A Prophet Greater Than Moses

Several months ago, I got into a bit of a review of what Jews today are expecting in terms of the Messiah, and that indirectly led me into a study of what first-century Jews were expecting two thousand years ago when their Messiah actually showed up.

In my last article, I discussed why I am convinced the man the Jews will ultimately be deceived into embracing as their Mashiach will in fact be a Gentile, and in one particular section I pointed out several Jewish men in the Old Testament who were types of Christ, as well as several non-Jewish characters who were types of the Antichrist. As for those who were types of Christ, I mentioned Jonah, Joshua, Isaac, Joseph, and David.

All of whom do indeed prefigure Christ in some way, to be sure. But as I got more deeply into these first-century Jewish messianic expectations recently, it took me all of about 10 seconds to realize there was a glaring omission on that list. There is someone who is arguably the greatest type of Christ in the entire Old Testament that I had carelessly overlooked:

Moses.

I'm happy to report that I have since remedied that glaring omission in my previous article. But as I got into what the Jews of Jesus' day were expecting, I became increasingly overwhelmed at how deeply and profoundly Moses does in fact prefigure Christ, and in a few ways that had never occurred to me before. As a result, it wasn't long before I felt compelled to flesh some this out.

New Testament hints

In a couple of places in the New Testament, there are passing references to "the Prophet" made by people in reference to the Messiah, and one such reference comes when the Pharisees send several priests and Levites out to ask John the Baptist who he was and why he was baptizing people:

Are you the Prophet? Another comes early in Christ's ministry, where people are buzzing about His authoritative teaching:

This is truly the Prophet. Prophet? What Prophet?

The Prophet spoken of by the greatest prophet Israel had ever known—Moses:

Moses told the people of Israel that God would one day send them a Prophet like him, who would be raised up from among the Jews, and that He would speak the very words of God. Thus, if they didn't listen to that Prophet, God would hold them accountable and they would suffer judgment as a result.

Although God told Moses He would raise up a Prophet like him, the writer of the book of Hebrews lets the Jews know in no uncertain terms that this Prophet (i.e. Christ) is a Prophet greater than Moses:

And when Jesus arrived on the scene, the Jews had been looking forward to this Prophet for nearly 1,500 years.

As I mentioned, during Jesus' ministry there were Jews who believed He might well be the Prophet. But why, exactly? Was it just the authoritative nature of His teaching? Was it the miracles He performed? It seems that most Christians aren't aware of what all may have been cluing them in.

In this article, I want to go over a Top 20 list of striking parallels between Moses and Jesus—ways in which the life and ministry of Moses foreshadowed or prefigured that of Christ. And as we shall see, some of this informed the Jews' messianic expectations two thousand years ago, and served to cause many to believe (and for some ultimately disbelieve) that Jesus was in fact their promised Messiah.

Although Moses was born in Egypt, Jesus was born in a stable in Bethlehem

Shortly thereafter His family fled to Egypt after being warned by an angel of the impending danger from King Herod (see #2):

Moses narrowly escaped being killed by a murderous Gentile ruler hell-bent on killing male Jewish babies:

Ditto for Jesus, after the fraudulent Roman client king of Judea was told by the Magi that the real King of the Jews had been born in Bethlehem:

Moses grew up as an adopted member of Pharaoh's royal family in Egypt:

But he left it all behind to serve and save his people who were enslaved down in Egypt.

Jesus was royalty in heaven—the Son of the living God, and (temporarily) left it all behind to lower Himself to serve and save a world enslaved by sin:

Moses spent forty years tending sheep:

Jesus is the Good Shepherd, who faithfully watches over His flock of believers:

Moses mediated a temporary covenant between God and men:

Moses' covenant was based on the blood of bulls and goats, and it would allow God to temporarily set aside people's sin until His Son accomplished the full atonement for it at Calvary. Jesus mediated a better covenant, a permanent one based on His own blood:

Moses led the Israelites out of physical bondage and slavery to the Egyptians through miraculous demonstrations of God's power, culminating in the death of the firstborn of every family—including Pharaoh's:

Demonstrating even greater power, Jesus leads believers out of spiritual bondage and slavery to sin:

Moses repeatedly interceded for the Israelites due to their disobedience, hardheartedness, blatant idolatry, grumbling, you name it. Moses would plead for God to forgive them and God would do so, but in most cases He would discipline them in some way.

