18:14-22. In contrast to
other nations (v. 14), Israel needs no astrologers or diviners. God will
communicate with His people through prophets. As the passage concludes, such
prophets will establish their veracity by predicting an event that will take
place exactly as foretold. However, a prophet’s authenticity to unfulfilled predictions
of tragedy and misfortunate, for such prophecies can be nullified through
sincere repentance. A classic case is that of Jonah’s prophecy at Nineveh’s
destruction. Upon hearing the fate that awaited them, the people repented, and
God annulled His decree (Jonah 3:10; see also Talmud Yerushalmi, Sanhedrin
11:5 concerning Jeremiah 28:7-9). (The Artscroll English Tanach, Stone
Edition: The Jewish Bible with Insights from Classical Rabbinic Thought [New
York: Artscroll Mesorah Publications, Ltd., 2011], 302)
11:5
[A]A false prophet [M. 10:1B],
[B]one who prophesies concerning something which he has not actually
heard or concerning something which was not actually said to him,
[C]is put to death by man.
[D]But he who holds back his prophesy, he who disregards the words of
another prophet, or the prophet who transgresses his words
[E]is put to death by heaven,
[F]as it is said, “I will require it of him” (Deut. 18; 19).
[I:1 A] He who prophesies concerning something which he has not actually heard
[M. 11:4B] is such as Zedekiah ben Chenaanah [1 Kings 22:11], and one who
states something which was not actually said to him is such as Hananiah b. Azor
[T. San. 14:14].
[B] R. Joshua b. Levi said, “Hananiah b. Azor was a true prophet.
[C] “But he suffered a period of an intermission of his prophetic gifts,
during which his gift of prophesy was null, and he heard what Jeremiah
prophesied in the upper market.
[D] “So he went down and he prophesied in the lower market” [T. San.
14:14].
[E] Hananiah b. Azor said,
“The entire end of the matter is not so, but, ‘When seventy years are
completed for Babylon, I will visit vou, and I will fulfill to you my promise
and bring you back to this place’ (Jer. 29:10).”
[F] Now [he calculated] the entire life span of Manasseh was only
fifty-five years. Deduct from them the twenty years during which the Heavenly
court does not inflict punishment or extirpation, and the two years of Ammon,
and the thirty-one years of Josiah.”
[G] Thus you have that which
is written, “In that same year, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah
king of Judah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, Hananiah the son of Azor,
the prophet from Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of the Lord, in the presence
of the priests and all the people, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the
God of Israel: I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. Within two years
I will bring back to this place all the vessels of the Lord’s house which
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to
Babylon’ ” (Jer. 28:1–3).
[H] Said to him Jeremiah, “You say, ‘In two years I shall bring
back,’ but I say to you that Nebuchadnezzar is going to come and take the rest
of the people now here to Babylonia: ‘They shall be carried to Babylon and
remain there until the day when I give attention to them’ ” (Jer. 27:22).
[I] He said to him, “Give some sort of sign to confirm what you
[J] He said to him, “I prophesy doom, and I cannot give a sign to
confirm what I say, for the Holy One, blessed be he, may form a plan to bring
evil, but then reverse it.
[K] “But you prophesy well, so you give a sign.”
[L] He replied, “No! You’re the one who has to bring a sign.”
[M] He said to him, “If so, to, I shall give a sign and a wonder
through that very person himself [namely, you].”
[N] In that year he died: “Therefore thus says the lord: ‘Behold,
I will remove you from the face of the earth. This very year you shall die,
because you have uttered rebellion against the Lord.’ In that same year, in the
seventh month, the prophet Hananiah died” (Jer. 28:17).
[O] It was another year, and so now do you
say so?
[P] But this teaches that he died on the eve
of the New Year.
[Q] And he commanded his sons and his
household to conceal the matter, so that they should remove his corpse after
the New Year, just so as to falsify the prophesy of Jeremiah.
[II:1 A] But he who holds back his prophesy [M.
11:5D]―such as Jonah son of Amittai [T. San. 14:14].
