[Avodah] Prophet - mashgiach or godol hador?

[Daniel Eidensohn]

R' David Riceman wrote:
>
>> While you can point to the fact that Shmuel was apparently a king and 
>> judge in addition to being a prophet - I don't know of any other 
>> prophet aside from Moshe serving these multiple roles.
>
> Read the Rambam's list of rashei sanhedrin in the introduction to the 
> Mishneh Torah.   The prophets I see there include Yehoshua, Shmuel, 
> Eliyahu, Elisha, Zechariah, Hoshea, Amos, Yeshayahu, Micha, Yoel, 
> Nahum, Havakuk, Tzefania, Yirmiah.  You can disagree with the 
> historicity of the account, as you do below, but if you're trying to 
> understand the Rambam's opinion that disagreeement is irrelevant.
>
>>  The possible sole exception is that the Anshei Knesses HaGedolah had 
>> prophets as members. However we really don't know what this body was 
>> and what role these prophets served. I am not aware of any sources 
>> which state they served as judges or poskim. If you have such sources 
>> have I would appreciate hearing about them.
>
> See the source cited above.
>
At first glance the Rambam's introduction does seem to support your 
point. However, beis din here is not necessarily Sanhedrin. For example 
Dovid can not be head of Sanhedrin because he was king. The prophets 
listed were part of the mesorah of the Oral Law. Thus these are the 
links of receiving and teaching the Oral Law. It is not referring to a 
judiciary or legislative body. I am not familiar with any source that 
the Sanhedrin job was to receive and then teach the Oral Law to the next 
generation. This particular part of the Rambam's list corresponds to 
Pirkei Avos which said that "the Elders gave it to the Prophets and the 
Prophets to the Men of the Great Assembly" That is why Dovid's position 
in this list is questioned since it is not clear whether he was a 
prophet. The Rambam states later "In each generation the head of the 
then existing court or the prophet wrote down for his private use a 
memorandum of the traditions which he had heard from his teachers and 
which he taught orally in public."  It would seem from this that there 
was a special body in each generation to preserve and teach the Oral 
Law. When there were prophets - they were assigned this task. At the end 
he says "All the sages here mentioned were the great men of the 
successive generations: some of them were presidents of colleges, some 
exilarchs and some were members of the great Sanhedria... According to 
your reading he should have said they were all heads of Sanhedrin - when 
there was a Sanhedrin.

Daniel Eidensohn