From: Deuteronomy 18:15-20
Prophets (Continuation)
(Moses spoke to all the people, saying:) [15] ”The LORD your God will
raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your
brethren--him you shall heed--[16] just as you desired of the LORD
your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me
not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, or see this great fire
any more, lest I die.’ [17] And the LORD said to me, ‘They have
rightly said all that they have spoken. [18] I will raise up for them
a prophet like you from among their brethren; and I will put my words
in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. [19]
And whoever will not give heed to my words which he shall speak in my
name, I myself will require it of him. [20] But the prophet who
presumes to speak a word in my name which I have not commanded him to
speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’"
Commentary:
18:9-22. This is a key text as regards the institution of the
prophethood in Israel, and even for the notion of Messiah. Together
with the king and the priest, the prophet is one of the great
institutions of Israel; the prophet has a very important religious
position and special moral authority. In the Deuteronomic tradition
(cf. 34:10-12) Moses is seen not only as the one who delivered Israel
from bondage in Egypt, not only as a lawgiver, but also as the first
prophet and the outstanding model for all future prophets.
The fundamental role of the prophet is to speak in the name of the
Lord and proclaim the meaning and scope of past, present and future
events: the Israelites would never have any need, therefore, of
wizards, magi or necromancers (people who call up the spirits of the
dead), who were closely linked to idolatry and superstition. However,
the fact was that they often fell into this temptation--even the
horrendous sacrificial burning of children (cf. 2 Kings 21:6),
repeatedly condemned in the Old Testament (cf., e.g., Jer 7:31; Ezek 16:20-21).
Tradition has shown the messianic meaning of vv. 15 and 18. In the New
Testament St Paul identifies the “prophet” who will be raised up as
being Jesus Christ (cf. Acts 3:22-23 which
actually quotes Deuteronomy 18:18; cf. also Jn 1:21, 45; 6:14; 7:40).
Foremost among the evidence of Jewish tradition in Jesus’ time, giving
strongly messianic interpretation to this passage, is that from the
Qumran manuscripts (cf. 1 QS 9) which add to this passage that of
Deuteronomy 5:28-29 and the references to the Star of Jacob (Num
24:17; and the scepter of Israel ((Gen 49:10); and they link 18:9-22
to 33:8-11 through the
reference to the priest-Messiah.
The possible collective meaning of what Moses announces here (the fact
that it can be interpreted as referring to the many prophets that God
will arise up over time) is perfectly compatible with its achieving its
fullest expression in Jesus Christ, the greatest of all the prophets
(cf. Heb 1:4).
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.
From: 1 Corinthians 7:32-35
The Excellence of Virginity
[32] I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious
about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord; [33] but the
married man is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please his wife,
[34] his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman or girl is
anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit;
but the married woman is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please her
husband. [35] I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint
upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion
to the Lord.
Commentary:
35. There is clearly no question of trying to deceive anyone by
encouraging him to dedicate himself to a way of life in which he cannot
persevere. All St Paul is doing is pointing out that the unmarried
person is more available to the service of the Lord.
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.