A Prophet From Among You
WARNING: This is a long post, so be patient, and make sure you read all of it.
There is much controversy in between Jews and Christian as to what exactly the prophecies of the Old Testament meant, and as to who they related. For the most part, the debate has been sorrounding the subject of the Messiah. There are certain prophecies which Christians associate with the Messiah, and thus find proof for Jesus' Messiahship. While Jews like to contend that the same passages are not concerning the Messiah, but rather some other personage of the Bible. And, in this way, the controversy continues.
However, while the controversy covers a multitude of prophecies and promises, rarely is there an argument about a particular prophecy pronounced by Moses himself. This particular prophecy is also the subject of another debate, in which a third group takes stage, claiming that they know the person of whom this prophecy speaks, and they uphold this person as their leader.
Of course, the passage I am speaking of is Deuteronomy 18:15, and the third group are the Muslims. Their argument is that, when it says, "from among your brethren," that the passage is speaking of the Ismaelites, the ancestors of the Arabs. Thus, the passage speaks of the man they consider their prophet, Mohammed.
It is my intent to examine these claims, and test the validity of such claim. So, I will kindly ask anyone of the fellow Muslims to please respond to the information I am about to post. I expect that we treat eachother with some respect, and think before we respond with some personal attack, or dismissive tone.
The Argument
First, we will take a look at the particular passage that is in question, and we will determine what the passage relates.
The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken. (Deut 18:15)
As most know, the Muslim argument is based on the use of the particular term represented as "brethren" in this verse. The argument is that, the term brethren here refers to a group of people outside of the brotherhood of the Isrealites, a group descended from Ishamel, Abraham's son with an Egyptian slave.
There is much to be said of such argument, so I will divide it up into different sections, so we can consider each of them individually, and then sum them up in the final summary.
--CONTINUED BELOW