Detestable Ways Of The Nations

Deuteronomy 18:4-9,15 – You are to give them the firstfruits of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the first wool from the shearing of your sheep, for the Lord your God has chosen them and their descendants out of all your tribes to stand and minister in the Lord’s name always. If a Levite moves from one of your towns anywhere in Israel where he is living, and comes in all earnestness to the place the Lord will choose, he may minister in the name of the Lord his God like all his fellow Levites who serve there in the presence of the Lord. He is to share equally in their benefits, even though he has received money from the sale of family possessions. When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there…The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him.

Exodus 28:1 – “Have Aaron your brother brought to you from among the Israelites, along with his sons Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, so they may serve me as priests.

Psalm 118:26 – Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. From the house of the Lord we bless you.

Isaiah 8:20 – Consult God’s instruction and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn.

Application:

• ·         The priests were to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins, to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, to read the law of Moses to the people and remind them of their covenant obligations.
• ·         “Who comes in the name of the Lord” was the one who with God’s help had defeated the enemies “in the name of the Lord”.
• ·         The people were not to resort to magical or spiritistic arts for their information, guidance or revelation. Rather, they were to listen to the Lord’s true prophets.
• ·         At Horeb the people requested that Moses take the message from God and deliver it to them. But now that Moses is to leave them, he says that another spokesman will take his place, and then another will be necessary for the next generation.
• ·         Only by heeding the Lord’s word through Isaiah—reinforced by the “signs and symbols” that Isaiah and his sons represented—would the light dawn for Israel.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV