Parasha: Shoftim · Aliyah: Fourth (Netzach)

כי הגוים האלה..ישמעו, "For these nations..will hearken to, etc." This means that the Gentiles are forced to resort to astrologers and diviners who will tell them what the horoscope -forecasts; not so you, however. Forecasts based on horoscopes do not have the same meaning for you as they have for them as you have recourse to the prophets.

The words לא כן, may also mean that you are not in a situation comparable to that of the Gentiles but G'd has made all the horoscopes subordinate to you. This is the meaning of Psalms 8,7 כל שתה תחת רגליו, "You have laid "the All" at his (Israel's) feet." [the verse commenced with "You have made him master over Your handiwork, (the universe) Ed.] Our sages in Shabbat 156 explain Isaiah 41,2: צדק יקראהו לרגלו, as referring to the planet Jupiter (the largest one) whom G'd has placed at the service of Abraham.

נביא יקים לך, "G'd will make a prophet arise for you, etc." Finally, the Torah responds to the fact that the Gentiles appear better off having a chance to read the future, something apparently not granted to the Israelites. The Torah tells us that the function of the prophet includes telling us what is in store for us. Perhaps King Saul understood it thus when he asked the diviner to bring him in touch with the prophet Samuel (compare Samuel I 28,8). He thought that the prohibition to consult such people is applicable only when there were prophets who could be consulted instead. In the absence of such a prophet, Saul thought that it was legal to consult such people.

ככל אשר שאלת, "in accordance with all that you requested, etc." Moses may be telling the people that it is their own fault that not all of them have been elevated to the level of prophecy. At the time they asked G'd to make Moses their intermediary, i.e. their prophet, they had declined being prophets themselves. It was all because they had been afraid of the fact that prophecy brings in its wake a certain amount of fear and emotional pain. This is why they now need an outsider to tell them what they want to know about the future. This is the principal reason the Torah includes the reference to the revelation at Mount Sinai at this juncture.

אך נביא אשר יזיד, But a prophet who sins, etc. Why did the Torah write the word אך at the beginning of verse 20? Why did the Torah add the word יזיד when speaking about a prophet who says things in G'd's name which he has not been told to say? It would have sufficed to write אשר ידבר. What does the Torah mean by writing that "you will ask in your heart how you could be expected to know what G'd had not said to the so-called prophet because it had not come true?" Is it not obvious that if G'd had not said it to him there was nothing to come true in the first place? Why does the Torah change its syntax between verse 20 and verse 22 respectively? In verse 20 the Torah speaks of what the prophet would say בשמי, "in My name," whereas in verse 22 the Torah refers to G'd in the third person, i.e. אשר ידבר הנביא בשם השם "which the prophet will say in the name of the Lord?" Furthermore, why does the Torah write הוא הדבר, "that is the thing" which G'd did not say to him, etc.? These two words are totally superfluous!

We may best understand what the Torah has in mind by recalling the incident involving a true prophet Michayuh and a number (400) of false prophets, notably Tzidkiyahu ben Kenaanah (compare Kings I chapter 22). This occurred during the reign of Yehoshaphat King of Yehudah and Achav King of Israel when the latter invited Yehoshaphat to join him in a war against the Syrians (Aramites) in order to recapture Yavesh Gilead [the equivalent of the Golan Heights in those days. Ed.]. Originally, all the prophets including Tzidkiyahu ben Kenaanah (who was only called in at the insistence of Yehoshaphat) prophesied success, urging the king to go to war. When Yehoshaphat who was uncomfortable in the company of 400 false prophets, all of whom appeared to be Achav's "yes-men" demanded to hear the opinion of a true prophet, one whom Achav had not invited, Michayuh was called, Achav had first demurred claiming that he always prophesied negatively for him and when Michayhu saw that the chief of the false prophets Tzidkiyahu boasted that Achav would succeed with the iron horns he displayed, he too wished the king success, using almost the same language as the other prophets. Yehoshaphat was still suspicious and upon consulting Michayuh again the latter revealed that he had seen a vision of all the Israelite soldiers fleeing into the hills, etc. He also explained that G'd in heaven had allowed Achav to be deliberately misled into going to war so that he would fall in battle. In my commentary on the Books of the Prophets I have dealt with the problem of why the true prophet Michayuh had originally prophesied success for Achav when he had wished him success in his forthcoming battle instead of warning him to desist. I explained that it was precisely this prophet who had been imbued with the spirit of Navot Hacarmeli whom Achav and Izzebel had arranged to become the victim of a judicial murder by framing him. Navot's spirit had complained in the heavens about his life not having been avenged. While Michayuh was thus temporarily under the spell of the spirit of Navot, he had made a comment which lured Achav into waging war. Shortly thereafter his own spirit took over and he revealed to Yehoshaphat in the presence of Achav what he had truly been shown. By that time Achav had good reason not to take him seriously since he had contradicted himself and discredited himself. There are numerous questions regarding the conduct of Michayuh, not the least of which is why he eventually tried to thwart G'd's plan to entrap Achav so that he could fall in battle. Why did he tell Achav about what he had seen in a vision thus encouraging Achav to save his life by not going to war?

