Q&A: Prophecy That Is Clearly Prophecy
Prophecy That Is Clearly Prophecy
Question
Hello Rabbi,
In the series on mysticism you said, if I remember correctly, that someone who receives prophecy understands that it really is prophecy.
But for example, Gideon asked the angel for proofs.
Not that I think someone here is going to receive prophecy tomorrow, so the question is more theoretical: if you are mistaken in your assessment, and I don’t feel a clear sense that this really is prophecy, what test would you ask the angel to perform so that it would prove to you that this really is prophecy and not some magician, illusionist, or madness coming from your own mind?
It seems to me that today, Gideon’s test for example would not convince me.
Answer
Gideon probably asked to attain the certainty that is usually created in a prophet (since a prophet does not ask for proofs). Gideon was also not a prophet. The Holy One, blessed be He, did not speak to him.
Discussion on Answer
That’s just a semantic question. Define it however you want. My point was that the inner certainty is perhaps created through speaking with the Holy One, blessed be He, and not with an angel.
Okay,
As Maimonides said: “A person does not know how they will be until they are.”
And for that matter, with an angel, what would you ask in order to know that it really is an angel and not a fake or madness?
I don’t know. As I explained, only when I’m in the situation will I know what would convince me.
The Rabbi said that God did not speak with Gideon, but rather the angel did.
It says in Judges chapter 6:
“And the Lord turned to him and said, ‘Go in this your strength, and save Israel from the hand of Midian; have I not sent you?’”
In the plain sense of the verses, the speaker is the angel and not the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself. True, Rashi there wrote otherwise, but most commentators explained that it was an angel.
Interesting.
Why, really, is speaking with an angel not considered prophecy? It seems to me that Maimonides says that all the other prophets prophesied through an angel (not that that means Maimonides is necessarily right), but in general it seems to me that the common view is that speaking with an angel is considered prophecy.
Are you basically defining prophecy as direct speech from the Holy One, blessed be He, to the prophet?