Introduction
On the threshold of the Promised Land, Moses revealed how his work would continue. His role as the spokesman of God would not disappear with him; rather,
“the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you” (Deut 18:15).
Moses, in recounting God’s promise, clearly speaks of an individual prophetic messenger:
“I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him” (Deut 18:18).
This individual fulfilment was expected among Jews of the first century. “Are you the Prophet?” the leaders ask John the Baptist (John 1:21). “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world,” declare the people concerning Jesus (John 6:14; see also John 7:32).
The application of Moses’ prediction to Jesus is confirmed by Peter:
Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren; to Him shall you give heed to everything He says to you. […] For you first, God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways… (Acts 3:22, 26, NASB).
Yet while Peter focuses on an individual fulfilment, he refers also to the line of the prophets. His quotation from Deuteronomy is followed by the comment, “likewise, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and his successors onward, also announced these days” (Acts 3:24). This reflects the wider context of Deuteronomy 18:15-22 concerning prophets to come, and how to determine whether their message is from God, as well as allusions to the work of the Deuteronomic prophet elsewhere in the Old Testament (e.g. Jer 1:7).
This article will explore the extent to which Samuel fulfils the role of the Deuteronomic prophet. While not the first prophet to succeed Moses (Judg 4:4; 6:8), Samuel is the first of the line of prophets identified by Peter, and is given particular prominence by other Biblical writers (Ps 99:6; Jer 15:1). As such, the life of Samuel is recorded to present him as a prophet like Moses, though not the prophet like Moses.
Childhood
There are notable parallels between the childhood of Samuel and that of Moses.
| Samuel | Moses |
|---|---|
| “The sons of Kohath: […] Elkanah […] Samuel” (1 Chron 6:18, 27, 28) | “The sons of Kohath: Amram […] Moses” (Exod 6:18, 20) |
| “after Hannah had conceived, that she gave birth to a son” (1 Sam 1:20) | “The woman conceived and bore a son” (Exod 2:2) |
| Mother named and prominent in the infancy narrative | Mother named (Exod 6:20) and prominent in the infancy narrative |
| “So the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him” (1 Sam 1:21) | “So the woman took the child and nursed him” (Exod 2:9) |
| “Now when she had weaned him, she took him up with her […] and brought him to the house of the Lord” (1 Sam 1:24) | “The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter” (Exod 2:10) |
| Raised in an environment of opposition to God (1 Sam 2:12-36) | Raised in an environment of opposition to God (Exod 1) |
Outside of the patriarchal period, the only Old Testament accounts of conception, birth and childhood are of Moses, Samson and Samuel, Samson being somewhat briefer than the other two.
Inauguration as a prophet
The account of Samuel’s ministry displays parallels with incidents in the Pentateuch, demonstrating that Samuel is not simply “like Moses” but “a prophet like Moses”.
| Samuel | Moses |
|---|---|
| “the lamp of God had not yet gone out” (1 Samuel 3:3; see Exod 25:31-40 which describes the lampstand as a stylised tree) | “the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed” (Exod 3:2) |
| “Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord” (1 Sam 3:3) | “the place on which you are standing is holy ground” (Exod 3:5) |
|
“the Lord called Samuel” (1 Sam 3:4) “Then the Lord came and stood and called as at other times, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’” (1 Sam 3:10) |
“God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, ‘Moses, Moses!’” (Exod 3:4) |
| “and he said, ‘Here I am.’” (1 Sam 3:4) | And he said, ‘Here I am.’” (Exod 3:4) |
| “In that day I will carry out against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end.” (1 Sam 3:12) | “So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My miracles which I shall do in the midst of it” (Exod 3:20) |
| Unwilling to speak (1 Sam 3:15) | Unwilling to speak (Exod 4:10) |
| “the Lord was with him and let none of his words fail.” (1 Sam 3:19) |
“I will be with you” (Exod 3:12) “I, even I, will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say” (Exod 4:12) |
| “All Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord.” (1 Sam 3:20) | “Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had spoken to Moses. He then performed the signs in the sight of the people. So the people believed” (Exod 4:30-31) |
Prophetic Ministry
| Samuel | Moses |
|
A call to repentance: “If you return to the Lord with all your heart, remove the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your hearts to the Lord and serve Him alone; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.” (1 Sam 7:3) |
A call to repentance: “[When] you return to the Lord your God and obey Him with all your heart and soul according to all that I command you today, you and your sons, then the Lord your God will restore you” (Deut 30:2-3) “You shall fear only the Lord your God; and you shall worship Him and swear by His name. You shall not follow other gods” (Deut 6:13-14) |
| Serves as faithful prophet during decadent priesthood of Eli and Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phinehas | Serves as faithful prophet during decadent priesthood of Aaron (Exod 32:21-24), and Aaron’s sons, Nadab & Abihu (Lev 10:1-3) |
