◄ Deuteronomy 18:20 ►
But if any prophet dares to speak a message in My name that I have not commanded him to speak, or to speak in the name of other gods, that prophet must be put to death."
Study Bible
But if any prophet dares to speak a message in My name

This phrase emphasizes the seriousness of speaking on behalf of God. In the ancient Near Eastern context, prophets were seen as intermediaries between the divine and human realms. The authority to speak in God's name was not to be taken lightly, as it implied divine endorsement. The Bible consistently warns against false prophets (Jeremiah 14:14, Ezekiel 13:6). The New Testament also cautions believers to test the spirits (1 John 4:1).

Jer 14:14 “The prophets are prophesying lies in My name,”…
Jer 23:21 I did not send these prophets, yet they have run…
Ezk 13:7 Haven’t you seen a false vision and spoken a lying divination…

that I have not commanded him to speak,

This highlights the importance of divine command and authenticity. True prophecy originates from God, and any message not commanded by Him is considered false. This aligns with the biblical principle that God’s word is authoritative and unchanging (Isaiah 55:11). The role of a prophet was to convey God’s will, not personal opinions or desires.

Jer 23:32 “Indeed,” declares the LORD, “I am against those…
Ezk 13:2-3 Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel…
2Ch 18:21-22 And he replied, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit…

or to speak in the name of other gods,

This phrase underscores the exclusivity of worship and allegiance to Yahweh. In the historical context of Israel, surrounded by polytheistic cultures, the temptation to syncretize or adopt other deities was significant. The first commandment (Exodus 20:3) explicitly forbids the worship of other gods, reinforcing the monotheistic foundation of Israelite faith.

Deu 13:1-5 If a prophet or dreamer of dreams arises among you…
Jer 11:10 They have returned to the sins of their forefathers…
Exo 20:3 You shall have no other gods before Me.

that prophet must be put to death.”

The prescribed penalty reflects the gravity of leading people away from the true God. In ancient Israel, maintaining the purity of worship and doctrine was crucial for the community's covenant relationship with God. This severe consequence served as a deterrent against false prophecy and idolatry. The New Testament, while not prescribing physical death, warns of spiritual death and judgment for false teachers (2 Peter 2:1). This also foreshadows the ultimate judgment that Christ will execute upon His return (Revelation 19:20).

Deu 17:2-7 If a man or woman among you in one of the towns…
Zec 13:3 And if anyone still prophesies, his father and mother…

Persons / Places / Events
1. Prophet
A person who claims to speak on behalf of God. In the context of Deuteronomy, prophets were expected to deliver messages that were directly from God.

2. God (Yahweh)
The one true God of Israel, who is the source of all true prophecy and revelation.

3. False Prophecy
The act of delivering a message in God's name that He has not commanded, or speaking in the name of other gods, which is considered a grave sin.

4. Israel
The nation to whom these laws were given, emphasizing the importance of maintaining purity in worship and adherence to God's commands.

5. Death Penalty
The severe consequence prescribed for false prophets, highlighting the seriousness of misrepresenting God's word.
Teaching Points
The Seriousness of Prophecy
Prophecy is a serious matter and should not be taken lightly. Speaking on behalf of God requires true divine inspiration and alignment with His will.

Discernment and Testing
Believers are called to discern and test the messages they hear, ensuring they align with Scripture and the character of God.

Consequences of False Teaching
False teaching leads people away from God and can have severe spiritual consequences. It is crucial to guard against it in the church.

Faithfulness to God's Word
Upholding the truth of God's Word is essential. Believers must be diligent in studying Scripture to recognize and reject false teachings.

The Role of Accountability
The community of faith should hold teachers and prophets accountable, ensuring that their teachings are biblically sound.
Bible Study Questions
1. What characteristics can help us identify a true prophet or teacher of God's Word today?

2. How can we apply the principle of testing the spirits in our daily lives to ensure we are following true teachings?

3. In what ways can the church today hold leaders accountable to prevent the spread of false teachings?

4. How does understanding the severe consequences for false prophecy in the Old Testament influence our view of truth and integrity in teaching today?

5. What steps can you take to deepen your understanding of Scripture to better discern truth from falsehood in spiritual teachings?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Jeremiah 23
Discusses false prophets who speak visions from their own minds rather than from the mouth of the Lord, emphasizing the danger and deceit of false prophecy.

