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Epiphany Season · Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time · Year B

Deuteronomy 18:15-20

The Prophet

Moses Descends from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments, Ferdinand Bol
Moses Descends from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments, Ferdinand Bol, 1662Royal Palace, Amsterdam
A pupil of Rembrandt, painting for Amsterdam's new town hall. Moses comes down with the tablets and the light that is coming off his face.The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet.Ferdinand BolA pupil of Rembrandt who imitated him closely, then softened into a lighter style and married into enough money to stop painting.Royal Palace, AmsterdamBuilt as Amsterdam's town hall at the height of the Dutch Republic, and turned into a palace by Napoleon's brother.Royal Palace, Amsterdam

Overview & Insights

“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you.” (Deuteronomy 18:15)

The prophet comes last in the listing of Israel’s different leadership roles. Almost certainly this is deliberate and significant, like the putting of the judge before the king. Maintaining justice was a higher priority than having a dynastic monarchy. Judge and king must both submit to the law of God, just as the priest must faithfully teach it. But what if those entrusted with such forms of leadership were themselves to go astray? Then the last word was God’s. And God would put that word in the mouth of God’s prophet.

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Take it further: Deuteronomy 18:15-20

Commentary

Background & Word Study

The Church Fathers

Questions preachers ask

Who is the prophet like Moses?

Moses promises that God will raise up a prophet from among the people to whom they must listen; the New Testament reads this as fulfilled in Christ, the prophet greater than Moses.

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