hebrew words that sharpen the meaning, plain explanation, and a Gospel Focus. The chapter gives the priests the LORD as their inheritance, bans witchcraft and every occult practice, and promises the Prophet like Moses whom God would raise up. Every Scripture quotation is from the King James Version.
Setting the Stage
The LORD Their Portion
The Levites received no land, for the LORD Himself was their inheritance and their portion.
No Witchcraft
Israel was to reject every dark art, divination, spiritism, and sorcery, that the nations practiced.
Perfect with the LORD
Instead of consulting the dead or the stars, they were to be wholly the LORD's, and hear Him.
Like Unto Me
God promised a Prophet like Moses whom all must hear, fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
The LORD Is Their Inheritance (Deuteronomy 18:1-8)
The priests and Levites received no territory of their own, for the LORD Himself was to be their inheritance and portion.
The LORD Is Their Inheritance
"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. Therefore shall they have no inheritance among their brethren: the LORD is their inheritance, as he hath said unto them. 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. 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. 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. 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; 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. They shall have like portions to eat, beside that which cometh of the sale of his patrimony. 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."
Hebrew Study
"inheritance," nachalah (נַחֲלָה). A possession handed down, especially an allotment of land passed from father to son. Every other tribe received its nachalah of ground in Canaan; the Levites received none. Instead, God gave them something greater than acreage, Himself. Their permanent, unlosable possession was the LORD.
Explanation
The tribe of Levi was set apart to serve God, and so, unlike the other tribes, they were given no portion of land in Canaan. They lived instead from the offerings of the people, the priest's share of the sacrifices, the firstfruits, and the tithes. The reason is stated simply and beautifully: "the LORD is their inheritance." Their livelihood came through the offerings, but their true possession was God Himself. What might look like a loss, no land of their own, was in fact the highest privilege in Israel.
Gospel Focus
To have the LORD as one's inheritance is the richest portion a soul can own, and what was true of Levi points to the heritage of every believer. David sang, "The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup" (Psalm 16:5). Land can be lost, money can vanish, but the one whose portion is God can never be made poor. This is a quiet rebuke to the greed that measures life by possessions and a comfort to those who have little of this world: if you have God, you have the one inheritance that outlasts everything. The Levites teach us to hold earthly things loosely and to find our true wealth in the Lord. Better to have no land and have God, than to own the world and lose Him. Make Him your portion, and you will lack no good thing.
No Witchcraft Among You (Deuteronomy 18:9-14)
Israel was to reject utterly the dark arts of the nations, divination, sorcery, and consulting the dead, and instead be wholly the LORD's.
Let None Be Found Among You
"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, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. 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. Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God. 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."
Hebrew Study
God draws a hard line against the occult: no one who "maketh his son... to pass through the fire," no diviner, enchanter, witch, or "consulter with familiar spirits," or "necromancer." All of it is "an abomination" for which the nations are being cast out. God's people are not to grope after hidden powers or the dead; they have the living God who speaks. The very next verses give the alternative — not a medium, but a Prophet.
Explanation
The nations Israel was displacing were steeped in the occult, and God names the whole dark catalog to leave no loophole: child sacrifice, divination, fortune-telling ("an observer of times"), enchantment, witchcraft, charming, "a consulter with familiar spirits" (a medium), wizardry, and necromancy, the attempt to speak with the dead. "All that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD." These practices are how the nations sought guidance and power apart from God, and Israel was to have nothing to do with them. In their place stood a single positive command: "Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God," wholly His, trusting Him alone for guidance rather than prying into forbidden things.
Gospel Focus
God's ban on the occult is as firm in the New Testament as in the Old. These practices are not harmless entertainment; they are humanity's attempt to gain knowledge and power from spirits other than God, and Scripture counts "witchcraft" among "the works of the flesh" that shut people out of the kingdom (Galatians 5:20). When the Ephesians turned to Christ, they burned their books of magic openly. Behind astrology, mediums, fortune-telling, and every dark art lies a spiritual danger, and the believer is to have no part in them. But notice that God does not merely forbid; He offers Himself as the alternative: "Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God." Why grope after hidden knowledge through the dead when the living God speaks in His Word and hears our prayers? The answer to the pull of the occult is not fear but wholeness, being fully the Lord's, trusting Him for what we cannot see, and seeking guidance from Him alone. Turn from every counterfeit voice, and be wholly His.
