Determining Prophetic Authenticity: A Maimonidean Reading of False Prophecy

• In Event: The Prophets as Sources of Philosophic Inquiry

Abstract

Maimonides’ eighth principle ends citing Num. 16:28 as a primary proof text for the belief that the Torah originated in heaven and was channelled earthbound via Moses- Hereby ye shall know that the LORD hath sent me to do all these works, and that I have not done them of mine own mind. Curiously, its original narrative context constitutes Moses’ response to the desert rebellion led by Korah. Maimonides thus anchors his principle of “Torah from heaven” in the context of a denial of the charge of falsely speaking in the name of God. An understanding of the phenomenon of false prophecy therefore is essential to any belief in the notion of “Torah from heaven.” Though the phenomenon of false prophecy may not offer a definitive formula for determining prophetic veracity, it can result in a checklist against which any claim to prophetic pedigree could be measured. Accordingly, the Guide of the Perplexed offers a logical test for discerning the divinity of a teaching or law based on an analysis of its content and its aims. In my paper I return to scripture and present a close reading of one of the most prominent biblical episodes involving false prophets in Jeremiah 27-28. Its narrative structure implies an application of that test which exposes the falsity of the prophet by virtue of the content of his message. I offer this analysis as an exercise that is crucial for elucidating some of Maimonides’ meaning when he asserts what undergirds the nature and truth of Moses’ reception of the Torah. What is rarely considered in the scholarship is that Scripture itself can be read at times harmoniously with Maimonidean formulations and need not be forced to conform to them. My analysis aims at shedding further light on Maimonides’ eighth principle and the two concerning prophecy which precede it.

Author

• James A. Diamond, University of Waterloo