Shabbat Table Topics – Parashat Shofetim/0/en

Shabbat Table Topics – Parashat Shofetim

This topic has not yet undergone editorial review

Calling for Peace

Many modern readers wonder about the directive to annihilate the nations of Canaan.  Was there really no possibility for peaceful co-existence?  Medieval commentators also debated the issue, with Rashi maintaining that it was prohibited to call for peace and war was inevitable, and Radak claiming that the Israelites were obligated to offer terms of peace before waging war against the Canaanites.

• How would each side of the debate read the verses of Devarim 20?  What other verses could support each position? How does the story of the Gibeonites' deceit in Sefer Yehoshua shed light on the issue?
• According to RashiSotah 35bAbout R. Shelomo Yitzchaki, the reason for the decree of obliteration is religious in nature, lest the nations sway Israel towards idolatry.  Sometimes a zero-tolerance policy is necessary.  Do you agree?  In what circumstances are compromises not an option?
• According to RadakYehoshua 9:7About R. David Kimchi, what would have happened had the nations actually surrendered to Israel?  Could the land have sustained both populations?  How might the course of our history have changed?  For more, see Calling for Peace in the Conquest of Canaan.

Determining Truth

We sometimes look back to the Biblical period and wonder how a nation who lived in a prophetic age and merited to hear the Divine word could still mess up so badly.  With access to Hashem's will, and with prophets to tell you for certain what was right and wrong, was it not much easier to be a good person?  Why did the people so often not heed the prophetic instructions?

• It is possible that part of the problem was the difficulty in determining who to listen to.  When true and false prophets both claimed to speak in the name of God, yet said contradictory things, how was a layman to know who was Hashem's true messenger?
• Devarim 18 sets litmus test: if a prophet's predictions do not materialize, he must be a fraud.  At first glance this sounds straightforward. Yet, the verse implies that all prophecies must materialize - is this true?  What do Yirmeyahu 18, Yirmiyahu 27 and the story of Yonah and Nineveh suggest?  Does not teshuvah have the ability to overturn Divine decrees?  If so, how is one to determine who is a true of false prophet?
• See Distinguishing Between True and False Prophets for several approaches.