Deuteronomy 18:15

The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet,.... Not Joshua, as Aben Ezra, not Jeremiah, as Baal Haturim, nor David (o), as others; nor a succession of prophets, as Jarchi; for a single person

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; The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet , [ naabiy'

Will raise up, i.e. will produce and send into the world in due time. A Prophet: those words may be understood secondarily concerning the succession of prophets which God would raise for the instruction of his church, both because this is alleged as an argument why they need not consult with diviners, &c., because they should have prophets at hand whensoever it was needful to advise them, and because this Prophet is opposed to the false prophet; and a general rule is hereupon given for the discovery of all succeeding prophets, whether they be true or false, ; but they are chiefly to be understood of Christ, as the following words show, which do not truly and fully agree to any other; particularly where he is said to be like unto Moses, which is simply denied concerning all other prophets, , and therefore it is not probable that it should be simply affirmed concerning all true prophets succeeding him. But Christ was truly, and in all commendable parts, like him, in being both a Prophet and a King, and a Priest and Mediator, as Moses was, in the excellency of his ministry and work, in the glory of his miracles, in his familiar and intimate converse with God, &c. And this place is expounded of Christ alone by God himself in the New Testament, 7:37. See also 6:14.

Deuteronomy 18:15 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;Ver. 15. Like unto me.] Both in the participation of nature and of office: a true man, and a true Mediator. Similes they are, but not pares: Christ being "worthy of more glory than Moses," and why, see Hebrews 3:3-6; Hebrews 7:22; Hebrews 9:15.

Deuteronomy 18:15-20. THE ONE .The connection between these verses and the preceding is well illustrated by Isaiah’s question (Deuteronomy 8:19): “And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?” Or, as the angels turned the phrase on Easter morning, “Why seek ye Him that liveth among the dead?” (15) The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet.—Namely, Him of whom St. Peter spoke in Acts 3:22-26. “Unto you first God, having raised up His son Jesus, sent Him to bless you.” It must not be forgotten that the prophetic office is still continued to our risen Lord. He still “speaketh from heaven.” But He “descended first into the lower parts of the earth.” He has “the keys of hell and of death;” and knows all their secrets. They who can draw near to Him have no need to look downward, to consult dead relatives, or seek knowledge from spirits whose character, even if they are accessible, is beyond our discernment. The Holy Spirit, our Comforter and Advocate on earth, and the Prophet, our Advocate that speaketh from heaven, are enough for all human need. What we cannot learn from them, or from the light they give us, it is better not to know. (16) According to all that thou desiredst . . . in Horeb.—It should never be forgotten that the Prophet like to Moses was promised on “the day of the assembly.” The Holy Spirit, who is Christ in us, was promised on the day of the delivery of the “letter that killeth.” (See also on Deuteronomy 5:28.) (18) He shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.—“The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself” (our Lord, in John 14:10). “He shall not speak of Himself. He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you” (the Holy Spirit, John 16:13-14). (19) Whosoever will not hearken . . . I will require it of him.—“For if they escaped not who refused Him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven: whose voice then shook the earth.” (Hebrews 12:25.) (20) That prophet shall die.—Rashi illustrates this by the case of Hananiah (Jeremiah 28) who prophesied that Jeconiah, and all that went with him to Babylon, should return within two years. He was sentenced by Jeremiah to die that year; and he died accordingly, within two months.

Verse 15. The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet] Instead of diviners, observers of times, c., God here promises to give them an infallible guide, who should tell them all things that make for their peace, so that his declarations should completely answer the end of all the knowledge that was pretended to be gained by the persons already specified. Like unto me] Viz., a prophet, a legislator, a king, a mediator, and the head or chief of the people of God. This was the very person of whom Moses was the type, and who should accomplish all the great purposes of the Divine Being. Such a prophet as had never before appeared, and who should have no equal till the consummation of the world. This prophet is the Lord Jesus, who was in the bosom of the Father, and who came to declare him to mankind. Every word spoken by him is a living infallible oracle from God himself and must be received and obeyed as such, on pain of the eternal displeasure of the Almighty. See Deuteronomy 18:19, and Acts 3:22-23; and see the conclusion of this chapter. See Clarke on Deuteronomy 18:22.

15. A prophet from the midst [of thee] of thy brethren like unto me shall the LORD thy God raise up to thee] Such is the emphatic order of the original, missed by EVV. A prophet—not individual but collective1[143], i.e. a succession of prophets, for the whole spirit of the passage is that God shall never fail to speak directly to His people—is placed at the head of the sentence in forcible contrast to the diviners and necromancers just described, a speaker for God as Aaron was spokesman for Moses (J, Exodus 4:16; Exodus 7:1). Like the king (Deuteronomy 17:15) he must be an Israelite (Sam., from the midst of thy brethren); (LXX B etc. from thy, Acts 3:22; Acts 7:37, from your, brethren); diviners and necromancers were foreign (Isaiah 2:6, Nahum 3:4, Isaiah 47:9; Isaiah 47:12). Like unto me, i.e. (as the next v. shows) in being the mediator of God; the phrase does not imply equality in rank with Moses; according to Deuteronomy 34:10, there hath not arisen a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, cp. Numbers 12:6-8. [143] Cp. the use of the sing, king in Deuteronomy 17:14 ff., and judge in Judges 2:18. ‘A Prophet is used by enallage for a number of prophets. Moses is here treating of the continual manner of the Church’s government. Not at all more correct is their opinion who apply it strictly to Christ alone, for it is well to bear in mind what I have said respecting God’s intention, viz. that no excuse should be left for the Jews, if they turned aside to familiar spirits or magicians, since God would never leave them without prophets and teachers. But if He had referred them to Christ alone, the objection would naturally arise that it was hard for them to have neither prophets nor revelations for two thousand years.’ (Calvin.)

The ancient fathers of the Church and the generality of modern commentators have regarded our Lord as the prophet promised in these verses.

THE TRUE PROPHET, Deuteronomy 18:15-16.This is one of the most profoundly interesting passages in the whole book.