Acts 3:23

23 Those who won't listen to that prophet will be excluded from the people.'

Acts 3:23 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 3:23

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.

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FOOTNOTES:

F11 Yesod Hattora, c. 9. sect. 4.

Acts 3:23 In-Context

21 Heaven must receive Jesus until the time when everything will be restored as God promised through his holy prophets long ago.

22 "Moses said, 'The Lord your God will send you a prophet, an Israelite like me. Listen to everything he tells you.

23 Those who won't listen to that prophet will be excluded from the people.'

24 Samuel and all the prophets who followed him spoke about these days.

25 You are the descendants of the prophets and the heirs of the promise that God made to our ancestors when he said to Abraham, 'Through your descendant all people on earth will be blessed.'