Who is the Prophet of Deuteronomy 18-18?

 

 

By: Shahid Bin Waheed

 

Silas of web site “answering-islam” has authored an absurd article, as usual a separate attempt to put the wool on readers’ eyes. This is my refutation to his absurd article using Bible and Glorious Qur’aan only. Let us read the facts with full context and complete thoughts to draw an accurate conclusion. Thus, we will start from the point the story began in the Bible.

Exodus 19:1-11 and 19:17-25; 20:18-22

019:001 In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai.

019:002 For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount.

019:003 And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel;

019:004 Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself.

019:005 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:

019:006 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

019:007 And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him.

019:008 And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD.

019:009 And the LORD said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee forever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD.

019:010 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes,

019:011 And be ready against the third day: for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai.

 

019:017 And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount.

019:018 And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.

019:019 And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.

019:020 And the LORD came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up.

019:021 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish.

019:022 And let the priests also, which come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them.

019:023 And Moses said unto the LORD, The people cannot come up to mount Sinai: for thou chargedst us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it.

019:024 And the LORD said unto him, Away, get thee down, and thou shalt come up, thou, and Aaron with thee: but let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the LORD, lest he break forth upon them.

019:025 So Moses went down unto the people, and spake unto them.

 

020:018 And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off.

020:019 And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.

020:020 And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.

020:021 And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.

020:022 And the LORD said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.

 

Israelites were not contended at Mount Sinai to receive the Commandments from God through Moses, as we read in Exodus cited above. Israelites were rather eager to hear the God communicating with Moses on the Mount Sinai. Whereas in the second instance to hear God speaking with Moses and Israelites directly and to see the God through their own eyes.

 

Once the wish was granted and the very first encounter to witness God scared the life out of Israelites, which is evidence in Exodus 20:19 (“And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.”). Thereafter we read in Exodus 20 to 22:

“020:020 And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not. 020:021 And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was. 020:022 And the LORD said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.”

 

The Deuteronomy contains what happened next, in which we read very precise details of the dialogue between God and Moses and the Law given in Exodus. The request of the Israelites to be spared from a direct address by God is granted. God reveals His  “Master Plan” to Moses with His eternal scheme of revelation of His Ever-Lasting and Final Word The Glorious Qur’aan through His last Prophet Muhammad. Who would be an Ishmaelite making it perfectly clear that it is the only way the request would be satisfied. Let us read Deuteronomy 18:16-22 of Old Testament”

 

018:016 According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.

018:017 And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken.

018:018 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. 018:019 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.

018:020 But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.

018:021 And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?

018:022 When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.

 

The Glorious Quraan says in Surah Al-Imraan Ayah 164:

 

 

Allah did confer a great favour on the Believers when He sent among them a Messenger from among themselves, rehearsing unto them the Signs of Allah, sanctifying them, and instructing them in Scripture and Wisdom, while before that, they had been in manifest error.

 

We further read in Surah Al-Maidah, Ayah 20 (Quraan 5:20):

 

 

Remember Moses said to his people: "O my People! call in remembrance the favour of Allah unto you, when He produced prophets among you, made you kings, and gave you what He had not given to any other among the peoples.

 

 Jews like to give this prophecy a spin by claiming that it is about Isaiah, and Christian as usual claim it to be about Jesus. Let us not forget the Christians claim that entire OT is about Jesus, it is absurdly laughable. However, Jewish and Christian claim fail hopelessly in the face of the context of the very Bible itself: “from among thy brethren, like unto thee.”

We notice that the Prophet has to be like “Moses” and not from the Israelites themselves, but among from their brethren Ishmaelites. Further examining the qualities of that Prophet and his characteristics no one matches but the Prophet Muhammad according to Qur’aanic decree.

• “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee”; this clearly proves that the promised Prophet will NOT be from among the Israelites, but from among their brethren. Now this begs to an answer that who are that “brethren” of Israelites? The use of reason and logic tells us that Israelites are Children of Isaac (Ishaaque) who is the brother of Ishmael (Ismaeel) who are the sons of Abraham. Therefore, it is not an individual address, but rather Israelites as group are brethren of Ishmaelites.

