[Avodah] Prophet - mashgiach or godol hador?

[Daniel Eidensohn]

R' David Riceman wrote:
>
> How do you deal with all the places in Tanach where the prophet 
> intervenes in politics, or, for example, the Rambam's example in the 
> introduction to PHM where the prophet commands people to fight a 
> battle on Shabbat?
>
Intervening in politics i.e., making prophetic pronouncments that impact 
society or government is not being a political leader. Commanding people 
to fight on Shabbos is also not an example of leadership. I think there 
were only two prophets who could qualify as leaders Moshe and Shmuel. In 
fact they were both viewed as Prophet-Kings. The other prophets did not 
serve the same function. I have not seen any statement of the Rambam 
that he considers prophets to be leaders.

Regarding the  article from VBM by Rav Hadad who states that: " It seems 
that Maimonides wishes to use this comparison to demonstrate that a 
prophet is a combination of a philosopher and a political leader." He 
cites no evidence at all for this hypothesis and I am not aware of any 
sources that justify it.

Daniel Eidensohn