1 John 4:1
Encourages believers to test the spirits to see whether they are from God, as many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Matthew 7:15-20
Jesus warns about false prophets who come in sheep's clothing but are inwardly ravenous wolves, teaching that they can be recognized by their fruits.
Sermons
ProphecyJ. Orr Deuteronomy 18:15-20
Presages of the True ProphetD. Davies Deuteronomy 18:15-22
The Promised ProphetR.M. Edgar Deuteronomy 18:15-22
The False ProphetJ. Orr Deuteronomy 18:20-22
People
Levi, Levites, Moses
Places
Beth-baal-peor, Horeb
Topics
Anything, Commanded, Death, Die, Died, Gods, Orders, Presume, Presumes, Presumeth, Presumptuously, Prophet, Says, Speak, Speaketh, Speaks, Takes
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Deuteronomy 18:20

     8801   presumption

Deuteronomy 18:20-22

     7774   prophets, false

Library
Prophets and the Prophet
'When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. 10. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, 11. Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. 12. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Moses the Type of Christ.
"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."--Deut. xviii. 15. The history of Moses is valuable to Christians, not only as giving us a pattern of fidelity towards God, of great firmness, and great meekness, but also as affording us a type or figure of our Saviour Christ. No prophet arose in Israel like Moses, till Christ came, when the promise in the text was fulfilled--"The Lord thy God," says Moses, "shall …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VII

Appendix xiv. The Law in Messianic Times.
THE question as to the Rabbinic views in regard to the binding character of the Law, and its imposition on the Gentiles, in Messianic times, although, strictly speaking, not forming part of this history, is of such vital importance in connection with recent controversies as to demand special consideration. In the text to which this Appendix refers it has been indicated, that a new legislation was expected in Messianic days. The ultimate basis of this expectancy must be sought in the Old Testament …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Christ's Prophetic Office
'The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet,' &c. Deut 18:85. Having spoken of the person of Christ, we are next to speak of the offices of Christ. These are Prophetic, Priestly, and Regal. 'The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet.' Enunciatur hic locus de Christo. It is spoken of Christ.' There are several names given to Christ as a Prophet. He is called the Counsellor' in Isa 9:9. In uno Christo Angelus foederis completur [The Messenger of the Covenant appears in Christ alone]. …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

The Inheritance
Gerhard Ter Steegen Deut. xviii. 1, 2 Am I not enough, Mine own? enough, Mine own, for thee? Hath the world its palace towers, Garden glades of magic flowers, Where thou fain wouldst be? Fair things and false are there, False things but fair. All shalt thou find at last, Only in Me. Am I not enough, Mine own? I, for ever and alone, I, needing thee? …
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso, and Others

Meditations of the True Manner of Practising Piety on the Sabbath-Day.
Almighty God will have himself worshipped, not only in a private manner by private persons and families, but also in a more public sort, of all the godly joined together in a visible church; that by this means he may be known not only to be the God and Lord of every Singular person, but also of the creatures of the whole universal world. Question--But why do not we Christians under the New, keep the Sabbath on the same seventh day on which it was kept under the Old Testament? I answer--Because our …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

God's Last Arrow
'Having yet therefore one son, his well-beloved, he sent him also last unto them.'--Mark xii. 6. Reference to Isaiah v. There are differences in detail here which need not trouble us. Isaiah's parable is a review of the theocratic history of Israel, and clearly the messengers are the prophets; here Christ speaks of Himself and His own mission to Israel, and goes on to tell of His death as already accomplished. I. The Son who follows and surpasses the servants. (a) Our Lord here places Himself in …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The First Disciples
John i. 19 TO ii. 12 97. After the withdrawal of Jesus into the wilderness, John the Baptist continued his ministry of preaching and baptizing, moving northward up the Jordan valley to Bethany, on the eastern side of the river, near one of the fords below the Sea of Galilee (John i. 28). Here Galilee, doubtless, contributed more to his audience than Judea. It is certain that some from the borders of the lake were at this time among his constant attendants: Andrew and Simon of Bethsaida, John the …
Rush Rhees—The Life of Jesus of Nazareth

Humility is the Root of Charity, and Meekness the Fruit of Both. ...
Humility is the root of charity, and meekness the fruit of both. There is no solid and pure ground of love to others, except the rubbish of self-love be first cast out of the soul; and when that superfluity of naughtiness is cast out, then charity hath a solid and deep foundation: "The end of the command is charity out of a pure heart," 1 Tim. i. 5. It is only such a purified heart, cleansed from that poison and contagion of pride and self-estimation, that can send out such a sweet and wholesome …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Twofold Testimony of John - the First Sabbath of Jesus's Ministry - the First Sunday - the First Disciples.
THE forty days, which had passed since Jesus had first come to him, must have been to the Baptist a time of soul-quickening, of unfolding understanding, and of ripened decision. We see it in his more emphasised testimony to the Christ; in his fuller comprehension of those prophecies which had formed the warrant and substance of his Mission; but specially in the yet more entire self-abnegation, which led him to take up a still lowlier position, and acquiescingly to realise that his task of heralding …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Not that Light, but a Witness.
(John I. 8.) "Nothing resting in its own completeness Can have worth or beauty; but alone Because it leads and tends to farther sweetness, Fuller, higher, deeper than its own. "Spring's real glory dwells not in the meaning, Gracious though it be, of her blue hours; But is hidden in her tender leaning To the summer's richer wealth of flowers." A. A. PROCTOR. Resentment of the Sanhedrim--The Baptist's Credentials--Spiritual Vision--"Behold the Lamb of God"--The Baptism of the Spirit The baptism and …
F. B. Meyer—John the Baptist

