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, (wmem) , 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 F11, 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.