Rabbi Weissman: Part Five and False Prophets – Part I

 

Molech Then and Now Part Five: False Prophets

Plus war on those who refuse to be military slaves, the future of parking lots in Israel, and more

Links to the previous parts:

Part One: The Rambam on Idolatry and Molech
Part Two: Vaccines and Covid
Part Three: The IDF Death Cult
Part Four: The Shidduch World

In the previous parts we examined many of the tactics that proponents of ancient idolatry used to ensnare people, and demonstrated that these tactics are still being used today with great effectiveness. There is truly nothing new under the sun.

By now the reader should be humbled and no longer look down on our predecessors as primitive and unenlightened. We have fallen into many of the same traps and continued to make extremely poor choices (it's always a choice) despite suffering the consequences over and over again. We have no right to a superiority complex over our idol-worshipping ancestors. They would not be impressed with us, either.
With this sobering introduction in mind, let us examine one of the most critical components of idolatry then and now: false prophets.

Our modern image of a false prophet is a bedraggled lunatic, a homeless person holding a sign and raving about the end of days. Nothing against homeless people — many of them are unfortunate victims of a cruel, predatory system — but they are hardly effective ambassadors for a religious ideology. It is therefore difficult for us to imagine why our ancestors listened to false prophets, let alone sacrificed their children at their behest.

The answer is that false prophets were often very dignified, respectable members of society. Many of them were Torah scholars, polished speakers, brilliant, charismatic, and well connected. In fact, some false prophets were even real prophets who became corrupted. (One example from Tanach is Chananya ben Azur, the nemesis of Yirmiyahu.)

What drove so many people, including many of the most knowledgeable and spiritual people, to lie for a living in the name of God? Money, honor, the favor of kings and adulation of the masses.
Conversely, the career of a true prophet, one who told people specifically what God had to say and not what they preferred to hear, was often marked by derision, austerity, and persecution.

Not much has changed.
We can now better understand why so many people were taken by false prophets, and why real prophets had an extremely difficult time competing with them. Consider the following points and compare to today:
1. Whereas false prophets were charismatic, polished speakers who knew how to put on a performance and captivate an audience, real prophets were genuine people carrying a message from Hashem. As such, their superficial appearance was not intended to lure people, only the actual content of their message bolstered by their personal piety.
The average person, unfortunately, was far more likely to follow a sharply dressed dignitary with fine oratory skills than a farmer with a speech impediment, such as Amos, carrying an uncomfortable message.
Those who wished to improve their fortunes through the prophecy business would take note, and tailor their messages accordingly.

2. These dynamics created a closed loop. The system incentivized becoming a false prophet and discouraged real prophets, which caused the numbers of false prophets to swell, which further legitimized them. This was exacerbated by increased censorship, marginalization, and persecution of real prophets.
The average person had to choose between following the overwhelming majority of “certified prophets”, many of whom were close to those in power, and isolated voices of doom and gloom challenging the official narrative and “established facts”. False prophets were the authoritative news commentators and analysts of the time, officially giving God’s take on things. Eventually the voices of real prophets were all but drowned out, reaching only those who sought them or at least remained open to “fringe” opinions.

Today we look down on those who followed the false prophets, but by what right? Do we have any right to wonder how they could be so stupid? Do we have any right to wish we could go back in time and talk sense into them? Do we take honest stock of ourselves, what really drives our own decisions in life, and why we choose to believe certain messages and messengers over others?
Would we do any better if we lived back then? Are we doing any better today?

3. A false prophet is guilty of a capital crime. Those who witness him delivering a false prophecy have a mitzvah to testify against him before the Sanhedrin and put him to death. One strike and you’re out.

Of course, when society is ruled by wicked kings, false prophets are the dominant voice, and the judges themselves are corrupt or impotent, it is impossible for the average person to fulfill this mitzvah.
In such a society, it is the genuine prophets who are most likely to face retribution and prosecution for spreading “dangerous misinformation” in the name of God. This was the reality in Eretz Yisrael for many generations before the first Beis Hamikdash was destroyed.

