According to Almon Fackrell, scattered throughout the Old Testament are prophesies made by the prophets of God, that there would be a Messiah, an Anointed One, a great Prophet who would come to earth someday to redeem man, and to be the Eternal King of Israel. The prophets foretold many of the details of His birth, lineage, power, mission and death; and most of these prophesies are used every week by the Christian clergy to show the divinity of Jesus … There is one prophecy, however, which describes the promised Messiah clearer than most any other one … This prophecy is found in Deuteronomy 18:15, and is also referred to in 1 Nephi 22:20-21:
And the Lord will surely prepare a way for his people, unto the fulfilling of the words of Moses, which he spake, saying: A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass that all those who will not hear that prophet shall be cut off from among the people.
And now I, Nephi, declare unto you, that this prophet of whom Moses spake was the Holy One of Israel; wherefore, he shall execute judgment in righteousness.
Who was the “Prophet like unto Moses”? According to Nephi it was Jesus. (For the testimony of others, see John 1:45; John 6:14; John 7:40; Acts 3:22-24; Acts 7:37. For the testimony of Jesus himself, see John 4:25-26.) How was Jesus like Moses? Almon Fackrell gives 19 parallels between Moses and Jesus:
1. When Moses and Jesus were infants, male children were ordered to be killed by their governments. (See Exodus 1:8-22 and Matthew 2:1-18)
2. Moses and Jesus grew up with a step-parent. (See Exodus 2:9-10 and Matthew 1:18-21)
3. The stepmother of Moses was probably a virgin when he was born. The mother of Jesus was a virgin when he was born. (See Exodus 2:5-10 and Luke 1:26-35)
4. Moses and Jesus received their names from their step-parents. (See Exodus 2:10 and Matthew 1:24-25)
5. Neither Moses nor Jesus were Egyptians, but they both lived among Egyptians when they were infants, and their lives were spared by them. (See Exodus 2:1-10 and Matthew 2:13-15)
6. Both Moses and Jesus were royal princes, being the legal heirs to the thrones of Egypt and Israel. (See Josephus as quoted by Skousen pp. 198-199 and Talmage, James E., Jesus the Christ, pp. 85-87)
7. Moses and Jesus are the only two people recorded in the whole Bible as having come “out of the water” separately. (See Exodus 2:5-10 and Matthew 3:13-16)
8. Moses and Jesus were good shepherds. (See Exodus 3:1 and John 10:11-16)
9. Moses and Jesus were called by God to save their people. (See Exodus 6:2-7 and Matthew 1:21-23)
10. Moses turned water into blood, and Jesus turned water into wine, a symbol of blood. (See Exodus 7:19-21 and John 2:6-10)
11. The wind and the sea obeyed both Moses and Jesus. (See Exodus 14:21-28 and Mark 4:36-41)
12. Both Moses and Jesus came out of Egypt. (See Exodus 13:8-9 and Matthew 2:14-15)
13. Moses and Jesus set some captives free. (See Exodus 3:16-17; 14:30-31 and Luke 4:18-21; 1 Peter 3:18-21; 1 Peter 4:6)
14. Moses and Jesus are the only individuals named in the whole Bible as being “meek.”
15. Moses and Jesus chose the glory of God and rejected the glory of the world. (See Hebrews 11:24-27 and Matthew 4:8-11)
16. Moses and Jesus provided their people with bread from heaven. (Exodus 16:4-15 and John 6:31-56)
17. Both Moses and Jesus fasted for forty days and forty nights. (See Exodus 24:17-18; Deuteronomy 9:9 and Matthew 4:1-4)
18. While Moses and Jesus were in the wilderness, they were ministered to by angels, and [tempted]. (See Exodus 17:2,7 and Matthew 4:8-11)
19. As witnesses watched, both Moses and Jesus were taken away in a cloud. (See Deuteronomy 34:6 & Skousen, pp. 465-466 and Acts 1:9-11)
[Almon Fackrell, Parallels of Moses, Jesus and Joseph Smith, pp. 31-34, 153-174] [For more parallels, see the commentary and illustration on 2 Nephi 3:9]
Note* Did both Moses and Jesus make a visit to the sacred mountain of Horeb or Mt. Sinai? And was the location of Mt. Sinai at or near the present site of Mt. Lawz in that part of Arabia which was part of the ancient land of Midian, the land of Jethro? If so, then this might explain 2 Nephi 19:1 in which the phrase “by way of the Red Sea” replaces “by way of the sea” in Isaiah 9:1. [Alan C. Miner, Personal Notes]
1 Nephi 22:20 [Moses said] A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, like unto me ([Illustration] Parallels Between Moses and Jesus. [Almon Fackrell, Parallels of Moses, Jesus and Joseph Smith, pp. 153-174]