The Torah in its wisdom foresaw events in the future, including what has been described in Kings I chapter 22 when a spirit would emanate from G'd deliberately deceiving the prophets. At such a time the prophets who would speak an untruth would not be culpable as they acted under divine compulsion. Therefore, when the Torah speaks of the penalty for a false prophet it had to make an exception for situations such as that involving Michayuh. This is the reason the Torah commences our verse with the restrictive word אך; in other words the Torah forewarns that there could be an exception to the applicability of the legislation it is about to reveal here. In order to make this point even clearer the Torah added the word אשר יזיד, i.e. when the prophet deliberately and with sinful intent speaks of things G'd has not said to him, only then is he guilty of the death penalty. By writing these two words, a prophet such as Michayhu is let off the hook, so to speak. It even follows that the other 400 prophets who had prophesied could not be executed as they had, after all, prophesied the same as had Michayhu. This leaves us with the question of why the Talmud Sanhedrin 89 claims that although Tzidkiyahu ben Kenaanah who had prophesied precisely the same as all the others was considered as having been guilty of a capital crime? The Talmud explains that Tzidkiyahu should have known that G'd never uses two prophets to announce the same message. Although, in that particular instance, another 400 "prophets" also prophesied what Tzidkiyahu and Michayuh had prophesied when they promised Achav success, all of them stopped prophesying when they had become aware that they had all said the same thing. This clued them in that the spirit of Navot or something else had possessed them. The only "prophet" who continued with the theme and who made a big to do about the symbol of the iron horns was Tzidkiyahu. By doing so he had incriminated himself under the heading of אשר יזיד לדבר דבר, "who says something with sinful intent."

In view of the above it is natural that generations following that of Moses would ask how they could be expected to distinguish between who is a true prophet relating what G'd had told him to say, and who has either fabricated a story or revealed something G'd had not authorised him to reveal? How would they know when a prophet had been possessed by a spirit analogous to that of Navot Hacarmeli in Kings I 22? Why should a prophet be put to death when we do not know what motivated him? In the case of the story involving Michayuh it is a fact that but for the first pronouncement of Michayuh all 400 prophets were guilty of death seeing they prophesied falsely, Achav being killed in the battle. Who would have known that all these prophets acted under compulsion by heavenly forces? Could the Torah i.e. G'd, who loves justice, take a chance that all these prophets would be put to death? The question put by the Torah in the mouth of future generations with the words וכי תאמר..איכה נדע הדבר אשר לא דברו השם "if you will say …how will we know the word which G'd has not said to him, etc.," includes both what G'd said to the prophet and what He said to the spirit of Navot by telling him to mislead Achav.

Our verse continues: אשר ידבר הנביא, "if the prophet relates his prophecy in the name of G'd etc., ולא יהיה הדבר, and the word (subject of the prophecy) will not come to pass, then you will know that the prophet spoke deliberately sinfully, and not because he had been misled by the spirit of someone such as Navot. The reason for this is that כי בזדון דברו הנביא, G'd would not have it said of Him that He gave the power of prophecy to a deliberate sinner. If such a so-called prophet was indeed possessed by the spirit of someone such as Navot it was only because he already planned to abuse the power of prophecy in the first place. הוא הדבר אשר לא רברו השם, "that is the word which G'd had not said to him." The Torah advises that non-occurrence of a favourable prophecy will be proof that whoever made such a prophecy did not make it in G'd's name; such a man was not misled by some spirit such as that of Navot or anything like it which caused him to prophesy. Concerning the last mentioned situation, the Torah adds כי בזדון דברו, "he said it with deliberate sinful intention. There could be another situation of which the Torah cannot tell you that the "prophet" acted with sinful intent although the prophecy was a lie, namely when the "prophet did not speak in the name of the Lord but in the name of a spirit such as the one of Navot Hacarmeli.