Once again, whether we are talking about those who claim to be divine messengers or merely bringing lessons from the Torah, nothing has changed. It is the genuine people who must tread most carefully.
But there is another critical layer to this mitzvah that is lost on most people. By definition, it was the responsibility of the average person to differentiate between real prophets and false prophets. Even if circumstances did not allow him to testify against a false prophet, each and every one of us is expected by Hashem to recognize one and not be lured by his words.

This is further illustrated by the fact that our ancestors were punished for following false prophets. No doubt this was a very difficult challenge. Going against the false prophets meant disregarding the vast majority of people in the prophecy business. It meant going against the government-sponsored, socially approved narrative. It meant standing up to extreme social pressure, possibly even being branded a dissident and a threat to national security.

Perhaps most difficult for sincere Jews, it meant digesting the fact that some people they previously knew as true prophets — spiritual giants the likes of which we can only imagine today — had become corrupted and were now speaking falsely in the name of God. All their Torah knowledge, good deeds, and spiritual accomplishments were now being leveraged to mislead the public, yet it remained the obligation of even ordinary Jews to recognize that these people were now false prophets, and react accordingly.

Not surprisingly, most ordinary Jews were confused by the conflicting messages of false and real prophets. Hashem and His true messengers went to great lengths to educate them on the proper path and see through the lies, but ultimately most people tended to side with the majority — which, not coincidentally, was the more convenient and comfortable choice. Although the false prophets bore responsibility for misleading the people, this did not exonerate their victims from failing to discern the truth and make the proper choice.
It is no different today. Those who blindly follow the majority, or blindly follow “the experts”, or blindly follow “Da'as Torah”, are derelict in their obligation to critically assess all instructions and take responsibility for their own decisions. We are obligated to do this each and every time we are given an instruction, no matter the position of authority and track record of the one giving the instruction.

The fact that the Torah obligates us to do this is the clearest sign that we are capable of doing it. Those who “humbly” deny this capability, and outsource it to someone else, will not be rewarded for their blind deference to some authority figure, nor exonerated for sinful actions, nor spared the consequences for foolish actions.

Yechezkel 12:2 confirms that one’s unwillingness to use his God-given faculties to discern the truth is rooted not in humility, but rebelliousness:
בן אדם בתוך בית המרי אתה ישב אשר עינים להם לראות ולא ראו אזנים להם לשמע ולא שמעו כי בית מרי הם
Son of Man, you dwell among a rebellious house, that they have eyes to see, but they did not see, they have ears to hear, but they did not hear, for they are a rebellious house.

4. We previously noted the closed loop created by false prophets kowtowing to the rulers, who supported the false prophets, which encouraged more of the same and ensnared the public into following them. There is another layer to this which we must not overlook.

It is described in Yechezkel 22:25 as קשר נביאיה בתוכה, a conspiracy of the false prophets to deliver an identical message in unison. Although each individual false prophet was interested in his own profit, it made sense to collaborate with others in the business. Corroborating each other's message boosted the legitimacy of the message and their individual reputations.
This is similar to the way researchers endorse each other’s studies, influencers give one another positive exposure, and public figures write blurbs for each other’s books. Both the giver and the receiver are boosted in the process. You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.

The most important modern equivalent, however, is the way governments, corporations, oversight agencies, media companies, tech companies, entertainment companies, educational institutions, scientific journals, researchers, marketing companies, social influencers, religious influencers, “fact-checkers”, alternative media, and the many individuals up and down the ladder seeking to advance in their careers — or have one altogether — all collaborate to promote the same agenda or message. 

These collaborations can be formal agreements or unspoken understandings, but there is no doubt that they are the norm, and they determine public opinion and behavior more often than not.

If it is difficult for people to accept the gravity and scope of this phenomenon, it is a shortcoming they must overcome. Yechezkel’s comment about the false prophets collaborating on a script is not a historical footnote, but a divine lesson about coordinated efforts to brainwash the masses from time immemorial. 

Just as false prophets in ancient times …..(continued)