Last Words: a (final) look at Moses’, Jesus’, and Paul’s Farewell Discourses
The Last Words Bible Study: The Prophet Like Moses
Introduction
On many of the shows that Holly and I watch on cable TV, a new episode is first introduced with a recap of what’s gone before.
And that’s a good thing! Even when Holly and I are “binge watching,” I often need reminders of where we’ve been and what’s already happened.
I wonder if that might also be helpful in this (last) Bible study on Last Words?
The more I think further about Moses’ last words—his “farewell” speech—which is all of Deuteronomy but, in particular, chapter 30 vs. 11-20, the more I marvel at what that represents!
Realizing that, almost certainly, Deuteronomy was in fact written during or soon after the Exile (which is hundreds and hundreds of years after Moses actually died) the “second giving” of the Law, which is what Deuteronomy is, allowed God’s people to create, understand, and be covenanted in a new understanding of themselves and a new identity! When Land, King, Kingdom, and Temple are lost, who are they? How can they still be God’s people?
They can individually—and we saw that in the passage covered in our first Bible study—they can individually swear allegiance to Torah, God’s commandment or instruction. And Torah—again as our passage showed—is not esoteric, difficult, or far away.
No! In fact—again in our passage—each individual is to take in and cling to God’s Torah “through the mouth,” by memorizing and reciting it. In so doing, then, they remain bound to God even without Land, King, Kingdom, and Temple!
It’s a masterpiece! And it’s brilliance is shown to this day! To this day, Torah—the Law—is still a bedrock of Jewish identity, practice, and understanding.
Christianity will, of course, challenge and broaden that identity and understanding of what it means to be God’s people. And it will challenge and broaden the legacy of Moses for God’s people! And it will do so on the basis of the very text of Deuteronomy itself!
To see this and to understand it for yourself, turn now to Deuteronomy 18:15-22
Deuteronomy 18:15-22
Deuteronomy 18:15–22 NRSV
The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet. This is what you requested of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said: “If I hear the voice of the LORD my God any more, or ever again see this great fire, I will die.” Then the LORD replied to me: “They are right in what they have said. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command. Anyone who does not heed the words that the prophet shall speak in my name, I myself will hold accountable. But any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, or who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak—that prophet shall die.” You may say to yourself, “How can we recognize a word that the LORD has not spoken?” If a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD but the thing does not take place or prove true, it is a word that the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; do not be frightened by it.
Deuteronomy 18:15-22 Verse by Verse
Verse 15
The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet.
In the previous passage Moses had warned people not to follow the practices of other nations. He says, No one shall be found among you … who practices divination, or is a soothsayer, or an augur, or a sorcerer, or one who casts spells, or who consults ghosts or spirits, or who seeks oracles from the dead.
This verse, then, gives the alternative: The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me …
There are a couple of things to take note of:
First, in the Greek translation of the Old Testament (the Septuagint, which for hundreds of years had been widely used by God’s people throughout the Empire) the word “raise up” in Greek is ἀναστήσει, the identical word used for Jesus’ resurrection in the New Testament! God will “raise up” a prophet like Moses—like God “raised up” Jesus—whom, according to this verse, God’s people shall heed.
The other thing to note is the word prophet here is singular. Moses is saying God will raise up a singular prophet like him—not a series of prophets—whom God’s people are to heed (which is to say, obey!)
Verse 16
This is what you requested of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said: “If I hear the voice of the LORD my God any more, or ever again see this great fire, I will die.”
What happened at Horeb? That story is told earlier in Deuteronomy 5:22 “These words the LORD spoke with a loud voice to your whole assembly at the mountain, out of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, and he added no more. He wrote them on two stone tablets, and gave them to me.
However as both the rabbis and Rabbi Carlson teach, when a passage of scripture is quoted, the listener is expected to remember (or look up!) the rest!
In this case, Moses’ audience is expected to remember verse 24 where the people tell Moses: “You go closer and hear all that the Lord our God says, and then you tell us everything that the Lord our God tells you, and we will willingly do it”
This is significant! In two verses—at v. 18—we’ll see that the role established for Moses as a result of the people’s request at Horeb establishes the precedent for making prophecy the permanent channel of God’s communication with Israel. Since they requested it, obeying prophets—especially the “prophet like Moses” whom God will someday “raise up” is a commitment they cannot disregard! As we’ll see now!
Verses 17-18
Then the LORD replied to me: “They are right in what they have said. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command.
If you will, these verses are why I’m devoting a second study on Deuteronomy before moving on to Jesus’ Farewell Discourse in the gospels! In the previous study of Deuteronomy 30, Moses was reminding the people that, through him, God had given people their Law or Instruction which, if they memorized it—taking it in by mouth—they would be wise and righteous.
These verses add something more intriguing! Moses in chapter 18 is saying that a time will come when God will raise up a prophet like Moses in whom, as these verses state, God would put God’s words (or Word) in his mouth. And the people will be expected to listen and obey him!
I don’t know about you, but I sure see Jesus being described here! Right?
Verse 19
Anyone who does not heed the words that the prophet shall speak in my name, I myself will hold accountable.
The “I” here who will hold people accountable for what the prophet like Moses will say is, of course, God.
And as even the Jewish Publication Society commentary says, This declaration establishes the prophet as the highest authority in the land, higher even than the king, about whose orders no similar declaration is made.
Wow!
In many ways we’ve reached the pinnacle of this passage. What remains are verses meant to help people identify true from false prophets.
Verses 20-22
But any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, or who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak—that prophet shall die.” You may say to yourself, “How can we recognize a word that the LORD has not spoken?” If a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD but the thing does not take place or prove true, it is a word that the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; do not be frightened by it.
False prophesy is defined in two ways
A false prophet speaks in the name of other gods; or
Who speaks words not given him by God himself.
In either of these cases, that prophet either will die or deserves death
True prophesy (and a true prophet) is one who words turn out to become true.
Conclusion
My hope in including this passage is to help you see how Jesus was understood by his followers and how he is often depicted in the gospels. Especially in Matthew where Jesus’ sermon on the mount is very much depicted as a Moses-like delivery of a new covenant, Jesus is the prophet like Moses whom God sent to convey his words to God’s people.
As we turn next to the gospels I want to prepare you by stating that, in literature, there is a big difference between Farewell speeches or Discourses and Last or Dying Words.
You’re probably most familiar with Jesus’ Dying Words since they form a popular theme on Good Friday as the Seven Last Words of Christ.
Our focus is not so much on those but on Jesus’ Farewell speeches or Discourses. But that comes next!
