A Prophet Like Unto Moses

[Ashua]

"And the Lord said onto me, they have well spoken that which they have spoken, I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him." (Deuteronomy 18:17-18)

Type that verse into google. You know what you will find? Lots of websites comparing Moses to Jesus to Mohammed.

Christians claim that this is a prophesy concerning Jesus.

Muslims love to attribute this to Mohammed. (Even though the context of the chapter speaks of the brethern from the "midsts of thee" concerning the Levites --who's brethern in context is the other tribes of israel.)

Now, it would be easy to chuck this up as yet another proverbial trophy on the wall considering the sheer volume of OT prophesies referring to Christ. But for the sake of honesty, I would like to suggest another person who surprisingly seems to never be mentioned.

Joshua the son of Nun.

Now after the death of Moses the servant of YHVH it came to pass, that YHVH spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying,

Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.

Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.


From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.

There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.

Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.

This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for YHVH thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. Joshua 1:1-9

I'm kind of jumping the gun on this, because I'm not even closed to finishing my personal study of Joshua, but consider the ways in which he was "like unto Moses"

He was a leader of all of Israel. He delivered the people into prosperity under the blessing of God and before the Ark of his Covenant. He had a special covenant and favor with God unparalleled by anyone save Moses and Christ. While Moses led the people out of Egypt, Joshua brought them into the promised land. He even divided the Jordan river as Moses did the Red sea:

And YHVH said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.

And thou shalt command the priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye are come to the brink of the water of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan.

And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Come hither, and hear the words of YHVH your ELOHIYM.

And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living EL is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites.


Behold, the ark of the covenant of the LORD of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan.


Now therefore take you twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe a man.


And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of YHVH, the LORD of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon an heap.

And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents, to pass over Jordan, and the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people;

And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,)

That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho.

And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of YHVH stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan. Joshua 3:7-17

So, the question is, why is it that Joshua never even seems to enter into the discussion in fidelity of the context of this verse?

What do you think?

 

[Ashua]

Actually, I recant this. Acts confirms that Christ IS that prophet. I still find the Joshua parallel intriguing, but the scriptures confirm it for us. Christ IS the prophet mentioned in Deuteronomy.

 

[edwin]

Actually, I recant this. Acts confirms that Christ IS that prophet. I still find the Joshua parallel intriguing, but the scriptures confirm it for us. Christ IS the prophet mentioned in Deuteronomy.

The author of Acts has been wrong before in that there are statements made in this book of the the NT which contradict what is stated in the Hebrew Bible. Thus, to rely on Acts as confirmation of identification of the prophet in Deut 18 is wrong.

If you read the Deut 18 in context with surrounding chapters, it is clear that Moses is giving instructions regarding the office of judges, priests, kings and prophets. In other words these are instructions that apply to individuals who will fulfill these positions from generation to generation. Moses is not talking about one particular judge, king, priest, or prophet.

Generally, when the term "na'vee" (prophet) is applied with the definite article or on occasion with an additional preposition it is referring to someone specific. However, when used without the definite article unless it is explicitly connected with with a name or someone identified in a nearby passage, the term "na'vee" is understood in the generic sense.

It should also be evident that by using the terms "like me" and "like you", Moses is referring to human beings fulfilling the office of prophet- thus Jesus, whom Christianity accept as a demi-god, or actually as God, is ruled out.

Finally, some of the prophecies made by Jesus were never fulfilled. According to Deut 13. this rules out Jesus as the prophet of Deut 18.

 

[Ashua]

The author of Acts has been wrong before in that there are statements made in this book of the the NT which contradict what is stated in the Hebrew Bible. Thus, to rely on Acts as confirmation of identification of the prophet in Deut 18 is wrong.

If you read the Deut 18 in context with surrounding chapters, it is clear that Moses is giving instructions regarding the office of judges, priests, kings and prophets. In other words these are instructions that apply to individuals who will fulfill these positions from generation to generation. Moses is not talking about one particular judge, king, priest, or prophet.

Generally, when the term "na'vee" (prophet) is applied with the definite article or on occasion with an additional preposition it is referring to someone specific. However, when used without the definite article unless it is explicitly connected with with a name or someone identified in a nearby passage, the term "na'vee" is understood in the generic sense.

It should also be evident that by using the terms "like me" and "like you", Moses is referring to human beings fulfilling the office of prophet- thus Jesus, whom Christianity accept as a demi-god, or actually as God, is ruled out.

Finally, some of the prophecies made by Jesus were never fulfilled. According to Deut 13. this rules out Jesus as the prophet of Deut 18.

Those which have not been fulfilled will be at his second coming. And even if your belief that Moses was referring to many prophets "like" him, then Yeshua ha Notzri would also fall under that category. Christianity does not consider Jesus a demi-God, but God Almighty manifest in a human form --- just like the one who ate with Abraham, the Burning Bush, the Pillar of Fire, or He who wrestled with Jacob.