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Deuteronomy Chapter
Eighteen
Deuteronomy 18
Chapter Contents
A provision respecting Levites. (1-8) The abominations of
the Canaanites to be avoided. (9-14) Christ the great Prophet. (15-22)
Commentary on Deuteronomy 18:1-8
(Read Deuteronomy 18:1-8)
Care is taken that the priests entangle not themselves
with the affairs of this life, nor enrich themselves with the wealth of this
world; they have better things to mind. Care is likewise taken that they want
not the comforts and conveniences of this life. The people must provide for
them. He that has the benefit of solemn religious assemblies, ought to give
help for the comfortable support of those that minister in such assemblies.
Commentary on Deuteronomy 18:9-14
(Read Deuteronomy 18:9-14)
Was it possible that a people so blessed with Divine
institutions, should ever be in any danger of making those their teachers whom
God had made their captives? They were in danger; therefore, after many like
cautions, they are charged not to do after the abominations of the nations of
Canaan. All reckoning of lucky or unlucky days, all charms for diseases, all
amulets or spells to prevent evil, fortune-telling, &c. are here forbidden.
These are so wicked as to be a chief cause of the rooting out of the
Canaanites. It is amazing to think that there should be any pretenders of this
kind in such a land, and day of light, as we live in. They are mere impostors
who blind and cheat their followers.
Commentary on Deuteronomy 18:15-22
(Read Deuteronomy 18:15-22)
It is here promised concerning Christ, that there should
come a Prophet, great above all the prophets; by whom God would make known
himself and his will to the children of men, more fully and clearly than he had
ever done before. He is the Light of the world, John 8:12. He is the World by whom God speaks to
us, John 1:1; Hebrews 1:2. In his birth he should be
one of their nation. In his resurrection he should be raised up at Jerusalem,
and from thence his doctrine should go forth to all the world. Thus God, having
raised up his Son Christ Jesus, sent him to bless us. He should be like unto
Moses, only above him. This prophet is come, even JESUS; and is "He that
should come," and we are to look for no other. The view of God which he
gives, will not terrify or overwhelm, but encourages us. He speaks with
fatherly affection and Divine authority united. Whoever refuses to listen to
Jesus Christ, shall find it is at his peril; the same that is the Prophet is to
be his Judge, John 12:48. Woe then to those who refuse to
hearken to His voice, to accept His salvation, or yield obedience to His sway!
But happy they who trust in Him, and obey Him. He will lead them in the paths
of safety and peace, until He brings them to the land of perfect light, purity,
and happiness. Here is a caution against false prophets. It highly concerns us
to have a right touchstone wherewith to try the word we hear, that we may know
what that word is which the Lord has not spoken. Whatever is against the plain
sense of the written word, or which gives countenance or encouragement to sin,
we may be sure is not that which the Lord has spoken.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Deuteronomy》
Deuteronomy 18
Verse 1
[1] 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.
His inheritance — The Lord's portion or
inheritance, which God had reserved to himself, as tithes and first fruits, and
other oblations distinct from those which were made by fire.
Verse 3
[3] 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 maw — The Hebrew word here rendered maw or stomach, may have
another signification, and some render it the breast, others take it for the
part, which lies under the breast.
Verse 6
[6] 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;
With all the desire of his mind — With full purpose to
fix his abode, and to spend his whole time and strength in the service of God.
It seems, the several priests were to come from their cities to the temple by
turns, before David's time; and it is certain they did so after it. But if any
of them were not contented with this attendance upon God in his tabernacle, or
temple, and desired more entirely and constantly to devote himself to God's
service there, he was permitted so to do, because this was an eminent act of
piety joined with self - denial, to part with those great conveniences which he
enjoyed in the city of his possession.
Verse 8
[8] They shall have like portions to eat, beside that which
cometh of the sale of his patrimony.
Like portions — With their brethren who were in
actual ministration: as they share with them in the work, so shall they in the
encouragements.
Beside that which cometh — The reason of this
law was, because he that waited on the altar, ought to live by the altar: and
because it was fit he should keep his money, wherewith he might redeem what he
sold, if afterwards he saw occasion for it. Mr. Henry adds a remarkable note
here: especially considering he wrote threescore years ago. "A hearty,
pious zeal to serve God and his church, tho' it may a little encroach upon a
settled order, and there may be somewhat in it that looks irregular, yet ought
to be gratified, and not discouraged. He that loves dearly to be employed in
the service of the sanctuary: in God's name let him minster. He shall be as
welcome to God as the Levites, whose course it was to minister, and should be
so to them."
Verse 10
[10] 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,
Useth divination — Foretelleth things
secret or to come, by unlawful arts and practices.
