Deuteronomy 34 Footnotes

34:10 Like the phrase “to this day” in v. 6, the statement that “no prophet has arisen again in Israel like Moses” suggests to some a post-Mosaic source—indeed, one from a considerably later time. Incidental glosses (editorial adjustments and insertions), such as this might be, do not overthrow the ancient tradition of Moses as the inspired composer of the Torah. The phrase in question, in fact, is a biblical idiom for something of great significance; to say that a person or event is unlike anything before or after it is a way of stressing their gravity (see Ex 10:14; Ezk 16:16; Mt 24:21). Use of the expression here need not be an indication of a later perspective. But Moses, indeed, has no equal in later biblical history except for Jesus Christ, who was more than a prophet. Of all figures in Scripture, it is Moses who is mentioned together with Christ in the worship of the Revelation to John, “the song of God’s servant Moses and the song of the Lamb” (Rv 15:3).

To know God “face to face” is not in conflict with the idea that no one can look on the Lord’s face and live (Ex 33:20). This is an idiomatic expression of intimate relationship, having nothing to do with the physical face (see Nm 12:8).