Prophets and Prophecy

In this essay we shall examine Christian "revelation" in the light of what the Torah teaches us about prophets and prophecy.

Deuteronomy 34:10 Never again has there arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom HASHEM had known face to face, [11] as evidenced by all the signs and wonders that HASHEM sent him to perform in the land of Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his courtiers and all his land, [12] and by all the strong hand and awesome power that Moses performed before the eyes of all Israel. (Artscroll)

The above passage, the last three verses of Deuteronomy, is of profound importance when we study a prophet under a microscope. Moses was the greatest prophet to ever live. So important is it to acknowledge this, that the great sage Maimonides wrote this as one of the thirteen principles of Jewish faith. "Never again" will there be a prophet with his scope or magnitude. All other prophets pale before him. As such, each revelation after his is of a lesser magnitude. Does the Bible allow for progressive revelation? Yes, it most certainly does. Does the Bible allow to for revelation that supersedes what Moses taught? No, it certainly does not.

There are two chapters of Deuteronomy that deal with prophets, those being 13 and 18. They tell specifically how to tell a false prophet, without specifically saying how to tell a real one. A person has to put two and two together and figure out to just take the opposite of what the false prophet does and tell that this is a true prophet. First, let us examine chapter 13:

Deuteronomy 13:1 The entire word that I command you, that shall you observe to do; you shall not add to it and you shall not subtract from it. [2] If there should stand up in your midst a prophet or a dreamer of a dream, and he will produce to you a sign or a wonder, [3] and the sign or the wonder comes about, of which he spoke to you, saying "Let us follow gods of others that you did not know and we shall worship them!7quot; [4] do not hearken to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer of a dream, for HASHEM, your G-d, is testing you to know whether you love HASHEM, your G-d with all your heart and with all your soul. [5] HASHEM, your G-d, shall you follow and Him shall you fear; His commandments shall you observe and to His voice shall you hearken; Him shall you serve and to Him shall you cleave. [6] And that prophet and that dreamer of a dream shall be put to death, for he had spoken perversion against HASHEM, your G-d Who takes you out of the land of Egypt, and Who redeems you from the house of slavery to make you stray from the path on which HASHEM, you G-d, has commanded you to go; and you shall destroy the evil from your midst. (Artscroll)

So, let us look at the hard facts:

Paul tried to lead Jews to a god they did not know. What does G-d expect of us when we are presented with a self-proclaimed prophet who displays this behavior? "Do not hearken to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer of a dream, for HASHEM, your G-d, is testing you to know whether you love HASHEM, your G-d with all your heart and with all your soul." If a Christian asks, "if Paul was a false prophet, why would G-d allow him to behave in such a way?" the answer is simple. G-d allowed this prophet to speak such abominations in order to test us to see how much we love G-d.

A prophet working a miracle is the first step. However, his message is the most important aspect. If it's something Moses didn't teach, don't go with it!

And now, a study of the other portion from Deuteronomy dealing with this topic:

Deuteronomy 18:15 A prophet from your midst, from your brethren, like me, shall HASHEM, your G-d, establish for you to him shall you hearken. [16] According to all that you asked of HASHEM, your G-d, in Horeb on the day of the congregation, saying, "I can no longer hear the voice of HASHEM, my G-d, and this great fire I can no longer see, so that I shall not die." [17] Then HASHEM said to me: They have done well in what they have said. [18] I will establish a prophet for them from among their brethren, like you, and I will place My words in his mouth; He shall speak to them everything that I will command him. [19] And it shall be that the man who will not hearken to My words that he shall speak in My name, I will exact from him, [20] But the prophet who willfully shall speak a word in My name, that which I have not commanded him to speak, or who shall speak in the name of the gods of others that prophet shall die. [21] When you say in your heart, "How can we know the word that HASHEM has not spoken?" [22] If the prophet will speak in the Name of HASHEM and that thing will not occur and not come about that is the word that HASHEM has not spoken; with willfulness has the prophet spoken it, you should not fear him. (Artscroll)