If for the sake of argument claims of Jews and/or Christians about Isaiah and/or Jesus are to entertain, that makes the language and/or wording of the prophecy very absurd and should have been “from among thee and thy children.” Instead of “brethren”

• The Qur’aanic verse quoted above clearly says that Muhammad (SAW) was raised of their own. Contrary to Glorious Quraan neither the Book of Isaiah and/or Gospels present any proof, which can substantiate the claims of Jews and Christians.
• In the prophecy we see a very precise differentiation between “ among you” and “ among thy brethren”, while Moses describing the God plan to his people. The claims of Jews and Christians that “among thy brethren” means Israelites themselves are not only absurd but also are contrary to all ethics and lexicons. How can brothers of Moses include Moses himself? They are exclusive of him when they are mentioned, therefore, the brethren of Israelites do not include them (Israelites). This means that children of Israel cannot be Israel’s brethren. The latter must have to be a separate entity of itself. It can be said that Prophet Hood was a brother to the Adites and to Prophet Salih to the Samoodites because of their individuality as members of their respective progeny, but it cannot be said that Israelites are brethren to Israelites, their brethren must be the separate people
• Interestingly enough the usage of the word “brethren” has been elaborated by the Bible itself in Genesis 16:12 (“016:012 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”)  Therefore the false claims made by Jews and Christians are self-defeating. Because Genesis 16:12 clearly states about Ishmael and his children “he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.” Genesis 25:9 (“025:009 And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre;”) imply that Ishmael and Isaac lived together and were present at the time Abraham passed away.  It must be appropriate to point out for western readers that “cousins” in the orient are usually called “brothers” and since Tawrat was revealed to Israelites, it means it was inevitable to speak according to the idioms of their language. Ishmael has no brothers beside Isaac that makes children of Isaac and Ishmael “brethren” to each other. We find further proof of it in Genesis 25:18 (“025:018 And they dwelt from Havilah unto Shur, that is before Egypt, as thou goest toward Assyria: and he died in the presence of all his brethren”) this verse tells us that Ishmael died in the presence of his brethren.
• The sheer jealousy and chauvinism of Jews and Christians resulted in to demonizing, denying the blessings and almost eradicating Ishmaelites from Biblical accounts by making changes in their books.  Notwithstanding the truth cannot be eclipsed by the falsehood of evildoers. Therefore, again, we find in Deuteronomy 18:15 (“018:015 The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;”). It must be noticed here that portion “from the midst of thee” is a Judeo-Christian insertion, as the we read further the chapter 18 of Deuteronomy with context, we learn the truth. In verse 18 where God has preserved the truth by having no mention of “from the midst of thee.”
• This may shock Christians who are almost always clueless about their own scripture that there very own Paul says in Acts 3:22  (“003:022 For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.”) without any mention of “from the midst of thee” It must be remembered that gospel writers have also not mentioned  “from the midst of thee.” Significantly enough that Ishmael was the “first born” son and/or in Jewish religious exposition, “Belonging to God”. However, from the Glorious Quraan we learn that the one like unto Moses was the Blessing of the joint prayer of Abraham and Ishmael and a "Covenanted One” at the time of the erection of Ka’aba  (Baitul-Lah), Therefore, it was especially and specifically reserved as an reward and inheritance of Abraham through his first born son Ishmael, for Ishmael’s sons, the real brethren of Israel and Moses.

 

We read in Glorious Qur’aan Surah Al-Baqaraah, Ayaat 125-129 (Quraan 2:125-129):

 

Remember We made the House a place of assembly for men and a place of safety; and take ye the Station of Abraham as a place of prayer; and We covenanted with Abraham and Isma'il, that they should sanctify My House for those who compass it round, or use it as a retreat, or bow, or prostrate themselves (therein in Prayer). (126) And remember Abraham said: "My Lord, make this a City of Peace, and feed its People with fruits' such of them as believe in Allah and the Last Day." He said: "(Yea), and such as reject Faith, for a while will I grant them their Pleasure, but will soon drive them to the torment of Fire, an evil destination (indeed)!" (127) And remember Abraham and Isma'il raised the foundations of the House (with this prayer): "Our Lord! Accept (this service) from us: for Thou art the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing. (128) "Our Lord! Make of us Muslims bowing to Thy (Will); and of our progeny a people Muslim, bowing to Thy (Will); and show us our places for the celebration of (due) rites; and turn unto us (in Mercy) for Thou art the Oft-Returning, Most Merciful. (129) "Our Lord! Send amongst them a Messenger of their own, who shall rehearse Thy Signs to them and instruct them in Scripture and Wisdom, and sanctify them: for Thou art the Exalted in Might, the Wise."

