In The Word
Read: Deuteronomy 18-19
Portion for the Levites
18 “The Levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, shall not have a portion or inheritance with Israel; they shall eat the Lord’s offerings by fire and His property.2 They shall not have an inheritance among their countrymen; the Lord is their inheritance, as He promised them.
3 “Now this shall be the priests’ portion from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, either an ox or a sheep: they shall give the priest the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the stomach. 4 You shall give him the first fruits of your grain, your new wine, and your oil, and the first fleece of your sheep. 5 For the Lord your God has chosen him and his sons from all your tribes, to stand to serve in the name of the Lord always.
6 “Now if a Levite comes from any of your towns throughout Israel where he resides, and he comes whenever he desires to the place which the Lord chooses,7 then he shall serve in the name of the Lord his God, like all his fellow Levites who stand there before the Lord. 8 They shall eat equal portions, except for what they receive from the sale of their fathers’ estates.
Spiritism Forbidden
9 “When you enter the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, a soothsayer, one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who consults the dead.12 For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord; and because of these detestable things the Lord your God is going to drive them out before you. 13 You are to be blameless before the Lord your God. 14 For these nations, which you are going to dispossess, listen to soothsayers and diviners, but as for you, the Lordyour God has not allowed you to do so.
15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen; to him you shall listen. 16 This is in accordance with everything that you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Do not let me hear the voice of the Lord my God again, and do not let me see this great fire anymore, or I will die!’ 17 And the Lord said to me, ‘They have spoken well. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them everything that I command him. 19 And it shall come about that whoever does not listen to My words which he speaks in My name, I Myself will require it of him. 20 But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name, a wordwhich I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ 21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How will we recognize the word which the Lord has not spoken?’ 22 When the prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, and the thing does not happen or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you are not to be afraid of him.
Cities of Refuge
19 “When the Lord your God cuts off the nations whose land the Lord your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and in their houses, 2 you shall set aside for yourself three cities in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess. 3 You shall prepare the roads for yourself, and divide into three regions the territory of your land which the Lordyour God will give you as an inheritance, so that anyone who commits manslaughter may flee there.
4 “Now this is the case of the one who commits manslaughter, who may flee there and live: when he kills his friend unintentionally, not hating him previously— 5 as when a person goes into the forest with his friend to cut wood, and his hand swings the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron head slips off the handle and strikes his friend so that he dies—he may flee to one of these cities and live.6 Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue him in the heat of his anger, and overtake him because the way is long, and take his life, though he was not sentenced to death since he had not hated him previously. 7 Therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall set aside for yourself three cities.’
8 “And if the Lord your God enlarges your territory, just as He has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land that He promised to give your fathers— 9 if you carefully follow all of this commandment which I am commanding you today, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in His ways always—then you shall add three more cities for yourself, besides these three. 10 So innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and guilt for bloodshed will not be on you.
11 “But if there is a person who hates his neighbor, and waits in ambush for him and rises up against him and strikes him so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, 12 then the elders of his city shall send men and take him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die. 13 You shall not pity him, but you shall eliminate the guilt for the bloodshed of the innocent from Israel, so that it may go well for you.
Laws of Landmark and Testimony
14 “You shall not displace your neighbor’s boundary marker, which the ancestors have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess.
15 “A single witness shall not rise up against a person regarding any wrongdoing or any sin that he commits; on the testimony of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed. 16 If a malicious witness rises up against a person to testify against him of wrongdoing, 17 then both people who have the dispute shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who will be in office in those days.18 And the judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is a false witness and he has testified against his brother falsely, 19 then you shall do to him just as he had planned to do to his brother. So you shall eliminate the evil from among you. 20 And the rest of the people will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such an evil thing among you. 21 So you shall not show pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.
New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Walking In The Word
We see a principle that Yahweh sometimes chooses to speak to His people through a prophet. A prophet that Yahweh has ordained is simply a speaker influenced by the Holy Spirit to bring forth His word and truth. This promise to send prophets was given after the people asked for it (Deuteronomy 18:16-18). The prophets had a requirement not to speak beyond what was proper, meaning they were to only communicate Yahweh’s words. In fact, if they did speak something He didn’t tell them to say, or if they spoke the false teachings of other so–called gods, they were to be put to death.
There are many ways through which Yahweh might speak to us: a pastor, teacher, fellow believer, someone prophesying over us, a vision, a dream, through nature, an angel, in our heart or an audible voice. And thank God, we have a way to verify if it truly is Yahweh. The way we have today is through the great benefit of the bible (the Word of Yahweh). The Word of Yahweh is the totality of Yahweh’s truth that has been given to us.
Today if you are pondering whether Yahweh is speaking to you, use His Word to test and see if it is truly Him. He will never ask you to do something contrary to what is written in His Word. Remember, Yahweh speaks like He writes.