(23) Shall be destroyed from among the people.--The original has it, "I will require it of him" (Deuteronomy 18:19). The words which St. Peter substitutes are as an echo of a familiar phrase which occurs in Exodus 12:15; Exodus 12:19; Leviticus 17:4; Leviticus 17:9, et al. This, again, looks like a citation freely made.
Verse 23. - Shall be for come to pass, A.V.; shall not hearken to for will not hear, A.V.; utterly destroyed for destroyed, A.V. Utterly destroyed. The Greek ἐξολοθρεύω οξξυρσ frequently in the LXX. for the Hebrew phrase," cut off from his people" (Genesis 17:14); but in Deuteronomy 18:19, the phrase is quite different, "I will require it of him." St. Peter here gives the sense, not the ipsissima verba, and thereby marks the extreme gravity of the sin of unbelief (see John 3:18).
3:22-26 Here is a powerful address to warn the Jews of the dreadful consequences of their unbelief, in the very words of Moses, their favourite prophet, out of pretended zeal for whom they were ready to reject Christianity, and to try to destroy it. Christ came into the world to bring a blessing with him. And he sent his Spirit to be the great blessing. Christ came to bless us, by turning us from our iniquities, and saving us from our sins. We, by nature cleave to sin; the design of Divine grace is to turn us from it, that we may not only forsake, but hate it. Let none think that they can be happy by continuing in sin, when God declares that the blessing is in being turned from all iniquity. Let none think that they understand or believe the gospel, who only seek deliverance from the punishment of sin, but do not expect happiness in being delivered from sin itself. And let none expect to be turned from their sin, except by believing in, and receiving Christ the Son of God, as their wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
And it shall come to pass, that every soul,.... Every person, man or woman:
which will not hear that prophet; neither believe what he says, nor do what he commands; or as it is in Deuteronomy 18:19 "will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name": for he that hears not him, hearkens not to God, in whose name he speaks, and whose word he delivers,
shall be destroyed from among the people; in the Hebrew text it is, "I will require it of him"; the Hebrew word, there used, by having different points, may be rendered "of him", or "from his people", which seems to be the reason of this difference: and requiring often intends punishment, or a cutting off; or as Aben Ezra explains it here,
"death by the hand of heaven;''
that is, immediate destruction from God; and so Maimonides says (k), he that transgresses the words of that prophet, is guilty of death by the hand of heaven; and which was remarkably fulfilled in the Jewish nation, for their rejection of Jesus as the true Messiah, and that prophet.
which will not hear that prophet; neither believe what he says, nor do what he commands; or as it is in Deuteronomy 18:19 "will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name": for he that hears not him, hearkens not to God, in whose name he speaks, and whose word he delivers,
shall be destroyed from among the people; in the Hebrew text it is, "I will require it of him"; the Hebrew word, there used, by having different points, may be rendered "of him", or "from his people", which seems to be the reason of this difference: and requiring often intends punishment, or a cutting off; or as Aben Ezra explains it here,
"death by the hand of heaven;''
that is, immediate destruction from God; and so Maimonides says (k), he that transgresses the words of that prophet, is guilty of death by the hand of heaven; and which was remarkably fulfilled in the Jewish nation, for their rejection of Jesus as the true Messiah, and that prophet.
(k) Yesod Hattora, c. 9. sect. 4.