 

Deuteronomy 34:10 further impeach the claims of Jews and Christians for Isaiah and/or Jesus to be the prophet “like unto thee”:

 

034:010 And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face,

 

Christians claims that Jesus is “like unto thee” (like Moses), I wonder why they forget that Moses was not son of God, neither he was human and god at the same time like Jesus is claimed by Christians to be. Moses got married and died a natural death. He fought the Holy war. Contrary to that Jesus never fought the Holy war, never led an army beside his terrorist attack on temple according to Bible. Jesus never got married, didn’t have children and didn’t die natural death and never got buried like Moses.  Jesus according to Christians died on the cross and rose again after three days, while Moses didn’t die on the cross neither rose again. On the other hand Isaiah was a disciple of Moses. Teacher and disciple are not the same or equal. Isaiah lived at the time of Moses making no occasion for a prophecy about him to be the case since the prophecy says, “I will raise” a clear significant that the prophet will be raised in future time. We must remember that Isaiah was declared prophet at the time of Moses.

 

When we compare Moses and Muhammad (PBUT) we learn that:

 

• Moses liberated Israelites from the yoke of Pharaoh, so did the Muhammad liberated Arabs from Jahilyya (ignorance), political influence and servitude of the Persia and Byzantine and thought Arabs the Kalimah.
• Muhammad (SAW) got married and had children according to the tradition of Prophets. The likeness between Moses and Muhammad is mentioned in Glorious Quraan 73:15

 

We have sent to you, (O men!) a Messenger, to be a witness concerning you, even as We sent a Messenger to Pharaoh.

 

• It must be remembered that both Jesus and Joshua (PBUT) never claimed their likeness unto Moses. As falsely claimed by Jews and Christians that likeness means that the prophet of prophecy would be from among the Israelites, then why only Isaiah and/or Jesus? There had been hundred of Prophets after Moses among the Israelites. That makes each of the Israelite prophet an object of that prophecy according to Judeo-Christian logic.
• Deuteronomy 18:18 says: “…and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.” Which means nothing would be sent in form of a book like Torah (Tawrat) and Zaboor (Psalms) but the Archangel Gabriel (Gibraeel) will come with divine revelation and that Prophet would be an “Unlettered” one, who will remember the revelation by listening it from the angel. And he will transmit it to his followers orally. Glorious Qur’aan testify to that in 53:3-4:

Nor does he say (aught) of (his own) Desire. (4) It is no less than inspiration sent down to him:

 

We further read in Glorious Qur’aan 69:43-46 that says:

 (This is) a Message sent down from the Lord of the Worlds. (44) And if the Messenger were to invent any sayings in Our name, (45) We should certainly seize him by his right hand, (46) And We should certainly then cut off the artery of his heart:

 

Further examination of the prophecy (Deuteronomy 18:19 which reads “018:019 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.”  This refers to bringing the Code of Life, the Law; waging war against infidels and retaliation etc. this was given to neither Jesus nor Isaiah. We read in New Testament Matthew 5:17 (“005:017 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill”). Muhammad is the Seal of the Prophets, the last Messenger; he is the Prophet of this prophecy. This prophecy clearly states that if that prophet falsely speaks other than the commands of God, he will be killed. (Deuteronomy 018:020 “But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.”). It is the fact that despite of all the hate, enmity and multiple attempts on the life of Muhammad, he didn’t die and his enemies hopelessly failed to kill him.

 

Glorious Qur’aan says in 8:30!

 

Remember how the Unbelievers plotted against thee, to keep thee in bonds, or slay thee, or get thee out (of thy home). They plot and plan, and Allah too plans, but the best of planners is Allah.

 

In Surah Al-Maidah, Ayah 67 we read:

 

O Apostle! proclaim the (Message) which hath been sent to thee from thy Lord. If thou didst not, thou wouldst not have fulfilled and proclaimed His Mission. And Allah will defend thee from men (who mean mischief). For Allah guideth not those who reject Faith.

 

Prophet Muhammad remained unharmed and continued to become more revered and eminent. He completed his mission and his message spread all over the world. On the other hand if we apply Deuteronomy 18:20 on Jesus as Jews do   to Jesus who according to Christians was killed then this prophecy makes Jesus a liar and a imposter not a prophet like unto Moses.

