Charles Ellicott 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 unto the fathers.—It is better to read, For Moses indeed said, as the word is one of the common conjunctions and not the adverb meaning “truthfully.” The appeal is made to Moses in his twofold character as lawgiver and prophet.

As these words stand, taken in their context, they seem to point to the appearance of a succession of true prophets, as contrasted with the diviners mentioned in Deuteronomy 18:14. Even with Saint Peter’s interpretation before us, we may well admit those prophets as primary and partial fulfillments of them.

But the words had naturally fixed the minds of people on the coming of one great prophet who would excel all others, and we find traces of that expectation in the question put to the Baptist: Art thou the prophet? (John 1:21, 25). None who came between Moses and Jesus had been like the former, marking a new epoch, the channel of a new revelation, and the giver of a new law.

In all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.—These words are inserted by Saint Peter as a parenthesis in the actual quotation and suggest the thought of a quotation from memory.