000 Allen FMT (i-xxii) - The Presbyterian Leader

Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany/Year B 133
Third Sunday after the Epiphany/Year B
Jonah 3:1–5, 10
For comments on this passage, please see Proper 20/Year A.
Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany/Year B
Deuteronomy 18:15–20
The reading for today addresses two popular misconceptions regarding
prophets. One is that the prophet was the epitome of the angry figure
blasting the congregation with condemnation. The other is that prophets
did not appear in Israel’s story until after the Pentateuch in figures such
as Elijah, Elisha, and Amos. Deuteronomy 18:15–20 corrects both misperceptions.
Indeed, Torah presents several figures as prophetic (e.g.,
Gen. 15:2; 20:7; Exod. 7:1; 15:20; Num. 11:26–30; 12:6; Deut. 18:15–20;
34:10). The Deuteronomists want readers to think that prophetic ministry
was rooted in Israel’s oldest traditions. The text for today is the fullest
reference to a prophet in Torah and presents Moses as the archetype of
the prophets in the Deuteronomic literature.
Deuteronomy 18:9–20 deals with the issue, What kind of leader can
Israel trust? This matter was important to the postexilic audiences of the
Deuteronomic theologians. Deuteronomy 18:9–14 declares as “abhorrent
practices” a list of customs found among Israel’s neighbors—child sacrifice,
soothsaying, auguring, sorcery, casting spells, consulting ghosts or
spirits, and seeking oracles from the dead.
Moses announced God would “raise up for you a prophet like me from
among your own people.” Moses stood between the people and God
because the people feared that they could not bear the intensity of exposure
to God and the “great fire” at Horeb (Sinai; Deut. 18:16). God gave
Moses messages for the people, something God promised to do for the
prophets who came later (18:18). The Deuteronomists have in mind messages
that reflect the theology and community practice advocated by
Deuteronomy. God will hold accountable (i.e., will condemn) people who
do not need these messages (18:19). The community is to kill prophets
who speak in the name of other deities (18:20).
The text raises a haunting question: How can we recognize a word that
God speaks? Deuteronomy poses a criterion. If a message “takes place or
proves true,” the community could believe the message was from God