An observer of times — Superstitiously
pronouncing some days lucky, and others unlucky. Or, an observer of the clouds
or heavens, one that divineth by the motions of the clouds, by the stars, or by
the flying or chattering of birds, all which Heathens used to observe.
An inchanter — Or, a conjecturer, that discovers
hidden things by a superstitious use of words or ceremonies, by observation of
water or smoke or any contingencies.
A witch — One that is in covenant with the devil.
Verse 11
[11] Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a
wizard, or a necromancer.
A charmer — One that charmeth serpents or
other cattle. Or, a fortune-teller, that foretelleth the events of men's lives
by the conjunctions of the stars.
Spirits — Whom they call upon by certain words or rites.
A wizard — Heb. a knowing man, who by any forbidden way's
undertakes the revelation of secret things.
A necromancer — One that calleth up and enquireth
of the dead.
Verse 13
[13] Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God.
Perfect — Sincerely and wholly his, seeking him and cleaving to
him and to his word alone, and therefore abhorring all commerce and
conversations with devils.
Verse 14
[14] 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.
Hath not suffered thee so to do — Hath not suffered
thee to follow these superstitious and diabolical practices, as he hath
suffered other nations to do, but hath instructed thee better by his word and
spirit, and will more fully instruct thee by a great prophet.
Verse 15
[15] 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;
Will raise up — Will produce and send into the
world in due time.
A prophet like unto me — Christ was truly, and
in all commendable parts like him, in being both a prophet and a king and a
priest and mediator, in the excellency of his ministry and work, in the glory
of his miracles, in his familiar and intimate converse with God.
Verse 19
[19] 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.
I will require it — I will punish him severely
for it. The sad effect of this threatning the Jews have felt for above sixteen
hundred years together.
Verse 22
[22] 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.
If the thing — Which he gives as a sign of the
truth of his prophecy. The falsehood of his prediction shews him to be a false
prophet.
Presumptuously — Impudently ascribing his own vain
and lying fancies to the God of truth.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Deuteronomy》
18 Chapter 18
Verse 15
A Prophet . . . like unto me.
Christ the greatest of the prophets
I. The office of a
prophet in ancient Israel. He was the voice of God to the nation.
1. Prophets are found from the earliest times in Israel (Genesis 20:7; Psalms 105:15). In the times of the
Judges (Judges 4:4; Judges 4:6; Judges 4:14; Judges 6:7). Samuel the founder of a
settled order of prophets (Acts 3:24). Continued now in Christian
ministry.
2. Note that God appoints prophets (or speakers), not the priests, as
His representatives and specially commissioned messengers.
3. The awful responsibility of the speaker for God to say only what
God has commanded.
4. The word of the prophet was to be tested by its fulfilment (verse
22).
II. The promise of
the text permanently fulfilled in Christ. Applied by Christ and His apostles (Acts 3:22; Acts 5:37; John 5:46).
1. Christ and Moses alike in some points.
2. Christ and Moses contrasted in other respects.
III. Imperative duty
to hearken to Christ (Matthew 17:5). (Cunningham Geikie, D.
D.)
The similarity between Moses and Christ
As Moses, in the early part of his, career, refused the Egyptian
monarchy, because it could be gained by him only by disloyalty to God, so Jesus
turned away from the kingdoms of the World and the glory of them, because they
were offered on condition that He would fall down and worship Satan. As Moses
became the emancipator of his people from their house of bondage, so Jesus
lived and died that He might save His people from their sins; as Moses,
penetrating to the soul of the symbolism of idolatry, introduced a new
dispensation wherein symbolism was allied to spirituality of worship, so Jesus,
seizing the spirituality of the Mosaic system, freed it from its national
restrictions, and ushered in the day when neither at Jerusalem nor at Gerizim
would men seek to localise the service of Jehovah, but the true worshipper
would worship the Father anywhere, believing that the character of the worship
is of infinitely higher importance than the place where it is offered; as Moses
was preeminently a lawgiver, so Jesus speaks with authority, and has, in His
Sermon on the Mount, laid down a code which not only expounds, but expands and
glorifies, or, in one word, fulfils the precepts of the Decalogue; as Moses
stood the mediator of a covenant between God and Israel, representing God to
the people, and representing the people to God, interceding for them when they
sinned, while at the same time he admitted and condemned their guilt, so Jesus
is the Mediator of the New Covenant, standing between God and man, and
bridging, by His atonement and intercession, the gulf between the two. We
cannot wonder, therefore, that, in the vision of the Apocalypse, they who have
gotten the victory over the beast and his image are represented as singing “the
song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb.” (W. M. Taylor,
D. D.)
The prophet like unto Moses
I. The necessity
for a Mediator.
1. There was a necessity for a mediator in the case of the
Israelites, first, because of the unutterable glory of God, and their own
inability to endure that glory, either with their eye, their ear, or their
mind.