For example, in Exodus 32 God is so sorely vexed with Israel over the incident with the golden calf that He is ready to wipe them out, but Moses stands in the gap for them yet again:

One of Christ's primary functions during the current Church Age is to sit at the right hand of the Father and intercede for believers when we sin:

Moses performed a number of miracles (or perhaps I should say God performed them through him), which is significant in and of itself because this was not true for all Old Testament prophets. Of course, Christ performed miracles virtually every day of His entire earthly ministry. What's interesting, however, is that a number of Moses' miracles prefigure some of those performed by Christ or foreshadow some aspect of Christ's ministry, and the parallels are telling.

Here is a brief list of seven miracles that Moses performed (in blue) that in some way prefigure those of Christ or some aspect of His ministry (in red). Since these events are pretty well known, I will refrain from quotations and simply include Scripture references for your convenience.

1. Moses turned the waters of the Nile into blood, including water in "vessels of wood and stone" (Exod. 7:14–25).

Jesus first miracle was performed at the wedding in Cana, where He turned water into wine. And it wasn't just any water—it was water that was used for ceremonial cleansing that was stored in vessels of stone (John 2:1–11). The wine, of course, represented His blood, which cleanses from sin those who believe in faith.

2. In response to the complaints of the people, God tells Moses He will feed them with manna from heaven, as well as quail. This continued for the entire 40 years of their wandering in the desert (Exod. 16:1–13).

John records Jesus miraculously multiplying five loaves and two fish into a repast for a crowd of 5,000 people (John 6:1–14). Similarly, Matthew and Mark record Jesus feeding a crowd of 4,000 with seven loaves and a few small fish (Matt. 15:29–38; Mark 8:1–10). Jesus identifies Himself as the bread of life, and we must "partake" of Him to receive eternal salvation (John 6:35).

3. At one point, the Israelites were growing sick and tired of the manna God had been providing them with, and grumbled against God and Moses. In response, God sent them an infestation of fiery serpents with a deadly bite. The people repented of their sin and pleaded with Moses to once again intercede for them, and God told Moses to craft a bronze serpent and fasten it to a pole. He told Moses that anyone who had been been bitten and looked upon the bronze serpent would be healed (Num. 21:4–9).

Although this strange incident is never again mentioned anywhere in the Old Testament, Jesus brings it up in His conversation with Nicodemus when He tells him that just as Moses lifted up the bronze serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be "lifted up" so that all who look to Him in faith may gain eternal life (John 3:14).

In the Bible, bronze (or brass) is a metal that represents sin, the serpent represents Satan and by extension sin itself, and the wooden pole represents the cross upon which Jesus was crucified.

4. Moses exercised control over the forces of nature when he parted the Red Sea so the Israelites could cross safely on dry ground, and then they watched in awe as the sea returned to swallow up Pharaoh's finest who were in hot pursuit (Exod. 14).

Jesus exercised control over the forces of nature when He walked on the water on the Sea of Galilee (John 6:16–21). In a related incident, Jesus commanded the wind and waves to be still during a storm at sea (Matt. 8:23–27).

5. While encamped in Rephidim, the Israelites were grumbling because they had no water. An exasperated Moses goes to God, and God tells him to take his staff and strike a particular rock, and water flowed out of the rock for the people to drink (Exod. 17:1–7).

While passing through Samaria, Jesus and His disciples stop at a town and the disciples go to buy food. Jesus waits for them at a well, and ends up speaking to a Samaritan woman who has come to draw water. In His conversation with her, Jesus identifies Himself as the source of living water (the Holy Spirit), and tells her that all who drink of it will never thirst again (John 4:7–14).

6. In a second related incident, God told Moses to speak to the rock so that it would provide water for the people. However, Moses disobeyed God and struck the rock as he had on the previous occasion. Not only that, but Moses struck the rock twice, not just once. Because of his disobedience, God told Moses that he would not cross over into the Promised Land with the people. God let him see it from the top of Mt. Nebo before his death, but he wasn't allowed to enter in (Num. 20:2–13; Deut. 32:48–52).

On the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus announced to the people that He is the source of living water. And that source of living water was only "struck" once, not twice. Jesus only died once for our sin (Heb. 8:10–15).

7. In the wilderness of Shur, the Israelites once again had an issue with water—it was bitter and unpotable. God showed Moses a tree, and told him to throw it into the bitter water. When he did, the wood of the tree made the bitter water sweet and the people could drink it and live (Exod. 15:22–26).

When Jesus sacrificed His life on the tree of Calvary and then rose from the grave on the third day, He turned the bitter water of sin, judgment, and eternal separation from God into the sweet water of salvation, redemption, and eternal life (1 Cor. 15:1–19).

Moses received the 10 Commandments on Mt. Sinai:

Jesus cast those 10 Commandments in a whole new light in his Sermon on the Mount when He told the people they were still valid and that He had come to fulfill them perfectly (because they never could).

