Moses or Jesus ─ Who Was Greater?
Shmuel Silberman
Is
Moses the greatest prophet of all time? This question is vital when evaluating
the missionary message for two reasons. First, missionaries consider Jesus to
be greater than Moses. If it can be demonstrated that the Hebrew Bible regards
Moses' prophecy as supreme, then missionaries are contradicting the Hebrew
Bible and should be rejected. Second, the supremacy of Mosaic prophecy suggests
that no subsequent prophet has the authority to override anything Moses
teaches. For example, if Moses teaches the 613 commandments and proclaims their
eternity, no one can claim the Law has been superseded. This would undermine
the missionary claim that because of Jesus, Mosaic Law need no longer be
obeyed.
The
first Scriptural reference we consider is Deuteronomy 34:10, the concluding
statement of the entire Torah. This verse is used most frequently to
demonstrate that Moses is superior to all prophets ─ And there was no other prophet
who arose in
Exodus
33:11 reiterates the clear and direct nature of Mosaic prophecy:
Then
the L-rd would speak to Moses face to face, as a man would speak to his
companion, and he would return to the camp, but his attendant, Joshua, the son
of Nun, a lad, would not depart from the tent.
Missionaries
may object that Deuteronomy 34:10 is merely saying that Moses was the greatest
until his time. It does not preclude a future prophet surpassing Moses. This
interpretation is probably not correct. Moses was obviously a superior prophet
until the time of Moses. There seems to be no particular reason why the
Pentateuch concludes with such a general statement unless it is relating a
major point of theology. Nevertheless, for the skeptical reader we will adduce
additional sources.
In
Numbers 12:6-8, G-d rebukes Miriam and Aaron for speaking critically of Moses
as if Moses' prophecy is not qualitatively unique: He said:
"Please listen to My words. If there
will be prophets among you, [I] the L-rd will make Myself known to him in a
vision; I will speak to him in a dream. Not so is My servant Moses; he is
faithful throughout My house. With him I speak mouth to mouth; in a vision and
not in riddles, and he beholds the image of the L-rd. So why were you not
afraid to speak against My servant Moses?”
Here
Scripture is more explicit. "Will be prophets among you" suggests a
contrast between Moses and all other Jewish prophets. "I will speak to him
in a dream" indicates that prophets in the future will not achieve the
clarity of Moses' prophecy. Numbers 12:6-8 gives a generalization about prophets
past and present (The future tense is clear in the Hebrew; many English
translations are misleading here).
Having
established that Moses was and will remain unique among the prophets,
missionaries may respond that Jesus is a prophet not measured in the scale of
prophets. He is utterly unique, being Son of G-d. Even a comprehensive
statement by Scripture of Moses' superiority must make an exception for Jesus,
missionaries would claim.
Even
assuming the problematic position that a general statement of Scripture can be bypassed,
their claim falls on its face; the very same verse that missionaries use to
claim Jesus is a prophet is discussing ordinary prophets!
A
prophet from among you, from your brothers, like me, the L-rd, your G-d will
set up for you shall hearken to him (Deuteronomy 18:15).
Missionaries
allege Jesus is that prophet "like me (Acts 3:22)." They further
maintain that "like me" puts Jesus in an exceptional category. In
other words, prophets in general are inferior to Moses, but one individual will
arise, Jesus, who will be a superior prophet "like Moses."
A
very serious problem with the missionary interpretation of Deuteronomy 18:15 is
that it ignores the following verses:
According
to all that you asked of the L-rd, your God, in Horeb, on the day of the assembly,
saying, "Let me not continue to hear the voice of the L-rd, my G-d, and
let me no longer see this great fire, so that I will not die." And the L-rd said to me,
"They have done well in what they have spoken. I will set up a prophet for
them from among their brothers like you, and I will put My words into
his mouth, and he will speak to them all that I command him. And it will be,
that whoever does not hearken to My words that he speaks in My name, I will exact
[it] of him. But the prophet who intentionally speaks a word in My name, which
I did not command him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that
prophet shall die. Now if you say to yourself, "How will we know the word
that the L-rd did not speak?" If the prophet speaks in the name of
the L-rd, and the thing does not occur and does not come about, that is the
thing the L-rd did not speak. The prophet has spoken it wantonly; you shall not
be afraid of him. (Deuteronomy
16-22)
Clearly
G-d is establishing criteria for distinguishing true and false prophets. In
other words, Deuteronomy 18:15 and 18 are not limited to one individual, but
speak of prophets in general. There is a divine command to obey true prophets.
