Pensamento Judaico sobre II Reis 10:10

The Torah thus commanded us to rely upon a prophet who prophesied in the name of the L-rd, as it is written: "Him shall you heed"; and it threatened punishment for the transgressor of his words, as it is written (Ibid 19): "and it shall be, that man who does not heed My words which he speaks in My name, I shall require it of him." But it does not explain how the prophet is to be tested to ascertain whether he is indeed a true prophet whose words warrant belief. Now, just as the Torah entertained the apprehension (Ibid 20): "and if you say in your heart: 'How can I know the thing that the L-rd did not speak?'" it should have anticipated the question: "How can I know the thing that He did speak?" The Rambam (Yesodei HaTorah 10:1-2) implies that the aforementioned verse subsumes two questions — "How can I know what He did not speak?" and "How can I know what He did speak?" — and one answer: Just as the prophet's speaking in the name of the L-rd and his word's not materializing is clear indication that his prophecy is not what the L-rd has spoken, in the same way, his speaking in the name of the L-rd and his prophecy's materializing completely, nothing of it failing to come to pass, is clear indication that the L-rd has spoken. But the Rambam himself questions his words (Ibid 5): How is this clear indication that the prophet has spoken in the name of the L-rd? The soothsayers and diviners also prognosticate the future, and what difference is there between them and a prophet? He resolves this question by answering that whereas some of the prognostications of the soothsayers and diviners materialize and others do not, as it is written (Isaiah 47:13): "Let now the astrologers, the star-gazers, the monthly prognosticators stand up and save you from something of what will come upon you" — all of the words of the prophet are fulfilled, as it is written (II Kings 10:10): "For nothing shall fall to the earth of the word of the L-rd." The master, therefore, concludes that the prophet is tested time and again, and if what he says always comes to pass, then he is to be categorically accepted as a prophet of the L-rd.