Prophets and Prophecy

TaNaKh: Torah, Nev'i'im (Prophets), Ketuvim (Writings)

Torah:

Lots of folks chat with God. Moses is the greatest prophet of all!

Nev'i'im:

A. Joshua through Kings = Deuteronomistic Histories, Former/First Prophets

B. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, & the 12 Minor Prophets = Literary Prophets; aka Latter Prophets

Ketuvim: Psalms, Proverbs, Job, and others (see first & second degrees of prophecy below - lower forms!)

Navi means prophet (masc), nev'i'ah is (fem.) -- from Akkadian, to call or be called

5 women are called nev'i'ah: Miriam, Deborah, Huldah, Noadiah, & unnamed prophetess in Isaiah 8:3

According to Megillah 14a, the 7 prophetesses are:

Sarah, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Huldah, Abigail, and Esther.

Maimonides 11 Degrees of Prophecy (summarized)

(Steps to Prophecy)

• First Degree: divine inspiration that a person might receive encouraging him in some noble endeavor.
• Second Degree: a person is overcome by a feeling that moves him to words. He might compose songs of praise, discuss societal problems, or address his fellow men to improve their deeds.

(Actual Prophecy)

• Third Degree: lowest level of actual prophecy. Those who say things like "the Word of God came to me." Such a prophet sees an allegory and its interpretation in a prophetic dream. Most of Zechariah's prophecies are of this type.
• Fourth Degree: the prophet has a dream in which he hears the message quite distinctly but he cannot see the speaker. This was the type of prophecy first received by Samuel.
• Fifth Degree: a human being addresses the prophet in a dream. Ezekiel had some prophecies of this type. (See Ezekiel 40:4.)
• Sixth Degree: involves an angel addressing the prophet in a dream, as in Genesis 31:11, "An angel of God said to me in a dream...." This is the most common form of prophecy and most prophets experienced such a communication at one point or another.
• Seventh Degree: the prophet has a dream in which it appears that God spoke to them. Isaiah had this kind of prophecy (Isaiah 6:8 - "I heard the voice of God, saying..."), as did Michayahu (I Kings 22:19 - "I saw God sitting on His throne...").
• Eighth Degree: the prophet is shown something allegorical in a vision (as opposed to in a dream). This is the kind of prophecy Abraham had in Genesis chapter 15.
• Ninth Degree: when the prophet hears words in a vision. Abraham also experienced this, as in Genesis 15:4, "The word came to him, saying...."
• Tenth Degree: prophet sees a person speaking to him in a vision. Abraham experienced this form of prophecy (Genesis 18:1), as did Joshua (Joshua 5:13).
• Eleventh Degree: when an angel speaks to the prophet in a vision. Abraham experienced this at the binding of Isaac (Genesis 22:15). Excluding the level of prophecy that was unique to Moses, this is the highest level to which a prophet could aspire. [Summary adapted from Rabbi Jack Abramowitz]

The Prophets, Abraham Joshua Heschel, 435-436

In discussing the difference between Moses and all other prophets, Maimonides avers: 'All the prophets experience prophetic manifestations in dreams only, at night, or by day when deep sleep falls upon them; as it is said, 'I do make Myself known unto him in a vision. I do speak with him in a dream' (Num. 12:6). During the prophetic experience their limbs tremble, their physical strength fails them, their thoughts become confused. Thus the mind is left free to comprehend the vision it perceives, as is said in reference to Abraham, 'And lo, a horror of great darkness fell upon him' (Gen 15:12). Moses alone was an exception. "All the prophets are filled with fear and consternation and become physically weak" during the experience. "Not so, our teacher Moses, of whom Scripture says, 'As a man speaks unto his neighbor' (Exod. 33:11). Just as a man is not startled when he hears the words of his fellow man, so the mind of Moses was vigorous enough to comprehend the words of prophecy while retaining his normal state.

Huldah the Prophetess by Rabbi Neal Gold

King Josiah of Judah had a serious dilemma.

Josiah, who reigned in Jerusalem from 640-609 BCE, deserved his reputation as a pious king who was loyal to the God of his ancestors. Then, one day, his courtiers discovered an ancient-looking “Book of the Teaching” (sefer ha-torah) stashed away in the Temple. This mysterious book was read aloud to the king, and when he heard its words, he was devastated.

According to II Kings 22, the book outlined specific details about Israel’s responsibility in their covenant with God — and it described grave penalties that would befall them if they violated that covenant. Knowing that his royal predecessors, as well as many of his Judean citizens, had broken the terms of the covenant, Josiah was terrified that the warnings of this newly unearthed book might come true. He tore his clothes in a sign of mourning.

But how could the king know whether this “Sefer Ha-Torah” was authentic? He instructed his courtiers to inquire of God to see if its words were valid. They immediately took the book and went to Huldah, a renowned Jerusalem prophet.

Huldah immediately confirmed what they were fearing. First the bad news: the book was indeed authentic, and God’s wrath was going to lash out at the kingdom of Judah. Because the people followed idols, made tributes to other gods and generally behaved despicably, terrible punishments were in store for entire nation. But Huldah also shared some words of consolation, at least for the king: Because he has been humble, “soft-hearted,” and loyal to God, he himself would not see this devastation in his lifetime; he would die in peace (2 Kings 22:15-20).

Who was Huldah? We know frustratingly little about her background. II Kings 22:14 tells us that she was the “wife of Shallum ben Tikvah” (in the parallel passage in II Chronicles 34:22, the husband’s name is “Shallum ben Tokhath”), who was the “keeper of the wardrobe,” although that description, too, is obscure. The Talmud (Megillah 14b) speculates that she was related to the prophet Jeremiah, and the Midrash suggests she was a descendent of Joshua and Rahab(Sifrei Bamidbar 78:1, Ruth Rabbah 2:1), and thus prophetic powers must have run in her family. But we don’t know much else about her.

What we do know is this: When Josiah’s team needed to call upon God, it was Huldah to whom they turned. Modern scholar Robert Alter points out that she verified the newly-discovered book’s legitimacy without even reading it or hearing about its contents — and in this way demonstrated that her prophecy was authentic. In the Bible, there is no dissent that she is a genuine and authoritative prophet.

Huldah takes her place among five women prophets who are singled out by the Bible, alongside Miriam, Deborah, No’adiah (Nehemiah 6:14), and Isaiah’s unnamed wife (Isaiah 8:3). The Bible does not doubt their authenticity nor find their presence remarkable; it seems clear that female as well as male prophets abounded in Israel. Similarly, there were female prophets among Israel’s neighbors in the Ancient Near East...

...And what about that “Book of Teaching” that Huldah validated? Scholarly consensus, from Church fathers through medieval philosophers to contemporary Bible scholars, identifies it as an early form of the Book of Deuteronomy, the fifth and final book of the Torah. With this book, Josiah brought the people back to their covenantal relationship with God and brought to completion the most sacred of Jewish texts — thanks to the verification provided by Huldah, the prophetess of Jerusalem.

[source: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/huldah-the-prophetess/]

Excerpt from A Statement of Principles for Reform Judaism

Adopted in Pittsburgh – 1999

We bring Torah into the world when we strive to fulfill the highest ethical mandates in our relationships with others and with all of God’s creation. Partners with God in ( tikkun olam), repairing the world, we are called to help bring nearer the messianic age. We seek dialogue and joint action with people of other faiths in the hope that together we can bring peace, freedom and justice to our world. We are obligated to pursue (tzedek), justice and righteousness, and to narrow the gap between the affluent and the poor, to act against discrimination and oppression, to pursue peace, to welcome the stranger, to protect the earth’s biodiversity and natural resources, and to redeem those in physical, economic and spiritual bondage. In so doing, we reaffirm social action and social justice as a central prophetic focus of traditional Reform Jewish belief and practice. We affirm the (mitzvah) of (tzedakah), setting aside portions of our earnings and our time to provide for those in need. These acts bring us closer to fulfilling the prophetic call to translate the words of Torah into the works of our hands.
In all these ways and more, Torah gives meaning and purpose to our lives.