This passage legitimates Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. Etc. Without this
passage the Jewish nation could not determine whether Isaiah is true or false.
We
see how confused the missionary reading of Deuteronomy 18:15 is. Missionaries
claim it is a singular reference to Jesus; actually it is a reference to each
and every true prophet after Moses. Second, even if Jesus were one of those
prophets, Jesus would be in the same category as Isaiah, Jeremiah, etc. Like
them, Jesus would be subject to the general rule of Numbers 12:6-8 that all prophets
are inferior to Moses.
What
follows is that "like me" does not mean later prophets will be equal
to Moses in prophetic grasp. It means they are equally genuine.
The
religious implications of these conclusions are enormous. Not only are
missionaries deceiving people by positing Jesus as surpassing Moses.
Missionaries use Jesus' alleged superiority to justify overriding Mosaic Law.
Deuteronomy 13:1 reads, "Everything I command you that you shall be
careful to do it. You shall neither add to it, nor subtract from it."
Jesus cancelled Mosaic Law by permitting unkosher food (Mark 7) and
prohibiting divorce (Mathew 5) Paul, claiming to have been visited by Jesus in
a vision, nullified Mosaic Law generally.
The
prohibition of overriding Mosaic Law is found not only in the rule not to add
or subtract, but in verses appearing immediately after:
If
there will arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of a dream, and he gives you
a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder of which he spoke to you
happens, [and he] says, "Let us go after other gods which you have not
known, and let us worship them," you shall not heed the words of that
prophet, or that dreamer of a dream; for the L-rd, your G-d, is testing you, to
know whether you really love the L-rd, your G-d, with all your heart and with
all your soul. You shall follow the L-rd, your G-d, fear Him, keep His
commandments, heed His voice, worship Him, and cleave to Him. (Deuteronomy 13: 2-5)
The
conclusion "keep His commandments" is interestingly juxtaposed to the
prohibition of listening to a false prophet. After being told to disobey a
false prophet, why does Scripture make a general statement to keep G-d's
commandments? It stands to reason that anyone who, in the name of prophecy,
permanently abrogates any of G-d's commandments must be regarded as a false
prophet. Such an instigation must be in the category of "But the
prophet who intentionally speaks a word in My name, which I did not command him
to speak (Deuteronom 18:20)."
We
have come to the point where not only must Jesus be lesser than Moses, but
Jesus is not even a true prophet at all. We noted that a true prophet cannot
abrogate G-d's commandments, as Jesus did. Deuteronomy 18, as quoted above
gives a criterion of a false prophet as one who makes a false prediction. One
must regard as false prophecy the following statement: "...this generation
will by no means pass away till all these things take place." (Matthew
24:34).
This
statement follows a description of signs of the End of Days. "This
generation" of course died about 2,000 years ago and the prediction was
never actualized. Here is how a prominent Christian commentary (NIV Study Bible
p.1613) defends Jesus' "prophecy:"
a.
Jesus may be referring to the destruction of the
b.
Jesus may be referring to a future generation alive at the beginning of
"these things."
This
is hardly convincing. Jesus explicitly describes his Second Coming: "At
that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky and all the nations
of the earth will mourn (Matthew 24:30)." It will involve suffering
"never to be equaled again (Matthew 24:21)." This did not happen when
the
The
idea that Jesus is referring to a future generation fails too. Throughout this
speech Jesus refers to his audience as "you." When Jesus says,
"when you see.. (v.15)" the NIV itself explains this as referring to
events that happened long ago. Jesus tells his audience they will live to see "all
these things" and "all" includes past events and the Second
Coming. Obviously Jesus falsely predicted he would return in his audience's
lifetime.
For
additional reason why Jesus must be regarded as a false prophet, see The Testimony
Of Scripture by Yisroel Blumenthal.
In
summation; The Hebrew Bible is clear that Moses alone was and remains the
supreme prophet. Christians claiming otherwise are simply ignorant of
the Source Document, Torah. Neither Jesus nor any proponent of a new
religion can override Mosaic Law or prophecy. Jesus is simply a false
prophet at best.
Note:
Hebrew
Bible verses were from The Judaica Press Complete Tanach; edited by the
esteemed translator and scholar, Rabbi A.J. Rosenberg.