{"id":73639,"date":"2020-04-22T12:59:26","date_gmt":"2020-04-22T09:59:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=73639"},"modified":"2020-04-22T12:59:26","modified_gmt":"2020-04-22T09:59:26","slug":"an-equal-opportunity-prophecy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/an-equal-opportunity-prophecy\/","title":{"rendered":"An Equal Opportunity Prophecy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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We have encountered false prophets on numerous previous occasions (see, in particular, Jeremiah 145:14 and 23:16-32). This chapter, however, is our first meeting with false prophetesses.<\/span><\/p>\n

After excoriating \u201cthe prophets of Israel who prophesy about Jerusalem and see a vision of well-being for her when there is no well-being\u201d (16), God next instructed Ezekiel as follows: \u201cAnd you, O mortal, set your face against the women of your people, who prophesy out of their own imagination; prophesy against them\u201d (17). Radak explained: \u201cThey say that they speak with the Holy Spirit, saying this one will live and that one will die; this will occur to someone for better or worse. They perform acts of magic but claim that they acquire their knowledge through prophecy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Moshe Greenberg, making a fine, but incisive, grammatical observation, pointed out that the Hebrew uses two different forms for what is translated as \u201cprophecy.\u201d The latter\u2014the instruction to Ezekiel\u2014is <\/span>hinnavei<\/span><\/i>, which is used for verbal prophesying, while the women\u2019s activities are described as <\/span>mitnab\u2019ot<\/span><\/i>, which is used to describe external prophetic behavior, such as signs of possession. Both Greenberg and Radak, then, would have us regard these women as more fortune-tellers than prophets.<\/span><\/p>\n

Through painstaking literary analysis, lining up verses 2-15 opposite 17-23, Greenberg demonstrated the equivalence between Ezekiel\u2019s rebuke of the \u201ccounterfeit\u201d male prophets and his remonstrations with their female counterparts. Once again, we can appreciate his melding of the traditional with the historical-philological approaches.<\/span><\/p>\n

Each in their own way vitiated the oracles of God and Ezekiel\u2019s mission. The counterfeits [i.e., false prophets] diverted the people\u2019s minds from the impending doom, and thus guaranteed it. Next, the prophet rebukes women who vitiated the effect on individuals of his warnings as a lookout\u2026 These women did not warn but told fortunes\u2026 Through divinatory rituals in which they invoked God, they usurped the prophet\u2019s privilege of declaring who would live and who would die (Anchor Bible <\/span>Ezekiel<\/span><\/i>, 243-4).<\/span><\/p>\n

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