“Elijah took his mantle and folded it together and struck the waters, and they were divided here and there, so that the two of them crossed over on dry ground” (2 Kings 2:8).
The story of Elijah’s parting of the waters is a clear allusion to Joshua’s parting of the Jordan River (Josh 3:17; 4:18). And Joshua’s water parting miracle is likewise an allusion to Moses’ parting of the Reed Sea (Exod 14:21). The purpose of Elijah and Joshua’s miracle is to identify them, not just as prophets, but as prophet who are in key ways very much like Moses. Undoubtedly, the fruitless search for Elijah after he was taken up to heaven (2 Kings 2:16-18) also serves as an allusion to the “fruitless search” for Moses’ grave after he had died (Deut 34:6). Even the reference to Elijah “striking the water” is a unique phrase used to refer to Moses (Exod 7:20).
But why all the fuss? Why does the biblical author spend so much time highlighting the unique parallels between Elijah and Moses? And while we’re on the subject, why does the author of Joshua also go to great lengths to present Joshua as a second Moses? The answer is tied to the promise made by Moses himself: “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him” (Deut 18:15). The longing for a prophet like Moses is an essential element of the eschatology of the Hebrew Bible, since this promise is tied directly to a longing for Israel’s spiritual redemption (see Deut 30:1-6, 11-14). For this reason, the Torah ends with an allusion to the promised prophet like Moses (compare Deut 34:10 with Deut 18:15), and the Prophets end with a reference to the coming of the Moses-like prophet Elijah (Mal 4:5-6).
By highlighting the extraordinary parallels between Yeshua and Moses in the New Testament, the authors show they are NOT intending to start a brand new religion. Rather, they are claiming that Yeshua embodies all the hopes and longings of our forefathers and that he is the one who has come to fulfill the predictions of our prophets! In other words, if the good news about Yeshua is not good news for the Jewish people, it cannot be good news for other people on earth.
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH'” (Rom 1:16-17).
