Jacob McKessey

Deu. 18:15, 18-19 

YHWH your Mighty One will raise up for you a prophet from your midst, from your brothers like me. Him you all shall obey. 

I will raise up a prophet from among their brothers like you. And I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. 

And it shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I will require it of him.”

YHWH chose Moses to bring His people out of slavery in the land of Egypt. He also chose Moses to deliver His words to the children of Israel. Moses was faithful to YHWH and did both tasks. For this, Moses was honored as Israel’s first and greatest prophet. 

Deu. 34:10 

And since that time no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom YHWH knows face to face.”

And yet, YHWH told Moses that He would raise up another prophet like him. He said that He would put His words in that prophet’s mouth.  

YHWH told Moses that this prophet would speak His words to the people of Israel and that they had better listen to him. The following verses (Deu. 18:20-22) speak of discerning between a true and a false prophet. 

Deuteronomy 18:20 specifically mentions a false prophet. This references back to what he had told the people in 13:4 

You shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For YHWH your Mighty One is testing you to find out if you love YHWH your Mighty One with all your heart and with all your soul.”

When Deuteronomy 18:21-22 and 13:2-4 are taken together, one can see a more complete picture. BOTH accurately predicting the future, and speaking in the name of YHWH, authenticates a true prophet.  

Speaking in the name of YHWH means speaking on His behalf. YHWH would never tell His people to go astray from the words He delivered to them through His prophet Moses. 

Before He sends us His true prophet, the “Prophet like Moses” (Deu. 18:15, 18), whom we must obey (Deu. 18:15b, 19), He tests us by sending us false prophets (Deu. 13:4).  

When we pass the test by loving Him with all our hearts and souls, clinging to Him, and obeying Him, He will send us His Messiah. 

On an individual basis, this happens simultaneously. YHWH sends the Spirit of the Messiah into a person’s life to help them pass the test. 

Nationally, when enough individuals come to Him, He will send His Messiah to establish a Kingdom on earth. This coincides with the Blessing He promised our ancestors.  

Deu. 11:26-28 

Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: 

The blessing, if you listen to the commandments of יהוה your Mighty One which I am commanding you this day. 

And the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of יהוה your Mighty One but turn aside out of the Way which I am commanding you today, by following other mighty ones which you have not known.”

Moses speaks of these blessings and curses in chapters 27-28 and references them again in 30:1 and 30:15-20. Like those he had vocalized to the previous generation (Lev. 26), these blessings and curses were conditional to how the people would react to the instructions the Almighty gave them. 

Deu. 11:29  

And it shall come to pass, when יהוה your Mighty One brings you into the Land where you are entering to possess it, that you shall set the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse upon Mount Ebal.”

This is also repeated in chapters 27:12, 13 

These shall stand upon Mount Gerizim to bless the people… 

And these shall stand upon Mount Ebal for the curse…” 

The initial curse(s) are specifically listed in Deu. 27:15-26. The blessings are listed in 28:1-13. Additional maledictions are then listed in 28:15-68. 

The good news is that after all these terrible things happen, He gave them something to look forward to: 

Deu. 30:1-6 

And it shall be, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse… 

And you shall return to יהוה your Mighty One, and listen to His voice… 

That then יהוה your Mighty One will turn your captivity and have compassion on you and will return and gather you from all the peoples where יהוה your Mighty One has scattered you.

If any of you are dispersed be in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there יהוה your Mighty One will gather you, and from there He will bring you back. 

And יהוה your Mighty One will bring you into the Land which your fathers possessed, and you will possess it… 

And יהוה your Mighty One will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your descendants, to love יהוה your Mighty One with all your heart and with all your soul that you may live.”

The promise YAH gave here is that His people would one day return to Him. They would listen to Him and obey Him. They would love Him with all their heart and with all their being.  

While living in exile in the “uttermost parts of heaven” (Deu. 30:4) and the “four corners of the earth” (Isa. 11:12), we would repent. He will send His Messiah to bring us back into the Land. He will put His words in our hearts in a way we cannot do ourselves. 

Deu. 10:12, 13 

And now, Israel, what does YHWH your Mighty One require of you, but to fear YHWH your Mighty One, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve YHWH your Mighty One with all your heart and with all your soul.  

And to keep these commandments of YHWH your Mighty One which I am commanding you today, for your own good.”

As we can recall, by the time Moses is speaking here, Aaron and all the men of military age from among those who had come out of Egypt had perished in the desert, except Caleb and Joshua. After the incident that took place at Kadesh Barnea, the Israelites under twenty years of age were to be the generation that enters the Land promised to the patriarchs. 

This new generation is still eyewitnesses to both the exodus and the forty years in the desert. Deu. 7:18-19; 8:2-5, 14-16; 11:2-7. Moses reminded this generation that the reason YHWH purchased them from slavery to Pharoah and Egypt was because of His love and faithfulness to Abraham and his faithful descendants: 

Deu. 7:7-9 

YHWH did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were a numerous people…but because YHWH loved you and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your forefathers, YHWH redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 

Know therefore that YHWH your Mighty One, He is the Almighty, the faithful One, who keeps covenant and loving-kindness with those who love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations.”

He wanted them to know that the consequences of His love and faithfulness are our love and faithfulness.  

Because YHWH loved you and because He would keep the oath, He has redeemed you…” (7:7)

As Moses had previously explained, YHWH gave them His instruction because of this love.  

Deu. 6:20-24 

When your son asks you in time to come saying, “What is the meaning of the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments…?” 

Then you will tell him: “We were Pharoah’s slaves in Egypt and YHWH brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand…And YHWH commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear YHWH our Mighty One, for our own good always, that He might preserve our lives, as it is this day.” 

Because He loved them, He redeemed them. And because He redeemed them, He gave them His instructions. 

He is faithful to keep the oath—the covenant He made with Abraham and with his descendants. All He asks of His redeemed people is that they love Him in return. Because they love Him in return, they are faithful in return. They are faithful to His Words. 

He wants us to keep His Words in our hearts. We are to remember that we are not just kept alive by food. “But by every word that proceeds from the mouth of YHWH does man live.” 

Deu. 4:3-4 

Your eyes have seen what YHWH did at Baal Peor, for every man who went after Baal Peor, YHWH your Mighty One has exterminated from your midst. 

But you who cleave to YHWH your Mighty One are alive, all of you, this day.”

Two elements of this passage may be easily overlooked, but they are both essential realities.  

Firstly, Moses recalls the incident recorded in the opening verses of Numbers chapter twenty-five. As previously discussed, (in the blog about Balaam), there was more to the story.  

What is told in Numbers 25:9 is that 24,000 people died as a result of this idolatry. What is not specifically mentioned in this narrative is that the rest of the people remained faithful. 

While twenty-four thousand people partook in B–l worship, six hundred and six thousand seven hundred and thirty (Num. 26:52, 1) did not. This means that more than ninety-six percent of the population remained faithful to YHWH. As will be further discussed, this faithful generation (Deu. 4:4) is the very generation that would be offered the Renewed Covenant. 

Secondly, Moses’s word choice in Deuteronomy 4:4 is unique. “But you who cleave to YHWH…” In Hebrew, the root word used, with these vowel points, is only found in Deu. 4:4, 2 Ki. 3:3, and Pro. 18:24.  

The word itself means to be joined together as if glued, or holding on to something tightly without letting go. Used in Proverbs 18, it portrays the bond of true friends. It says that this bond is more familial than actual family.

The proverb “one who loves sticks closer than a brother” (Pro. 18:24b) may have inspired the saying “the blood of a covenant is thicker than the water of the womb”. It is a loyalty that supersedes blood ties. 

