Deuteronomy 18 · a question people ask
Does "a prophet… like me" mean one prophet, or the prophets the LORD would send one after another?
Moses says, "The LORD your God will raise up to you a prophet from among you, of your brothers, like me" (18:15), and the LORD says, "I will raise them up a prophet from among their brothers, like you" (18:18). Christians read this in two main ways. Both agree that the promise was the LORD's answer to what the people asked at Horeb (18:16-17), that the LORD will "require it" of whoever will not listen to the words this prophet speaks in his name (18:19), and that Peter quotes the promise while speaking of Jesus: he speaks of "Christ Jesus" (Acts 3:20), quotes Moses' words (Acts 3:22), and says, "God, having raised up his servant Jesus, sent him to you first to bless you" (Acts 3:26).
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
One prophet, and that prophet is Jesus
Those who hold this view note that 18:15 and 18:18 each speak of "a prophet", one person, and that Deuteronomy itself ends, "Since then, there has not arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face" (34:10). In John's Gospel people asked John the Baptist, "Are you the prophet?" (John 1:21), and "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?" (John 1:25). Of Jesus some said, "This is truly the prophet who comes into the world" (John 6:14), and "This is truly the prophet" (John 7:40). Peter (Acts 3:22-23) and Stephen (Acts 7:37) both quote the promise.
Deuteronomy 18:15 · Deuteronomy 18:18 · Deuteronomy 34:10 · John 1:21 · John 1:25 · John 6:14 · John 7:40 · Acts 3:22-23 · Acts 7:37
The line of prophets, kept in full in Jesus
Those who hold this view note that the promise answers 18:14, where the nations "listen to those who practice sorcery and to diviners", and that the verses after it give Israel a way to judge any prophet who "speaks in the LORD’s name" (18:22), which they read as looking ahead to many prophets over time (18:20-22). They point to the LORD's words to Jeremiah, "Behold, I have put my words in your mouth" (Jeremiah 1:9), which in the WEB are close to 18:18. They also note that right after quoting the promise, Peter says, "Yes, and all the prophets from Samuel and those who followed after, as many as have spoken, also told of these days" (Acts 3:24), and they read Jesus as the one in whom the promise is kept in full (Acts 3:22-26).
Deuteronomy 18:14 · Deuteronomy 18:20-22 · Jeremiah 1:9 · Acts 3:22-26
The verses
“and that he may send Christ Jesus, who was ordained for you before,”
“For Moses indeed said to the fathers, ‘The Lord God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me. You shall listen to him in all things whatever he says to you.”
“God, having raised up his servant Jesus, sent him to you first to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your wickedness.””