Today's passage speaks of various people, good and bad, claiming to represent God.

First, there are the Levites. While all the priests came from the tribe of Levi, not all the Levites were priests. All the Levites were sanctuary personnel in that they had responsibilities related to the priestly function within the sanctuary of God. It is noteworthy that Deuteronomy 18:1-8 talks not about the duties but the welfare of the priests. The duty spoken of is the duty of the general population to look after their priests. The other tribes were to provide for their needs out of their produce (vv. 3-4) and support the Levites who left their cities to serve in the central sanctuary, which later was in Jerusalem (vv. 6-8). This is relevant for us today, too. We must care for those who minister among us. We can do so by financially supporting church workers in direct proportion to how the Lord supports us (1 Corinthians 9:4-12; 1 Timothy 5:17-18).

Second, there are those who lead people astray to follow false gods through performing signs and wonders. Deuteronomy 18:9-14 gives a comprehensive list of the practices that are to be condemned. Moses says in verse 10, ″Let no one be found among you″ who performs these acts. Except for the first (sacrificing children as a burnt offering), the other practices are common today. They are described as ″detestable″ in God's sight (vv. 9, 12). The word ″detestable″ refers to a thing that is an abomination, causing horror and disgust. This markedly differs from the tolerance and even acceptance of these practices among some Christians today. When I was in university, a friend of mine took my palm and began to read my fortune. The moment I realised what he was doing I took back my hand. We cannot dabble in these practices, even for fun or out of curiosity.

Third, Moses talks of a new prophet (vv. 15-18). Like Moses, he will speak God's word to the people, as they requested, not in a ″great fire″ (v. 16), as God did at Sinai, but in a way that they can handle. The description of this prophet in the singular suggests that one specific person is intended. With time, many began to regard this prophecy as referring to the Messiah. John the Baptist was asked, ″Are you the Prophet?″ (John 1:21). Twice Jesus was identified as ″the Prophet″ (John 6:14, 7:40). Peter and Stephen took this prophecy as a prediction about Jesus (Acts 3:22-23; 7:37). Like other Old Testament prophecies, this could be a passage with a fulfilment nearer to the date of the prophecy and with other fulfilments later on, culminating in the perfect fulfilment in Christ.

This chapter ends by noting that there will be false prophets, but we need not fear them (vv. 20-22). We can tell they are false prophets when they presume to speak for the Lord, but their prophecies are not fulfilled. God says that ″a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded . . . is to be put to death″ (v. 20). We need to take such a serious view towards false prophets today. We could use measures such as excommunication and discipline if such sins surface in the church. For false prophecies, we could ban the person from further prophesying after repentance and require public confession if it was a public prophecy. Sadly, Christians today often conveniently ignore the prophecies of their favourite preachers that do not come to pass.