Deuteronomy 34:9

"And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him: and the children of Israel hearkened unto him, and did as Jehovah commanded Moses. And there hath not arisen a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom Jehovah knew face to face, in all the signs and the wonders, which Jehovah sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, and in all the mighty hand, and in all the great terror, which Moses wrought in the sight of all Israel."

"In the acceptance of Joshua, the people needed to understand that Joshua was not Moses' equal. God spoke to Moses face to face, but Joshua needed to find the divine will through priestly mediation."[18] Later on when Joshua neglected to consult through proper channels the will of God, in the case of the Gibeonites, a very costly error resulted.

"A prophet ...like unto Moses ..." There was never but One, in all human history who was indeed a prophet like unto Moses in several mighty particulars, a number of which are cited here: (1) in the mighty signs and wonders; (2) in his being the mediator of a Covenant; (3) who knew directly from God what was indeed the divine will; and (4) who actually led the people out of bondage. (Please see my comment more extensively on this in Deuteronomy 18, above.)

Joshua was indeed an inspired man, as indicated here. (See Numbers 27:18-23, and the comments there, regarding the endowment of Joshua with God's spirit.) (See Vol. 3 in this Penteuchal series).

Deuteronomy 34:10 is seized upon by some as proof that "ages have passed since Moses' death." This is not true. As Keil said, "This remark concerning Moses does not presuppose that a long series of prophets had already risen up since the times of Moses."[19] This remark would have been just as appropriate six months after Joshua's succession to the leadership of Israel as it would have been a thousand years later! The remark is eternally true.

Throughout these long studies of the Pentateuch, we have found C. F. Keil to have been a true and helpful guide in many difficult passages, and we can think of no better way to conclude this research on the five Books of Moses than to include this final paragraph:

"There is but One who is worthy of greater honor than Moses, namely, the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, who is placed as a Son over all the House of God, in which Moses was found a faithful servant (See Hebrews 3:2-6, and Numbers 12:7). He is Jesus Christ, the founder and mediator of the new and everlasting Covenant."[20]

POSTSCRIPT

Our final thought with reference to this long and intensive study is one of surprise. Through long contact with the writings of critical enemies of the Bible, this writer had unconsciously come to believe that, after all, maybe there were some really intelligent reasons behind the widespread rejection of these five nooks as the Books of Moses. Our surprise is that no shadow of any such intelligent reason exists. As a study in the University of Jerusalem has affirmed; "A careful long-term, computerized study of the whole Pentateuch reveals that one author, and one author only, may be credited with writing it." This report was circulated over the international wire services in all the newspapers of the world in 1982.