[Avodah] Prophets are infallible?

[Daniel Eidensohn]

R' Zvi Lampel wrote:
> Rabbi Daniel Eidensohn  Fri, 03 Nov 2006, wrote:
>
> "Sefer Haikarrim 3:17 says that prophets other than Moshe are fallible
> i.e. they can misunderstand what they are seeing.
>
> New ZL:
> But he also says in what sense the prophets misunderstood., and the sense is as 
> I stated. Again: They sometimes saw things that were false in their literal 
> sense, and in this sense "misunderstood," but were also perfectly aware that 
> what they saw was meant in a non-literal sense. What they lamented was the fact 
> that unlike Moshe Rabbeynu, they were not on the level to be priveleged to 
> perceive the prophecy in a non-metaphorical representation. This is clear from 
> the words of the Sefer HaIkarrim:
>
> "Yeshaya said ... ‘Oy li that my eyes saw the King Hashem Tsevakos and /I know/ 
> that this is the work of the imaginative faculty, because it is without 
> question impossible to attribute any form to Him, Yisborach.’" The Sefer 
> Ikarrim is therefore clear that the prophet is /aware/ that the "literal" image 
> is false, and that the real message is solely in the nimshal to which that 
> imagery alludes (as RDE himself wrote: "He [Yeshaya] himself said that his 
> perception of Gd was in fact a mistake because of the involvement of his 
> imagination"). The Sefer Ikarrim clearly holds that the imagery the prophet 
> perceives is true in its message, although untrue in its "literal" sense.*
>
>   
IMHO your understanding of Sefer HaIkkarim is inaccurate.. In the 
section immediately before that which you cited above is:

"We know that the words of Moshe are true according to their literal 
meaning without any question. In contrast the words of Yeshaya -  who is 
on a lower level then Moshe -  are not correct. Therefore because of his 
lower level Yeshaya said, "I saw G-d." YESHAYA THOUGHT THAT HE WAS 
SEEING G-D - but it wasn't so. This image was the result of his 
imaginative faculty. .... But Yeshaya [in contrast to Moshe] utilized 
the imaginative faculty in his prophecy - that which is called by our 
Sages as "aspaklaria she'eino me'ira". He was brought to error and to 
imagine that he had actually seen Gd.

He is clearly saying that Yeshaya mistakenly thought - when he saw the 
vision - that it was literally true. It was only later that he realized 
it was a mistake.


Daniel Eidensohn




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