[B] Said R. Jonah, “He was a true prophet.
[C] “You find that when the Holy One, blessed be he, said to him,
‘Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and cry out against it; for their
wickedness has come up before me’ (Jonah 1:2),
[D] “Jonah said, ‘I know that these gentiles are nigh unto
repentance, and to, I shall go and prophesy against them, and they shall
repent, and the Holy One, blessed be he, consequently will come and inflict
punishment on [those who hate] Israel [meaning, on Israel itself].
[E] “ ‘So what should I do? [I have no choice but to] flee.’
[F] “ ‘But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence
of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he
paid the fare, and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the
presence of the Lord’ ” (Jonah 1:3).
[III:1 A] He who disregards the words of another
prophet like Iddo, the seer [T. San. 14:15].
[B] Said R. Samuel bar R. Isaac, “This is Amaziah, the priest of
Beth El.”
[C] Said R. Yosé, “There was confusion there [lit.: smashed eggs],
and who was he [who convinced Iddo to return]? It was Jonathan b. Gershom b.
Moses.
[D] “You find that when David came and found that he was
worshipping an idol, he said to him, ‘You are the grandson of that righteous
man, and yet do you worship an idol?’
[E] “He said to him, ‘I have a tradition from my father’s father:
“Sell yourself to the service of strange [gods], but do not depend on other
people.” ’
[F] “He said to him, ‘Heaven forfend! He never said such a thing
to you.
[G] “But what he really said was, ‘Sell yourself for a kind of
service which is alien to you, but do not depend on other people.’
[H] “When David realized that he loved money, he appointed him
superintendent of the treasury of the Temple.”
[I] That is in line with
the following verse in Scripture: “And Shebuel the son of Gershom, son of
Moses, was chief officer in charge of the treasuries” (1 Chron. 26:24).
[J] It was Shebuel, who returned (shab) to God (el) with
all his might, who was chief officer in charge of the treasurers, for he
appointed him superintendent of the treasury of the Temple.
[K] Associates raised the question before R.
Samuel bar Nahman: “Can it be that a priest [such as Jonathan b. Gershom] to an
idol lived such a long time?”
[L] He said to them, “Because he was
niggardly in the service of his idol.”
[M] And
in what way was he niggardly in the service of his idol?
[N] When
someone brought him [30c] an ox, a sheep, or a lamb, for the idol, and said,
“Appease the idol for me,”
[O] Jonathan
would say to him, “Why?
[P] “Now
does this thing do you any good? He
does not eat or drink, he can do neither good nor bad.”
[Q] So
the other would say to him, “What should I do?”
[R] And
he would say to him, “Go and bring a little dish of flour, and ten eggs in it,
and I’ll go and appease it for you.”
[S] When
the other went away, he would eat the whole lot.
[T] One empty-head came, and he told him
[what just now has been reported].
[U] He said to him, “If it’s good for
nothing, why do you do what you do here?”
[V] He said to him, “It’s to make a living.”
[W] They replied to R. Samuel bar Nahman, “And
to, it is written, ‘And the Danites set up the graven image for themselves; and
Jonathan b. Gershom b. Moses, and his sons were priests to the tribe of the
Danites until the day of the captivity of the land. So they set up Micah’s
graven image which he made, as long as the house of God was at Shiloh’ ”
(Judges 18:30–31).
[X] He said to them, “When David died and
Solomon took over, then he changed all of his councillors, and this one went
back to his evil ways.”
