If you genuinely inquire, please read, because I took some time writing this. I am a direct person, so if this comes off offensive, sorry. I write with little or no emotion, just arguments.
JCBeliever said:
So Jesus is the Prophet, have we settled this yet?
Jesus and Moses have many similarites, and a good number of very unique similatrities sthat set the aside from other people. Muhammed and Moses's similarities are rather vague and include millions of other people.
First let me quote the verse in question, Deut. 18:15-22. This, in its entirety, is crucial.
15 - The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;
16 - According to all that thou desiredst of the Lord thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, "Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see this great fire anymore, that I die not."
17 - And the Lord said unto me, "They have well spoken that which they have spoken."
18 - 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.
19 - And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.
20 - But the prohet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.
21 - And if thou say in thine heart, "How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken?"
22 - When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.
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With that stated, we must look at what is said in verse 16 and understand it. This verse refers directly to God's revelation of the commandments to the Jews during the assembly on the mount. The people elected Moses to go near and hear all that God would say, so that the people would not be consumed by God's presence if he showed to all of them, all the time. Therefore, Moses became the prophet to communicate God's Will to the people at this time. This can be found in Deut. 5:22-27 and Ex. 20:18-19. I strongly suggest that you read these
before continuing.
Summary: God promised prophets to communicate His Will to the people, the Jews.
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In context of Deut. 18, Moses refers to the continuity of the Church's governing system, and not a specific time or period of time. The phrase "a prophet", while reading does not signify only one person, but it is used as an enallage for a number of prophets. It would be absurd to argue that this specifically speaks solely of Jeremiah or Joshua, or even in this discussion Jesus and Muhammad. This is because Moses here treats this in a continual manner of the Church's government and the succession of future prophets.
Summary: This passage does not signify one prophet, but a prophethood among the brethren, or the Jews.
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In addition, the latter verses quoted above in Deut., specifically 21 and 22, supports that Moses speaks of a line of prophets. The people ask how can they discern who is and who is not a prophet and God answers Moses, "When a prophet speaketh..." (22) The language used in these verses indicate that there will be more than one prophet by using "a prophet" instead of "the prophet".
Summary: As a whole, the verses indicate that Moses speaks of a line of prophets.
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Moses' words "from among their brethren, like unto thee" do not always denote equality. Therefore, it is true that there was no Prophet like Moses, that is to say, similar to him in every respect, or in whom so many gifts were displayed; yet it is no less true, that they were all like Moses; because God set over His Church a continual succession of teachers, to execute the same office as he did.
This is referred to in the words, "Forall the prophets and the law prophesied until John," (Matt. 11:13, and Luke 16:16,) where we see others united as colleagues with Moses in the government of the Church, until the coming of Christ. Yet Peter aptly and elegantly accommodates this testimony to Christ, in Acts 3:22, not to the exclusion of others of God's servants, but in order to warn the Jews that in rejecting Christ they are at the same time refusing this benefit of God (the prophethood); for the gift of prophecy had so flourished among His ancient people, and teachers had so been constantly appointed to succeed each other.
Summary: Like I said in the above premises, God promised a succession of prophets. Now, they are to be like unto thee.
We can go around in circles on this topic trying to decide who is more like Moses because we do not understand what this last premise indicates. Put it in context of the entire passage and and its references.
This passage does not refer to Muhammad. Period. That is an argument that arose in South Africa about 35 years ago. No scholar in history has recorded this "prophet" to be Muhammad. He was not a Jew, a brethren, or a leader of Jews.
In addition, this passage does not specifically refer to
just Christ. It refers to the entire line of prophets promised by God. This argument has occurred more than once, and with other prophets, but holds no water. I suggest for those who believe that it is Christ, like I did a while ago, to look at some commentaries and, more importantly, the whole picture.
Thanks for your attention,
Steve