2. This sufficient reason is supported by another most weighty fact,
namely, that God cannot commune with men because of their sin.
II. The person of
the appointed Mediator. Dwell upon this fact, that our Lord Jesus was raised up
from the midst of us, from among our brethren. In Him is fulfilled that
glorious prophecy, “I have exalted One chosen out of the people.” He was not
one who boasted His descent, or gloried in the so-called blue blood, or placed
Himself among the Porphyrogeniti, who must not see the light except in
marble halls. He was born in a common house of entertainment where all might
come to Him, and He died with His arms extended as a pledge that He continued
to receive all who came to Him. The main point, however, upon which I want to
dwell is, that Jesus is like to Moses. There had been no better mediator found
than Moses up to Moses’ day; the Lord God, therefore, determined to work upon
that model with the great prophet of His race, and He has done so in sending
forth the Lord Jesus.
1. I can only mention in what respects, as a Mediator, Jesus is like
to Moses, and surely one is found in the fact that Moses beyond all that went
before him was peculiarly the depositary of the mind of God.
2. Moses, to take another point, is the first of the prophets with
whom God kept up continuous revelation. To other men He spake in dreams and
visions, but to Moses by plain and perpetual testimony.
3. Moses is described as a prophet mighty in word and deed, and it is
singular that there never was another prophet mighty in word and deed till
Jesus came.
4. Moses, again, was the founder of a great system of religious law,
and this was not the case with any other but the Lord Jesus.
5. Moses was faithful before God as a servant over all His house, and
so was Jesus as a Son over His own house. He is the faithful and true Witness,
the Prince of the kings of the earth.
6. Moses, too, was zealous for God and for His honour. Remember how
the zeal of God’s house did cat him up. When he saw grievous sin among the
people, he said, “Who is on the Lord’s side?” and there came to him the tribe
of Levi, and he said, “Go in and out, and slay ye everyone his men that were
joined to Baal-peor.” Herein he was the stern type of Jesus, who took the
scourge of small cords, and drove out the buyers and sellers, and said, “Take
these things hence: it is written, My Father’s house shall be a house of
prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves”; for the zeal of God’s house had
eaten Him up.
7. Moses, by Divine grace, was very meek, and perhaps this is the
chief parallel between him and Jesus. I have said, “by Divine grace,” for I
suppose by nature he was strongly passionate. There are many indications that
Moses was not meek, but very far from it, until the Spirit of Cod rested upon
him. He slew the Egyptian hastily, and in after years he went out from the
presence of Pharaoh “in great anger.” Once and again you find him very wroth:
he took the tables of stone and dashed them in pieces in his indignation, for
“Moses’ anger waxed hot”; and that unhappy action which, occasioned his being
shut out of Canaan was caused by his “being provoked in sprat so that he spake
unadvisedly with his lips.” Divine grace had so cooled and calmed him that in
general he was the gentlest of men. But what shall I say of my Master? Let Him
speak for Himself! “Come unto Me, all ye,” etc.
8. Our Lord was like to Moses in meekness, and then to sum up
all--Moses was the mediator for God with the people, and so is our blessed
Lord. Moses came in God’s name to set Israel free from Pharaoh’s bondage, and
he did it: Jesus came to set us free from a worse bondage still, and He has
achieved our freedom.
III. The authority
of our great Mediator; and let this be the practical lesson--Hear ye Him. If
sin had not maddened men they would listen to every word of God through such a
Mediator as Jesus is. Alas! it is not so; and the saddest thing of all is that
some hear of Him as if His story were a mere tale or an old Jewish ballad of
eighteen hundred years ago. Yet, remember, God speaks by Jesus still, and every
word of His that is left on record is as solemnly alive today as when it first
leaped from His blessed lips. Note how my text puts it. It saith here,
“Whosoever shall not hearken unto My words which He shall speak in My name, I
will require it of him.” Today God graciously requires it of some of you, and
asks why you have not listened to Christ’s voice. You have not accepted His salvation.
Why is this? You know all about Jesus, and you say it is true, but you have
never believed in Him: why is this? God requires it of you. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Of Christ’s prophetical office
This passage foretells the Saviour; it is spoken of Christ. There
are several names given to Christ as a Prophet: He is called “the Counsellor”
in Christ alone the angel of the Covenant is completed; “the Messenger of the
covenant,” “a Lamp,” “the Morning Star.” Jesus Christ is the great Prophet of
His Church.
I. How doth Christ
teach?
1. Externally, by His Word (Psalms 119:105).
2. Christ teaches these sacred mysteries inwardly by the Spirit (John 16:13).
II. What are the
lessons Christ teaches?