Messiah's Entrance into Jerusalem
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: He is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. -- And He shall speak peace unto the heathen. T he narrowness and littleness of the mind of fallen man are sufficiently conspicuous in the idea he forms of magnificence and grandeur. The pageantry and parade of a Roman triumph, or of an eastern monarch, as described in history, exhibit him to us …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1

More Particularly, in what Respect Christ is Called the Truth.
But for further explaining of this matter, we would see more particularly, in what respects it is, that he is called the truth; and this will make way to our use-making of him. So, First, He is the Truth, in opposition to the shadows and types of him, under the law. Hence, as "the law," the whole Levitical and typical dispensation, "came by Moses, so grace and truth came by Jesus Christ," John i. 17. They were all shadows of him, and he is the substance and body of them all, Col. ii. 17; and this …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

The Messianic Prophecies in the Pentateuch.
In the Messianic prophecies contained in Genesis we cannot fail to perceive a remarkable progress in clearness and definiteness. The first Messianic prediction, which was uttered immediately after the fall of Adam, is also the most indefinite. Opposed to the awful threatening there stands the consolatory promise, that the dominion of sin, and of the evil arising from sin, shall not last for ever, but that the seed of the woman shall, at some future time, overthrow their dreaded conqueror. With the …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

First Withdrawal from Herod's Territory and Return.
(Spring, a.d. 29.) Subdivision B. Feeding the Five Thousand. ^A Matt. XIV. 13-21; ^B Mark VI. 33-44; ^C Luke IX. 11-17; ^D John VI. 2-14. ^c 11 But { ^a and} the multitudes heard thereof [heard of Jesus and his disciples crossing the lake], ^b 33 And they saw them going, and ^c perceiving it, ^b many knew them, ^d 2 And a great multitude followed him, because they beheld the signs which he did on them that were sick. ^b and they ran together there on foot from all the cities, and outwent them. ^a …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Plan for the Coming of Jesus.
God's Darling, Psalms 8:5-8.--the plan for the new man--the Hebrew picture by itself--difference between God's plan and actual events--one purpose through breaking plans--the original plan--a starting point--getting inside. Fastening a Tether inside: the longest way around--the pedigree--the start. First Touches on the Canvas: the first touch, Genesis 3:15.--three groups of prediction--first group: to Abraham, Genesis 12:1-3; to Isaac, Genesis 26:1-5; to Jacob, Genesis 28:10-15; through Jacob, …
S. D. Gordon—Quiet Talks about Jesus

Balaam's Prophecy. (Numb. xxiv. 17-19. )
Carried by the Spirit into the far distant future, Balaam sees here how a star goeth out of Jacob and a sceptre riseth out of Israel, and how this sceptre smiteth Moab, by whose enmity the Seer had been brought from a distant region for the destruction of Israel. And not Moab only shall be smitten, but its southern neighbour, Edom, too shall be subdued, whose hatred against Israel had already been prefigured in its ancestor, and had now begun to display Itself; and In general, all the enemies of …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

In the Temple at the Feast of Tabernacles.
(October, a.d. 29.) ^D John VII. 11-52. ^d 11 The Jews therefore sought him at the feast, and said, Where is he? [It was now eighteen months since Jesus had visited Jerusalem, at which time he had healed the impotent man at Bethesda. His fame and prolonged obscurity made his enemies anxious for him to again expose himself in their midst. John here used the word "Jews" as a designation for the Jerusalemites, who, as enemies of Christ, were to be distinguished from the multitudes who were in doubt …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

John's First Testimony to Jesus.
(Bethany Beyond Jordan, February, a.d. 27.) ^D John I. 19-34. ^d 19 And this is the witness of John [John had been sent to testify, "and" this is the matter of his testimony], when the Jews [The term "Jews" is used seventy times by John to describe the ruling classes of Judæa] sent unto him [In thus sending an embassy they honored John more than they ever honored Christ. They looked upon John as a priest and Judæan, but upon Jesus as a carpenter and Galilæan. It is probable that …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Formation of the Old Testament Canon
[Sidenote: Israel's literature at the beginning of the fourth century before Christ] Could we have studied the scriptures of the Israelitish race about 400 B.C., we should have classified them under four great divisions: (1) The prophetic writings, represented by the combined early Judean, Ephraimite, and late prophetic or Deuteronomic narratives, and their continuation in Samuel and Kings, together with the earlier and exilic prophecies; (2) the legal, represented by the majority of the Old Testament …
Charles Foster Kent—The Origin & Permanent Value of the Old Testament

The Angel of the Lord in the Pentateuch, and the Book of Joshua.
The New Testament distinguishes between the hidden God and the revealed God--the Son or Logos--who is connected with the former by oneness of nature, and who from everlasting, and even at the creation itself, filled up the immeasurable distance between the Creator and the creation;--who has been the Mediator in all God's relations to the world;--who at all times, and even before He became man in Christ, has been the light of [Pg 116] the world,--and to whom, specially, was committed the direction …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

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