[IV:1 A] And a prophet who transgresses his own
words―this is exemplified by the associate of Micah [T. San. 14:15]:
[B] This is in accord with
the following verse of Scripture: “Now there dwelt an old prophet in
Bethel. And his sons came and told him all that the man of God had done that
day in Bethel; the words also which he had spoken to the king, they told to
their father. And their father said to them, ‘Which way did he go?’ And his
sons showed him the way which the man of God who came from Judah had gone. And
he said to his sons, ‘Saddle the ass for me.’ So they saddled the ass for him
and he mounted it. And he went after the man of God and found him sitting under
an oak; and he said to him, ‘Are you the man of God who came from Judah?’ And
he said, ‘I am.’ Then he said to him, ‘Come home with me and eat bread.’ And he
said, ‘I may not return with you, or go in with you; neither will I eat bread
nor drink water with you in this place; for it was said to me by the word of
the Lord, ‘You shall neither eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by the
way that you came.’ And he said to him, ‘I also am a prophet as you are, and an
angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him back with you into
your house that he may eat bread and drink water.’ But he lied to him. So he
went back with him and ate bread in his house and drank water.”
[C] What is the meaning of “he lied to him”?
He deceived him.
[D] “And as they sat at the table, the word of the Lord came to
the prophet who had brought him back, and he cried to the man of God who came
from Judah, ‘Thus says the Lord, because you have disobeyed the word of the
Lord and have not kept the commandment which the Lord your God commanded you,
but have come back, and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which
he said to you, Eat no bread and drink no water; your body shall not come to
the tomb of your fathers’ ” (1 Kings 13:22).
[E] “The prophet who was brought back” is not written here, but
rather, “The prophet who brought him back” [thus the statement was made to the
old prophet at Bethel, who had lied].
[F] Now this matter produces the following argument a fortiori:
[G] Now if one who fed bread to his fellow under false pretenses
had the honor of having the word of God addressed in particular to him, he who
feeds his fellow bread in truth all the more so!
[H] It is written, “And a certain man of the sons of the prophets
said to his fellow at the command of the Lord, ‘Strike me, I pray.’ But the man
refused to strike him. Then he said to him, ‘Because you have not obeyed the
voice of the Lord, behold, as soon as you have gone from me, a lion shall kill
you.’ And as soon as he had departed from him, a lion met him and killed him.
Then he found another man and said, ‘Strike me, I pray.’ And the man struck
him, smiting and wounding him. And the prophet departed, and waited for the
king by the way, disguising himself with a bandage over his eyes. And as the
king passed, he cried to the king and said, ‘Your servant went out into the
midst of the battle; and behold, a soldier turned and brought a man to me, and
said, Keep this man; if by any means he be missing, your life shall be for his
life, or else you shall pay a talent of silver. And as your servant was busy
here and there, he was gone.’ The king of Israel said to him, ‘So shall your
judgment be; you yourself decided it.’ Then he made haste to take the bandage
away from his eyes; and the king of Israel recognized him as one of the
prophets. And he said to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, because you have let go out
of your hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction, therefore your life
shall go for his life, and your people for his people.’ And the king of Israel
went to his house resentful and sullen and came to Samaria” (1 Kings 20:35 13).
[I] It is written, “And the man of God said and he said,” two
times. Why two times?
[J] But in the first time he spoke to him, he said to him,
“Should Ben Hadad, king of Aram, fall into your hand, have no pity on him and
do not spare him.”
[K] And in the second he said to him, “Because you have let go
out of your hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction
[L] And how many traps and nets did I prepare for him before I
handed him over to you, and you sent him forth and he got away in peace!
[M] Therefore: “Your life shall go for his life, and your people
for his people.”
[N] You find that when Israel went forth to war, of them all only
Ahab, king of Israel, alone was the one who died.
[O] That is in line with the
following:
[P] “But a certain man drew his bow at a venture and struck the
king of Israel between the scale armor and the breast plate, and he said to the
driver of his chariot, ‘Turn about and carry me out of the battle, for I am
wounded’ ” (1 Kings 22:34).
[Q] And how shall I interpret the statement,
“And your people instead of his people”?
[R] R. Yohanan in the name of R. Simeon b.
Yohai: “That single drop of blood which flowed from that righteous man [the
prophet of 1 Kings 20:35ff.] effected atonement for all Israel.” (The
Jerusalem Talmud: A Translation and Commentary [trans. Jacob Neusner;
Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 2008], Logos Bible Software edition)
