Priests, Prophets and Diviners

Synopsis     Deuteronomy 18:3-14     2/27/2018

Moses reiterated the portions of the sacrifices were due to the priests and Levites. He also made clear that a Levite, no matter where he lived in Israel, could attend to the tabernacle and serve there as he desired. For the Levite visiting the tabernacle, he had the full right to eat of the sacrifices.

Moses also warned the people not to practice divination. In doing so, he made a distinction between the role of a prophet and the work of sorcerers and diviners.

Priests, Prophets and Diviners

Priests and prophets were instituted to mediate between God and men. The children of Israel were terrorized at the prospect of dealing directly with the God of all creation. His appearance in smoke and fire, thunder and lightning, showed the power of God. Not everyone was open to a direct encounter with God especially as they began their personal, spiritual journey. Hence, priests and prophets.

But divination is motivated by a different ambition. This is the drive is to gain power aside from God. It comes in lots of forms: the desire for esoteric knowledge, the search for secret principles over the forces of nature, the ability to interact and manipulate in the occultist realm. There is, of course, no power against God. Yet the ambition to circumvent God in order to get power is a denial of everything God is. Those who practice this way of thinking are deeply deceived.

Truth, beauty and goodness. The right ambition is to find value through the ordinary circumstances of life – from what’s actually given.

There isn’t any knowledge that God won’t share – if I listen.

The face of the wicked hardens, but the upright maintains a straight course. No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel prevail against the LORD. Prov 21:29-30