Problem: God promised Moses here, “I will raise up for them [Israel] 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” (v. 18). Muslims believe this prophecy is fulfilled in Mohammed, as the Koran claims when it refers to “The unlettered Prophet [Mohammed], Whom they find mentioned in their own [scriptures], in the Law and the Gospels” (Surah 7:157).
Solution: This prophecy could not be a reference to Mohammed for several reasons. First, the term “brethren” refers to Israel, not to their Arabian antagonists. Why would God raise up for Israel a prophet from their enemies.
Second, in this very context, the term “brethren” means fellow Israelites. For the Levites were told “they shall have no inheritance among their brethren” (v. 2). Third, elsewhere in this book the term “brethren” also means fellow Israelites, not a foreigner. God told them to choose a king “from among your brethren,” not a “foreigner.” Israel has never chosen a non-Jewish king.
