What Happened To Prophecy?

The Spiritual Dimension 1/2

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Note: Many important edits were incorporated since this was sent by email. Many errors remain. I apologize for the errors, and am working on them as they are brought to my attention. - Isha Yiras Hashem

This was written by Isha Yiras Hashem, with the help of a mentor. Link to Spanish translation may take a few days to be added.

What Happened To Prophecy?

Wouldn't it be easier to believe in G-d if He spoke directly to you? The Bible frequently describes G-d and other spiritual beings, like angels, speaking to mortal humans. Yet we do not see this today.  

Many people take the lack of prophecy today to imply that there never was prophecy, and many completely deny G-d’s existence. These people often claim  that there is no spiritual dimension in the world. They are not idol worshippers in the traditional sense; in fact, they do not worship anything.¹ Their perspective is that all religion and spirituality is equally false. They theorize that religion was invented by human beings to comfort themselves from the meaninglessness of life.² They view the Bible as just another historical record.

The Bible is not a history book, but it does include some history. It records the world from a spiritual and physical perspective,  in both its written and oral tradition, starting with Creation.

Immediately after  Creation, the Creator  was naturally evident to all humanity, who had just been created. Adam and Eve had a direct relationship with G-d.  Even their son, Cain, spoke with G-d.³ But in the times of Adam's grandson, Enosh, idolatry began to develop.⁴

Maimonides⁵ channels the Midrash in his description of the historical development of idolatry. It was actually the wise people in the generation of Enosh who influenced humanity to accept idolatry.⁶ This was despite their knowledge of G-d as the all-powerful Creator. That belief did not lead them to worship G-d, because having that spiritual awareness did not mean that they liked G-d or wanted Him supervising them. In fact, they  deliberately tried to avoid worshipping G-d.

They also had wizards, soothsayers, oracles, astrologers, and the like, although these did not have any real powers of their own, only what G-d permitted. G-d gave people access to spiritual powers in some cases. There are many references to G-d destroying the spiritual representation of idolatry before the physical idols. ⁷

Their claim was that the Creator was too great to be worshiped directly, so instead they would worship His servants, the powers He Created. This led to worshipping those powers directly, and therefore those powers needed to be destroyed, in order to prove their subordination to G-d. There are many Biblical references to destroying something in the spiritual dimension, which would enable its destruction in the physical dimension.

  Why wasn't there denial of a spiritual reality in ancient times? There were many forms of idolatry, but there was no group of people who did not believe that the spiritual dimension existed at all. Or at least, such a concept is not in anyone's tradition or in any documents.   If you follow the Biblical timeline, this makes sense. Between  the Creation, the Flood, the Tower of Babel, and the Ten Plagues, the entire world knew about G-d.

The ancients knew G-d existed, but they viewed Him as just another power, albeit a very strong one, whom they relegated to the Jews. Thus we find that the King of Persia and Haman, both idol worshippers, discussed whether the Jews’ G-d will help them against Haman’s proposed decree.⁸

How can we understand this acceptance of a spiritual dimension in today's world?

Let us try to imagine ourselves in their shoes.  Imagine if you told them that you can send a message across the world, almost instantaneously, using the Internet. This would seem nonsensical to them. Yet nowadays someone would refer to the "internet", and expect everyone to understand exactly what they are referring to. 

Similarly, in a more spiritually aware world, people had much more interaction with the spiritual side of things, and it was a normal thing to reference. Naturally,  the modern person finds this incomprehensible. Spirituality existed then, and it exists now. Electricity existed then, and spirituality exists now, but electricity was not part of their obvious reality, just like spirituality is no longer an obvious part of ours.

Being able to perceive and manipulate the spiritual world is a type of power, and there are pockets of it in the world today, accounting for things like Eastern spiritualists, the occult, and seances.  Having spiritual awareness doesn't necessarily make someone good. What makes someone good is the true desire to be good, and to serve G-d. So the spiritual awareness of the ancients was often directed  towards convincing themselves that their idols were real, and for dealing with the occult. Much as awareness of science can be used to convince oneself of the lack of intelligent design.

There is an element of free choice in the world, as the Talmud says, “in the way a person wishes to go he is led”.⁹  For example, after Abraham came to Canaan he told people to stop worshipping stars and idols. A famine immediately ensued. This was the first famine the world had known. Consequently, many concluded that the idols were angry at Abraham’s teachings and they caused a famine!¹⁰

Although most people no longer worship idols, they do deny the Creator. But how can they, when the world is full of signs of the Creator? The world could not have created itself. Our world is so complex, and put together so well, that the existence of a Creator screams out from the Creation.  At the same time, G-d also left some areas unexplained.  He did this deliberately, to enable free will.  

The same thing happened with the ancient idol worshippers. They knew that their idols were false, but occasionally something would happen to make it look like their idols were real.¹¹ And so the people who wished to find the truth had the free choice to do so, while those who wanted to could believe in the stars and idolatry.

They believed in astrology and magic. There is a Torah prohibition to practice magic, or to use forbidden means to arouse the dead and communicate with them. These things are grave sins. These and many other evil practices were practiced by the Canaanites.

It is also forbidden to use other forms of the occult for fortune telling.¹² Amazingly, these methods often seemed to work. Nachmanides (Deuteronomy 18:9) explains how the fortune telling worked.¹³(See footnote for his text in English translation.) Nachmanides goes on to explain that  this method did not always work. 