Jesus raised the stakes on the Law of Moses by bringing what had been external and physical to a new level: internal and spiritual. He did this to try and get it through their heads that, contrary to the teaching of the Pharisees, they could never attain righteousness through their own human efforts—that was the entire point. The purpose of the law was to make them realize their utter sinfulness and point them to Christ:

Moses had a level of intimacy with God that was unmatched by any other Old Testament prophet:

God didn't speak to Jesus as man speaks to his friend—He spoke to Him as a loving dad speaks to his son, and Jesus invariably called Him "Father":

When Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with the tablets containing the 10 Commandments, his face shone like the sun to the extent that people were afraid to approach him:

At the Transfiguration, Jesus took Peter, James, and John onto a mountain, where He appeared in His glorified form with Moses and Elijah. His face shone like the sun, but it was His own glory:

After descending from Mt. Sinai the first time only to discover that the people had made and were worshiping a golden calf, Moses was so angry he smashed the tablets with the 10 Commandments. On account of their great sin, Moses interceded for them and was ready to sacrifice his life for them to spare them from God's wrath:

This is the very reason Jesus came into the world to begin with—to give His life as a ransom for many:

Moses was married to Zipporah, a Midianite (an area in the northwestern Arabian Peninsula):

Jesus also has a non-Jewish Bride—the Church:

Forty is the biblical number of testing, and Moses fasted for forty days on Mt. Sinai when he went back up to receive a second set of stone tablets containing the 10 Commandments from God. Recall that Moses had smashed the first set in a rage upon seeing the golden calf the people were worshiping when he came back from his first trip:

When Moses returned with the second set of stone tablets, in a sense it marked the beginning of advent of the law.

Jesus fasted for 40 days in the wilderness, which included being tempted three times by Satan, before He set off on His public ministry to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom:

When Jesus began to preach the gospel of the kingdom, in a sense it marked the beginning of the advent of grace.

The tenth and final plague God poured out on the Egyptians was to smite the firstborn of every family, and He told Moses what the people should do to avoid the plague—apply the blood of a lamb to the two doorposts (aka doorjambs) and to the beam across the top of the door known as a lintel. Those "covered by the blood of the lamb" were spared from death:

This blood-on-wood arrangement obviously foreshadowed what Christ would accomplish on a wooden cross many centuries later, and it is by having our sins washed away by the blood of the Lamb—our Passover Lamb—that we are spared from eternal death:

According to Jewish tradition, it was 50 days after their departure from Egypt that the Israelites waited upon the LORD at Mt. Sinai to receive His law:

Traditionally, this date corresponds to Shavuot (aka the day of Pentecost). Note that there are biblical scholars who question the count of exactly 50 days, since the Bible only says "in the third month," which leaves it open to various manner of speculation.

It was on the day of Pentecost, 50 days after the Resurrection, that 120 believers in Jerusalem were waiting upon the LORD to receive the Holy Spirit:

And just like that, the Church—the body of Christ—was conceived.

At Mt. Sinai, God effectively gave Moses His audible stamp of approval by allowing the people to hear Him speak to Moses. God did this so that the people would have confidence that Moses truly spoke for Him:

God gave Jesus His spoken approval both at His baptism...

...and at the Transfiguration:

The Israelites had been in the darkness of slavery in Egypt for 430 years when Moses came to them with God's deliverance:

When John the Baptist began preaching repentance and baptizing people in water in preparation for the advent of the Messiah, the Jews had not heard from God through any prophet for over 400 years. John was literally the first prophet Israel had heard from since Malachi—in other words, they had endured four centuries of silence from God.

Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament (not just in canonical order but chronologically as well); and although the date of its composition is not known with precision, scholars can place it within a certain window of time. As far as exactly when Malachi was written, Bible.org has this to say:

So, if you take the latest possible year for Malachi (433 BC) and consider the birth of Christ, which theoreticaly could have occurred in 3 BC, as the "official" end of God's four centuries of silence, it is within the realm of possibility that it could have been exactly 430 years, the same length of time the Israelites languished in Egypt before they marched out of there under Moses' leadership. It may be rabid speculation, but it is interesting.

The Bible is chock-full of contradictions...NOT: Paul also mentions the same period of 430 years in talking about the relationship between the Old and New Covenants:

Some of the more ambitious atheists out there love to point to this verse as a Bible "contradiction," because God originally gave the covenant promise to Abraham in Genesis 12 around 2000 BC, and the Exodus occurred around 1447 BC. "HA! That's an error of well over 100 years!" they squeal. But read the verse carefully, and note the word "confirmed." Paul isn't talking about when the promise was originally given—he's talking about when it was "confirmed." The covenant promise given to Abraham was confirmed to Jacob (Israel) in Genesis 46:1–4 in approximately 1877 BC, and since the Exodus occurred around 1447 BC, there's your 430 years. And while you're at it, scratch another Bible "contradiction" off your list.

