Muslims refer to Deuteronomy 18:18 (Tawrat) where God says to Moses, “I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him.”Muslims believe that this prophet was Muhammad. Abraham had two sons; Ishmael and Isaac. It is assumed that ‘their brethren’ refers to the Ishmaelites, and since it is assumed Muhammad was descended from Ishmael, he must be the prophet. However, a brief look at the background of the prophecy reveals that it was not the Ishmaelites who were in mind.
Who is God referring to with the words “them” and “their”?
My father used to work as a teacher. He often helped me with my homework. Whenever I asked him about the meaning of a word he would tell me to read the whole sentence or paragraph. I usually discovered the meaning myself just by reading the word in context! This is exactly what we must do when we read the Bible. We can’t just pick a word or paragraph out of context and make it say what we want. We must look at the whole context.
This prophecy is part of a discourse in which God gave Moses certain directions about the way the people of Israel (especially the Levite tribe) should conduct themselves once they reached the promised land. The first two verses of the chapter clearly reveal who God was referring to as ‘their brethren:’ “The priests, the Levites—all the tribe of Levi—shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel; they shall eat the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and His portion. Therefore they shall have no inheritance among their brethren; the Lord is their inheritance, as He said to them” (Deuteronomy 18:1-2).
It is clear that God is talking about the Levites. ‘Their brethren’ are the other tribes of Israel. Moses states that God will raise up a prophet like himself from among the Jews, from among their brethren. The prophet will be a Jew. Muhammad was not a Jew. He was born an Arab. The Arab people are not one of the tribes of Israel. So Muhammad was not Moses’ brother.

Who then fits the description of a prophet like Moses? Jesus Christ does. The New Testament (Injil) as a whole makes it plain that Moses’ prophecy in Deuteronomy Chapter 18 was fulfilled in Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Jesus Himself said, “if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me” (John 5:46-47). He never said “Moses wrote about Muhammad.”

In the Gospel of John 1:45, we read words spoken by the apostle Philip: “We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote—Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus was born of the tribe of Judah through Mary. Thus He was a Jew, an Israelite like Moses.

In Acts chapter 7 of the New Testament, Stephen says clearly that Moses foretold Jesus Christ. The apostle Peter declares the same thing in Acts 3:19-23, “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’”

Having examined the context, it is evident that Deuteronomy 18:18 has nothing to do with Muhammad!