 

Further study of Glorious Qur’aan reveals us (Qur’aan 17:74 & 69:44-46):

 

And had We not given thee strength thou wouldst nearly have inclined to them a little.

 

And if the Messenger were to invent any sayings in Our name, (45) We should certainly seize him by his right hand, (46) And We should certainly then cut off the artery of his heart:

 

As we continue to explore the prophecy and signs mentioned therein about “that Prophet” we read in Deuteronomy 18:22  (“018:022 When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.”)   that whatever “that Prophet” will speak and prophesies would be fulfilled. A careful examination of Muhammad’s life, his mission and his prophecies' an astonishing fact surfaces that all his prophecies have come to pass and not a single of them has been missed. In fact Muhammad’s enemies called him “Sadiq and Ameen” i.e. Truthful and Trustworthy.

 

Readers will find it very interesting by reading “Acts 3:17-25” that the prophet mentioned in prophecy as “that Prophet” stands distinguish and separate from Jesus and/or any other Prophet of Old and New testament

 

Acts 3:17-25!

003:017 And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers. 003:018 But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. 003:019 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. 003:020 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: 003:021 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. 003:022 For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. 003:023 And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. 003:024 Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days. 003:025 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.

 

The above verses of Acts also states the rejection and suffering of Jesus by the hands of Jews, but after “that Prophet” mentioned in the prophecy by the Moses who will be of your brethren (the Ishmaelites i.e. Muhammad) [this must be kept in mind that all the prophets including Moses foretold about this promised Prophet] until this promise is not come to pass, the heaven and earth will endure and in that time the covenant of the God which He made with Abraham  “All the kindred of the earth be blessed, shall be fulfilled.”

What need to be noticed in Acts chapter 3:18 in which Paul’s statement “he hath so fulfilled” of Jesus and the Prophet about whom Abraham, Moses and other prophets  (PBUT) have foretold and later in acts 3:21 “Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things”, clearly establishes the fact that the prophesied prophet and the pined for prophet stands out distinctly segregating from those prophets who appeared between the time of Moses and Jesus (PBUT). Consequently, there is no such prophet who appeared between Moses and Jesus who can be considered an object of this prophecy including Jesus as well.

 

John 1:19-22

Reading gospel of John we come across to John 1:19-22  (“001:019 And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? 001:020 And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. 001:021 And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No. 001:022 Then said they unto him, Who art thou? That we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?”). 

 

This obviously proves that Jews were waiting for the arrival of Muhammad (PBUH) because Jews always mentioned Muhammad as “that Prophet”. Gospel of John further provide critical insight about “that Prophet” indicating that he (that Prophet) is other than Jesus let me quote John 7:40  {“ 007:040 Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet}. This leaves no doubt that it is Muhammad (SAW), if it is not him then who else can there be who was expected by the Jews and prophesied by Moses?

 

Many Jews and Christians who reverted to Islaam during the lifetime of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) confirmed and confessed especially Rabbis and Monks that this prophecy is about Muhammad and Jews knew it from the very beginning. To name few who reverted to Islaam is a Jew named Mukaireque, a Roman named Zaghatir and those who confirmed but didn’t embrace Islaam were (1) Heraclius of Byzantine (2) Abdullah bin Suriya a Jew and many others.

 

Question to Silas: In your article you have attempted to prove that Jesus is the Prophet in Deuteronomy 18-18, if Jesus is the Prophet, than how he can be you sham god?

 

 A side comment on Jesus’ miracle:

 

Christians love to claim Jesus’ miracle of raising dead/s as the proof of his alleged godhood. But in fact Moses, miracles were greater than Jesus. Since Moses miraculously turned his staff into a serpent. Logically speaking, making a word into living serpent is greater marvel than the revival of a dead man. Because the difference between a living man and dead man is not as great as between wood and a living serpent. Thus, if Moses did not become God by performing this wonder how could a lesser wonder be an argument for Jesus being God or the Son of God?

Also read:

 

Jesus Was Not in the Likeness of Moses.

Bible Says: Jesus Was a False Prophet.

Bible Says: Jesus Was The False Messiah.

Paul LIED: Jesus is NOT the seed of David.

Was Jesus a Liar or Is it Garbage?

Was Jesus Cursed by God.

Which is True.

 

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