“The Prophet like Moses” motif of Dt 18:15, 18 in John’s Gospel

Abstract

The motif of “the Prophet like Moses” plays an important role in John’s Gospel. This motif is from the promise of God about the eschatological Prophet who will disclose God’s will to the people in Dt 18:15, 18. The background of this motif is basically to be found in Dt 18:15, 18. The promise of God about this Prophet has a deep relationship with the Word of God. The reason, firstly, is that Dt 18:15, 18 indicates it. Secondly, the definition of a prophet is not a miracle worker or a soothsayer, but the deliverer of the Word of God. It is also used in the OT. Various people (Elijah, Jeremiah, Isaiah and Ezekiel) used the prophetic fomula of Dt 18:15, 18. The next step to study this motif is to find allustions to Dt 18:15, 18 in John’s Gospel. It can be divided into two groups. The one group is concerned with the word “prophet” that might presume “the Prophet like Moses” (Jn 1:21, 25, 45, 5:46, 6:14, 7:40, and 52). The other is concerned with the prophetic formula that was related to the Word of God (Jn 3:34, 5:19, 30, 8:26, 28, 40, 12:49, 14:10, 31, 16:13, 17:8, and 17:14). These allusions indicate that this motif is related to several Christological titles (the Christ, the Logos, the Son of God). The Christ was used in juxtaposition with the Prophet in John’s Gospel. The concept of the Christ is joined to the concept of the Prophet. In the case of the Logos, Jesus is the perfect “Prophet like Moses”, because he is a deliverer of the Word of God as well as the Word of God himself. In the case of the Son of God, Jesus knows the Father face to face like Moses, but perfectly, because the Son and the Father is one in John’s Gospel. John uses the motif of “the Prophet like Moses” in Dt 18:15, 18 as the connecting link between the Christological titles. The reason is firstly that it is the Prophet promised by God. Secondly, in the history of redemption, many people expected this Prophet. Lastly in Jesus’ era, this Prophet was considered to be the eschatological figure who would clarify the Son’s coming into the world as the Word of God.