When you examine the text in the Book of Kings where the conduct of Michayuh is described you will find that when he spoke the first time (when he appeared to agree with the 400 "prophets") he never mentioned that he spoke in the name of G'd, he only wished him that G'd would make him successful. In fact it was Yehoshaphat who mentioned that he wanted to hear the word of G'd (Kings I 22,6). It is clear from verse 16 in that chapter that when Michayuh appeared to concur with the 400 prophets (without confirming that he spoke in the name of G'd) Achav himself noticed this and upraided him for not speaking in the name of G'd. [I have taken the liberty of changing the author's words here as I feel that the way I present it strengthens his argument still further. Ed.]

It is entirely possible that the the words "in the name of the Lord," and the words: "I make you swear" in that verse do not form part of the same statement. If so, it is not surprising why Michayuh revealed G'd's secret (that Achav would fall in battle). If he said what he said without claiming to have said it in the name of G'd, G'd's name would not become associated with a lie. At any rate, seeing that Achav had not believed Michayuh's first glib assurance when he wished him success, there was never any danger that G'd's name would become discredited in Achav's eyes. [You will observe that already in verse 14 Michayuh was referring to what G'd would tell him (future), not to what G'd had already said to him. Ed.]

ואם ירחיב ה׳ את גבולך, "And if the Lord your G'd will expand your boundary, etc." The Torah assures the Israelites that if they will observe all the Lord's commandments not only out of fear but out of love for Him the time will come when He will include the lands of the other 3 tribes in the boundaries of ארץ ישראל, the lands of the Kenite, the Kenizzite and the Kadmoni, all of whose lands were included in G'd's first promise to Abraham in Genesis 15,19. Our sages in Sanhedrin 99 confirm that the redemption in the future depends on our serving G'd out of love.

וכי יהיה איש שנא לרעהו, "And if there will be a man who hates his fellow, etc." This paragraph alludes to what is taught in Makkot 12 that the guardian angel of Esau, i.e. Samael, will make three errors of judgment in the future. One of them is that although the cities of refuge will provide refuge only for someone who kills inadvertently, this guardian angel is under the impression that such cities also provide refuge for intentional murderers. [The Talmud deals with an interpretation of Isaiah 63,1 assuming the prophet refers to the guardian angel of Edom, i.e. Samael who also mistakes the city Bazrah for Betzer (spelled similarly in Hebrew) and tries to take refuge there. Ed.] כי יהיה לאיש שונא, the worst enemy a person has is his evil urge, he is the root cause of all feelings of enmity. לרעהו, "against his fellow," i.e. that he represents himself as man's friend whereas in reality he means to harm you. He uses the pretense of loving you as a means to harm you. וארב לו, "and he ambushes him," i.e. he causes him to sin. You must remember that the first sin a person commits is considered as if it had been inadvertent. Having committed that sin, however, he thereby provides the evil urge with access to his soul as we know from Genesis 4,7 "that sin crouches at the entrance (to your soul)." As long as man has not sinned the evil urge is till outside the entrance. Not only that, but Satan tries to convince you that what you thought was evil is actually good. This is the worst kind of ambush one can be exposed to. The Torah continues וקם עליו, "and he rises up against him," i.e. once he has caused you to sin he now confronts you openly whereas previously he was treading very carefully, so that you almost did not notice his presence (compare Sukkah 52).

והכהו נפש, "and he kills someone, etc." the reference is to Samael who injures man's soul because sinning leads to the death of not only the body but eventually to the death of the soul. ונס אל אחת הערים האל, "and he flees to one of these cities;" if he flees to one of these cities of refuge, i.e. Betzer which is one of them, ושלחו זקני עירו, "and the elders of his town have to send messengers there" (to bring him to justice). This is a reference to the Celestial Court which is known as the city of the guardian angel of Esau. ולקחו אותו And they will take him from there and hand him over to the redeemer of blood, i.e. to G'd Himself.

ומת, "and he shall die." Here the Torah alludes to a mystical aspect of Sanhedrin 38 that G'd pointed His small finger at several groups of the angels who opposed the creation of man, and that He burned them. ביד גואל הדם ומת, "in the hand of the redeemer of blood and he will die." This means that G'd will strike him dead, not the relative of the deceased. Seeing that our sages have said that Samael [the angel of death, -compare the Chad Gadyah song in the Haggadah shel Pessach Ed.] will be killed also by the Israelites who will combine with G'd to kill him, the Torah adds לא תחוס עינך עליו, "you must not have pity on him." Although the righteous have derived benefit from the existence of the angel of death [having received credit for resisting his temptations to sin. Ed.], they have to counterbalance this benefit against the many occasions when the angel of death spilled the blood of innocent people through making them guilty by lying in ambush for them. As a result of his death, וטוב לך, "it will be good for you;" once the spirit of impurity is abolished the good on earth can become complete in the proper place, i.e. within the hearts of the Israelites.