In this week’s reading, Re’eh, Moses continues addressing the Israelites just before he passes away; just before the Israelites cross the Jordan River and enter the land of Israel. Moses commands the Israelites to proclaim certain blessings and curses on Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal after they enter the land of Israel. He directs them to destroy all vestiges of idolatry from the Promised Land. They must then designate a city where the Divine presence will dwell in the Holy Temple, and they are forbidden from offering sacrifices elsewhere. Other topics discussed in this portion are: tithes, false prophets, the wayward city, tattoos, kashrut, the Sabbatical Year, charity, and the festivals.
Let’s read from the parsha:
Deu 13:1 “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder,
Deu 13:2 and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’
Deu 13:3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Deu 13:4 You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him.
Based on FFOZ Torah Club Volume 1.
A prophet is a person to whom God’s Spirit speaks through dreams, visions, oracles, or predictions. A prophet is like a messenger for God. Many prophets were active in ancient Israel. A majority of the Hebrew Scriptures were written by the prophets. When God poured out His Holy Spirit on Yeshua’s disciples, the gift of prophecy was given to many of them. Prophets were common in these early communities and all of the apostles seem to have possessed the gift of prophecy in some measure.
In charismatic and Pentecostal segments of Christianity today prophets are still common. Now, if I may be so bold, many of those who claim to be prophets speaking on God’s behalf simply are not. This is not a new problem. False prophets existed in the days of the Bible too. False prophets are probably more common than real prophets. False prophets were a problem even in the days of the apostles. John warns in 1 John 4, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
So, how do you tell the difference? Moses addresses this question.
Moses provides 3 guidelines to use in determining whether a prophet is truly speaking on God’s behalf.
Predictions made by the prophet must come to pass.
The prophet must not speak in the name of other gods.
The prophet must not speak against keeping the commandments of Torah.
The early believers had additional criteria for detecting false prophets. The writers of the Didache (The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles recorded in the late first century AD) held prophets in high regard, but seem to have had little tolerance for anyone who would try to take advantage of the gift of prophecy. The amount of space dedicated to this topic would seem to indicate that false prophets were a problem in the early communities of believers. Several other tests for false prophets are written here.
The Didache allows an itinerant prophet to find hospitality within a community for 2 days, but is he remains a third day he is to be deemed a false prophet. The Didache allows believers to give an itinerant prophet bread, but if he asks for money he is to be deemed a false prophet. Any prophet who asks for food, money, or gifts while prophesying is labeled a false prophet. The Didache adds that a prophet who does not hold to the ways of the LORD or who does not ‘practice what he preaches’ is a false prophet.
Am I saying that there are no true prophets today? No. But I am saying that we need to put them to the test (as Moses and the early church fathers taught us) before we follow what they are saying.
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