1. He teaches us to see into our own hearts. The heart of man is a
great deep, which is not easily fathomed. But Christ, when He teacheth, removes
the veil of ignorance, and lights a man into his own heart; and now he sees
swarms of vain thoughts, he blusheth to see how sin mingles with his duties,
his stars are mixed with clouds, he prays, as Austin, that God would deliver
him from himself.
2. He shows us the vanity of the creature. A natural man sets up his
happiness here, worships the golden image, but he that Christ hath anointed
with His eye-salve hath a spirit of discerning, he looks upon the creature in
its night dress, sees it to be empty and unsatisfying, not commensurate to a
heaven-born soul.
3. The excellency of the things unseen. Christ gives the soul a sight
of glory, a prospect of eternity.
III. How does
Christ’s teaching differ from other teaching?
1. Christ teaches the heart. All that the dispensers of the Word can
do is but to work knowledge, Christ works grace; they can but give you the
light of the truth, Christ gives you the love of the truth; they can only teach
you what to believe, Christ teacheth how to believe.
2. Christ gives us a taste of the Word. The light of knowledge is one
thing, the savour another. Christ makes us taste a savouriness in the Word.
3. Christ, when He teaches, makes us obey.
4. Christ teaches easily. He can with the least touch of His Spirit
convert; He can say, “Let there be light”; with a word He conveys grace.
5. Christ, when He teacheth, makes men willing to learn.
6. Christ, when He teacheth, doth not only illuminate, but animate.
He doth so teach, as He doth quicken.
Use--
1. See here an argument of Christ’s Divinity: had He not been God He
could never have known the mind of God, or revealed to us those secrets of
heaven, those deep mysteries, which no man or angel could find out. Who but God
can anoint the eyes of the blind, and give thee not only light but sight?
2. See what a cornucopia, or plenty of wisdom is in Christ,
who is the great Doctor of His Church, and gives saving knowledge to all the
elect. The body of the sun must needs be full of clarity and brightness, which
enlightens the whole world: Christ is the great luminary, “in whom are hid all
treasures of knowledge.”
3. See the misery of man in the state of nature.
4. See the happy condition of the children of God, they have Christ
to be their Prophet: “all thy children shall be taught of the Lord”: “God is
made to us wisdom.” Labour to have Christ for your Prophet; He teacheth
savingly, He is an interpreter of a thousand, He can untie those knots which
puzzle very angels. Till Christ teach, we never learn any lesson; till Christ
is made to us wisdom, we shall never be wise to salvation.
IV. What shall we
do to have Christ for our teacher?
1. See your need of Christ’s teaching. You cannot see your way
without this Morning Star.
2. Go to Christ to teach you. And that we may be encouraged to go to
our great Prophet--
Our great Prophet
I. First, consider
the prophetic office of Christ in His Church, for which He was preeminently
qualified; and the first feature of His qualifications for that office which we
shall mention is His Divine prescience. He sees the end from the beginning.
Moreover, orthodox teaching pertains to the prophet’s office, and here also our
blessed Lord hath the preeminence, for He taught as one having authority, and
not as the scribes. The sum of His teaching when on earth, as well as by His
Spirit to this day, is life in Himself alone.
II. Now proceed to
the union and affinity described; “like unto Moses, and of their brethren.”
This sets forth Moses eminently a type of Christ, and we will name a few
particulars in which the type and antitype are alike, though the latter
infinitely surpasses the former. Moses was a man of fame, he was proclaimed
“king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel were
gathered together.” Jesus was proclaimed King of Zion by God the Father,
saying, “I have set My King upon My holy hill of Zion,” and there He must reign
until He has put all enemies under His feet; but here the antitype infinitely
exceeds the type, for Moses could only reign over the people, but Jesus reigns
both over and in their hearts. Moses was famed as a warrior, and Amalek and
Moab felt his prowess--Sihon and Og fell before him; hut Jesus, as the Captain
of our salvation, has “spoiled principalities and powers, and made a show of
them openly, triumphing over them,” yea, He has vanquished death, hell, and the
grave, and is still going forth upon His white horse (Gospel truth) from
conquering to conquer. Moses was famed for meekness (Numbers 12:3). Jesus, our Prophet, was
like unto Moses, meek and lowly, and His meekness never failed, even when He
endured the contradiction of sinners against Himself. The faithfulness of Moses
is also recorded by the apostle to his honour, “Moses, verily, was faithful in
all His house as a servant.” He was faithful to God for his people, and he was
faithful to the people for God. So our glorious Prophet was like him, and far
surpassed him, as a Son over His own house: His very name is “Faithful and
True,” as the Holy Ghost tells us in the Apocalypse; and by His servant Isaiah
He says, “Faithfulness is the girdle of His reins.”
