{"id":67924,"date":"2019-12-31T18:18:19","date_gmt":"2019-12-31T16:18:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=67924"},"modified":"2023-07-24T17:23:39","modified_gmt":"2023-07-24T14:23:39","slug":"qualifying-as-a-prophet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/qualifying-as-a-prophet\/","title":{"rendered":"Qualifying as a Prophet"},"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":[648,770,506],"acf":{"old_id":"67924","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"384","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Nature, nurture and more","content":"

Maimonides wrote that prophecy was the perfection of virtues of intellect and imagination, but the perfect person still had to be chosen by God (<\/span>Guide for the Perplexed <\/span><\/i>2:32 ff.), while Judah Halevi thought that divine selection alone was enough. Malbim, in his commentary on Jeremiah 1:5, approximated the Maimonidean position, writing that there are two preconditions for prophecy: natural and selective.<\/span><\/p>\n

In vss. 4-5 of this chapter, Isaiah appears to have listed some of the qualifications for prophecy that accompanied his selection: \u201cThe Lord GOD gave me a skilled tongue, to know how to speak timely words to the weary. Morning by morning, He rouses, He rouses my ear to give heed like disciples. The Lord GOD opened my ears, and I did not disobey, I did not run away.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Malbim,* here, went into greater detail, describing some of the practical qualifications of a successful prophet:<\/span><\/p>\n

One who addresses the public and is a prophet unto the nations must have perfection in three areas: [A] The power of persuasion, to offer sound advice on all important subjects; to wit: \u201ca skilled tongue, to know how to speak timely words to the weary\u201d \u2026 [B] He must possess this faculty at all times and not intermittently, to wit: \u201cMorning by morning, He rouses.\u201d [C] He must speak clearly and not in riddles and choose his words according to the intellect and comprehension of his audience, to wit: \u201cHe rouses my ear to give heed like disciples.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Let it also not be said that despite God granting me a skilled tongue I [Isaiah] failed in my mission and did not address you with God\u2019s word, because as soon as He \u201copened my ears\u201d even minimally \u201cI did not disobey\u201d and I went on my mission. Do not say [further] that even if I went from place to place until arriving at the audience that I was afraid to speak to them and retreated; not so, \u201cI did not run away\u201d and I feared no one.<\/span><\/p>\n

Radak, who also took a Maimonidean position on prophecy (see Jeremiah 1:5), noted that not only prophecy required a combination of natural ability, self-improvement, and divine selection, but also anything at which a person excels. We tend to recognize the first two (we even call them nature and nurture) but often overlook the third.<\/span><\/p>\n

*For the significance of Malbim\u2019s commentary to the Book of Isaiah,<\/span> see our introduction to chapter 1.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":67925,"id":67925,"title":"is50-prophet","filename":"is50-prophet.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is50-prophet.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/qualifying-as-a-prophet\/is50-prophet\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"is50-prophet","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":67924,"date":"2019-12-31 16:16:36","modified":"2019-12-31 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