Where have all the Prophets gone?

[Sparko]

God used to send prophets to Israel on a regular basis every few hundred years or so, sometimes even closer together.

Why has he not sent any prophets in the last 2500 years?

[SpiritualRadica]

God used to send prophets to Israel on a regular basis every few hundred years or so, sometimes even closer together.

Why has he not sent any prophets in the last 2500 years?

I hear they all headed to Utah

[Tanakh Keeper]

God used to send prophets to Israel on a regular basis every few hundred years or so, sometimes even closer together.

Why has he not sent any prophets in the last 2500 years?

The Age of Prophecy is over. We are now in the Age of Wisdom.

http://www.torah.org/learning/pirkei...apter1-1c.html

The Men of the Great Assembly recognized that in their own lifetimes that (sic: the Messianic) era was coming to an end. ...The Second Temple did not house the Divine Presence in the same manner as the first. At the same time, however, Torah study was flourishing and reaching new heights -- as foreseen by the Prophet Zachariah...

...the Sages recognized that a new age was dawning: the Age of Wisdom.... We would have to seek G-d out ourselves. And our single tool for Heavenly inspiration would be the Torah -- and the application of our own frail but creative human minds to its infinite wisdom. Our own ability to discern truth and understand the wisdom handed to us from past generations would now be our most precious asset. And it would sustain us through endless succession of exile and persecution, and for generations on end.

[Sparko]

The Age of Prophecy is over. We are now in the Age of Wisdom.

http://www.torah.org/learning/pirkei...apter1-1c.html

that's cute. but why did God allow his temple to be destroyed and Judah scattered and Jerusalem sacked? Last time he did that it was because Israel was being rebellious and didn't listen to his prophets. Doesn't sound like as much changed as you might want to think.

Can you give me scripture that says God would not be sending the Jews any more prophets? Or maybe you just rejected the one he sent?

[Macgawd]

God used to send prophets to Israel on a regular basis every few hundred years or so, sometimes even closer together.

Why has he not sent any prophets in the last 2500 years?

Because Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. I thought all Christians knew that.

=M=

[SpiritualRadica]

Can you give me scripture that says God would not be sending the Jews any more prophets? Or maybe you just rejected the one he sent?

Israel has never been without prophets. God has imbued many great Rabbis and leaders with a prophetic spirit that has inspired their words and deeds. See Abraham Heschel, Prophetic Inspiration After the Prophets: Maimonides and Other Medieval Authorities. We may not call them prophets, and maybe they are not, but they do have the prophetic spirit. God wil always inspire some men and women to speak out. I think part of your problem is that you don't even know what a prophet is. You probably think it's some supernatural man who appears every few centuries and dishes out revelation and then disappears. 'The prophet is an iconoclast,' wrote Heschel, 'challenging the apparently holy, revered, and awesome. Beliefs cherished as certainties, institutions endowed with supreme sanctity, he exposes as scandalous pretensions.’ The prophets were not just megaphones for God; they were human beings, social critics whose words were derived not only from God but from their humanity. It is also the case that there is a small spark of the prophetic spirit in every Jew. By observing the Torah, the Jew is imbued with divine pathos, with the ethics and morality of the Bible, and so every pious Jew is already armed with all the sense of God's will necessary. It is no longer necessary for prophets to come and deliver revelation, because everything of consequence has already been said, and every Jew who reads the scripture already knows the answer to the challenges we face.

[SpiritualRadica]

Because Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. I thought all Christians knew that.

=M=

Jesus is one of many who fulfilled Deut 13:1-5 and Deut 18:20-22.

[SpiritualRadica]

that's cute. but why did God allow his temple to be destroyed and Judah scattered and Jerusalem sacked? Last time he did that it was because Israel was being rebellious and didn't listen to his prophets. Doesn't sound like as much changed as you might want to think.

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Moderated By: JB

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[Mordochai]

J**** is one of many who fulfilled Deut 13:1-5 and Deut 18:20-22.

You mean 13:2-6, not 1-5; but for sure he "fulfilled" both passages!!! ROFLMDO!!!!!!

