Sunday Evening Bible Study

September 9, 2001

Introduction

The name Deuteronomy means “second law”. It is Moses’ final address to the people. It covers the last 1½ months of Moses’ life.  He’s 120 years old.  It’s God’s “review” for the people to make sure they understand His ways before they go into the land.

Deuteronomy 16

:1-8  Feast of Passover/Unleavened Bread

:1  Observe the month of Abib

Also known as the month “Nisan” (not “Toyota”). It corresponds roughly with our March to April time.

:1  keep the passover unto the LORD thy God

Moses is going to review the three major feasts that the Jews are to keep.

:2  in the place which the LORD shall choose to place his name there.

Eventually this meant going to Jerusalem every year for Passover.

:3  Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it;

Attached to the Passover was the seven-day “Feast of Unleavened Bread”.

It was to remind them that when they fled Egypt, they didn’t have time to let the bread rise, but had to eat unleavened bread.

:3  that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life.

Lesson

Remember

Remember where you’ve come from.

:4  there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy coast seven days; neither shall there any thing of the flesh, which thou sacrificedst the first day at even, remain all night until the morning.

On the night of the Passover, the lamb was to be consumed entirely on the first night.  There were to be no leftovers of lamb for the next day, all was to be eaten. The Lamb was to be eaten with unleavened bread.  The people were to continue to eat unleavened Bread for the next seven days.

There’s a picture here –

Leaven is a picture of sin in the Bible.  Jesus is the Lamb.

When Jesus was sacrificed, He was “without sin” (eaten with unleavened bread).

When He died, He died once to take away sin.  There is no “leftovers”.  But after Jesus died, our sins are taken away, and so the people were to continue to eat unleavened bread for an entire week.

:6  But at the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even

This is another hint at what we’ve called the “Law of the Central Sanctuary”.  The idea was to keep the Israelites from falling away from the Lord and developing their own sets of practices based on what part of the country they lived in.  Instead, they all were to come to one place where there could be adequate oversight by the priests and Levites, and so the worship of God could stay consistent and on track.

It also would serve another purpose.

As the Central Sanctuary eventually became moved to Jerusalem, and then the temple was built, it meant that all of Israel was to go to Jerusalem for the sacrifice of the Passover Lamb.

And one day, there would be a special Passover Lamb sacrificed in Jerusalem.  Jesus.

:9-12  Feast of Weeks/Pentecost

:9  seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn

The first green ears of barley were offered to the Lord on the second day of Passover.  Forty-nine days after that was the next feast.  The Feast of Weeks was started with the offering of a sheaf of new wheat.

:10  And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the LORD thy God

This Feast of Weeks was also known as Pentecost.  Seven weeks, seven sevens plus one equals 50, “pente” means fifty.  It was celebrated 50 days after Passover, or, 49 days (7x7) after the second day of Passover.

It was also known as the feast of firstfruits.  Passover began the Harvest season, and after fifty days, the people were to stop and give back to God from their first fruits.

It would also become the day that the church was born when the Holy Spirit fell on the church and brought in the “first fruits” of the gospel.

:10  with a tribute of a freewill offering … as the LORD thy God hath blessed thee

Lesson

Giving is proportional.

We are to give as the Lord has blessed us.  If you’ve had a hard year financially, it’s okay to slow down on your giving.  If God has prospered you, it’s okay to increase.

This is why our support for missions isn’t based on a fixed amount each month.  We see our missions giving as our church’s tithe to the Lord.  The giving is based on a percentage of our income.

:11  you and your son and your daughter and your male and female servants and the Levite who is in your town, and the stranger and the orphan and the widow who are in your midst

Lesson

Worship is for everyone / Everyone takes a break

Even the servants were to take the day off and come to worship the Lord.  Right when the harvest is just getting off the ground, everyone takes a break and comes to worship.

Some of you have become servants in the church.  There are lots of things that you do around this place.  But you also need to learn to sit down and worship.  Don’t lose that taste of your first love.  Let your love for the Lord continue to grow.  Serve Him because you love Him.

:13-15  Feast of Tabernacles

:13  Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine:

The Feast of Tabernacles (Booths, Sukkoth) falls in our September – October time frame.  It was called the Feast of Tabernacles because the people would build temporary shelters (booths, tents) out of branches and leaves and live outside for seven days.  It was to remind them of how they lived in tents for forty years in the wilderness. It was also called the Feast of Ingathering because it was a celebration of the end of the harvest.

:15  therefore thou shalt surely rejoice.

According to Jewish tradition, no marriages were allowed to be celebrated during these great festivals, that no personal or private rejoicings might be mingled with the demonstrations of public and national gladness (JFB).

Lesson:

Worship should be joyful.

During the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, when the people had come back from Babylon and rebuilt the city of Jerusalem, they began to re-learn how to celebrate these feasts.

When they got everyone together for the first time, some of the people were overcome with sorrow as they heard the words of the Law.

Neh 8:9-18  And Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the LORD your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law. {10} Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength. {11} So the Levites stilled all the people, saying, Hold your peace, for the day is holy; neither be ye grieved. {12} And all the people went their way to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared unto them.

This took place on the Feast of the Tabernacles.  The people went on to celebrate the feast with great joy.

There is a sense that as we come before the Lord, we realize the depth of our sin.  We realize just how different He is from us.  But we also need to recognize His grace and mercy, and that ought to make us REJOICE!

:16-17  Feast Summary

:16  Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose

Three weeks out of every year you were to spend in Jerusalem.

This wasn’t just a vacation, it was more like a retreat, time dedicated to worshipping God.

We know that from the example of Jesus’ family when he was a boy, women and children also went to the feasts as well (Luke 2:42-50).

:16  they shall not appear before the LORD empty

When you came to Jerusalem, you were to bring your offering to the Lord.

Lesson

Come to give.

Sometimes when we come to church we are just barely hanging on and we drag ourselves in the door to be refreshed by the Lord.

But for the most part, God wants us to come with something to give.  He wants to use you.

Giver or taker?

To serve or be served.

I see two kinds of people in church.

One type of person comes in order to be served.  They are looking for others to minister to them.  They are always aware of what they need for themselves.  They rarely pay attention to the needs of those around them.

The other person is the giver, the servant.  They seem to have a sense of what is needed by those around them.

:18-20  Local Judges

:18 Judges and officers

The nation was to set up a system of local justices for each city.  The “gates” of the city was where important business was transacted.  It was the equivalent of “city hall”, “Main Street”, and the “mall”.

:19  Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.

Rules for the judges to follow:

Don’t twist what’s right.

Don’t take sides with someone you like. (partiality)

Don’t take gifts (bribes) from people.

Gifts or bribes can affect how you perceive things.

:21-22  No idolatry

:21  Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the LORD thy God, which thou shalt make thee.

grove – Asherah (or Astarte) a Phoenician goddess; also an image of the same.

It’s not talking about planting an orange grove near church, it’s talking about not allowing idol worship near the worship of God.

:22  Neither shalt thou set thee up any image

God doesn’t want any idolatry being practiced around His temple.

(1 Cor 6:12-20 KJV)  All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. {13} Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. {14} And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power. {15} Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. {16} What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. {17} But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. {18} Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. {19} What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? {20} For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

Your body is now the temple of the Lord.  God’s desire is that our bodies be used for things that are good, not things that are evil.

Deuteronomy 17

:1  No defective offerings

:1 shalt not sacrifice unto the LORD … any evilfavouredness

evilfavouredness – Defect or fault. Don’t give God your leftovers, give Him the best.

:2-7  Judging idolators

:4  thou hast heard of it, and inquired diligently

Be sure to check out your facts.  Don’t rush into something assume that you’ve been told everything.

:5  shalt stone them with stones, till they die.

Those that are guilty of idolatry are to be put to death.

:6  At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses,

A rule of law.  Something that is possibly going to lead to the death penalty must have two or more witnesses.

:7  The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death

Ryrie:  A minimum of two witnesses was required, and they had to be sure enough of their own testimony to be willing to cast the first stones. In a stoning, the victim was stripped naked and his hands bound; then he was paraded out of town, where he was placed on a scaffold about nine feet high. The first witness pushed him off the scaffold; the second dropped a large stone on his head or chest. Then bystanders pelted the dying man with stones. No mourning was permitted for the dead man.