A Prophet Like Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15-22)
In place of the forbidden voices of the nations, God promises His own true voice: a Prophet like Moses, raised up from among the people, whom all must hear.
Unto Him Ye Shall Hearken
"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; 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. And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken. 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. 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. 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. And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? 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."
Hebrew Study
"The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet... like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken." Moses points beyond himself to a coming Prophet who would speak God's very words — a promise the New Testament declares fulfilled in Jesus: "him shall ye hear," Peter preaches, and whoever will not hear that Prophet is cut off (Acts 3:22-23). The mark of a true prophet is given too: if his word "come not to pass," God did not send him. The one Prophet whose every word stands is Christ.
Explanation
Israel had been terrified at Horeb by the voice of God from the fire and had begged that they not hear it directly again. God honored that fear by promising a mediator, a prophet who would stand between Him and the people and speak His words: "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." Of this Prophet God says, "I will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him." And the warning is solemn: "whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him." The chapter closes with a test to tell the true prophet from the false: if what he foretells in the LORD's name does not come to pass, he has not spoken from God.
Gospel Focus
The apostles pointed straight to this promise and said it was fulfilled in Jesus. Peter, preaching in the temple, quoted it: "For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things" (Acts 3:22), and added the warning that "every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people" (Acts 3:23). When Philip found the Messiah, he said, "We have found him, of whom Moses in the law... did write, Jesus of Nazareth" (John 1:45). Moses was a prophet, a mediator, a deliverer, but Jesus is the Prophet greater than Moses, one of our own brethren, the very Word of God in flesh, who speaks the Father's words perfectly. And the command "unto him ye shall hearken" is the weightiest word of all. God once thundered from Sinai; now He has "spoken unto us by his Son," and to refuse that Son is to refuse God Himself. Do not turn to the dead or to dark arts for guidance; hear the Prophet God has sent. Every soul is commanded to listen to Jesus.
Chapter 18 in Review
Deuteronomy 18 gives the Levites no land because "the LORD is their inheritance," a portion greater than any acreage. It bans utterly the dark arts of the nations, divination, sorcery, and consulting the dead, calling Israel instead to "be perfect with the LORD thy God." And in place of those forbidden voices, it promises God's own true voice: "a Prophet from the midst of thee... like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken."
For the Apostolic reader, the chapter reaches its height in that promise. The apostles declared it fulfilled in Jesus, the Prophet greater than Moses, who speaks the Father's words and whom every soul must hear. Along the way it teaches us to find our inheritance in God rather than in possessions, and to refuse every counterfeit spiritual voice the world offers. Make the Lord your portion, turn from all the dark arts, and above all listen to the One God has sent, for God has spoken to us in His Son, and to hear Him is life.
- "The LORD is their inheritance," a portion richer than any land (18:2; Psalm 16:5).
- Every occult practice is an abomination; the believer is to have no part (18:10-11; Galatians 5:20).
- The alternative to the dark arts is to "be perfect with the LORD," wholly His (18:13).
- God promised a Prophet like Moses whom all must hear (18:15).
- The apostles saw this fulfilled in Jesus; every soul must hear Him (Acts 3:22-23; John 1:45).
Questions for Reflection
- Is the Lord truly your inheritance, or is your heart set on possessions?
- Have you cleared out every trace of the occult, even the seemingly harmless kinds?
- Are you truly hearkening to Jesus, the Prophet God commanded us to hear?
References & Sources
Scripture is quoted from the King James Version (KJV). The Hebrew terms are standard and can be checked in any Hebrew lexicon. Supporting passages are listed so every claim can be verified in its own setting. If anything here does not look right, a verse, a reference, or a wording, please tell us at info@FruitBearers.net. Thank you for helping us keep Bible Learning error free.
- The LORD as the inheritance of His servants: Deuteronomy 18:1-8; Psalm 16:5.
- The ban on witchcraft and every dark art: Deuteronomy 18:9-14; Galatians 5:20.
- The Prophet like Moses, fulfilled in Jesus: Deuteronomy 18:15-22; Acts 3:22-23; John 1:45.