. . . Deut 18:20-22 raises the question, “How can we know that the oracle [uttered in God’s
name] was not spoken by the LORD?” The answer given is that if the “oracles
does not come true, that oracle was not spoken by the LORD; the prophet uttered
it presumptuously.” This, however, cannot serve as an infallible criterion,
because there are several occasions when an oracle delivered by a true prophet
does not materialize even in his own lifetime. Such unfulfilled prophecies include
Jeremiah’s prediction of the ignominious fate of king Jehoiakim (Jer. 22:19), which
was belied by 2 Kings 24:6, and Ezekiel’s foretelling the destruction of Tyre by
Nebuchadrezzar (Ezek. 26:7-21), which later was admitted to have failed but was
to be compensated by the Babylonian king’s attack on Egypt (29:17-20). (Shalom
M. Paul, “Prophecy and Prophets” in Jacob Blumenthal and Janet L. Liss, Etz Hayim: Study Companion [Jewish
Publications Society, 2005], pp. 301-10, here, p. 307)