The principle behind making the witnesses throwing the first stones was to insure that this wasn’t something done from some kind of rash accusation.  It’s one thing to make accusations against someone behind their back, but to actually face them and throw the first stone is another.  In addition, if the witnesses proved to be false, they would also become guilty of murder, having thrown the first stone.

:8-13  Appeals Courts in Jerusalem

:9  And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites …

The priests and Levites were a kind of Supreme Court.  They were to get all the tough cases.  This is appropriate since they were to be the ones most familiar with God’s Law.

In practice, the Sanhedrin eventually became this last court of appeals.

:12  even that man shall die:

If someone wanted to say, “Well I don’t have to do what the priests and Levites tell me to do”, then they are automatically put to death.

:13 do no more presumptuously.

presumptuously – zuwd – to boil, boil up, seethe, act proudly, act presumptuously, act rebelliously, be arrogant, be rebelliously proud

Having a system of judges and requiring people to do what the judges asked was to “put away the evil from Israel”.  It was to take away the rebellious pride.

:14-20  Laws for a king

:14 I will set a king over me, like as all the nations

This is quite prophetic. This is exactly what the people did. From the time of Moses until the time of the first king, there would be a period of about four hundred years. During that time, God was really the leader of the nation as He lead the nation through various judges or prophets. The last of these prophets was a man named Samuel.

(1 Sam 8:4-7 KJV) Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, {5} And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. {6} But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD. {7} And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.

This was a hard for the prophet Samuel because he felt like the people were rejecting him, yet the Lord pointed out that in reality they were simply rejecting God’s direct leadership over the nation through the work of a prophet.

Ideally, we should be able to get along without any such thing as leaders or government. Ideally, each individual should be able to go to God and get instructions for his/her life straight from God. But the truth is, even with the best of groups, there are going to be times when human nature steps in and messes things up.

The purpose of having government and leaders is to help guide the group, the nation, the church.

Even though God understood that the people were in a sense rejecting Him, God also understood that it was necessary and timely that a king be appointed.

God is not opposed to human leadership, but in Deuteronomy He set up some guidelines to help insure the best leadership possible.

:15  whom the LORD thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee

God knew that there would be a day when they would want a king.  God is not saying that it would be wrong to have a king.  God instead is giving instructions as to what kind of leader to have as a king.

Two conditions for a king was that it was to be someone God chose, and it was to be an Israelite.

The people actually followed these instructions.

The prophet Samuel was the one God used to pick out the first two kings, Saul and David.  After David, it was a matter of his descendants becoming kings.  When the kingdom split under Rehoboam, even Jeroboam was chosen by the Lord.  Though the kings of the northern kingdom of Israel didn’t always follow from father to son like a dynasty, there were times when the king was chosen still by a prophet, as when Jehu was anointed by a prophet to replace the son of Ahab as king (2Ki.9).

:16  But he shall not multiply horses to himself …

Here we get some of the interesting rules a king was to follow.

1)  Don’t multiply horses.

This is really a way of saying that a king shouldn’t be trusting in military superiority.

King David understood this:

(Psa 20:7 KJV)  Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.

2)   Don’t go back to Egypt.

They weren’t to copy the Egyptians or look to them for help or advice.

Egypt is almost like a picture of the world.

Once Jesus is King in our hearts, we need to be careful that we aren’t looking to the world for answers.  We need to be looking to the Lord.

:17  Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

Two more simple rules:

1)  Don’t multiply wives.

It wasn’t uncommon for a king to have multiple wives.  This was one way to promote political and national security.  You married the neighboring king’s princess.  That way if your neighbor wants to attack you and conquer your kingdom, he’ll have to think twice because you’re married to his little girl.

God wanted the people trusting in Him for security, not in their marriages.

2)  Multiply wealth.

(Prov 30:7-9 KJV)  Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die: {8} Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: {9} Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.

When we become wealthy, it’s easy to forget the Lord.  It’s easy to stop trusting in Him and to start trusting in our money.  It’s the economy, stupid.

Lesson #1:

Who are you trusting?

These are all things that we as the “king” of our lives can find ourselves trusting in.

We can trust in our own ability to fight and rule over others.

