1:21 A: Prophecy was never issued by the will of man.
Sifre Deuteronomy 1:6 § 5 (66B): “Yahweh our God spoke to us on Horeb,
saying” (Deut 1:6). He (Moses) said to them, “I do not speak to you from
myself, but rather from the mouth of God I speak to you.” — The same is also
found in § 9 (67A.13); § 12 (67B.14); § 19 (69A.36). ‖ A baraita in b. Sanh.
99A: “He has despised the word of Yahweh” (Num 15:31).… Even if someone says,
“The whole Torah originates from God with the exception of this verse, which is
not God, but rather Moses spoke from his own mouth, he is like one to whom it
applies, “He has despised the word of Yahweh.” ‖ Midrash Song of Songs 1:1
(79A): “And furthermore, since Ecclesiastes was a wise man” (Eccl 12:9). If
someone else had said them (the words of Ecclesiastes), you would have had to
incline your ears to hear these words, and furthermore (= and this is all the
more the case) since Solomon said them; and if he had said them according to
his opinion (according to his own discretion), you would have had to incline
your ears and listen to them, and furthermore since he said them in the holy
spirit (by the power of inspiration). — See further passages in the excursus
“The Old Testament Canon and Its Inspiration,” II, n. 17. (Hermann
L. Strack and Paul Billerbeck, A Commentary on the New Testament from the
Talmud and Midrash, ed. Jacob N. Cerone, 4 vols. [trans. Andrew Bowden and
Joseph Longarino; Bellingham, Wash.: Lexham Press, 2021], 3:897)