Moses chose 12 spies and sent them into the Promised Land to check it out before they attempted to enter:

Jesus chose 12 disciples and sent them into the same Promised Land, only this time with the power to heal and proclaim the gospel of the kingdom, which enables men to enter the real Promised Land by grace through faith. And that's not a land flowing with milk and honey—it's spiritual reconciliation with God and an eternity of unimaginable bliss in His presence in heaven:

God had already told Moses he would not be allowed to enter the Promised Land due to his act of disobedience when he struck the rock twice to obtain water, rather than merely speaking to the rock (See #8-vi). So, when it came time for the Israelites to finally enter the Promised Land, Moses simply obeyed the word of the LORD and went off alone into the wilderness to die:

Note that Moses was in good physical condition when he died—God basically caused him to breathe his last and took him, and according to many Bible scholars assigned to the archangel Michael the task of burying Moses' body. And to this day, his body is nowhere to be found.

The prophet Daniel describes Michael as the great prince who stands for Israel (Dan. 12:1), and the reason many believe he was the one who buried Moses' body is because apparently Michael knows where the body is buried:

And apparently Satan doesn't, not to put too fine a point on it. I believe this verse indicates that Satan wanted very much to get Michael to tell him where Moses was buried so he could leak that information to the people of Israel. Had he succeeded, the Israelites almost certainly would have built an elaborate shrine to their fallen leader and would have busied themselves paying idolatrous honor to it ever since (something Satan knows that God hates). But Michael wouldn't spill, and in supreme submission and restraint simply leaves Satan to the Father's judgment.

At the crack of dawn on the Sunday after the Crucifixion, a small group of women went to Jesus' tomb to anoint His body with spices. But they were astonished when they encountered two angels who had beaten them to the punch and who had some exciting news for them:

He has risen...and just like Moses, His body is nowhere to be found.

Jesus' body is nowhere to be found, because
He rose from the grave, ascended to heaven,
and He is sitting at the right hand of the
Father making intercession for believers.

Note also that when Moses died, no one was with him except God. In contrast, when Jesus died He was surrounded by witnesses; but God had to temporarily forsake Him because Jesus had become our sin on the cross and God had to turn from Him to vent His divine wrath. That's why Jesus cried out the prophetic words of Psalm 22:1 as He hung dying on Calvary's tree, which is the only time recorded in Scripture where Jesus does not refer to God as "Father":

Finally, note that even in Jesus' darkest moment of physical and spiritual agony, when the Father had to temporarily turn His face from Him in order to judge our sin that He had become on the cross, Jesus still referred to God as "my God," and I believe there is a nugget to take away from this:

God never stops being God...no matter what.

Whether we love Him or submit to Him or have faith in Him or even believe He exists, He never stops being God. And not just any God:

Our God.

Our lack of faith or refusal to believe has no bearing on the fact that a Creator God is sovereign and on the throne, and every human being who ever lived—whom He created—is accountable to Him...whether they like it or not, whether they believe it or not.

So stand up and shout or sit down and shut up.

Some implications

As I said, some of this informed the Jews' messianic expectations two thousand years ago. Of course, although they couldn't be 100 percent certain exactly who or what they were looking for, due to their circumstances they were looking for Moses II. Moses I had mightily delivered them from over 400 years of slavery in Egypt and brought them to the Promised Land, and I'll go ahead and say it:

Moses was a tough act to follow.

In 63 BC, however, what had essentially been an independent Jewish kingdom under the Hasmoneans was conquered by Roman general Pompey, and was reorganized as a client state under Rome. In AD 6, the Roman province of Judea was placed under the rule of a prefect named Coponius (Pontius Pilate held this same position from AD 26–36, which included the window of Jesus' earthly ministry), and voilà—Rome was in control.

In other words, in AD 6 the "scepter departed from Judah" (meaning they lost the governmental authority to carry out capital punishment), as described in Jacob's prophetic blessing to his son Judah, who represented the line the Messiah would come from:

"Shiloh" was understood to refer to the Messiah, and there are stories about old Jewish men sitting in the streets of Jerusalem weeping in AD 6, because they knew what it all meant. The scepter had departed from Judah, and the Messiah was nowhere in sight. They knew God's Word couldn't be broken, so some Jews assumed that God must have abandoned Israel for their idolatry...which in itself would have been God breaking His Word (Jeremiah 31:35–37), but that's the conclusion some came to.

