The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet.

(Deuteronomy 18:15)

Jewish people often say, “We believe in Moses, not Jesus,” as if honoring one cancels the other. Scripture itself refuses that rivalry. Moses points forward: someone will arise “like me,” and Israel must listen to him. The Sages, too, expected the Messiah to be the telos — the culmination — of the prophetic stream, not its denial. To receive the one whom Moses foretold is not to betray Moses; it is to obey him.

The setting and force of Deuteronomy 18

Deuteronomy 18 circles back to Sinai’s trembling. Israel could not bear the unmediated voice of God (Deuteronomy 18:16; cf. 5:23–27). In mercy, God promises an enduring pattern: He will raise up a prophet “from among your brothers,” put His words in that prophet’s mouth, and hold Israel accountable for heeding him (18:17–19). Deuteronomy also sets two tests: fidelity (no luring to other gods; Deuteronomy 13:1–5) and truthfulness (the word must come to pass; Deuteronomy 18:20–22). “Like Moses,” then, means more than gifted leader — it means covenant-faithfulness, authoritative mediation, and prophetic accuracy.

How Yeshua matches — and intensifies — Moses’s pattern

From among Israel: Yeshua is a son of Israel, of David’s line, raised within Torah and prophetic hope (Matthew 1; Luke 1–2).

Mediator of God’s words: again and again he says, “You have heard… but I say to you,” not erasing Torah but bringing it to its fullness (Matthew 5:17–48).

Fidelity to the God of Israel: he recites the Shema, loves the Father, prays the Psalms, cleanses the temple — no hint of leading to “other gods.”

Truthfulness: he foretells the temple’s fall (Luke 19:41–44; 21:5–6), and within a generation — 70 CE — it happens.

Signs: Moses gives signs to authenticate his call; Yeshua heals the blind, cleanses lepers, feeds multitudes, and raises the dead—signs that the kingdom has drawn near (Isaiah 35; Luke 7:22).

Narrative rhymes — Moses and the Messiah

Scripture often teaches by pattern. Notice the rhymes:

• Threat to infant boys: Pharaoh orders the Hebrew sons slain (Exodus 1). Herod orders the boys of Bethlehem slain (Matthew 2:16–18).

• Egypt and exodus: Moses is preserved in Egypt to lead an exodus from slavery; Yeshua is taken to Egypt and brought out — “Out of Egypt I have called my son” (Hosea 11:1; Matthew 2:15) — to lead a deeper exodus from sin and death.

• Forty and wilderness: Israel spends forty years in the wilderness; Moses forty days on Sinai. Yeshua fasts forty days and confronts the tempter with the very words of Deuteronomy (Matthew 4:1–11).

• Bread from heaven: Israel ate manna and died; Yeshua says, “I am the bread of life… This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die” (John 6:30–51).

• The mountain: Moses receives Torah on a mountain; Yeshua sits and gives the Sermon on the Mount, inscribing Torah upon hearts.

• The radiance: Moses’s face shines; on the mount of transfiguration Yeshua’s face and garments blaze, Moses and Elijah converse with him, and the Voice says, “Listen to him” (Matthew 17:1–5) — an explicit echo of Deuteronomy 18:15.

The Prophet — and more

In Israel, “prophet” is not a lesser title. The prophet brings God’s word, calls the people back to covenant, and, in Moses’s case, mediates an entire way of life. Yet Deuteronomy 18 is not the only promise. The same Scriptures speak of a Davidic king (2 Samuel 7; Psalm 2), a priestly figure who offers final atonement (Isaiah 53), and a Son of Man who shares God’s rule (Daniel 7:13–14). In Yeshua, these roles converge: the Prophet who speaks God’s words, the King who rules by self-giving love, the Priest who offers himself for sin.

Jewish expectation of the coming Prophet

Second Temple Jews asked John the Immerser, “Are you the Prophet?” (John 1:21). When they heard Yeshua, some said, “This is really the prophet” (John 7:40). That question springs from Deuteronomy 18. The Talmud famously remarks, “All the prophets prophesied only for the days of the Messiah” (Sanhedrin 99a), and midrashic voices heap honor on the Messiah as surpassing even the patriarchs and Moses. Such texts do not prove faith in Yeshua, but they show that expecting a climactic prophetic figure — greater even than Moses — sits within Jewish thought, not outside it.

“Like me” — how close is the likeness?

“Like Moses” includes at least these traits:

• Chosen and sent by God (Exodus 3; John 5:36–38).

• Face-to-face communion (Exodus 33:11; John 1:18; 5:19).

• Signs that testify (Exodus 4; John 5:36; 10:37–38).

• Mediator of covenant (Exodus 24; Luke 22:20; Hebrews 8 quoting Jeremiah 31).

• Intercessor who bears the people (Exodus 32:31–32; Luke 23:34; Romans 8:34).

Yet the likeness breaks into surpassing: Moses leads out of bondage to Pharaoh; Yeshua leads out of bondage to sin. Moses sprinkles covenant blood of animals; Yeshua pours out his own blood “for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28). Moses gives the Law on stone; Yeshua gives the Spirit who writes God’s teaching upon hearts (Jeremiah 31:33; Ezekiel 36:26–27).

Tested by Torah’s own tests

Deuteronomy warns that a wonder-worker who lures Israel to other gods is false (Deuteronomy 13:1–5). Yeshua affirms the Shema (Mark 12:29), prays to the Father, and calls Israel back to the weightier matters of the Law — justice, mercy, faithfulness (Matthew 23:23). Deuteronomy says a prophet whose word fails is false (Deuteronomy 18:22). Yeshua’s most public prediction — the temple’s ruin — occurs exactly as said (Luke 21:5–24). He passes Torah’s tests.

Moses points beyond himself

Moses knows his ministry is not the last word. He pleads for a heart-circumcision only God can give (Deuteronomy 10:16; 30:6). He begs that God’s presence go with the people or they cannot go on (Exodus 33:15–16). He promises a prophet to whom Israel must listen — and adds a sober warning: “Anyone who does not heed the words that the prophet shall speak in my name, I myself will hold accountable” (Deuteronomy 18:19). Peter cites this very line when he proclaims Yeshua as the promised Prophet (Acts 3:22–23).

A respectful word about rabbinic honor for Moses

We honor the reverence in which Moses is held. He is Israel’s liberator, lawgiver, and shepherd. Precisely because Moses is great, his promise of “a prophet like me” is weighty. To receive the one to whom Moses points does not demean Moses; it fulfills him. According to the Jewish midrash Tanhuma, Toledot 14, the Messiah’s stature surpasses that of the patriarchs and even Moses — not as a competitor, but as the fulfillment of God’s work through them.

Why this matters now

If Yeshua is the Prophet like Moses, then to “listen to him” (Deuteronomy 18:15) is not a suggestion; it is a covenant summons. He is the true bread in our wilderness, the new covenant mediator when our promises fail, the teacher whose words do not pass away, the deliverer whose exodus brings us home to God. He does not abolish Moses; he brings Moses’s hope to its goal.

Conclusion

Deuteronomy 18 does not pit Moses against the Messiah; it makes Moses the herald of a prophet to come—one who would speak God’s words, bear God’s people, and mediate God’s covenant. In Yeshua, the pattern becomes a Person: the Prophet like Moses who surpasses Moses by doing what Moses longed for—bringing the exodus from sin, the law on the heart, and a kingdom that does not end.

If you found this article thought-provoking, you’ll find much more in my best-selling book, Refuting Rabbinic Objections to Christianity & Messianic Prophecies: