איך יודעים מי נביא אמת?

(5)Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananya the prophet before the eyes of the priests and before the eyes of all the people who were standing in the House of the Lord. (6)Jeremiah the prophet said: Amen, may the Lord do so. May the Lord fulfill your words that you prophesied to restore the vessels of the House of the Lord and all of the exile from Babylon to this place. I certainly have no objection to the fulfillment of your prophecy. On the contrary, I would be elated if it were to transpire. (7)However, please hear this matter that I am speaking in your ears and in the ears of all the people: (8)The prophets, who were before me and before you from ancient times, prophesied about many lands and about great kingdoms: of war, and of evil, and of pestilence. Prophecies like mine, of impending disaster, are common among the prophets. They serve as a warning and as a threat. Therefore, it is appropriate that prophecies of that sort would be repealed or postponed if the people mend their ways upon hearing the dire prophecy. (9) Conversely, with regard to the prophet who will prophesy of peace and will state a set time for the events he foresees, when the word of the prophet comes to pass, the prophet will be known as a true prophet, and all will recognize that the Lord truly sent him. If a prophecy of this kind is not fulfilled, he is immediately exposed as a false prophet, as God would not let a prophecy of good go entirely unfulfilled.

And I see that this is a fit place to elucidate this fundamental principle. And it is impossible [to do so] except after dividing the prophets that claim to have prophecy according to the way their prophecy is validated – which is likewise a great fundamental principle. And already all of the masses of people – and also a small number of their notables – have erred in this, as they imagine to themselves that prophecy does not exist with one who has it until he does a wondrous sign – like the signs of Moshe, our teacher, may his memory be blessed – and he changes the manner of the world; [or] like Eliyahu, may his memory be for the good, did in his bringing back to life the son of the widowed woman (II Kings 17); or, as is known to every person, with the signs of Elisha, peace be upon him. And this is not a true fundamental principle. As everything that Eliyahu and Elisha and the rest of the prophets did of [these] wonders, they did not do them in order to establish their [status] of prophecy – as their prophecy was already established before then. Rather, they did these signs for their needs; and because of their abundant closeness to the Holy One, blessed be He, He fulfilled their wills. As it is promised to the righteous ones (Job 22:28), "And you will decide to say it, and it will arise for you." But their prophecy is established by that which we will explain about the matter that we have begun to speak about. And I say at the outset that that which I say is a fundamental principle in our religion regarding prophecy – and that is that those that [claim to] have prophecy are first divided into two categories: the one that prophecies in the name of idolatry and the one that prophecies in the name of God. And the prophecy of idolatry is divided into categories:
The first category is that a prophet arise and say, "X star cast its spirit upon me and said to me like this," or "Call upon me like this and I will answer you." And so [too], if he calls [people] to serve the Baal or one of the images, and says "The image informed me like this and said to me, thus, and commanded me about his worship with matter x," as the prophets of Baal and Asherah would do (I Kings 18).
And the second category is that he say, "The word of God [came] to me to worship baal x or to bring down the force of the y queen of the heavens for matter z," and he says to them a matter from the matters of their service and the acts that the idolaters of that idolatry do, as it is established for us in the Torah. And this is also prophesying in the name of idolatry, as this [category] includes one who says that it itself commanded it [as well as] one who says that the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded to worship any thing from them. And when we hear one of these two ideas from the one who [claims to] have prophecy, and witnesses testify about him according to that which is stated in the Torah; his judgement is that he be killed by strangulation, as the Holy One, blessed be, stated (Deuteronomy 13:6), "And that prophet or dream-diviner shall be put to death." And it is not for us to examine the one who [claims] prophecy and we do not request a sign. And even – if to establish his prophecy – he does from the signs and wonders, the grandeur of which have not known, he is to be strangulated. And we do not examine his signs, as the reason for the existence of these signs is that which the verse states (Deuteronomy 13:4), "for the Lord, your God, is testing you." And also, the intellect that denies his testimony is more trustworthy than the eye that sees his signs – as it has already become [exceedingly] clear for the intelligentsia to only honor and serve the One who makes exist all that exist and the One who brings together all perfection. And the one who prophesies in the name of God is also divided into two categories:
The first category is that he prophesies in the name of God and calls to the masses to believe him and he commands about His service and says that the Holy One, blessed be He, added a commandment to the commandments or subtracted a commandment from the tally of commandments that were gathered together in the Book of the Torah. And there is no distinction between if he adds or subtracts upon the verse, or if he adds or subtracts upon the traditionally received explanation. And the matter that he add or subtract from the verse is, for example, that he say that the Holy One, blessed be He, said to me that the orlah prohibition is for two years, and after two years, it is permissible to eat the fruits of the saplings; or that he says, “The Holy One, blessed be He, told me that orlah is forbidden to eat for four years," instead of what the Holy One, blessed be He, said (Leviticus 19:23), "three years it shall be forbidden for you"; and similar to it. Or if he changes anything in the received tradition – and even if the simple meaning of the verse supports him; for example, that he says that that which is stated in the Torah (Deuteronomy 25:12), "you shall cut off her hand," is truly cutting off the hand, and not a fine for the one that embarrasses – as is the received tradition; and he attributes the thing to prophecy and says that the Holy One, blessed be He, told me that this commandment that He stated, "you shall cut off her hand," is like its simple meaning – this one, too, is killed by strangulation; as he is a false prophet and he attributes to the Holy One, blessed be He, that which He did not say to him. And also with this one, one should not examine the sign or wonder; as the prophet who showed his signs to all the people of the world and brought into our hearts to legitimate him and believe him – as the verse states (Exodus 19:9), "and also trust you forever" – he told us in the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, that another Torah besides this one will not come from the Creator. And that is what he said (Deuteronomy 30:12), "It is not in the Heavens." And it stated (Deuteronomy 20:14), "in your mouth and in your heart, to do it" – the matter of "in your mouth" is the commandment that is known orally; and the matter of "in your heart" is the analyses that [the sages] extrapolated with investigation, which are included in the powers that come from the heart. And we have also been warned against adding and subtracting from [commandments known in the ways just mentioned], as it is stated (Deuteronomy 20:13), "neither add to it nor subtract from it." And therefore they, peace be upon them, said (Megillah 2b), "A prophet may not innovate something from now [on]." And since we knew that his claim about the Holy One, blessed be He, is a false claim, and he attributed to Him something that He did not tell him; we become obligated to kill him, as the verse states (Deuteronomy 18:20), "But any prophet who willfully, etc. that prophet shall die." And the second category is with regards to the prophet that, for example, calls to people to serve God, and commands about His commandments and warns to observe the Torah, without addition or subtraction – as the prophet who was the end of the prophets said (Malachi 3:22), "Remember the Torah of Moshe, My servant" – and promises good rewards to the one that does it, and warns with a punishment anyone who transgresses it, as did Yishaya, Yirmiyahu, Yechezkel and the other ones of them. And he commands commandments and [enacts] prohibitions about a matter that is not from the Torah – for example, he says, "Fight against city x" or "nation y, now"; as Shmuel commanded Shaul to fight against Amalek (I Samuel 15). Or he prevents from killing, like that which Elisha prevented Yehoram from killing the troops of Aram that entered Shomron, like the matter that is known (II Kings 6:22); and like that which Yishaya prevented the bringing of water inside the wall (Isaiah 22:9); and like that which Yirmiyahu prevented Israel from going to the Land of Israel (or it should say “to the land of Egypt”) before the completion of seventy years (Jeremiah 42:15); and similar to this matter. And because of this, when a prophet makes the claim of prophecy and does not attribute it to idolatry and does not add to the Torah or subtract from it – but [rather] says other things, as we have recounted – we then need to test him to clarify his testimony for us. This is because anyone – the prophetic testimony of which is substantiated – is fitting to do all that he commands, from a small thing to a large. And anyone who transgresses any of his commands is obligated death at the hand of Heaven; as the Holy One, blessed be He, stated about someone who transgresses the command of the prophet (Deuteronomy 18:19), "I will require it from him." And if his testimony is not substantiated, he is put to death by strangulation. And the substantiation of prophetic testimony will be according to what I will tell: When a person [claims to] have prophecy, as we have elucidated, and he be fit for it – for example, that he be from the men of wisdom, faith, asceticism, intellect and pleasant character traits – as it is a fundamental principle for us that prophecy only resides upon one who is wise, strong and wealthy (Shabbat 92a – Chapter 10). And there are many positive virtues in this matter – it is impossible to group them all together. And the [explanation] about them and the proof of each one of them from verses from the books of the Torah and the words of the prophets would require a book of its own – and maybe God will assist me to it, with all that is fitting to write about this matter. And when the one prophesying is fit for prophecy, according to that which is appropriate, we say to him, "Prove [yourself] to us with predictions and tell us things from among that which the Holy One, blessed be He, has taught you." And he tells and promises [their truth]. And if all of his predictions are substantiated, then we know that all of his prophecies are true. But if he lies about it, or even if one of his words fails – and even if it is a small thing – we know that he is a false prophet. And this is written in the Torah about this proof – (Deuteronomy 18:19-20): "And should you say in your heart, 'How can we know that the oracle was not spoken by the Lord,' if the prophet speaks in the name of the Lord and the oracle does not happen and does not come." And we should not believe him and say that his prophecy is true when one or two of his proofs are realized, but [rather] his [status] should be contingent until his true signs be many – 'like all that he spoke in the name of the Lord' – one time after another. And therefore it stated about the matter of Shmuel when he became famous that everything he said came to be, as it is stated (I Samuel 3:20), "And all of Israel knew etc. that Shmuel was trustworthy as a prophet of the Lord." And nothing novel happened to them that they would not ask about it to a prophet. And had their custom not been to ask about all of their affairs, Shaul would not have asked Shmuel at the start about the lost object that was lost from him. And there is no doubt that the thing is like this, since the Holy One, blessed be He, established prophets for us instead of astrologers and soothsayers and magicians, so that we can ask them general principles and details, and they will inform us of trustworthy things [about the future. In this, they are similar to] those magicians that will say things that [in their case] may materialize and may not materialize, as it is stated (Deuteronomy 18:14-15), "Those nations that you are about to dispossess etc., A prophet from among your own people, like myself, etc." And because of these matters, they would call a prophet a seer. [This is] since he would see the future before it's happening, as it is stated (I Samuel 9:9), "for the prophet of today was formerly called a seer." And lest one think and say that since the establishment of a prophet is through the realization of new things and the future that he makes known to the one who is testing him, behold all the magicians and stargazers and masters of spiritual powers are able to claim prophecy; since we see them telling what will happen in the future with our own eyes every day. And that – as my soul is alive – is a big topic, and it is fitting to elucidate it, so that the difference be elucidated between one who prophesies in the name of God and the words of the masters of powers. And I say that the magicians and the stargazers and the people of that group will say predictions of events, but [only] some of them will be realized [while] some of them will – per force – come out to be false. And we always see this thing, and even the people of that craft would agree to it, 'and their signs are not foreign to them.' And the advantage of one of them over his fellow is in there being less untruths than the untruths of the other. But that all the details of their predictions be realized is impossible. And the masters of these powers do not flatter themselves and are not praised [to say] that all of their words are realized. But [rather], they say that this year will be a drought and no rain will come down at all, and it comes out that there will [only] be a little rain; or he will say that rain will come down tomorrow, and it comes out that it comes down on the day [after tomorrow]; and similar to this. And this thing will happen to him if he is very expert, and [such diviners] are the ones known by name, that are spoken about in their books. And this is the matter of the words of Yeshayahu to Babylonia (Isaiah 47:13), "let them stand up and save you now, the astrologers, the stargazers, who inform, month by month, [from that which will come upon you]" and our rabbis said, "'From that' and not all of that." And the predictions and the proofs of the prophets are not like this, but [rather] everything is realized to the last word, and not one of their words fails – not a small one and not a large one – for all time, in that which he speaks about in the name of God. And therefore, if one of his words [ends up being] empty, we know his untruth; and that is what it stated (II Kings 10:10), "nothing that the Lord has spoken [...] shall fall to the ground." And it is to this matter that Yirmiyahu alluded to about the dreamers whose visions were realized that would make known what was shown to them in the dreams by way of prophecy; and he would rebuke them and destroy their claims in his saying (Jeremiah 23:28), "'Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream; and let him who has received My word report My word faithfully; how can straw be compared to grain,' says the Lord." And the sages explained the content of this matter: That prophecy is clear and there is no admixture of deceit, [just] like grain is clear of straw. But the dreamers and those like them of the necromancers are mostly deceit, like straw that has grains of wheat [mixed in]. And they said (Berakhot 55a), "In the same way as there cannot be grain without straw, so too is it impossible for a dream to be without nonsensical things." And there is one large topic that remains, [that] is fitting for us to elucidate; and that is when the prophet prophecies drought in their land or that hailstones should come down on them, and similar to it; and afterwards none of this matter materializes, and they are shown mercy from the Heavens and all of their concerns ended in peace and tranquility. The deceit of the prophet is not shown by this, and it is not fitting to say [because of this] that he is a false prophet and that he should be obligated in death; [as it is] because the Holy One, blessed be He, thought better about the calamity. And it is possible that they repented and left their vexations or that the Holy One, blessed be He, delayed their deserts in His compassion and stayed His anger until a different time – as He did with Achav, when He said through Eliyahu (I Kings 21:29), "'I will not bring the disaster in his lifetime; I will bring the disaster upon his house in his son’s time.'” Or He may have had mercy upon them for the sake of the merits of those that came before them. And it did not say about a thing like this, "the oracle does not happen and does not come." But if he promised good proclamations that will arise at a specific time, and he says, There will be quiet and tranquility this year," and there were wars in it; or he said, "This year will be rainy and blessed," and there was famine and drought, and similar to it – we know that he is a false prophet, and that the negation of his claim and his falsehood have been established. And about this the verse stated (Deuteronomy 18:22), "the prophet has uttered it presumptuously; do not stand in dread of him." [This] means to say, let him not scare you and do not let his faith and his uprightness and his wisdom bewilder you from killing him, since he had the temerity to testify [falsely about] something great like this, and 'he spoke guile about the Lord,' may He be blessed. [This is because] when the Holy One, blessed be He, promised a saying about good proclamations through a prophet, it is impossible that He not do it; so that His prophecy be established for people. And this is what they, peace be upon them, said (Berakhot 7a), "[Regarding] anything that comes out of the mouth of the Holy One, blessed be He – even on condition – He does not go back on it." [However regarding] the matter of Yaakov's fear after the Holy One, blessed be He, promised Him good proclamations; as it is stated (Genesis 28:15), "'Behold, I am with you: I will protect you wherever you go,'” and [yet] he feared lest he die, as it is stated (Genesis 32:8), "Yaakov was greatly frightened and he was distressed" – the sages, may their memory be blessed, said about this matter that he was afraid of iniquity, lest it would cause him death. And that is what they said (Berakhot 4a), "He reasoned, 'Lest sin cause it.'" This teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, promises good, and [yet] the iniquities overcome it and this good does not materialize. But it is to be known that this matter is only between the Holy One, blessed be He, and the prophet. [However] that the Holy One, blessed be He, should say to the prophet to promise a good proclamation to [other] people in an absolute statement without [any] condition and it not materialize, such a thing is null and it is impossible for it to be. As [otherwise] there would be no room for us to establish the trustworthiness of a prophet, and the Holy One, blessed be He, gave us in our Torah the fundamental principle that a prophet is tested when his promises are validated. And Yirmiyahu hinted to this fundamental principle in his disagreement with Chananiah ben Azur, as Yirmiyahu would prophesy for calamity and death and said that Nevuchadnetsar would win and be successful and destroy the Temple, but Chananiah ben Azur would prophesy for the good, and for the bringing of the vessels of the House of the Lord, that had been brought to Babylonia, back to Jerusalem. And Yirmiyahu said to him, when he was debating with him about the preserved fundamental principles, that if his own prophecy did not materialize and Nevuchadnetsar did not win, and all of the vessels of the House of the Lord are returned, as you say; that thing doesn't contradict my prophecy, [as] maybe God had mercy upon you. But if your words do not materialize and the vessels of the House of the Lord do not return, it shall become clear through this that your prophecy is false; and [so] your prophecy will not be established until your predictions for the good that you promised materialize. And this is what he said (Jeremiah 28:7-9), "'But just listen to this word which I speak in your ears and in they ears of all the people: The prophets who lived before you and me from ancient times prophesied war, disaster, and pestilence against many lands and great kingdoms. So if a prophet prophesies peace, then only when the word of the prophet comes true can it be known that the Lord really sent him.'" He meant to say with this thing that [about] those prophets that would prophesy with good and with calamity, we cannot know from all the things they prophesied for calamity if their testimony is realized or if they lied. Rather, the trustworthiness of their words is known [only] when they promise good and it materializes. And when the prophecy of a prophet is established according to that which we have established, and a name goes out for him (he becomes known as a prophet), like Shmuel and Eliyahu and the ones besides them, that prophet has the ability to do something that no [man of] flesh besides him can do. And that is that which I say: When he commands temporarily to negate a commandment from all of the positive commandments or he commands to permit something forbidden from the negative commandments, it is obligatory for us to listen to his word and to do his commandment – and anyone that transgresses it is liable for death at the hand of Heaven – except for idolatry, and this is explicit in the Talmud. And that is what they said (Sanhedrin 90a), "In everything that the prophet will tell you to transgress the words of the Torah, listen to him – except for idolatry." But [this is] on condition that this thing not stand forever, and not that he should say that the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded to negate this commandment all the days of the world, but [rather] that he command to negate the commandment for a reason and for a temporary need. And when they would ask the prophet himself about his commanding to transgress a commandment from all of the commandments that God commanded us through Moshe, his answer would be that the negation of this commandment is not established, but [rather] it is fitting to only do it now – temporarily – similar to, for example, what a court does with a temporary ordinance. [And it is] like Eliyahu did on Mount Carmel (I Kings 18), since he sacrificed a burnt offering outside [of the Temple, even though] Jerusalem was standing – and, in it, the Temple was standing [and] built. And anyone who does this deed without the commandment of the prophet is liable for excision. And the Holy One, blessed be He, warned about it in the Torah (Deuteronomy 12:13), "Take care not to sacrifice your burnt offerings in any place you like." And one who does it is liable for excision, as it stated about one who sacrifices it outside (Leviticus 17:4), "blood shall be imputed to that man: he has shed blood; and he shall be cut off." But [if] they [would have] asked him, peace be upon him – at the time of his sacrificing on Mount Carmel – and they would have said to him, "May we do like this deed all the days of the world," he would have said to them that it is not permissible, and that anyone who sacrifices outside is liable for excision; but this deed was done according to a temporary need – to reveal the falsehood of the prophets of the Baal and to silence what is in their hands. And like Elisha did in his commanding to fight with Moav to cut all the fruit-bearing trees, as he said (II Kings 3:19), "'and you shall fell every good tree.'" And yet God prevented us from doing this in His saying (Deuteronomy 20:19), "you must not destroy its trees, wielding the ax against them." And if they had asked Elisha if this commandment was negated, and if it was rendered permissible for us to cut down fruit-bearing trees when we besiege a city in the future, he would have said that it is not permissible; but [that] this deed was done now for the matter of a need. And I will bring you an example, and this fundamental principle will become clear to you for all of the commandments: If a man of prophecy – whose prophecy has become clear among us, as we have said – would say to us on the Shabbat day, that we get up – all of us, women and men – and we burn fire and fashion instruments of war in it and that [each] man should gird his instruments of war and fight with the men of place x and take their spoil and conquer their women on this day that is Shabbat; it would be an obligation upon us – we, who have been commanded by the Torah of Moshe – to get up immediately, as he has commanded us, and not to delay. And we would do all that he commanded with alacrity and enhanced love – without a doubt and without delay. And we would believe about everything that we would do that day, that it is a commandment, even though it is the day of Shabbat (resting) from lighting fire and the doing of work and killing and war. And we will look forward to a good reward from the Holy One, blessed be He, because we did the commandment of the prophet, which is the positive commandment of doing his word, as it is stated through Moshe (Deuteronomy 18:15), "'The Lord, your God, will raise up for you a prophet from among you, from your brothers, like myself; to him you shall heed.'" And the received tradition comes [to explain] (Sanhedrin 90a), "In everything that the prophet will tell you to transgress the words of the Torah, listen to him – except for idolatry:" for example, if he would say to us, "Worship this idol only today," or "Burn incense to this star at this time only," he should be killed. And there is nothing to listen to him about. And if a man should think in his heart that he is righteous and fears God and has become, 'elderly and coming of days,' and he say, "Behold, I am old and have come of days and I have such and such years and I have not transgressed any of the commandments during them ever, and [so] how can I get up on this day which is the Shabbat day, and transgress this prohibition [that is punished with] stoning, and go and fight; and I don't have the ability in me to do good or bad, and others can be found in my place and there are many people to do this thing"; this man is a rebel and transgresses the words of God and he is obligated in death at the hand of Heaven, as he transgressed that which the prophet commanded. And the One who commanded the Shabbat, He is the One who commanded about the words of the prophet and all that he decrees. And anyone who transgresses his word, is obligated, as we have mentioned. And that is what it stated in the verse (Deuteronomy 18:19), "And if anybody fails to heed the words he speaks in My name, I will require it from him.'" And included in this is that anyone who ties a permanent knot on the Shabbat day – while he is doing these tasks of labor – that is not needed to help him at the time of the commandment that the prophet commanded is obligated in stoning. And if this prophet that commanded us what he commanded on the Shabbat day and we did his word, [now] says to us that the boundary [within which one can carry on] Shabbat is two thousand ells minus one ell, or two thousand ells and an ell – and he supports this matter by [saying] that it was said in the way of prophecy and not in the way of investigation and reasoning – we will know that he is a false prophet and he should be killed by strangulation. And in this fashion, you have [what is required] to reason [about] everything that the prophet will command you about, and everything that you may find in Scripture about the matter of the prophet that contradicts something from the commandments. And this fundamental principle is a key to all of this matter. And only in this is the prophet distinguished from other people concerning the commandments. But regarding investigation and reasoning and discernment of the commandments, he is like the other sages who are like him, who don't have prophecy. As when a prophet follows a reasoning and one who is not a prophet, likewise, follows a reasoning; and the prophet says that the Holy One, blessed be He, told me that my reasoning is correct – do not listen to him. Rather [if there are] one thousand prophets – all of them like Eliyahu and Elisha – following one reasoning, and one thousand and one sages following the opposite of that reasoning, 'we lean towards the many.' And the law is like the words of the one thousand and one sages, not like the words of the one thousand glorious prophets. And so [too] did the sages say (Chullin 124a), "God!, If Yehoshua bin Nun had told me this with his [own] mouth, I would not have listened to him and not accepted it from him." And so also did they say (Yevamot 102a), "If Eliyahu were to come and say, 'We release [a levirate woman] with a soft sandal,' we listen to him; 'With a hard sandal,' we do not listen to him." They wanted to say [by this] that one cannot add or subtract from the commandments by way of prophecy in any fashion. And so, if the prophet testifies that the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him that the law of x commandment is like this and that reasoning y is true – that prophet is killed, as he is a false prophet, as we have established. [This is] since Torah is not given after the first prophet, and there is nothing to add and nothing to subtract, as is is stated (Deuteronomy 30:12), "'It is not in the heavens.'" And we have not been permitted to learn from the prophets, but rather from the sages, the men of reasoning and discernment. It did not say, "and you shall come to the prophet who will be at that time, but rather (Deuteronomy 17:9) "and you shall come to the Levite priests, or the judge." And the sages already spoke about this matter very much, and it is the truth.