III. Notice his
being raised up supernaturally--“The Lord thy God” raised Him up. In fact,
everything pertaining to Christianity must of necessity be supernatural; and all
that religion which originates with fallen nature, and which fallen nature can
comprehend, must be spurious. The question which our Lord put to the Jews
respecting the ministry of John fixes the standard of real religion--“Is it
from heaven or of me?” “Every good gift, and every perfect gift is from above,”
and, consequently, is supernatural--every act of faith, as well as the gift of
it, is supernatural; yea, the very life of godliness in the soul is
supernatural life.
IV. This brings us
to show that our great Prophet is entitled to obedience, yea, that it is
demanded, “Unto Him ye shall hearken.” Without this we cannot be reckoned among
His sheep, for He says, “My sheep hear My voice”; when He speaks in His Word,
by His ministers, or in the secret whispers of His love; they hearken to Him in
these communications, whether they be for instruction, reproof, or comfort. As
a Prophet He hath graciously said, “I will instruct thee, and teach thee in the
way which thou shalt go.” It is, therefore, our privilege, and must be our
wisdom, to sit at His feet and hearken to His words. By hearkening to Him I
understand the embracing of His embassy, as the sent of God the Father on the
great errand of salvation; and this will include the receiving of every
doctrine He preached--every privilege He bestows--and every precept He enjoins;
all which requires great grace from Him. Again, in embracing His embassy, and
so hearkening to this Prophet, there will be a settled reliance upon His person
and work as the great subject of Old Testament prophecy; so that whoever reads
the prophecies without an eye to Jesus, will find them but a dead letter
without spirit or life. (J. Irons.)
The need of a Mediator between God and man felt and acknowledged
I. On this great
occasion God was dealing with the children of Israel as the moral governor of
men, the Lawgiver and Judge of His accountable creatures.
II. This grand
publication of God’s holy law and sovereign will to the assembled Israelites,
was accompanied with suitable attendant circumstances of awe and majesty.
III. The Israelites,
by these symbols of awful power and holiness, were filled with solemn dread and
made application to Moses, that immediate communications from God might no more
be given; but that he would be their Mediator, receive the commands of God, and
declare them to the people.
IV. Observe God’s
approval of the application of the people and His compliance with it. (Essex
Remembrancer.)
The resemblance between Moses and Christ
I. Consider Moses
as a leader and lawgiver. You are to observe that both Moses and Christ proved
their commission by miracles--a thing that cannot be affirmed of any among the
prophets of Israel. They both came to an enslaved race; they both set loose the
prisoners; and, when proof of their authority was demanded, they both wrought
wonders beyond human power--wonders which equally showed their dominion over
the elements, and over life and death. Though one used his might in destroying,
and the other only in works of benevolence, yet there was much the same
opposition raised against the one and the other--the magicians contending with
Moses, and evil spirits contending with Christ. And the deliverances effected
by the two were singularly alike, bearing evidently the one towards the other,
the relation of type and antitype. Moses broke the yoke from the necks of the
captive people; Christ the yoke from the necks of the whole human race. But
when Moses made a passage for Israel out of Egypt, all danger was not escaped,
nor all difficulties surmounted. The former tyrants pursued the free tribes,
and sought to recover the ascendency they had lost; and though Christ hath
redeemed us from the power of Satan, and opened the kingdom of heaven to all
believers, who knows not that evil spirits, eager to regain their former
dominion, pursue those that follow the Captain of Salvation, and strive, with
ceaseless energy, to prevent their final escape? When Moses led Israel out of
Egypt, he did indeed tell them of a rich and goodly land, which God appointed
as their inheritance, but he did not at once put them in possession of it; on
the contrary, he conducted them into a dreary wilderness, where they were
exposed to continual trials, and harassed with various afflictions. Is it not
thus, also, with regard to our redemption? By Christ we hear of a mighty
Canaan, reserved for the followers of the Redeemer, but there is not an
immediate entrance; a wide desert has to be traced, set with snares and peopled
with enemies, and it is only through much tribulation that we can take
possession of the heritage. It is not only as a leader, but equally as a
lawgiver, that Moses bears a striking resemblance to Christ.
II. But we do not
think that it was in his capacity as a leader and a lawgiver that Moses most
eminently typified Christ. We go on to observe that Moses acted as a mediator
between God and the Israelites; and if as mediator, then was he indeed like the
Lord our Redeemer. The name of mediator is expressly given by St. Paul to
Moses; for you will remember that, in writing to the Galatians, be says, “The
law was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.” The reference here is
unquestionably to Moses; and, therefore, his claim to being reckoned a mediator
rests upon evidence which admits of no dispute.