I am in awe of the brilliance of this passage every time I read it. It's so wondrously simple how to tell a false prophet: all he has to do is predict an event that doesn't take place! I sometimes wonder if our ancestors would have realized this without this passage in the Torah. Now, it's important to clarify that this only applies to a prophecy of good; if a prophet foretells destruction and that destruction does not come about, he is not automatically proven false. (See the Book of Jonah)

We have before us the following passage, of Jesus’ supposed prediction that the Temple would be destroyed:

Matthew 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, [thou] that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under [her] wings, and ye would not! [38] Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. [39] For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed [is] he that cometh in the name of the Lord. [24:1] And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to [him] for to shew him the buildings of the temple. [2] And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. [3] And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what [shall be] the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? (KJV)

At first glance, this would seem rather damning of the Jewish people. But, given the fact that the Gospels were originally generated by word of mouth, and not penned until approximately forty years after his death, maybe not so damning. That coincides with the destruction of the Temple. It is very easy to believe that the authors of the Gospel inserted Jesus predicting the destruction of the Temple in order to reinforce their legitimacy. This notion is, of course, heavily debatable, and cannot be absolutely proven or disproven.

Secondly, Jesus saying the Temple would be destroyed is hardly a prophecy he can claim as a "Jesus original." This should simply be interpreted as Jesus reinforcing the fact that Daniel had prophesied this in chapter nine of the Book of Daniel. Jesus saying that he believed that a prophecy Daniel made would come true doesn't seem like an issue that reinforces Jesus' credibility. So, its really not fair to say that Jesus was a prophet in this regard, because the prophecy itself was pre-existing.

Thirdly, let's say for a moment that this was Jesus' own prophecy. This still doesn't reflect well on him! Deuteronomy 13 specifically tells us not to listen to that prophet even if the sign or wonder comes about, if his message isn't consistent with Judaism. If we are to begin worshipping Jesus, whereas we had not before, then the prophet who spoke those words was still a false prophet, even if what he foretold came true!

Moving on to the next issue:

Matthew 24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: [30] And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. [31] And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. [32] Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer [is] nigh: [33] So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, [even] at the doors. [34] Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. (KJV)

Now this is a completely different argument. Jesus specifically told his disciples that he would return within their lifetimes. "This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled." This is a very specific prophecy. Let us look at this objectively:

Did the sun go dark and did the moon lose its light? Did the stars fall from heaven? Did Jesus appear in clouds of heaven with power and glory (to the masses, so at least we have reliable witnesses)? Did all the tribes of the Earth mourn? Were the elect gathered from distant places all together?

Did all these things occur within that generation?

Looking back to Deuteronomy 18, how are we to tell a real prophet from a false one? The false prophet will proclaim an event that doesn't come about. Granted, this eventually evolved into the belief that Jesus would return at some far off date, but the fact that it failed the first time should have been a red flag. This point, by extension, must be placed on Paul as well, who was claiming to be a prophet, likening himself to a scorned prophet like Jeremiah (a brilliant ploy). Paul also predicted that Jesus would return within their lifetimes:

1 Corinthians 7:29 But this I say, brethren, the time [is] short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; [30] And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; [31] And they that use this world, as not abusing [it]: for the fashion of this world passeth away. (KJV)

1 Thessalonians 4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. [14] For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will G-d bring with him. [15] For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive [and] remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. (KJV)

So, we can see that Paul predicted an event that did not come about. What does G-d have Moses teach us about this? It was quite clear from Deuteronomy. Moses taught us that this is how we know that people like Paul were false prophets.

A true prophet sent by G-d will never preach a message contrary to even one of the Torah's precepts. If someone claiming Divine Inspiration, the Torah demands that this so-called prophet prove himself. In light of this, Jesus and Paul did some rather heinous things in their lifetimes. They completely vilified those who opposed their theologies, a crime from which stems two thousand years of Christian anti-Semitism. They did everything that a false prophet could do to loudly scream that he was false. Chapters 13 and 18 of Deuteronomy clearly define false prophets, and Jesus and Paul are the living incarnations of that definition.