|
Intercedes for Israel: “I will pray to the Lord for you. […] Samuel cried to the Lord for Israel and the Lord answered him” (1 Sam 7:5, 9; see also 1 Sam 12:19-23) |
Intercedes for Israel: “Moses entreated the Lord his God […] So the Lord changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people.” (Exod 32:11, 14, see also Exod 33:12-17) |
|
Not a priest, but offers sacrifices: “Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it for a whole burnt offering to the Lord” (1 Sam 7:9) |
Not a priest, but offers sacrifices: “[Moses] offered on it the burnt offering and the meal offering, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.” (Exod 40:29) |
|
Deals with the issue of kingship: “there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations” (1 Sam 8:19-20) “whom the Lord has chosen” (1 Sam 10:24) |
Deals with the issue of kingship: “‘I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me,’ you shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses” (Deut 17:14-15) |
|
Writes down law and places it before God: “Then Samuel told the people the ordinances of the kingdom, and wrote them in the book and placed it before the Lord” (1 Sam 10:25) |
Writes down law and places it before God: “when Moses finished writing the words of this law in a book until they were complete, that Moses commanded […] ‘Take this book of the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God’” (Deut 31:24-26) |
| Orders war against Amalek:“Go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him” (1 Sam 15:3) |
Orders war against Amalek: “go out, fight against Amalek […] I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” (Exod 17:9, 14) |
|
Defeats enemy of Israel: “And Samuel hewed Agag to pieces before the Lord at Gilgal” (1 Sam 15:33) |
Defeats enemies of Israel: “after he had defeated Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan” (Deut 1:4) |
|
Mourned by Israel: “Then Samuel died; and all Israel gathered together and mourned for him” (1 Sam 25:1) |
Mourned by Israel: “So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab […] So the sons of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days” (Deut 34:5, 8) |
Farewell address (1 Samuel 12)
In his farewell address to the people of Israel, Samuel places himself as the latest in the line of deliverers sent by God, starting with Moses (vv. 6-11). There are clear parallels between Samuel’s address and the final speeches of Moses recorded in Deuteronomy.
| Samuel | Moses |
|---|---|
| “I am old and gray, and behold my sons are with you. And I have walked before you from my youth even to this day” (12:2) | “I am a hundred and twenty years old today; I am no longer able to come and go” (Deut 31:2) |
| Recounting Israel’s history up until the recent defeat of Nahash (12:6-12) | Recounting Israel’s history up until the recent defeat of Sihon & Og (Deut 1-3) |
| “If you will fear the Lord and serve Him, and listen to His voice and not rebel against the command of the Lord, then both you and also the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God. If you will not listen to the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the command of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you, as it was against your fathers” (12:14-15) | “I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it. But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall surely perish” (Deut 30:16-18) |
| “Take your stand and see this great thing which the Lord will do before your eyes” (12:16) | “Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today” (Exod 14:13) |
| “all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel” (12:18) | “the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in His servant Moses” (Exod 14:31) |
| “the Lord has been pleased to make you a people for Himself” (12:22) | “the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession” (Deut 7:6) |
| “Only fear the Lord and serve Him in truth with all your heart” (12:24) | “You shall fear the Lord your God; you shall serve Him” (Deut 10:20) |
The prophet like Moses?
Would Samuel or his contemporaries have seen him as the Prophet of Deuteronomy 18:15-19? Does he fulfil the characteristics described by Moses?
- Raised up by the Lord
- “a prophet like Moses”
- “from among you… from your countrymen”
- “you shall listen to him”
- “I will put My words in his mouth”
- “he shall speak to them all that I command him”
Samuel fulfils all but the fourth: the people did not listen to him.
The role of the Prophet was to speak God’s words; it was God’s response to the people’s request not to “hear again the voice of the Lord” (Deut 18:16). Samuel exhorted Saul to “listen to [literally, hear the voice of] the words of the Lord” (1 Sam 15:1), castigated him when he did not “obey [hear] the voice of the Lord” (15:19), and told him of God’s delight in people “obeying [hearing] the voice of the Lord” (15:22). Samuel reminded the people of the need to “listen to [hear] His voice” (12:14) and the consequences for those who do “not listen to [hear] the voice of the Lord” (12:15). But “the people refused to listen to [hear] the voice of Samuel” (8:19). Instead, at God’s direction, Samuel “listen[ed] to [heard] the voice of the people” (8:7, 9, 21, 22; 12:1).
Although a prophet like Moses in many ways, Samuel was not “the Prophet who is to come into the world”.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One