We can trust in worldly ways of manipulating people and getting our way in life.

We can find security in our relationships, in our marriages.  It’s not that God doesn’t want you to enjoy your marriage, but God wants you to find your total fulfillment in Him.  Your spouse will never be able to meet all your needs.

We can find ourselves looking for the security of material things.

(1 Tim 6:9-10 NLT)  But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. {10} For the love of money is at the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.

Lesson #2:

Take God’s lessons seriously.

The king who ruled during the height of the kingdom of Israel was also the one who started the downhill slide.  He didn’t pay attention to the four rules that God had for kings.

1) Wealth

(1 Ki 10:23-25 KJV)  So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom. {24} And all the earth sought to Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. {25} And they brought every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and garments, and armour, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year.

2)  Horses

(1 Ki 10:26 KJV)  And Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen: and he had a thousand and four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he bestowed in the cities for chariots, and with the king at Jerusalem.

3)  Egypt

(1 Ki 10:28-29 KJV)  And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt, and linen yarn: the king's merchants received the linen yarn at a price. {29} And a chariot came up and went out of Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and an horse for an hundred and fifty: and so for all the kings of the Hittites, and for the kings of Syria, did they bring them out by their means.

This is in addition to the fact that he married the daughter of the Pharaoh of Egypt!

4)  Wives

(1 Ki 11:1-4 KJV)  But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; {2} Of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love. {3} And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart. {4} For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.

We ought to learn from Solomon that you can’t think that you are above God’s principles.  Take God’s Word seriously.

Listen carefully to what Solomon wrote at the end of life:

(Eccl 12:8 KJV)  Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity.

(Eccl 12:13 KJV)  Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

He finally came to the conclusion that you can’t get around God’s ways.  God’s ways are best.

:18  he shall write him a copy of this law in a book

I wonder if Solomon ever did this.  I wonder if any of the kings did this.

:19-20  And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life

If a king were to read God’s Word every day for the rest of his life, wouldn’t it be wise for us to do the same?

Lesson

Benefits of daily reading

Humility – “that his heart be not lifted up”

If we’re not careful, we can be puffed up because we know more of the Word than others.  But the proper kind of relationship with the Word will produce humility.

Obedience – “that he turn not aside from the commandment”

Prosperity – “he may prolong his days”

Note that it affects the “children” as well.  Not only does this indicate that the king was to pass the throne on to his own offspring, but our walk in the Word affects our children.

Deuteronomy 18

:1-8  Supporting the priests and Levites

:2  the LORD is their inheritance

Instead of being given vast tracts of land like those in the other tribes, the Levites were given houses in the cities.  Their major family security didn’t lie in the family farm, it was in the Lord.

Lesson

Satisfied in Him.

David found that God’s love for Him was better than even life itself:

(Psa 63:3-6 KJV)  Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. {4} Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name. {5} My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips: {6} When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches.

David found a deep, lasting satisfaction from thinking about the Lord and meditating on Him in the middle of the night.

:3  the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw.

The shoulder, the cheeks (the cheeks around the mouth, NIV has “jowls”), and the stomach – this was the priests’ portion of a sacrifice.

:4  The firstfruit also of thy corn …shalt thou give him.

This was the main way that the Levite had to support his family, performing the sacrifices and then keeping a portion of the sacrifices as wages.

:6  and come with all the desire of his mind unto the place which the LORD shall choose;

If a Levite wants to leave his hometown and go and serve in the central Sanctuary, like the temple in Jerusalem.

8  They shall have like portions to eat

The country Levite coming to the temple to serve was to get the same wage as the guy raised in Jerusalem.

:8  beside that which cometh of the sale of his patrimony.

The guy has sold the family house to move to Jerusalem.  Even if he has this money in the bank, he ought to be paid from the work he does in the temple.

:9-14  Don’t do what the nations do

:10  There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire,

Molech was one of the gods of the Canaanites.

He was usually made of bronze, with his arms stretched outward.

He would be heated up in a furnace, then at the appropriate time during their worship, He would be placed on display, and live babies would be placed in his red-hot open arms.

As the people chanted, beat their drums, etc., they would drown out the cries of the babies being burnt alive.

