Q&A: Can This Prophecy Reflect Torah from Heaven?
Can This Prophecy Reflect Torah from Heaven?
Question
Hello Rabbi. Does this prophecy: "And the Lord will bring you back to Egypt in ships, by the route of which I told you, 'You shall never see it again'; and there you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer"
indeed, as written in the prophecy, come true in reality? Titus filled ships with captives as slaves and sent them into slavery in Egypt by way of ships. Historians such as Josephus Flavius and others also describe this phenomenon. I’ll just note that the chapter as a whole speaks about exile and antisemitism מצד the neighboring nations, and in the previous chapters as well it speaks about "They shall besiege you in all your gates until your high walls come down," etc. In short, the prophecy fits the chapter and the context in which it appears. But the question is: can it reflect Torah from Heaven?
Answer
See here:
https://mikyab.net/%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%AA/%D7%A0%D7%91%D7%95%D7%90%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%9E%D7%9F-%D7%94%D7%AA%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%94-2/
Discussion on Answer
The answer I gave is quite specific and relevant here too. Even if there is a fulfillment here, in order to draw conclusions you still need a comprehensive examination of all the prophecies, as I explained. For example, why did they speak specifically about Egypt and not about the other exiles to which we were sent? After all, Titus himself exiled people not only to Egypt (I don’t even know how dominant Egypt was there). Couldn’t it be coincidental? And so on. I don’t see a way to draw an unequivocal conclusion from this.
I thought maybe the Rabbi would give a more specific answer, since the prophecy is talking about something more precise, so it’s a bit harder to cast real doubt on it. And still, almost all scholars accept that the Torah was finalized no later than the days of Ezra.