Re’eh, the Torah portion for this Shabbat speaks about false prophets. It warns the people not to be taken in by false prophets. The key is knowing whether or not a prophet is an authentically speaking for God. How do you determine if a prophet is false? One might think that the test would be to see if he can do wonders. Moses and Aaron perform wonders in Egypt. And in the Book of Kings, the prophet Elijah attempts to prove his status through miracles in his confrontation with the prophets of Baal.
But Deuteronomy says, “Do not pay attention to mighty deeds. Dnot pay attention wonders and miracles. Pay attention to the message. If the message is right the prophet is true. If the message would lead you astray, the prophet is false no matter how good the wonders he produces are.
Over the centuries religious leaders have appeared on the scene proclaiming new ideas and offering wonders as signs of the divine nature of their truth including Jesus, Mohamed, and Joseph Smith.
We often evaluate what a person says or does based on our relationship with that person. We dismiss prophets as false when we do not see them as ours. We dismiss the opinion of people with whom we feel no connection. And turn to the opinion of those people with whom we feel a connection. But how do we respond when people with whom we feel a connection say uncomfortable things?
Most of the Biblical prophets said uncomfortable things. Amos, Jeremiah, Elijah did not deliver messages which the people and the leadership wanted to hear. They criticized the king and the population. They spoke truth to power.
How does power respond to truth? Power often does not want to hear the truth. The King of Judah responds to the prophet Jeremiah by locking him in a cell. His “house prophets” tell the King what he wants to hear rather than delivering the disturbing message put forward by Jeremiah. But eventually the King goes to visit Jeremiah in his cell.
In American society some people in power have surrounded themselves with advisors like the house prophets of the King of Judah who tell the leader exactly what they want to hear. It takes a confident leader to listen to openly to critical voices.
In her excellent book, “A Team of Rivals, “ Doris Kearns Goodwin describes Abraham Lincoln placing in his cabinet the men who had been his rivals for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination. They all thought that they knew more about leading the country
than did Lincoln. Rather than feeling himself under attack,
Lincoln managed to benefit from their advice. He evaluated their advice based on the quality of their thoughts. In keeping with the approach contained in this week's Torah portion, Lincoln paid attention to the messge. As the Torah teaches, if the message is right the prophet is true.
than did Lincoln. Rather than feeling himself under attack,
Lincoln managed to benefit from their advice. He evaluated their advice based on the quality of their thoughts. In keeping with the approach contained in this week's Torah portion, Lincoln paid attention to the messge. As the Torah teaches, if the message is right the prophet is true.
