Prophecy in Our Time

A Jewish Perspective

With more and more protestant churches and even some Messianic assemblies claiming for their leader or other individuals, the “office” of Prophet, I thought it was time to take a look at this phenomena especially from a Jewish perspective. The question is can a truly Messianic Jewish institution embrace this doctrine.

Prophecy was a large part of Jewish national life during the time of the Holy Temple. The Talmud reports that during the First Temple there were approximately 1.2 million prophets among the Jewish people. Maimonides may have been addressing this large number when he wrote:  “There are many levels of prophecy. Just as one person may have greater intelligence that another, so one prophet can be greater than another. Yet, all of them see their prophecy in a dream or vision at night, or else during the day while in a trance…while experiencing prophecy, the limbs tremble, the body becomes weak, and he loses control of his stream of consciousness. All that remains in his conscious mind is a clear understanding of what he is experiencing at the time…”  These dreams or visions are transmitted via allegory. However, the interpretation of the allegory is immediately implanted in the prophet’s mind. Maimonides adds. He further states that only Moshe received prophecy while in a fully conscious state of mind directly and not allegorically.

(Foundations of Torah 7:2-3)

Judaism allows that a prophet may be a man or woman. That such a person has a direct line of communication to G-d. However, the prophet must be Torah Observant, a Torah scholar, and a holy individual. He must also encourage others to do the same. Let it also be understood that anyone coming to change the Torah of G-d (Yahshua did not) is immediately identified as a false prophet (Deuteronomy 13:1-4). This obviously identifies all antinomians (the Law/Torah is dead) as false prophets.  Such a person must also engage in long periods of study, meditation and self-purification. Maimonides states these qualifications: “Prophecy only occurs to someone great in wisdom, mighty in deeds and whom the material inclination does not control in any material thing. Rather he continually fortifies his mind against his inclination and is an exceedingly masterful intellect.” (Foundations of Torah 7:1)

Other excerpts regarding prophecy are found in Midrash- Bereishit Rabba 70:8 that state Prophecy was only possible while a person was in a state of joy, and in Mechilta-Exodus 12:1 that prophecy was only possible in the Land of Israel and only possible in a pure environment. While I don’t promote these extra biblical writings as authoritative we have to wonder if there is some truth to them.

Prophets were expected to help others grow. During the Temple period, they identified spiritual flaws that brought on sickness and how to correct it or if you had a problem not physical, they could discern what was causing the problem. After the destruction of the First Temple prophecy as a widespread phenomenon ceased and by the time of Ezra and the Great Assembly (350 BCE) it ceased altogether.

We are promised in Joel 2: 28, that after the Tribulation (Day of the L-rd) prophesy will again become a reality. Many Christians interpret this verse to mean that in the “church age” this prophecy is fulfilled but a careful reading of the second chapter  of  book of Joel would not support this conclusion, See my paper   JOEL-END TIME PROPHECY.  Unfortunately, that time has not yet arrived, but seems on the horizons. Traditional Judaism also expects prophecy to be restored when the Messiah comes, and they will not recognize Him until His second advent.

So, is prophecy for us today?  Are we to recognize self-appointed Prophets based on even this scant information? In the Talmud-Sanhedrin 89b, it says that a person claiming to be a prophet must accurately predict the future, e.g. that G-d is about to miraculously suspend the laws of nature consistently three times, just as Moshe was given three signs in Exodus 4:9. However, we are to determine the legitimacy of a prophet and the bible gives us guidelines, yet it would seem improbable for this age because The Time of the L-rd has not yet arrived, and this is a prerequisite to prophecy being restored to us.