Albert Barnes Commentary Acts 3:22

"Moses indeed said, A prophet shall the Lord God raise up unto you from among your brethren, like unto me. To him shall ye hearken in all things whatsoever he shall speak unto you." — Acts 3:22 (ASV)

For Moses truly said. The authority of Moses among the Jews was absolute and final. It was of great importance, therefore, to show not only that they were not departing from his law, but that he had actually foretold these very things. The object of the passage is not to prove that the heavens must receive Him, but that He was truly the Messiah.

Unto the fathers. To their ancestors, or the founders of the nation. See Deuteronomy 18:16-19.

A prophet. Literally, this means one who foretells future events. However, it is also used to denote a religious teacher in general . In Deuteronomy 18, it is evidently used in a broad sense to denote one who should infallibly guide and direct the nation in its religious affairs. This prophet would be commissioned by God to do this, in opposition to the diviners on whom other nations relied.

The meaning of this passage in Deuteronomy is apparent from its context. Moses is stating to the Israelites the duty and office of the priests and Levites. He then cautions them against conforming to the surrounding nations, particularly on the subject of religious instruction and guidance. Those nations, he said, consult in times of perplexity with enchanters, charmers, necromancers, and wizards, and so on , but it was not to be so with Israel.

You shall not be left to this false and uncertain guidance in times of perplexity and danger, Moses implies, for the Lord will raise up, from time to time, a prophet—a man directly commissioned in an extraordinary manner from heaven, like Moses himself—who will direct and counsel you. The promise, therefore, pertains to the series of prophets whom God would raise up; or it is a promise that God would send His prophets, as occasion might demand, to instruct and counsel the nation.

The design was to keep them from consulting with diviners and so on, and to preserve them from following the pretended and false religious teachers of surrounding idolatrous people. Most commentators agree with this interpretation; see particularly Calvin on this passage. Thus explained, the prophecy had no exclusive or even direct reference to the Messiah. There is no evidence that the Jews understood it to have any such reference, except as one of the series of prophets that God would raise up and send to instruct the nation. If, then, it is asked on what principle Peter appealed to this, we may reply:

1. The Messiah was to sustain the character of a prophet, and the prophecy had reference to Him as one of the teachers that God would raise up to instruct the nation.

2. It would apply to Him by way of eminence, as the greatest of the messengers that God would send to instruct the people. In this sense, it is probable that the Jews would understand it.

3. This was one of those emergencies in the history of the nation when they might expect such an intervention. The prophecy implied that, in times of perplexity and danger, God would raise up such a prophet. Such a time then existed. The nation was corrupt, distracted, subjected to a foreign power, and needed such a teacher and guide. If it is asked why Peter appealed to this, rather than to explicit prophecies of the Messiah, we may remark:

   1. His main object was to show their guilt in having rejected Him and put Him to death (Acts 3:14–15).

   2. In order to do this, Peter sets before them clearly the obligation to obey Him. In doing so, he appeals to the express command of Moses. He shows them that, according to Moses, whoever would not obey such a prophet should be cut off from among the people.

      In refusing, therefore, to hear this great prophet and putting Him to death, they had violated the express command of their own lawgiver. But it was possible still to obey Him, for He still lived in heaven. All the authority of Moses, therefore, made it a matter of obligation for them still to hear and obey Him.

      The Jews were accustomed to apply the name prophet to the Messiah (John 1:21; John 6:14; John 7:40; Matthew 21:11; Luke 4:24). It has also been shown from the writings of the Jewish Rabbis that they believed the Messiah would be the greatest of the prophets, even greater than Moses (see Barnes on John 1:21).

The Lord your God. In the Hebrew, this is "Jehovah, thy God."

Raise up unto you. This means to appoint, or commission to come to you.

Of your brethren. This means from among yourselves, from your own countrymen, so that you will not be dependent on foreigners or on teachers of other nations.

All the prophets were native-born Jews. It was particularly true of the Messiah that He was to be a Jew, descended from Abraham, and raised up from the midst of His brethren (Hebrews 2:11, 16, 17).

For this reason, it was to be presumed that they would feel a deeper interest in Him and listen more attentively to His instructions.

Like unto me. This means not in all things, but only in the point that was under discussion. The Prophet was to resemble Moses in being able to make known to them the will of God, thus preventing the necessity of looking to other teachers.

The idea of resemblance between Moses and the Prophet is not very strictly expressed in the Greek, except in the mere circumstance of being raised up. God will raise up to you a prophet as He has raised up me—hōs eme. The resemblance between Moses and the Messiah should not be pressed too far. The Scriptures have not traced it further than to the fact that both were raised up by God to communicate His will to the Jewish people, and therefore one should be heard as well as the other.

Him shall ye hear. That is, you shall obey Him, or you shall receive His instructions as a communication from God.

In all things whatsoever he shall say unto you, etc. These words are not quoted literally from the Hebrew, but they express the sense of what is said in Deuteronomy 18:15, 18.