Little did those men know, however, that even as they wept a young lad named Yeshuah was busy helping His father in his workshop in a little backwater village called Nazareth. So, in fact they were absolutely right: God's Word cannot be broken.

The scepter had departed from Judah—but Shiloh had already come.

Since all of Judea was now under the authority and control of the Roman Empire, there was a corresponding uptick in messianic buzz. Surely the Prophet couldn't be far off—the Israelites were being oppressed and needed to be delivered yet again out from under the thumb of oppressive Gentile rulers.

This helps explain why Jews who eyed Jesus as a potential messianic candidate were anticipating that He would slap together a revolt and overthrow the Romans—they were looking for another Moses to do for them what the first Moses had done for them almost 1,500 years earlier:

Deliver them from bondage.

But when you stop and consider their slavery in Egypt, you might say they had forgotten what real slavery felt like.

A Prophet not quite as great as Moses: In reality, if Jesus actually had come to assemble a ragtag army of folks armed with swords and knives to try and overthrow the Romans, it would have been far less than what Moses had done. The Israelites under the Egyptian Pharaohs were slaves in a foreign land and were treated with cruelty. The Israelites under the Roman Empire were living in their own land in relative peace. They were allowed to maintain many of their normal social and religious customs and institutions, and as long they didn't break Roman laws or otherwise cause trouble, the Romans pretty much let them be. Now, I'm not saying the Romans were a bunch of sweethearts—I'm just saying they only responded with a heavy hand when they were forced to do so by violent acts of rebellion on the part of the Jews. In other words, it wasn't exactly "slavery."

In spite of that inconvenient truth, many Jews were looking for Jesus to rise up and throw off the yoke of Roman oppression, thus fulfilling the Messiah's perceived role as a second Moses. But as Jesus' ministry continued, He showed no signs of wanting to do any such thing. Everywhere He went, He healed people and preached the gospel of the kingdom. It was all about the kingdom—the kingdom God had promised Abraham nearly 1,500 years earlier, and the kingdom many Jews of the day believed would only come about by overthrowing the hated Romans.

As a result of Jesus' failure to fulfill their expectations, some Jews fell away by the time Jesus' ministry reached its climax. They perceived that He wasn't the deliverer they were anticipating, and then when He was taken into custody by the Romans and crucified like a common criminal (at their strident insistence), that pretty well tore it. I can just hear them:

"So here we sit, still oppressed by the Romans. Hmph...some Mashiach this Yeshuah guy turned out to be."

Of course, many thousands of Jews did believe—they rightly understood God's Word and did believe Jesus was the Prophet greater than Moses—the Savior they had been waiting for. Although large crowds followed Him during His ministry, it was after the Resurrection that many thousands of Jews and later even more Gentiles began to trust in Him for the forgiveness of their sin and for their salvation, and were spiritually regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit. They understood that the bondage Jesus had come to deliver them from was spiritual, not physical.

They understood that Jesus had come to free them
from enslavement to the law of sin and death, not
enslavement to some oppressive foreign power.

It's interesting to note that whatever circumstances the Jews find themselves in seem to give shape to their messianic expectations. In Jesus' day, they were under the rule of the Romans so they were looking for another Moses to deliver them. After the temple was destroyed in AD 70, however, things changed. Rabbis began dreaming up all kinds of allegorical interpretations of messianic prophecies, and today the chief messianic requirement is to rebuild the temple...the temple that was destroyed nearly 40 years after they had their real Messiah executed.

Rebuilding the temple wasn't even an issue in Jesus' day because it was still standing, uhm...and a standing temple doesn't need to be rebuilt. They came up with that one later to fit their circumstances.

In other words, the Jews have basically been making it up as they go for the last two thousand years in terms of messianic expectations, and that's because they've had no choice. Once you reject the truth and go into orbit around Planet Allegory, you are a lost boy—you can make Scripture mean anything you jolly well please. Anything, that is, except what it plainly says.

But remember that this is all part of God's sovereign plan. After the Jews rejected their Messiah, God hardened them and set them aside temporarily so He could spend the next two thousand years grafting untold millions of Gentiles into the New Covenant the Jews rejected two millennia ago.

So just as the prophet Moses delivered the Israelites from slavery and led them to the Promised Land, I pray that the Prophet greater than Moses has delivered you from slavery to sin and led you to the Promised Land that we have in Christ—and a kingdom we will be physically entering into very soon.

Except we won't need to send in any spies.

Greg Lauer — DEC '19

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