, as Moses was for that which was committed to him. If it were not
so, the promise would be deficient in that consolatory and elevating
character which, according to the context, it is evidently intended to
possess. If we were to paraphrase thus, "The Lord will raise up a
prophet, inferior, indeed, to myself, [Pg 111] but yet the bearer of
divine revelations," we should at once perceive how unsuitable it were.
_Further_,--It is quite evident that the "Prophet" here is the main
instrument of divine agency among the covenant-people of the
future,--that He is the real support and anchor of the kingdom of God.
But now the difficulties of the future were, as Moses himself saw, so
great, that gifts in any way short of those of Moses would by no means
have been sufficient. Moses foresees that the spirit of apostasy,
which, even in his time, began to manifest itself, would, in future
times, increase to a fearful extent. (Compare especially Deut. xxxii.)
Against this, ordinary gifts and powers would be of no avail. A
successful and enduring reaction could be brought about only by one who
should be, for the more difficult circumstances of the future, such as
Moses was for his times. But--and this circumstance is of still greater
weight--it forms the task of the future to translate the whole heathen
world into the kingdom of God. In it, Japheth is to dwell in the tents
of Shem; all the nations of the earth are to become partakers in the
blessing resting on Abraham. In the view of such a task, a prophet of
ordinary dimensions, as well as the collective body of such, would
dwindle down to the appearance of a dwarf. They would have been less
than Moses. In Deut. xxxiv. 10, it is said, "There arose not a prophet
since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face;"--a
passage which not only plainly refers to the experience acquired at
that time, but which expresses also what might be expected of that
portion of the future which was more immediately at hand. When Miriam
and Aaron said, "Doth the Lord indeed speak only by Moses, doth He not
speak by us also?" the Lord immediately, Num. xii. 6-8, reproves
their presumption of thinking themselves _like unto Moses_, as
respects the prophetical gift, in these words: "If some one be your
prophet,"--_i.e._, if some one be a prophet according to your way, with
prophets of your class,--"I, the Lord, make myself known unto him in a
vision, in a dream I speak unto him. Not so my servan