III. Observe, more
minutely, the particulars of Moses’ life. With regard to the very infancy of
the two whom we wish to set before you as type and antitype, you will remember
that Moses was wonderfully preserved when in childhood--preserved from
Pharaoh’s order; and thus was Christ preserved when Herod slew all the children
in Bethlehem. Moses fled from his country to escape the wrath of the king, and
then there came to him a message, “Go, return into Egypt for all the men are
dead which sought thy life.” Christ fled in like manner, and then there came a
message, in almost the same words, to Joseph, “Return, for they are dead which
sought the young child’s life.” Moses, as we before said, contended with the
magicians, and forced them to acknowledge his power--Christ contended with evil
spirits, and obtained from them a similar confession. Immediately before the
emancipation of Israel, Moses instituted the Passover--immediately before
redeeming mankind, Christ instituted the Lord’s Supper. When Moses had to
appoint elders, he appointed seventy--when Christ chose His disciples, He also
chose seventy. Into the land that was to be conquered Moses sent twelve men as
spies--when the world was to be subdued, Christ sent twelve men as apostles.
How did Moses overcome Amalek? By extending both his arms, and keeping them
stretched out. How did Christ subdue all men? Only by suffering His hands to be
nailed to the Cross. As a prophet, Moses had to deal with a barbarous
generation, who were not to be won over to the obeying of God; and who,
consequently, with the exception of two, all perished in the wilderness, in
forty years. And was not Christ sent to an obdurate people? Moses had to endure
ill-treatment from his own family--his brother Aaron and his sister Miriam
rebelled against him; and we are told of Christ, “Neither did His brethren
believe on Him.” Moses fed the people miraculously in the wilderness; Christ
fed thousands miraculously in the desert. And, in making a covenant of blood
between God and the people, did he not again represent the Redeemer, who, by
His own blood, hath “brought nigh those who were sometime afar off”? It was not
until Moses was dead that the people could enter the promised land; it was only
by the death of Christ that the kingdom of heaven was opened to believers. It
was, in one sense, for the iniquities of the people that Moses died. “The Lord
was angry with me for your sakes, and sware that I should not go over Jordan,
and that I should not go in unto that good land, which the Lord thy God giveth
thee for an inheritance; but I must die.” We need not tell you that it was for
the sins of the world that Christ poured out His soul unto death, in the
fulness of His strength, when His eye was not dim nor His natural force abated.
Did Moses go up in the sight of the people to the top of Mount Nebo, on purpose
to die? and when Christ was yet in the flower of His age, unworn by any
sickness, did He go up in the presence of the nation, to the summit of Calvary,
on purpose to endure death? Before he went up to die, Moses comforted the
disconsolate tribes with an assurance that God would raise them up another
prophet; before He went up to die, Christ said to His desponding disciples, “I
will not leave you comfortless; I will pray the Father, and He shall give you
another Comforter.” And, to add but another point of correspondence, Moses was
buried, but no one knew where his body lay; Christ was buried, and yet were not
His remains in vain sought for by the Jews? (H. Melvill, B. D.)
The prophetic office of Christ
1. The prophetic office of Christ is one of a peculiarly gracious
and encouraging nature to sinners.
2. The prophetic office of Christ is one of infinite dignity,
inasmuch as He transacted in it with God for our salvation, and was able to
sustain that manifestation of the Divine glory and holiness which no mere man
can behold and live.
3. The text presents us with an interesting view of the security and
blessedness of all who enjoy an interest in the benefits of Christ’s mediation.
They shall not hear God’s voice nor see His face as the holy, and righteous,
but deeply offended arbiter of the destinies of the moral universe, taking
vengeance upon His enemies--they shall not have to encounter a conflict with
His outraged holiness, and violated justice, and insulted power; but as He
shall look upon them through the medium of a Saviour’s imputed righteousness
and merits, so shall they, on the other hand, sea Him in the attractive and
winning light of a Saviour’s compassion, benignity, and love. (J. Forbes, D.
D.)
Moses the type of Christ
I. If we survey
the general history of the Israelites, we shall find that it is a picture of
man’s history as the Gospel displays it to us, and that in it moses takes the
place of Christ.
II. Christ reveals
to us the will of God, as Moses did to the Israelites. He is our Prophet as
well as our Redeemer. Favoured as he was, Moses saw not the true presence of
God. Flesh and blood cannot see it. But Christ really saw, and ever saw, the
face of God, for He was no creature of God, but the only-begotten Son, who is
in the bosom of the Father. Christ has brought from His Father for all of us
the full and perfect way of life.
III. Moses was the
great intercessor when the Israelites sinned. In this he shadows out the true
Mediator between God and man, who is ever at the right hand of God making
intercession for us. Moses was excluded from the Promised Land, dying in sight,
not in enjoyment, of Canaan, while the people went in under Joshua. This was a
figure of/the that was to come. Our Saviour Christ died that we might live; He
consented to lose the light of God’s countenance that we might gain it. Moses
suffered for his own sin; Christ was the spotless Lamb of God. His death is
meritorious; it has really gained our pardon. (J. H. Newman, D. D.)
