{"id":51024,"date":"2019-03-09T23:38:18","date_gmt":"2019-03-09T21:38:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=51024"},"modified":"2022-09-30T15:46:43","modified_gmt":"2022-09-30T12:46:43","slug":"the-challenge-of-charismatic-authority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-challenge-of-charismatic-authority\/","title":{"rendered":"The Challenge Of Charismatic Authority"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[390,354],"acf":{"old_id":"51024","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33923,"related_cahpter":"171","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"How does one tell a true prophet from a false one?","content":"

In his enumeration of the various leadership roles within the nation that would take shape after his death, Moses mentions not only the priest\/judge and king but also the prophet: \u201cThe Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him\u201d (18:15).<\/span><\/p>\n

Moses would not be the last of the prophets. He would have successors. Historically this was so. From the days of Samuel to the Second Temple period, each generation gave rise to men \u2013 and sometimes women \u2013 who spoke God\u2019s word with immense courage, unafraid to censure kings, criticize priests, or rebuke an entire generation for its lack of faith and moral integrity.<\/span><\/p>\n

There was, however, an obvious question: How does one tell a true prophet from a false one? Unlike kings or priests, prophets did not derive authority from formal office. Their authority lay in their personality, their ability to give voice to the word of God, their self-evident inspiration. But precisely because a prophet has privileged access to the word others cannot hear, the visions others cannot see, the real possibility existed of false prophets \u2013 like those of Baal in the days of King Ahab. Charismatic authority is inherently destabilizing. What was there to prevent a fraudulent, or even a sincere but mistaken, figure, able to perform signs and wonders and move the people by the power of his words, from taking the nation in a wrong direction, misleading others and perhaps even himself?<\/span><\/p>\n

A prophet is not an oracle: a prophecy is not a prediction. Precisely because Judaism believes in free will, the human future can never be unfailingly predicted. People are capable of change. God forgives. As we say in our prayers on the High Holy Days: \u201cPrayer, penitence and charity avert the evil decree.\u201d There is no decree that cannot be revoked. A prophet does not foretell. He warns. A prophet does not speak to predict future catastrophe but rather to avert it. If a prediction comes true it has succeeded. If a prophecy comes true it has failed..<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>The second consequence is no less far-reaching. The real test of prophecy is not bad news but good. Calamity, catastrophe, disaster prove nothing. Anyone can foretell these things without risking his reputation or authority. It is only by the realization of a positive vision that prophecy is put to the test. So it was with Israel\u2019s prophets. They were realists, not optimists. They warned of the dangers that lay ahead. But they were also, without exception, agents of hope. They could see beyond the catastrophe to the consolation. That is the test of a true prophet.<\/span><\/p>\n

From:\u00a0<\/span>Testing Prophecy (Covenant & Conversation, Shoftim 5773)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Image: By Horace Vernet, Jeremiah<\/a>, 1844,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":51025,"id":51025,"title":"dt18-prophet","filename":"dt18-prophet.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-prophet.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-challenge-of-charismatic-authority\/dt18-prophet\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"dt18-prophet","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":51024,"date":"2019-03-09 21:38:04","modified":"2023-10-09 11:25:43","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":800,"height":1066,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-prophet-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-prophet-225x300.jpg","medium-width":225,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-prophet-768x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-prophet-768x1024.jpg","large-width":768,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-prophet.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":1066,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-prophet.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":1066,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-prophet.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":1066,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-prophet-315x420.jpg","home_baner-width":315,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"The Challenge Of Charismatic Authority","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"How does one tell a true prophet from a false one?","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":51025,"id":51025,"title":"dt18-prophet","filename":"dt18-prophet.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-prophet.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-challenge-of-charismatic-authority\/dt18-prophet\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"dt18-prophet","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":51024,"date":"2019-03-09 21:38:04","modified":"2023-10-09 11:25:43","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":800,"height":1066,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-prophet-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-prophet-225x300.jpg","medium-width":225,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-prophet-768x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-prophet-768x1024.jpg","large-width":768,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-prophet.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":1066,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-prophet.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":1066,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-prophet.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":1066,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-prophet-315x420.jpg","home_baner-width":315,"home_baner-height":420}},"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false,"send_noty":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51024"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51024"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108285,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51024\/revisions\/108285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}