This was one way the Canaanites dealt with unwanted pregnancies, which often resulted from their promiscuous sex practices.

Today we offer babies to Molech in a more sophisticated way, through quiet little abortion clinics down the street.

:10  or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch

divination – A general term covering the types of magic that follow.

an observer of times – The idea is that of practicing hidden arts.

`anan – to observe times, practice soothsaying, spiritism, magic, augury, witchcraft, sorcery; the attempt to control people or circumstances through power given by evil spirits (demons).

enchanter –  One who interprets omens. Balaam did this (cf. Num. 24:1).

nachash – to practice divination, divine, observe signs, practice fortune telling, take as an omen.

Many ancient pagan peoples looked for signs, an eagle flying in the sky, a red sunset, etc., to try and discern direction from God. (Eze. 21:21-22)

witch – A practitioner of spells and occult magic.

:11  Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer

charmer – One who casts a spell.

consulter with familiar spirits –  A medium. Psychic hotlines. 

a wizard – (“Help me Mr. Wizard …”) One who pretends to know about the unseen world.

necromancer – One who inquires of the dead.  Stay away from Ouija boards.

Why are these things forbidden?

Many of these things actually have a sense of reality and power about them.  Their power is real because there is a real entity behind them.  These things are all tied to Satan.  They are designed to suck people in, and eventually chain them to Satan.

:12  because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.

They need to keep in mind that the very reason they are allowed into the Promised Land, the very reason they are going to be allowed victory over these people is because they are practicing these things.

:13  Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God.

Just like Jesus said.

(Mat 5:48 KJV)  Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

:14  For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times …

People are looking for direction.  They want someone to tell them what is up ahead.

:15-22  Prophets to come

:15  The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet

The Jews at times have understood this to mean various prophets, but ultimately it was a reference to the Messiah.

They wondered if John the Baptist was this person:

(John 1:21 KJV)  And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No.

They came to find that it was Jesus:

(John 6:14 KJV)  Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.

We will often refer to Jesus as “prophet, priest, and king”.  This is the “prophet” part.

:16  Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD

When the people were gathered around Mt. Sinai, they were terrified when God began to speak and they heard Him.  They requested that God not speak to them directly anymore but that God just work through Moses instead.  God thought that this was an okay idea.

:18  like unto thee

Another prophet like Moses.

:19  I will require it of him.

We will be accountable to God for what we did not follow of Jesus’ teachings.

:20  But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word

This is talking about false prophets.

We mentioned back in Deuteronomy 13 that there were two tests for false prophets.

The first test was in Deuteronomy 13, and the test was whether or not the prophet was going to lead you away from the Lord to serve other gods or not.  If a person has the wrong “theology”, they are a false prophet.

We’re going to get a test for false prophets, but the early church had a test of their own:

If any prophet, speaking in a trance, says, "Give me your money (or anything else)," do not listen to him.

-- the Didache, "Money in Christian History," Christian History, no. 14.

:22  When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously:

presumptuously – zadown – pride, insolence, presumptuousness, arrogance

The person wasn’t speaking for the Lord, but they were speaking to get attention.

Lesson

Test of a false prophet:  Unfulfilled Prophecy.

We need to be careful here because the opposite is not true.  It is not true that fulfilled prophecy always proves a true prophet.

We’ve already seen this:

(Deu 13:1-3 KJV)  If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, {2} And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; {3} Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

But what this is saying is that if someone claims to speak for the Lord and it does not come to pass, then they haven’t spoken for the Lord.

:22 thou shalt not be afraid of him.

There is a kind of power that people can hold over others when they are claiming to speak for the Lord.  We can kind of hold these people in awe and fear.  Don’t.

Illustration

A group of students at Harvard once tried to fool the famous professor of zoology Agassiz.  They took parts from a number of different bugs and with great skill attached them together to make a creation they were sure would baffle their teacher.  On the chosen day they brought it to him and asked that he identify it.  As he inspected it with great care, the students grew more and more sure they had tricked this genius.  Finally, Professor Agassiz straightened up and said, “I have identified it.”  Scarcely able to control their amusement, they asked its name.  Agassiz replied, “It is a humbug.” 

A person with genuine life from God will detect the counterfeit and think, “Humbug”.