וכי יבא הלוי, a priest who does not belong to the roster of priests performing Temple service on that day in the courtyard of the Temple in Jerusalem

לבד ממכריו על האבות, according to the plain meaning: “like one of his personal acquaintances if he has such among the priests serving in the Temple, who is willing to appoint him to offer his personal sacrifice on his behalf so that he will be able to eat some of the sacrificial meat with him, and the restriction of his not being part of the day’s roster would be waived.” (compare Sukkah 56)

וחובר חבר, the tone-sign is on the letter ח just as it is in the word חרב, cherev, both in Jeremiah 21,2 and in Samuel II 11,25, this is proven by the plural mode in Psalms 56,8 being חברים, chavarim, with the emphasis on the letter ר just as in melech- melachim, and the vowel kametz, instead of tzeyreh.. If the emphasis were on the letter ב, i.e. on the last syllable as in חבר, (friend) in Psalms 119,63 Genesis 32,26 ירך as well as in the words גדר, gader in Numbers 22,24 where the emphasis is on the letter ד, then the plural mode would not have the vowel kametz under the second consonant in Psalms 56,8 but would have the vowel tzeyreh.

מוריש אותם, for they did not bother to consult G’d and the true prophets about their impending future. Instead, they relied on their respective idols, all abominations in the eyes of the Lord, so that by their perishing the impotence of their deities to protect their believers had to be demonstrated.

'תמים תהיה וגו, and you are only to consult Him, not the dead. Seeing that the existence of necromancers is a form of G’d’s testing the faith of the people in Him, He enabled the spiritually negative elements in this world, the demons to possess some apparent powers to reveal the future. (compare author on 13,4 and on Exodus 32,4)

נביא מקרבך מאחיך כמוני, such prophets establish the authentic nature of their mission by commanding you to observe the laws of the Torah, not like false prophets or dreamers purporting to have been told that you should practice some idolatrous rites. When the Torah wrote in Deut. 34,10 that there never again arose a prophet of the stature of Moses, what is meant is the manner in which Moses was familiar with G’d on an unprecedented level, speaking to Him at any time, and being addressed by Him without introductory formalities, i.e. פנים אל פנים, “face to face,” as the informal nature of two friends speaking with one another. The verse does not mean that subsequent prophets would have less faith in G’d than Moses had had. Concerning that aspect of Moses as a prophet, he told the people that prophets after him would display similar faith in the Lord, i.e. כמוני. They too would faithfully deliver messages from G’d, neither withholding part nor adding something of their own and passing it off as a Divine message.

ולא יהיה הדבר ולא יבא, assuming that repentance and good deeds did not persuade G’d to postpone the decree as He did in response to the repentance and entreaty of Chizkiyah, King of Yehudah whose prayer resulted in his death, announced by the prophet Isaiah, being put on hold for 15 years. (Kings II 20,1-6, as well as Jonah’s prediction that Nineveh was doomed which was rescinded completely, as per Jonah 3,10)