Does Deuteronomy 34:10-12 give criteria for determining whether a person is "like Moses" or not?

Question

10 Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, 11 who did all those signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do in Egypt—to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land. 12 For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.

Does this give criteria for determining if a prophet is like Moses or not? I don't know if it's just the way it is worded in English, but verse 10 seems to me to be saying that a person needs to know God face to face to be like Moses. However, I do not know if I am interpreting the text correctly, or understanding what the Hebrew implies. Is this a criterion?

Now, this part seems a bit more unclear to me: In verse 11, is this laying out a criterion (namely performing miracle, signs or wonders) for being like Moses? If so, why does the verse talk about Moses' miracles specifically? Does this mean that the prophet must also do miracles in Egypt, to a pharaoh? If so, it seems to me that no one could really be the prophet if this were the case.

Are these two things (Knowing God face-to-face and performing miracles) criteria for judging whether or whether not someone could be this prophet? If not, how can we know whether a person is "like Moses" or not? How would we know what "like Moses" refers to? It seems that if there are not specific criteria, a lot of useless comparisons could be made, but one'd never really get to the answer of if someone is actually like Moses. But, if they are does this rule out pretty much everyone as the prophet mentioned, because no one did the exact signs that Moses did?

Answer 1

Actually YHVH confirms יְהוֹשֻׁעַ Yehoshua (Joshua) is like Moshe in the sight of Yisrael, when splitting/crossing הַיַּרְדֵּן Ha-Yarden (The-Jordan) [Joshua 3:7]

And YHVH said to Yehoshua : This day I will begin to make you great in the sight of all Yisrael, that they may know that as I was with Moshe, so will I be with you. (וַיֹּ֚אמֶר יְהֹוָה֙ אֶל־יְהוֹשֻׁ֔עַ הַיּ֣וֹם הַזֶּ֗ה אָחֵל֙ גַּדֶּלְךָ֔ בְּעֵינֵ֖י כָּל־יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל אֲשֶׁר֙ יֵֽדְע֔וּן כִּ֗י כַּֽאֲשֶׁ֥ר הָיִ֛יתִי עִם־מֹשֶׁ֖ה אֶֽהְיֶ֥ה עִמָּֽךְ)

Also YHVH helped Yehoshua faster than Moshe when miraculously stopping the sun from moving :

[Joshua 10:14] And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened to the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel. (וְלֹ֨א הָיָ֜ה כַּיּ֚וֹם הַהוּא֙ לְפָנָ֣יו וְאַֽחֲרָ֔יו לִשְׁמֹ֥עַ יְהֹוָ֖ה בְּק֣וֹל אִ֑ישׁ כִּ֣י יְהֹוָ֔ה נִלְחָ֖ם לְיִשְׂרָאֵֽל)

In the sight of Yisrael, Yehoshua would be considered the prophetic successor of Moshe in terms of impressive miracles (not commandments).

Answer 2

John seemed to have Deut. 34:10-12 in mind when he wrote his gospel. For "knowing God face to face" is the Prolegomena, which concluded with:

For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known. (John 1:17–18, ESV)

For "who did all those signs and wonders" we have the seven signs that John recorded.

What is the significance of using water in Jesus's first miracle?

Could the six jars of wine at the Wedding at Cana symbolize the six followers of Jesus at the wedding?

In John 1:14 what is meant by "glory as of an only begotten of a father"?

Note also:

Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “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, ESV)

Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” (John 5:45–47, ESV)

Luke also recorded in Peter's sermon in Act 3:

Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. (Acts 3:22, ESV)

Thus, the Apostles saw Jesus Christ and fitting the description in Deut. 34:10-12.

Answer 3

Yes it does. Well, kind of. Let's analyse both Deuteronomy fragments about prophet greater than Moses again.

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. (Deuteronomy 18)

10 And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, 11 In all the signs and the wonders, which the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, 12 And in all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror which Moses shewed in the sight of all Israel. (Deuteronomy 34)

Matthew in his gospel did a great job showing all the hyperlinks between the lives of Moses and Jesus. Jesus is the prophet like Moses of Deuteronomy 18. In fact, He is greater than Moses. The phrase „rise up” is the key. In the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testament, that particular word is translated as anistemi.

450. Anistemi - I raise up, set up; I rise from among (the) dead; I arise, appear.

22 For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up (anastesei) unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. 23 And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. 24 Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days. 25 Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. 26 Unto you first God, having raised up (anastesas) his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities. (Acts 3)

Answer 4

It absolutely is. First, this is the same book as the promise of "a prophet like Moses" (Deuteronomy). Second, in only two passages is the notion of "a prophet like Moses" mentioned (here, in 34:10-12, and in 18:15):

Deuteronomy 18:15 The Lord thy God will raise up from among you a prophet like unto me, from among thy brethren: him thou shalt hear.

Moverover, it explictly names the distinctives of Moses which make all other prophets not like him (making this — per the most fundamental laws of logic — the very formula of what it is to be like Moses):

Deuteronomy 34:10-12 And there arose no more a prophet in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the signs and wonders, which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to his whole land, and all the mighty hand, and great miracles, which Moses did before all Israel.

So it is very much a description of what it is to be like Moses, in that it is saying no one else has been like Moses because they haven't done this and that thing.

The preposition here to introduce the things no other prophet has done (ל) links "no other prophet has been like Moses" with what it is Moses did that they haven't. It is best translated "in" or "as to" as in the phrase, "no one has since been like Moses, in their signs and wonders..." Again, making this very much a formula, if not the formula, of what it means to be "like Moses" as the "prophet like Moses."

Needless to say, in history, the obvious prophet like Moses is Jesus Christ, as the Apostles taught.

Moses was an 'orphan child' from the mayim (water) adopted by a royal mother without being her proper son, much like the Virgin Mary, the daughter of King David, 'adopted' the Son of God who was from sh'mayim (heaven), and became His mother Who has no mother. Moses' life was sought by Pharoah as an infant, just as Herod sought the life of the infants who were suspected of being kings-to-be when Jesus was born. Moses gave a Covenant established in blood, and a Law for God's people from the mount; Jesus established a New Covenant in His blood, and gave the New Law on the mount. Moses spoke face to face with God unlike any other prophet; Jesus spoke only what He heard with His Father, being His very Son, not recieving revelation by dreams and visions, as other prohpets. Moses established the rule of Israel under 12 patriarchs and 70 elders as its primary authority structure. Jesus established the rule of the church under 12 Apostles and 70 elders. Moses began to save his people from Egypt when he saw their mistreatment and slavery under Pharoah, and so left his royal abode, and took their form to help them. Jesus, "who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being made in the likeness of men, and in habit found as a man. He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross" thereby saving them from the devil who enslaved them. Moses led the people out of Egypt and slavery to the Promised Land, and fed them with manna and flesh from the sky on the way; Jesus leads us from the empire of Satan to heaven, feeding us the Eucharist on the way, the "bread which came from heaven" which "is my flesh." On top of these of course Jesus is the most famous miracle worker in all of human history. And these things in common with Moses are perhaps only a scratching of the surface.

In other words, you would really have to be twisting things or going out of your way to be argumentative to not see that Jesus is the prophet like Moses, as again the New Testament affirms:

Acts 3:20-23 That when the times of refreshment shall come from the presence of the Lord, and he shall send him who hath been preached unto you, Jesus Christ, whom heaven indeed must receive, until the times of the restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of his holy prophets, from the beginning of the world. 22 For Moses said: A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me: him you shall hear according to all things whatsoever he shall speak to you. And it shall be, that every soul which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.