The False Prophet: A Biblical Literacy Moment

False prophets? How do we know?

The Torah Portion Re’eh defines a false scriptural prophet. Not only does Re’eh address the deity-prophet relationship, but it also addresses the biblical concepts of both testing as well as an individual’s heart. Given the multitude of issues raised within the passage, understanding the prophets’ bona fides within the Hebrew Bible is a worthy study.

The first step in exploring these issues is to examine Re-eh’s false prophet definition.

Re’eh’s False Prophet Definition

In the Portion Re’eh, there is the following prophesy passage:

“When a prophet or one who has a dream will get up among you and will give you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder of which he spoke to you- saying, “Let’s go after other gods,” whom you haven’t known, “and let’s serve them’– will come to pass, you shall not listen to that prophet’s words or to that one who has the dream, because the Lord, your God, is testing you, to know whether you are loving the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul. Deuteronomy 13:2-4. [emphasis added]

To better understand this portion, it must be broken into sections. The first issue to address is the nature of God-Prophet communications.

Dreams and Visions as Communication

An earlier Torah passage defined Prophets’ communications with the Lord. In Numbers, it is noted: “If there will be a prophet among you, I, the Lord, shall be known to him in a vision; in a dream I shall speak through him. Numbers 12:6.

As such, moving forward from the God-Moses relationship, all God-Prophet communications were no longer going to be face-to-face.

Face-to-face, however, was not in a literal sense, but rather the communications were conversational. (“And the Lord would speak to Moses face-to-face, the way a man speaks to a fellow man.” Exodus 33:11)

Thus, Re-eh definition falls in line with past scripture. The likely reason for omitting the language of face-to-face communication was that it already had been declared in Numbers as out-of-bounds.

The next Re-eh false prophesy issue is idolatry.

Idolatry- Loyalty Matters?

Fealty toward the Lord is perhaps the true indication of a false prophet. A prophet breaking from the Lord is the key. Their abandonment of either monolatry or monotheism was essentially the determinative factor with the false prophet designation.

While idolatry is the key, understanding the signs and wonders is indicated.

Signs and Wonders- What Are They?

The concept of signs and wonders were prominently introduced to Moses by the Lord in the Exodus’ planning. The Lord tells Moses that He-the Lord- was going to multiply his signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. Exodus 7:3. Thus, the Exodus’ Ten Plagues are examples of signs and wonders.

The next important part of the false prophet definition is testing.

Testing- Testing Who?

The concept of testing is central to scripture. The Lord’s selection of Abraham, in part, was due to testing. Abraham’s most significant test (of his faith) was the command to sacrifice his son Isaac. See Genesis 22.

In the Re-eh definition, it appears that the prophet’s audience is tested. It is their fealty towards a deity that is challenged. The notion of it being a test, however, is puzzling. There a questions raised. Are the false prophets agents of the Lord testing people? Or, is it simply the Lord’s understanding that there will arise false prophets who will engage in this activity? In essence, are false prophets simply a matter of inevitability versus intentionality?

Beyond the testing, the definition raises matters of the heart. Heart, in antiquity, arguably was an observation of one’s character.

The Heart- Character Matters

The Re-eh passage also raises the issue of one’s heart. Is one’s heart really about one’s character?

One of the most famous passages on this topic comes from the First Book of Samuel. The passage concerning choosing King Saul’s replacement reports:  ^“But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at his appearance or at his tall stature, for I have rejected him. For it is not as man sees– man sees what his eyes behold, but the Lord sees into the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7. Given this instruction, Samuel chose and anointed David as Israel’s next king.

Coming from this notion is the sense that one’s physical activities are parts of one’s make up. One’s insides- feeling, devotion, heart- matter.

Conclusion

Not only does the Portion Re’eh passage define false prophets, it also addresses other scriptural matters.

Definitionally, false prophets’ communications are aligned with previously established determinations.

The concept of signs and wonders was previously understood from the Exodus’ plagues.

Given the definition, it appears that a prophet’s suggestion of idolatry appears to the determining a prophet’s bona fides.

Also, it appears that the issues of discernment falls upon the false prophet’s audience. They somehow are the ones tested; including their hearts.

With the heart, there is the suggestion that beyond one’s physical behavior, one’s internal workings play a role with one’s relationship with the Lord.

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