Moral and typical character of Moses
I. Consider Moses
in his moral excellencies.
1. His vigorous faith in the declarations of God.
2. His cheerful obedience to the commands of God.
3. He was distinguished for a spirit of fervent devotion.
4. He was distinguished for enlarged and unwearied benevolence.
5. He was celebrated for astonishing meekness.
6. His religion was characterised by its constancy and perseverance.
II. Consider Moses
as an illustrious type of the Lord Jesus Christ.
1. The wonderful preservation of both in infancy.
2. The intellectual qualifications of both.
3. The voluntary poverty and reproach of both.
4. The offices which both sustained.
5. The signs and miracles which both wrought.
6. Both fasted forty days and forty nights.
There are many other traits of likeness between Moses and Jesus,
but the above must suffice. In many things there was a great disparity between
them.
Application:
1. We may admire Moses; but Jesus demands our supreme love.
2. We may read the law of Moses, but believe and trust in the Gospel
of Christ,
3. It is well to contemplate the moral excellencies and official
engagements of Moses; but it is better to meditate upon the scene on the holy
mount of transfiguration, where Moses and Elias both did homage to Jesus, and
conversed of His decease, which He was to accomplish at Jerusalem, and where
the voice from the excellent glory was heard, “This is My beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased, hear ye Him.” (J. Burns, D. D.)
Moses a type of Christ
I. The peculiar
circumstances connected with their birth.
II. Their voluntary
abasement and humiliation.
III. Both were
especially appointed to be the deliverers of the afflicted and the oppressed.
IV. Both of them
delivered the laws and mind of God to the people.
V. Both of them
were appointed leaders of the people.
VI. Both of them
acted as mediators between God and the people.
VII. Both of their
engagements were connected with the ministrations of angels.
VIII. Both were
distinguished for high moral endowments.
IX. Both were
eminent prophets of the Most High God.
X. Both obtained
unspeakably valuable blessings for the people.
XI. Both lived and
laboured for the well-being of others.
XII. Both were
treated with ingratitude by those whose welfare they lived to promote.
Application:
1. Moses was the head of that dispensation which was legal and
ceremonial, and Which passed away. Jesus is the head of that economy which is
spiritual, gracious, and abiding.
2. Let us rejoice that we are not come to Sinai, but Zion; not under
the law, but under grace; not the followers of Moses, but the disciples of
Christ.
3. If disobedience to Moses and his law was visited with God’s
displeasure, how shall those escape who neglect Christ’s salvation, and obey
not His Gospel? (J. Burns, D. D.)
The resemblance of Jesus to Moses
I. These words
principally contain a prophecy of the Messiah. First, the word “prophet” is
expressed in the singular number, and intimates plainly the raising up of a
certain illustrious prophet at a fixed time, rather than a constant succession
of prophets. Moses expressly adds, “like unto me,” that is, in the principal
part of his character--one who should not only be a prophet, but also a
legislator. But, from the time of Moses to the days of our Saviour, there was
no prophet who had the same authority as Moses had, for the succeeding prophets
were only interpreters of the Mosaic law, they only exhorted the people to obey
the law of Moses; reproved the transgressors of it; and, by foretelling
punishments to be inflicted upon them by God, awakened them to return to the
obedience of this law. Jesus appeared in the world at that period when the
Jewish nation had the highest expectation of the coming of their Messiah. There
is no doubt but the ancient Jews acknowledged this text to be particularly
applicable to the Messiah (Acts 3:22; Acts 7:37).
II. The description
here given exactly corresponds to Jesus of Nazareth; and He resembled Moses in
more respects than any other prophet ever did.
III. The Jewish
nation have been, and still are, severely punished for their disobedience to
this prophet.
IV. Concluding
inferences.
1. We may see that Christianity is indeed near as old as the
creation. The two dispensations resemble a building supported by two pillars,
joined and cemented together, Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone whom God
has placed in Zion; so that if you remove either of the two, the whole must
fall to the ground.
2. We may see that the infidelity of the Jewish nation is
unreasonable and inexcusable.
3. We may see the folly and inevitable ruin of such as reject Jesus
Christ, whose mission God has attested by so many proofs.
4. We may see the just foundation all true Christians have for
zealously promoting the interests of the Gospel. (James Robertson, M. A.)
