וַיְהִ֗י אַחֲרֵ֛י מ֥וֹת מֹשֶׁ֖ה עֶ֣בֶד יְהוָ֑ה וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהוָה֙ אֶל־יְהוֹשֻׁ֣עַ בִּן־נ֔וּן מְשָׁרֵ֥ת מֹשֶׁ֖ה לֵאמֹֽר׃
E aconteceu após a morte de Moshe, servo de Hashem, que Hashem disse a Yehoshua bin Nun, assistente de Moshe, dizendo:
Derashot HaRan
The answer: there is no prophet who can be believed to a greater extent than Moses was before the revelation at Mount Sinai — through the giving of signs alone! For even before that time Moses had been believed in respect to certain details of Pesach, and a prophet is not to be believed to institute a mitzvah for all time, as our sages have stated (Temurah 16a): "'These are the mitzvoth' — a prophet may not institute anything after this." He is not even believed to rule upon any matters in the Torah unresolved by the sages, as is indicated in the Gemara (Ibid): "R. Yehudah said in the name of Rav: 'When Moses our teacher was about to enter Gan Eden, he said to Joshua: "Ask of me any doubts that you have." Joshua replied: "My master, did I leave you for even one moment? Is it not written in the Torah (Exodus 33:11): 'And his servant, Joshua the son of Nun, did not depart from the midst of the tent'!" Immediately, Joshua's powers weakened, he forgot three hundred halachoth, three hundred doubts arose in his mind, and all of Israel rose against him to kill him. At this the Holy One Blessed be He said to him: "To tell you is impossible; go and busy them with war [to turn their attention away from you], as it is written: (Joshua 1:1): 'And it was after the death of Moses the servant of the L-rd that the L-rd said to Joshua… (11) …prepare food for yourselves…'"'" And it is stated further (Temurah, Ibid): "R. Yehudah said in the name of Shmuel: 'Three thousand halachoth were forgotten in the period of mourning for Moses our teacher. The Jews said to Joshua: "Ask [that they be revealed to you]." Joshua responded: (Deuteronomy 30:12): "It [Torah] is not in the heavens." They said to Shmuel: "Ask." He responded: "'These are the mitzvoth' — a prophet may not institute anything after this."'" A prophet can not be believed, then, either to institute a mitzvah or to explicate it, but only to give temporary commands alone, and Moses was believed in this respect on the basis of signs alone.