Reassessing the Origins of Deuteronomic Prophecy: Early Moses Traditions in Deuteronomy 18:15–22

The prophet like Moses in Deut 18:15–18 and the test of the false prophet in Deut 18:21–22 are often judged to be exilic (or postexilic) insertions that retrospectively redefine prophecy in response to a crisis in prophecy that arose during the final years of the Judean monarchy. Against this standard critical reconstruction, this article argues that the ideas recorded in Deut 18:15–22 are rooted in earlier traditions about Moses and prophecy, and therefore, that the passage is better characterized as a compilation and formalization of early traditions than as a late innovation or redefinition of prophecy. Arguments for a preexilic date of composition are also proposed.