Parshah Shoftim - Deuteronomy 16:18-21:9
Yeshua, The Prophet Like Moses
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In this week's Torah Portion we come face to face with one of the key Messianic Prophecies of the Old Testament and one mostly ignored by Jewish writers and scholars. The reason that it is so important is because it is spoken by Moses, the first true prophet in the Bible and the greatest. As we look closer we see the faithfulness of God to His Word and His Promises and we are reminded that we can trust Him and His Word for our lives.
The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers-it is to him you shall listen-'I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.' (Deuteronomy 18:15, 18-19)
It is a great sadness that Judaism today takes such a high view of Moses, yet fails to see how he points forward to Messiah Yeshua (Jesus). I think, perhaps, the reason that the Jewish people were told that this prophet would be like Moses was so that they would recognise him, and we see from the Brit Hadashah (New Testament) that the followers of Yeshua (Jesus) did. They saw in Yeshua the fulfilment of the prophetic and messianic hope. We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. (John 1:45)
How then did they understand this? Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, an ancient Aramaic translation of the Tanach (Old Testament), sheds some light on their understanding. They believed this Prophet would be sent by the Lord and full of the Holy Spirit and speak what the Lord commanded. There was also a clear instruction that they were to listen to and obey this Prophet. And, moreover, if they did not listen to the word of prophecy spoken by him then His Word would take vengeance. Peter seems to have shared this understanding when he explains that the Prophet promised by Moses is Yeshua and that the consequence of rejecting Him is destruction (cf. Acts 3:22-23).
Most Jewish scholars see this fulfilled in the prophets of the Tanach (OT) but we, like the early followers of Yeshua, see it fulfilled most completely in Him. They clearly understood and saw in Yeshua the fulfilment of Moses' promise that God's prophetic voice would not be silenced with his death and they understood that Yeshua must be to them all that Moses was to those who had come out of Egypt.
Who is Yeshua to us today? The point of these studies is to deepen our understanding of God and Yeshua and in knowing Him more to expand our worship.
Moses was unique among all the prophets who came after him. God himself, said: With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? (Numbers 12: 8). Moses alone met with God in this way, allowed even to see something of the physical nature and substance of God. This what made Moses so unique among all the ancient prophets; God himself, said: Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the LORD make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream (Numbers 12:6), but only of Moses was it said that the LORD knew him face to face (Deuteronomy 34:10) .
To no other and through no other was God's voice so clearly heard on the earth! That was until the Messiah, Yeshua, the Living Word, spoke God's New Covenant and sealed it with His blood.
When Moses said that this prophet would be 'like me' - what did he mean? The answer to this lies in the life and ministry of Moses and how it foreshadows Yeshua's. Looking at their lives, there are remarkable similarities, beginning with the faith of their parents who went to great lengths to ensure the safety of their children. Moses' mother placed him in a basket in the rushes to hide him from Pharaoh who wanted to kill all the male children. Yeshua's parents took Him to Egypt after being warned by an angel that Herod wanted to kill Him. So both came out of Egypt to fulfil the prophecy, Out of Egypt I called my son (Matthew 2:15; Hosea 11:1).
Both were initially rejected by their own people the Jews and accepted by Gentiles - Moses by the Midianites and Yeshua by Gentiles who put their faith in Him. Both identified with the people in their suffering and bondage. Moses, although going about it the wrong way, knew he risked his luxurious life in the palace when he saw the oppression of his people and killed the Egyptian - in that moment he had made a choice - the palace or the people of God. Yeshua faced these choices when on His forty-day fast faced Satan's temptation in the Wilderness. Both are described as being humble and both fasted 40 days in the wilderness; both offered their lives seeking to bring atonement to the people (Deuteronomy 32:30-32). Although God didn't take Moses up on this, he heard in Moses' intercession, love and compassion for the people, that same love magnified and made perfect in Yeshua, who willingly went to the cross to atone for the sins of mankind.
When we look at their ministries, we see Moses in leading the children of Israel out of bondage and slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land act as a Deliverer. We are told that it was by a prophet the LORD brought Israel up from Egypt, and by a prophet he was guarded (Hosea 12:13). Moses brought about physical deliverance from oppression and the opportunity to enter into covenant relationship with the Lord. In Yeshua, we too are rescued; this time it's from the power of sin and darkness to be brought into fellowship with God through the New Covenant, freed from darkness and the power of Satan to live in His Light, in relationship with the Loving Father.
Not only do we see both in the role of deliverer, they both mediated covenants designed to bring people in to relationship and fellowship with God. Both institute a new governmental order on the earth. God gave the children of Israel the opportunity to live in a theocracy, a kingdom where God is king and governed by His Law - sadly, though, they wanted to be like the nations and chose to appoint kings to rule over them. The Torah (Law of Moses) was given both as a constitution for life in Israel and as the regulations for Temple worship, together enabling the Children of Israel to live under God in the Land He had given them. The new Covenant re-establishes God's authority on the earth through the Church with Messiah Yeshua its head, restoring what was lost in the Fall - man's spiritual authority on the earth.
We are reminded that the purpose of the Covenant that God made with the Children of Israel through Moses was to lead us to salvation in Yeshua. Paul tells us this: ... the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith (Galatians 3:24).
Their lives so mirror each other that it surprises me as I write that my Jewish brothers and sisters could read this or hear these truths and yet not recognise Him or believe in Him - O that the Lord would remove the veil!
Both provided what man needs to live -we saw Moses deal with their physical needs and give manna, bread from heaven, and when there was no water he struck the rock and water flowed. Yeshua gives himself to satisfy our spiritual hunger, our deep need for God - a need we often try to fill but which is only met in Him. I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst (John 6:35). If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water' (John 7:37-38).
Moses lifted up the bronze snake and those who looked to it were healed (Numbers 2:8); and, Yeshua, using similar language, says: And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself (John 12:32).
The final similarity that I want to mention (although there are more) is that both their faces shone with the Glory of God: Yeshua on the Mount when he met with Elijah and Moses, ... Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:13, 18).
The reason I end with this is that Paul is telling us that we too can reveal God's glory as we are changed, as we come to Him our Prophet, Priest and King, the Great Shepherd of our souls. This is a God we can trust, a God who has so faithfully proved that His Word is true.
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