Halakhah sa Deuteronomio 29:28: Mishneh Torah, Foundations

A prophet may possess the spirit of prophecy for his own sake alone, to broaden his mind and increase his knowledge so that he may know that which he did not know of certain great matters, or he may be sent to a nation of among the nations of the world, or to the inhabitants of a city, or to a government to establish them righteously, to instruct them what to do, or to restrain them from the evil deeds on their hands; and when he is so sent he is given a token or miracle so that the people may know that he is in truth the messenger of God. Nevertheless, not every one who delivers a token or performs a miracle should be believed to be a prophet; for only such man whom we knew heretofore to be worthy of prophecy, both by his wisdom and by his conduct, in consequence whereof he was above all his associates, and walked in the requisite ways of prophecy, in its holiness and self-denial, if, thereafter, he came and delivered a token and performed a miracle and said that he is a messenger of God, it is a mandatory commandment to hearken unto him, for it is said: "Unto him ye shall hearken" (Deut. 18.15). And yet, it is even possible that one such will deliver a token and perform a miracle and not be a prophet; as for the token, it might contain some doubtful matter; notwithstanding this, it is mandatory to hearken unto him; for, seeing that he is a great man, wise and worthy of being a prophet, he must be sustained on the presumption that he is a prophet. In this we were commanded to do as we were commanded to base a legal decision upon the testimony of two proper witnesses, even though they may have testified falsely, yet, because we consider them to be proper, their testimony must stand upon their fitness, and concerning this and like matters it is said: "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God; but the things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children" (Deut. 29.28); and it is said: "For man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart" (I Sam. 16.7).

Moses our Master was not believed in by Israel because he delivered tokens, for whosoever bases his belief contingent upon tokens retains suspicion in his heart, for it is possible that the token was delivered by means of enchantment and witchcraft. But all the tokens delivered by Moses in the wilderness were responsive to necessities, and not as testimony for prophecy. When it became necessary to have the Egyptians sunk, he divided the sea and drowned them therein; when our need was food, he brought down for us Manna; when they became thirsty, he split open the rock for them; when the Korah confederacy denied him, the earth swallowed them up. Likewise came to pass all the other tokens. Wherein, then, did they believe in him? In being present at Mount Sinai; for our own eyes saw and not through a stranger's, and our own ears heard and not that of another; the flame, the thunder and lightning, and he drew near the thick cloud and the Voice speaking unto him, we listening, saying: "Moses, Moses, go and tell them thus and such," for so he also said: "The Lord spoke with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of fire" (Deut. 5.4); and it is moreover said: "The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us" (Ibid. –31). Whencefrom do we know that the standing at Mount Sinai alone is the evidence which makes his prophecy true without a shadow of suspicion? Because it is said: "Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak unto thee, and may also believe thee forever" (Ex. 19.9). Evidently, hitherto they did not believe in him with an everlasting belief, but with a belief wherein there is after-thought and reflection.¹See Ikarim I.18. C.

It is a clear and manifest principle concerning the Torah that as a Law it is permanently established forever and evermore; and that it is not subject to mutibility, nor to diminution, nor to amendment; for it is said: "All this word which I command you, that shall ye observe to do; thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it" (Ibid. 13.1); and it is further said: "But the things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law" (Ibid. 29.28). Herefrom we learn that according to all the words of the Torah we are commanded to do forever. It is, moreover, said: "a statute forever throughout your generations" (Num. 15.15); and again it is said:¹See Baba Mezi’a 59. C. "It is not in heaven" (Deut. 30.12); herefrom we learn that no prophet is thereafter permitted to make any innovation. Therefore, should a man rise up, whether he be from among the Gentiles or whether from among Israel, and deliver a token and perform a miracle saying, that God hath sent him to add a commandment, or to diminish a commandment, or to interpret a certain commandment of among the commandments with such interpretation as we have not heard by tradition from Moses; or he said, that these commandments with which Israel was charged are not forever and throughout all generations, but that they were commandments in keeping with those times only, behold him, he is a false prophet, seeing that he came to deny the prophecy of Moses; and his punishment is death by strangulation, because he wilfully spoke in the name of God concerning that which He did not charge him; for He, blessed is He! commanded Moses, saying, that this enactment was "unto us and unto our children forever" (Deut. 29.28); and, "God is not a man that He should lie" (Num. 23.19).