But you really should take greater care not to violate Shmot 23:13 though, SR:

וְשֵׁ֨ם אֱלֹהִ֤ים אֲחֵרִים֙ לֹ֣א תַזְכִּ֔ירוּ לֹ֥א יִשָּׁמַ֖ע עַל־פִּֽיךָ׃ ...

...don't even MENTION the names of any other 'gods' - they must not be heard from your lips.

[Sparko]

Israel has never been without prophets. God has imbued many great Rabbis and leaders with a prophetic spirit that has inspired their words and deeds. See Abraham Heschel, Prophetic Inspiration After the Prophets: Maimonides and Other Medieval Authorities. We may not call them prophets, and maybe they are not, but they do have the prophetic spirit. God wil always inspire some men and women to speak out. I think part of your problem is that you don't even know what a prophet is. You probably think it's some supernatural man who appears every few centuries and dishes out revelation and then disappears. 'The prophet is an iconoclast,' wrote Heschel, 'challenging the apparently holy, revered, and awesome. Beliefs cherished as certainties, institutions endowed with supreme sanctity, he exposes as scandalous pretensions.’ The prophets were not just megaphones for God; they were human beings, social critics whose words were derived not only from God but from their humanity. It is also the case that there is a small spark of the prophetic spirit in every Jew. By observing the Torah, the Jew is imbued with divine pathos, with the ethics and morality of the Bible, and so every pious Jew is already armed with all the sense of God's will necessary. It is no longer necessary for prophets to come and deliver revelation, because everything of consequence has already been said, and every Jew who reads the scripture already knows the answer to the challenges we face.

I dont think prophets are "supernatural" I think they are men chosen by God to be his messenger to the people, to give them warnings and to speak to them directly. Who write scripture also.

The Jews have had no such men in 2500 years. And if the Jews became such devout followers after Malachi that they did not need any more prophets, then why did God allow Jerusalem to be destroyed and Judah scattered, and his own temple destroyed? That sounds like a judgement to me. It sounds like God gave the jews a prophet and they ignored him, and paid the price.

[Sparko]

You mean 13:2-6, not 1-5; but for sure he "fulfilled" both passages!!! ROFLMDO!!!!!!

But you really should take greater care not to violate Shmot 23:13 though, SR:

Heck Mordochai, you won't even mention the name of your OWN God.

[Sparko]

Jesus is one of many who fulfilled Deut 13:1-5 and Deut 18:20-22.

which false prophesies do you think that Jesus spoke?

[SpiritualRadica]

You mean 13:2-6, not 1-5; but for sure he "fulfilled" both passages!!! ROFLMDO!!!!!!

But you really should take greater care not to violate Shmot 23:13 though, SR:

My mistake!

By the way, may I ask what is an acceptable alternative to his name if you're refering to him in an academic paper?

[SpiritualRadica]

which false prophesies do you think that Jesus spoke?

I'd rather address the fact that he taught other gods --- namely, himself.

[Mordochai]

...if the Jews became such devout followers after Malachi...

LMAO - there never was a man named "Mal'achi" - מַלְאָכִי is a pseudonym... a "pen-name"... it means "My messenger" and it taken from the opening words of his last chapter.

...they ignored him, and paid the price.

"Paid the price"? WHAT "price"??? Don't say being "rejected" or "cast off" by God, because the T'nach itself proves that to be false:

וְאַתָּה֙ יִשְׂרָאֵ֣ל עַבְדִּ֔י יַעֲקֹ֖ב אֲשֶׁ֣ר בְּחַרְתִּ֑יךָ זֶ֖רַע אַבְרָהָ֥ם אֹהֲבִֽי׃ אֲשֶׁ֤ר הֶחֱזַקְתִּ֨יךָ֙ מִקְצ֣וֹת הָאָ֔רֶץ וּמֵאֲצִילֶ֖יהָ קְרָאתִ֑יךָ וָאֹ֤מַר לְךָ֙ עַבְדִּי־אַ֔תָּה בְּחַרְתִּ֖יךָ וְלֹ֥א מְאַסְתִּֽיךָ׃

"...but you, My servant Yisrael - Ya'akov, whom I chose - My beloved Avraham's זֶרַע (zera) - I will grab you back from the ends of the Earth and separate you from among its nobles - I will say to you 'You are My servant! I chose you, and I never disowned you! '..." (Y'shayahu 41:8-9)