[Avodah] Prophets are infallible?

[Zvi Lampel]

Fri, 03 Nov 2006 from: Daniel Eidensohn <yadmoshe at 012.net.il> 

> Sefer HaIkkarim 3:17 says that prophets other than Moshe are fallible 
> i.e. they can misunderstand what they are seeing. 

> Does anyone else state that prophets are fallible? 

Every human being, even Moshe Rabbeynu, is fallible. But when true prophets report a prophecy, the Sefer Ikarrim 3:17 cited succinctly begins "sheh-kall divrei ha-neveim amti'im b'li safek,"--all the words of the prophets are true without question (as is indeed the 6th of the Rambam's 13 Ikarrim).
The Sefer Ikarrim says--as does the Torah--that the prophets other than Moses perceived and related Hashem's thoughts through imagary and riddles. Thus, they perceived "seeing" Hashem which, as an impossibility, is an erronous sight. Nevertheless, he says, they were fully aware that the image they saw was not literally true, but only true for the message intended. They did not misunderstand what they saw, any more than one misunderstands a model of an atom when he knows it's only a model of an atom.
The consequence of this that the Sefer Ikarrim points to is where it may seem that a prophet saw "more" than what Moses perceived. Since Moses was the greatest of prophets, anything a prophet perceived must be qualified by what we know is true, and what we know is G-d's will, from Moses.
Zvi Lampel
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