Thomas Aquinas, Disputed Questions on Truth (De Veritate)

1. Gregory says: "As there has been a growth age by age, there has been an increase in the knowledge about God." Therefore, the later prophets were more outstanding than Moses.

2. The Gloss reads: "David was the most outstanding of the prophets." Therefore, Moses was not the most outstanding.

3. Greater miracles were worked through Josue, who made the sun and the moon stand still (Josue 10:13), than through Moses. Greater miracles were also worked through Isaias, who made the sun go backward (Isaias 38:8). Therefore, Moses was not the greatest prophet.

4. In Ecclesiasticus (48:4-5) there is this said of Elias: "Who can glory like to thee who raisedst up a dead man from below . . . ?" Thus, we conclude as before.

5. In Matthew (11:11), we read of John the Baptist: "There hath not risen among them that are born of women a greater than John the Baptist." Therefore, Moses was not greater than he. Thus, we conclude as before.

To the Contrary:

1'. Deuteronomy (34:10) says: "And there arose no more a prophet in Israel like unto Moses."

2'. Numbers (12:6-7) says: "If there be among you a prophet of the Lord, I will appear to him in a vision, or I will speak to him in a dream. But it is not so with my servant Moses who is most faithful in all my house." From this it is clear that he is given preference over the other prophets.

REPLY:

Among the prophets, eminence can, according to various criteria, be attributed to some in a qualified way, but speaking without qualification, Moses was the greatest of them all. For in him the four things necessary for prophecy were present in a most outstanding manner.

First, the sight of understanding was most eminent in him, and through this he was lifted up to see the very essence of God, as is said in Numbers (12:8): "And plainly, and not by riddles and figures doth he see the Lord." Moreover, this sight of his did not take place through the mediation of an angel, as it did in other prophetic visions. Hence, in the same place in Numbers (12:8) we read: "For I speak to him mouth to mouth." And Augustine says this plainly.

Second, the sight of imagination existed in Moses most perfectly because he had it, as it were, at will. Hence, we read in Exodus (33:11): "And the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man is wont to speak to his friend." We can also note in this another excellence with reference to the sight of imagination, that he not only heard the words of the one revealing, but saw Him, and this not in the shape of a man or an angel, but as God Himself; not in a dream, but when awake. We read this of none of the other prophets.

Third, his declaration was most outstanding because all who were before him taught their families as one teaches a lesson, but Moses was the first who spoke for the Lord, saying: "The Lord says this." And he spoke to the whole people and not to one family. Nor did he declare something for the Lord in such a way that his hearers should give heed to what another previous prophet said, as the prophets by their preaching led the people to observe the law of Moses. Hence, the preaching of previous prophets was a preparation for the law of Moses, and this law was the foundation of the preaching of subsequent prophets.

Fourth, he was more outstanding in the matters which refer to the declaration of prophecy. For, as regards miracles, he worked signs for the conversion and teaching of a whole race, whereas other prophets worked particular miracles for special persons and special tasks. Hence, we read in Deuteronomy (34:10): "And there arose no more a prophet in Israel like unto Moses whom the Lord knew face to face"; as for pre-eminence of revelation: "In all the signs and wonders, which he sent by him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharao, and to all his servants" (Deuteronomy 34:11); and "Great miracles, which Moses did before all Israel" (Deuteronomy 34:12). He also showed himself most outstanding in boldness, for with only a rod he went down into Egypt, not only to preach the words of the Lord, but also to scourge Egypt and to free his people.

Answers to Difficulties:

1. We should take what Gregory says as referring to the things which pertain to the mystery of the Incarnation. Later prophets received more explicit revelations about these than Moses did. However, they did not receive more explicit revelations of the Divinity, about which Moses was most fully taught.

2. David is called the most outstanding of the prophets because he prophesied most clearly about Christ without any vision of imagination.

3. Although those miracles were greater than the miracles of Moses in the substance of what was done, the miracles of Moses were greater in the manner in which they were performed because they were performed for the whole people and for the instruction of the people in a new law and for their liberation. These other miracles were for particular tasks.

4. The pre-eminence of Elias is noted especially in this, that he was preserved from death and was more outstanding than many other prophets in boldness, by reason of which he did not fear the rulers of his times, and in greatness of miracles, as appears from the same place in Ecclesiasticus (48:4).

5. When Moses is put before the other prophets, we should understand this as referring to prophets of the Old Testament, for, at that time especially, when the world awaited the coming of Christ, to whom all prophecy was ordained, prophecy was in its proper environment. John, however, belongs to the New Testament. Hence, Matthew (11:13) has: "For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John." However, there is a clearer revelation in the New Testament; the second Epistle to the Corinthians (3:18) has: "But we all, beholding the glory of the Lord with open face. . . ." Here, the Apostle distinctly puts himself and the other apostles ahead of Moses. Nevertheless, granted that no man was greater than John the Baptist, it does not follow from this that no prophet had a higher grade of prophecy than he, for one can be greater in prophecy and less in merit, since prophecy is not a gift of sanctifying grace.