Again in chapter 16 we have the principal annual
feasts covered. The Passover (verses 1-8); the Feast of
Weeks (verses 9-12); and the Feast of the Tabernacle
(verses 13-17). Then in verses 18-22 God assures the
people that the judges and officers that are to judge
the tribes will give the people just judgment.

In verse 1 of chapter 17 we notice the offerings
that were sacrificed to the Lord must be unblemished or
they were an abomination unto the Lord. Verses 2-7 cover
the condemnation of all idolators. Their condemnation
was death by stoning, before witnesses. God tells the
people in verses 14-20 that “when thou art come unto the
land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shall
possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I
will set a king over me.” The kingdom came some 400
years later (see I Samuel 8). Samuel told the people
that in asking for a king they were rejecting God. This
is not a contradiction, it is just the fact that God
foreknew that they would want a king. He is not
approving their actions here in Deuteronomy, but He is
foretelling them that generations later they would
desire a king over them and would reject the form of
government which God had given to them.

Chapter 18 contains one of the most specific
predictions of Christ found in the Old Testament. Jesus
Himself understood it (John 5:46) and so did Peter (Acts
3:22).

The Hebrew nation was being founded of God as
the medium through which one day all nations would be
blessed. The statement concerning the Messiah definitely
tells us that we would be given another Prophet (Jesus,
Who would bear God’s message to all nations). Judaism
was to be superseded by Christianity (the day of grace).
God’s plan of salvation is found in Ephesians 2:8,9:
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not
of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest
any man should boast.” We are not saved by keeping the
Law, but by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ,
who completely fulfilled the Law.