Is Muhammad Prophesied in the Bible (Brotherhood)?

doug5Solas

July 18, 2024

Islam is interesting when you get into its claims. In general, they claim to be people of the book. Their claim is they understand it better than Jews and Christians. Because the Jews and Christians weren’t getting it God sent Muhammad. Muhammad was born around about 700 years after Christ. God goes by Allah in the Arabian hood. He sent Muhammed as the final prophet to reform the people of the book and get them on the right path. You might call it a reformation concept vehicle of sorts, I suppose.

Islam asserts that Muhammad is the final prophet. Both the Tawrah (Torah – OT) and the Injil (Gospels – NT) declare that “fact”. Let’s take a look at the claim. It is a multifaceted claim. In this post, we will look at the brotherhood facet.

The Ground of the Assertion

“The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— … I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. (Dt 18:15,19)

The context of the Passage

“The Levitical priests, all the tribe of Levi, shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They shall eat the LORD’s food offerings as their inheritance. They shall have no inheritance among their brothers; the LORD is their inheritance, as he promised them. … For the LORD your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand and minister in the name of the LORD, him and his sons for all time. (Dt 18:1–2, 5)

Brothers (other translations use “countrymen”) must be from the twelve tribes of Israel. This is further substantiated in the previous chapter.

you may indeed set a king over you whom the LORD your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you who is not your brother. (Dt 17:15)

The Establishment of Israel

The Jews are not a different race of people. Their genetics are human genetics. They are a people established by God with purpose, from a single man of pagan descent. God singled him out. God chose him to be the patriarch of a people, set aside by God to be his people, and He would be their God. His name was Abram when he God called him, later called Abraham. The rest of the people in the world would by nature and choice serve other gods, created by and inferior to Yahweh. They (we) are what the Bible calls Gentiles.

Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. (Ge 12:1–3)

I am not going to recount the entire story. The Bible lays it out in great detail in the book of Genesis. Abraham and his wife Sarah tried to make that prophecy come true for years. In desperation, Sarah gave Abraham her handmaiden Hagar and told him to get his son from her. Abraham took Hagar into his bed. Hagar conceived and had a son, Ishmael.

Ishmael’s Prophesied Legacy

But that was not the plan Yahweh had in mind. Yahweh let Abraham know that he had not followed the plan.

As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation. But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.” (Ge 17:19–21) (Emphasis mine)

As Yahweh had told Abraham, Sarah conceived, and Isaac was born. Ishmael and Isaac were brothers of different mothers. Ishmael was the elder brother, but as we can see, that doesn’t matter. Ishmael was not the promised seed.

But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing. So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.” And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son. But God said to Abraham, “Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named. And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring. (Ge 21:9–13)

Moving along, Hagar and Ishmael are cast out of the family. Isaac grows and has sons of his own (Esau and Jacob). The next level of refining takes place. Esau and Jacob were twins, with Esau being born first and Jacob being born hanging on to Esau’s heel. But Yahweh rejected Esau as the seed-bearer with this prophecy before they were born.

And the LORD granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived. The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If it is thus, why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the LORD. And the LORD said to her,

“Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples from within you shall be divided;
the one shall be stronger than the other,
the older shall serve the younger.” (Ge 25:21–23)

And here is how that came to pass. It was a two-step process. Esau first sold his birthright, and then Jacob pre-empted (stole) Esau’s blessing.

Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted. And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (Therefore his name was called Edom.) Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.” Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” Jacob said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. (Ge 25:29–33)

Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come near and kiss me, my son.” So he came near and kissed him. And Isaac smelled the smell of his garments and blessed him and said,
“See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed!
May God give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth and plenty
of grain and wine.
Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you.
Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you.
Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!”(Ge 27:26–29)

Paul confirms the refining process in Romans:

And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— 12 she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” (Ro 9:10–13)

The point is this. Yahweh planned and directed the lineage. Yahweh set aside Abraham. Yahweh directed the conception of Isaac. Yahweh decided to select Jacob to father the tribes of Israel and not Esau. Yahweh excluded Ishmael from inclusion in the genealogy. And Yahweh defined who may be eligible to rule as king over Israel and speak for the king. It must be a chosen brother, a member of one of the tribes of Israel. Muhammad is not eligible to be a prophet of Yahweh.

Applying the Analogy of Faith

Beyond that, the New Testament declares that the prophecy in De 18:15-19 refers to Jesus, not Muhammad.

Let’s take a look at that. This is a scene immediately following the healing of the lame man by Peter and John in Acts 3:6-8). Peter preaches from Solomon’s Portico in the Temple.

Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days. (Acts 3:22-24)

This is an example of the hermeneutic principle, “Analogy of Faith”. The principle states that clear portions of scripture define the meaning of obscure portions of scripture. Luke wrote this. The Holy Spirit inspired him. The passage is both truthful and infallible. He recounts Peter’s speech. Peter tells us what the passage in Deuteronomy means. In verse 20, he tells us he is speaking about Jesus. In verse 22, he tells what Moses said about Jesus. The Holy Spirit Inspired Peter. It can have no other possible interpretation. Islam may make a toothless denial that the passage references Jesus, but they have NO ground to argue that it references Muhammad.

This is an established principle in Bible interpretation. This passage may be apparent, and it may be unnecessary to explain. But the principle holds wherever we find it. When we apply the analogy of faith, there is no justification for looking further. Let scripture interpret scripture when it does.

Muhammad loses this argument on two counts;

By God’s decree, all Israeli leaders and prophets must come from one of the twelve tribes of Israel. Muhammad, as a descendant of Ishmael, is disqualified.
The New Testament declares the passage to be about Jesus.

Per the Qur’an, those who would read about this prophet in their Scriptures would not and could not find Muhammad here. The most-cited text fails to fulfill the necessary conditions.^[1]

_______________________________

^[1] White, James R.. What Every Christian Needs to Know About the Qur’an (p. 157). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Click For Further Study (Kindle)

Click For Further Study (Paperback)

What used to be an exotic religion of people halfway around the world is now the belief system of people living across the street. Through fair, contextual use of the Qur’an as the primary source text, apologist James R. White presents Islamic beliefs about Christ, salvation, the Trinity, the afterlife, and other important topics. White shows how the sacred text of Islam differs from the teachings of the Bible in order to help Christians engage in open, honest discussions with Muslims.