Deuteronomy
Chapter 18
Rights of the Levitical Priests
The Levite priests, the whole tribe of Levi, will have no share or inheritance as the rest of the children of Israel have. Still, they shall live on the burnt offerings in honor of the Lord and on what is consecrated to him.
The Levite shall have no share in the inheritance received by his brother because the Lord is his inheritance as he has promised.
This will be the priests’ right to what is offered, whether ox or sheep: to the priest shall be given the shoulder, the jaws, and the stomach.
You shall also give him the firstfruits of your wheat, your wine, and your oil, as well as the first wool from the shearing of your sheep,
for the Lord chose him from among all the tribes to be the servant of his Name, he and his children forever.
If a Levite comes from one of the cities of the territory of Israel where he resides, and he wishes to enter into the place chosen by the Lord,
he shall officiate in the Name of the Lord, his God, like all his Levite brothers who stand there with him in the presence of the Lord.
He shall eat the same portion, regardless of what he has obtained from selling his family goods.
About the Prophets
When you have entered the land which the Lord, your God, gives you, do not imitate the evil deeds of those people.
You must not have in your midst anyone who makes his child pass through the fire, or one who practices divination, or anyone who consults the stars, who is a sorcerer,
or one who practices enchantments or who consults the spirits, no diviner or one who asks questions of the dead.
For the Lord abhors those who do these things, and it is precisely that he drives them away before you.
You must be blameless for the Lord, your God.
Those people that you are to drive away listened to sorcerers and diviners, but the Lord, your God, has provided you with something different.
He will raise for you a prophet like me from among the people, from your brothers, to whom you shall listen.
Remember that in Horeb, on the day of the Assembly, you said: “I am afraid to die, and I do not want to hear the voice of the Lord again or see again that great fire.”
So the Lord said to me: “They have spoken well.
I shall raise a prophet from their midst, one of their brothers, who will be like you. I will put my words into his mouth, and he will tell them all I command.
If someone does not listen to my words when the prophet speaks on my behalf, I will call him to account for it.
But any prophet who says in my name anything that I did not command, or speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.”
You may ask: “How will we know that a word does not come from the Lord?”
If any prophet speaks in the name of the Lord and if what he says does not happen, you shall know that the word does not come from the Lord. The prophet has spoken boastfully, and you shall not pay any attention to him.
Commentaries
Rights of the Levitical Priests.
Like Exodus and Numbers, Deuteronomy establishes the Levites’ rights to share in the sacrificial portions of offerings made by the faithful. However, the distinction that Numbers makes between Levites, descendants of Levi, and the other priests descended from Aaron is absent here; it only mentions the descendants of those who, due to their special separation for worship, did not receive a portion in the land distribution. In addition to their sacrificial cultic role, they kept the book of the Law (17:18; 31:9.25f.), were responsible for judging the most difficult cases (19:17; 21:5), carried the Ark of the Covenant (10:8), and had the specific role of putting into practice the Word of the Lord (5). Given these responsibilities, they did not have a part on earth (cf. 12:19).
About the Prophets.
From the testimonies found in prophetic literature, we know that in Israel, there has always been a tension between true and false prophets. Here, it is forbidden to consult or listen to those who claim to be prophets, as they are involved in divination, magic, sorcery, and similar practices; this is considered labeling them as false prophets. Additionally, the criterion in verse 20 states: “whoever has the arrogance to say in my Name what I have not commanded him… that prophet shall die”; if what he says does not come true, it would indicate false prophecy (22), just as if he speaks in the name of foreign gods (20b).
Verses 15 and 18 refer to the promise of a future prophet, similar to a second Moses, whose qualities and traits were sometimes linked to the coming Messiah. As believers, we must stay alert and conscience-aware to distinguish true prophets from false ones in our time, especially from the Word of God itself; many speak in the Lord’s name, but not all of them communicate or explain that Word to help us become more compassionate and united as brothers and sisters (cf. Jr 23:9-40).