Moses a type of Christ
I. Christ is a
prophet like unto Moses; and He is so in two respects: first, as to His
teaching; and secondly, as to His predictions. The office of the prophet was
two fold; he not only revealed, by the inspiration of God, the things which
should be hereafter; but he also, by the same inspiration, declared unto the
people the mind and will of God, as well as their duty towards Him: he was a
preacher as well as a prophet. It was so in the case of Moses. He made known to
the people of Israel the glorious character of the Most High--His holiness, His
majesty, His mercy, His justice. But not only did Moses deliver to Israel
heavenly doctrine, and gave them precepts for their guidance; but he foretold
their future fortunes, yea, he foretold that they would disobey those very
precepts. “I know”, he says, “that after, my death ye will utterly corrupt,
yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil
will befall you in the latter days, because ye will do evil in the sight of the
Lord, to provoke Him to anger with the work of your hands.” But let us turn
from Moses to Christ, “a Prophet mighty in word and deed before God and all the
people”; that greater Prophet, whom Moses himself foretold, and of whom he was
but a type. We find in our blessed Lord the same union of the two
qualifications of the prophet. He is our great Teacher; and He also foretold things
to come. Christ is our great Teacher; and “who teacheth like Him?” The teaching
of Christ is so full, so important, and so adapted to promote our real welfare,
that it demands our most intense and diligent study. Let us just glance at some
of the truths which His teaching conveys to us. Moses revealed to the children
of Israel only just so much of the character of God as God saw fit to make
known to him; but our Divine Teacher comes from the very bosom of the Father;
He is the Revealer of the Father to the sons of men; yea, He is Himself
“Immanuel, God with us.” Moses gave to Israel precepts whereby they might live;
but the blessings attached to them were but temporal: the great truths
connected with the life to come were but obscurely revealed to them. But our
great Teacher has “brought life and immortality to light.” He teaches us the
necessity of a change of heart, if we would dwell forever in the realms of
holiness and peace: “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of
God.” He has told us of the absolute necessity that our sins should be
forgiven, if we would obtain everlasting life, and the way by which we are to
obtain that forgiveness. And He does what Moses could never do: He sends His
Holy Spirit to write His law upon our hearts. Moses gave to Israel the law of
the Ten Commandments, as well as the ceremonial law; but our Teacher has made
known to us the Gospel. The moral law was indeed glorious, its holiness was its
glory: but it could not save: it could but convince of our sins, and condemn us
for our disobedience. But Jesus has come to us with better tidings: He tells us
how we may escape the condemnation of the law. “He hath redeemed us from its
curse, being made a curse for us.” Christ our Prophet also foretells things to
come. He foretold, as Moses did, the destruction of the city of the Jews, and
of their magnificent temple; and, in the prospect of the inconceivable misery
which they were about to suffer, His heart was filled with anguish.
II. Other points of
resemblance between Moses and Christ are presented to us in the text. We are
told, “the Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet like unto me.” Moses
was commissioned by God as a prophet to Israel; and he came to them with all
the authority of such high commission. His words were as though they had been
spoken by God Himself; and it was at their peril that the Israelites refused to
hear him. So also is Christ sent unto us by God. The same almighty Being who
created the heavens and the earth, who formed the spirit of man within him, our
Creator, Benefactor, and Preserver, has sent unto us Jesus, to be our great
Teacher. What greater inducement can we have to hearken to His voice?
III. Moses was a
prophet raised up in Israel from among themselves. God sent not an angel to be
their instructor, but a man of like passions with themselves; one who could
sympathise and bear with them, and one whom they might approach without fear.
So also was Christ raised up to us from among our brethren; forasmuch as the
children were partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part
of the same.
IV. Again, Moses
prophesied that the Lord would raise up this mighty Prophet unto Israel; and it
is true that Jesus came to preach salvation first to the Jew. He said, “I am
not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But there is a
spiritual Israel, the seed of Abraham by faith, even the company of all true
believers; and unto them Christ was raised up to be a Prophet, the great
Prophet of His Church. (M. T. Spencer, M. A.)
The acceptance of Christ as a Prophet
What strikes one perhaps most of all in looking at the old castles
in England is the meagre openings that they have for light. How did the people
inside of them contrive to live and read and write? With these apertures and
passages out to the glorious day no bigger than the barrel of a gun, how did
they manage their existence? What incomparable comforts men have today in the
great windows that open back and front, and often on the sides, out into God’s
ample and beautiful world! These old castles, with the stray beams struggling
in upon broken down halls and dungeons, with the glorious floods of light
forbidden to enter, are a picture of the men who shut out the Lord. The
rejection of Christ is the refusal to let in the light, is the shrinking back
into the dark castle, into the rude home of barbarism and privation. The
acceptance of Christ is the acceptance of modem life in its highest meaning,
giving a welcome to its ideas, its spirit of reform, its determination to
conquer the world. It is a coming out of the dark prison of self-containment
into an utter openness toward the infinite God. (George A. Gordon.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》