Like Abraham, who was prepared to end his own son’s life to follow YHWH (Gen. 22), and the Levites, who did the same (Exo. 32:27-28; Deu. 33:9), this type of fidelity was expected of all YHWH’s people. 

Deu. 13:7, 9 

If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife you cherish, or your friend, who is as your own soul, entices you secretly saying: “Let us go and serve other mighty ones…” 

You shall not consent to him, nor listen to him, neither shall your eye pity him, or spare or hide him.”

This helps explain why Abraham was called YHWH’s true friend (Isa. 41:8; 2 Ch. 20:7; Ja. 2:23), and why those who follow YHWH’s Messiah were told to put His desire over their family and very life. Mat. 10:37; Luk. 14:26 

He who is loving father or mother above me is not worthy of me, and he who is loving son or daughter above me is not worthy of me.” 

If anyone does come unto me, and does not hate his own father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers, and sisters, and yet even his own life, he is not able to be my disciple.”

Deu. 1:1 

These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel in the desert across the Jordan, in the plain opposite the Suph, between Paran and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Di-zahab.”

This is the introduction to Deuteronomy or Devarim (lit. Words), the last book of the Torah, or the Five Books traditionally ascribed to Moses.  

The book opens in the “fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month” (v3). It ends a month and seven days later when Moses dies at the ripe old age of one hundred and twenty (Deu. 34:5-7; Deu. 34:8 cf. Jos. 1:1-2, 11; 4:19). 

Thus, the content contained within the thirty-three chapters written by Moses was given within a span of just thirty-seven days. 

Sometime after the events recorded in Numbers 21 (Deu. 1:4 cf. Num. 21:21-35), in the plains of Moab, Moses began recounting the events of their journeys, beginning with Sanai. Deu. 1:6 

YHWH our Mighty One spoke to us in Horeb saying, “You have dwelt long enough at this mountain…” 

He recalled how he established judges (Deu. 1:6-17 cf. Exo. 18:24-26 –DSS/SP). As previously discussed (in the blog about Justice), they were to remain impartial and not succumb to any kind of intimidation or human pressure. 

Moses then recalled how in Kadesh-Barna, after he directed them to take possession of the Land, they instead asked him to send spies. Listening to them, he sent twelve spies, one from each tribe. After hearing their report, the people rebelled against YHWH’s command to take the Land. Deu. 1:19-39 cf. Num. 13-14. 

After nearly thirty-eight years of circling Mount Seir, Moses references the events recorded in Numbers 20 concerning the land of Edom. Deu. 2:1-7. He then catches back up with the military victories of the children of Israel, as recorded in Numbers 21. Deu. 2:24-3:11.  

Moses concludes this first section of the book by recounting the possession of the land of Gilead and surrounding regions by the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh. Deu. 3:12-22 cf. Num. 32. 

The Book of Words stands out from the rest of the Five Books in many ways. For one thing, it is the only one that specifically claims to be authored by Moses. Deu. 31:9, 24-26. 

Moreover, it contains instructions not given elsewhere in the Five Books. Examples include: “Do not add or take away” (Due. 4:2; 12:32), “Hear O Israel…” (Deu. 6:4-9), “Love YHWH” (Deu. 6:5; 7:9; 10:12; 11:1, 13, 22; 13:3; 19:9; 30:16, 20), “He chose you [because of His love and favor only]” (Deu. 7:7-8; 9:5-6), “Man does not live by bread alone…” (Deu. 8:3), “What does YHWH require of you…?” (Deu. 10:12), “Circumcise your hearts” (Deu. 10:16), “Do not listen to a prophet [who accurately predicts things yet causes others to sin]” (Deu. 13:1-3), etc. 

Finally, apart from a single chapter in Leviticus (26), this book uniquely and consistently prophesies both the falling away and the end time regathering of the people of Israel. Deu. 4:25-31; 8:19; 28:63-64; 29:28; 31:29; 30:1-8, 19-20.