After forbidding these practices, Moses tells the people not to be like the  nations who use such methods. Instead, G-d will send them prophets.¹⁴ This is a very great gift, because prophecy came directly from  G-d.

In fact, prophecy is one of the greatest gifts that a person can get from G-d. It is described as “the kiss of G-d”.¹⁵ The pleasure of closeness to G-d that prophecy affords is spiritual ecstasy, the greatest pleasure that exists in this world. 

Mankind was originally created to have this very close and real relationship with G-d.  Adam and Eve were created prophets, as we see in the Torah.  Following the expulsion from the Garden of Eden, we no longer find that G-d spoke to them. If this implies that they lost their prophecy, then this must have been a most painful part of their expulsion. 

After Adam and Eve, we find that prophecy was given only to select human beings. There were those, like Noah, who tried to give over G-d's message to others.  

Not all prophets were Jewish. Before the Torah was given, these were usually righteous people, such as Noah and  Job, but  there were also some exceptions.

For example, we find that G-d spoke to Laban. Was Laban a prophet? Laban’s daughters, Rachel and Leah, married Jacob, who was a prophet, like Abraham and Isaac. The Oral Tradition records that their wives were prophetesses in their own right. After twenty years in Laban’s house, Jacob was told by G-d to leave and return to his father’s house, so he and his family secretly left Laban’s house while Laban was away. When Laban found out they had left, he pursued Jacob. G-d then spoke to Laban in a dream, telling him not to harm Jacob. 

 Laban practiced black magic and idolatry, as well as being known for deception and dishonesty, and would not normally have been suited to prophecy.  Laban indeed became a prophet, but this prophecy was only for Jacob’s sake, and was not accompanied by spiritual ecstasy.

So there were individuals who had prophecy. But was there ever a group of people who could all claim to have experienced prophecy? There was, at Mount Sinai. All the people assembled around Mount Sinai heard G-d saying the commandments, and they all heard G-d speaking to Moses.  After that, no one could tell them that prophecy didn't exist. They had themselves seen and heard G-d’s speech.

So, what happened to prophecy? This is discussed in part 2/2. Link to be added when posted.

1. Except, arguably, themselves.

2. Needless to say, this perspective is wrong.

3. See Genesis, Ch. 4, for the conversation between G-d and Cain.

4. https://mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0104.htm

5. Maimonides, Laws of Idolatry and its Statutes 1:1

6. Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Idolatry and its Statutes 1:1

During the times of Enosh, mankind made a great mistake, and the wise men of that generation gave thoughtless counsel. Enosh himself was one of those who erred.

7. Thanks to Rabbi Micha Berger for teaching Drashot HaRan. He has a wonderful chabura that meets weekly via zoom. This translation comes from https://www.sefaria.org/Derashot_HaRan.2.12-15

However, such operations entail the activation of mediating effluences between ourselves and the Blessed One. For, apparently, changes in the terrestrial presuppose changes in the celestial, our sages saying in this connection (Mechilta Beshalach 2): "The Holy One Blessed be He does not exact payment from a people until He exacts it from its heavenly plenipotentiaries first." Several verses are adduced in corroboration of this principle, among them (Isaiah 24:1): "The L-rd shall punish the host of the high ones," and (Exodus 12:12): "And against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments."

Now this seems exceedingly strange, that His wrath against the evils of the lower beings embraces the higher ones arrayed before him. (15)However, upon closer analysis, this will be found to be a necessary corollary. For that which is possible becomes necessary upon the materialization of its causes. For example, it may be said that rain tomorrow is a possibility; but if we posit that its causes have already materialized, i.e., that the mists have already risen and that the inner, middle air has already saturated them with water, then this possibility becomes necessary. And it is impossible that it not rain except through some miraculous intervention, the changing of the necessary cause. And in view of the fact that that necessary cause has a necessary cause of its own, it is impossible that the highermost cause not be changed in some way, for all of existence is interlinked — end to end. And it is in this context that our sages said: "The Holy One Blessed be He does not exact payment from a people until He exacts it from its heavenly plenipotentiaries first." For these peoples, for the most part, worshiped these heavenly influences; and if the latter, which generate power and strength for Egypt, remain entirely unaffected, though their very stronghold be assailed, the people will not be destroyed for all of this unless the hand of its supporter and strengthener be weakened.

8. Tractate Megillah 13

9. Tractate Makkot 10b

10. https://dafyomi.co.il/azarah/insites/az-dt-055.htm

11. Ibid; Tractate Avoda Zara 55

12. Deuteronomy 18:9-12

13. Nachmanides Deuteronomy 18:9:

“…the constellations are controlled by angels that direct them and these [angels] are souls to the planets and stars (i.e. they provide the spiritual power that leads and controls them)…they tell what will happen in the future and from them come out signs in the birds telling what the future will bring. This doesn’t apply to distant periods, only to the close future. This information is conveyed in the voice of the bird who will call out in a bitter voice if someone will die, while other birds will communicate by spreading their wings. This is the meaning of the verse (Ecclesiastes 10:20) “the bird of heaven will bring forth the voice” referring to those who communicate with their voices, “and the owner of wings will tell the matter” about those who communicate with their wings.”

14. Deuteronomy 18:15

15. Song of Songs 1:2