Bizarre Prophetic Commands/2

Bizarre Prophetic Commands

Exegetical Approaches

This topic has not yet undergone editorial review

Prophetic Vision

The various bizarre actions demanded of prophets took place only in prophetic visions.  They were meant to serve as analogies, and not intended to be active public displays.

Sources:Ibn EzraHoshea First Commentary 1:2About R. Avraham ibn Ezra, Rambam2 46About Rambam Moreh Nevukhim, RadakYeshayahu 20:2-3Yechezkel 4:4Yechezkel 4:9Yechezkel 5:1Hoshea 1:2About R. David Kimchi

Maintaining prophetic standards and reputation – These sources find it unfathomable that Hashem would command His prophets to act in ways which would cause others to view them as unstable or mad. If a prophet walks around naked, marries a prostitute, or lies on his side for months on end, how can he earn the respect of the people and have his rebukes to be heard?

Commanding a transgression? Rambam is further bothered by commands which appear to entail transgressing Biblical commands (such as Yechezkel's shaving of his hair and beard).¹  As Hashem could easily have a prophet relay whatever message He wants through permitted deeds, it is illogical to assume that He would command someone to perform a prohibited action.

Burdensome actions – Rambam does not limit this position to commands which might result in shaming the prophet, suggesting that even actions which might only burden a prophet took place in a vision and not in reality.  Thus, for instance, he claims that Yirmeyahu did not travel hundreds of kilometers to Bavel to hide his girdle in the Perat; this, too, took place only in a vision.²

No mention of vision – These sources are not bothered by the fact that none of the relevant texts share that the event discussed was just in a dream, assuming that most prophets (besides Moshe) received their prophecies via a vision³ and not while awake.⁴  In addition, they claim that once it is recognized that a chapter speaks of a prophetic dream, it can be assumed that all events described therein similarly took place in the vision and not in reality.⁵

"וַיַּעַשׂ כֵּן" – Ibn Ezra and Rambam maintain that even the fact that a chapter might relay that the "prophet did as told" (see Yeshayahu 20:2 and Hoshea 1:3 ) does not refute this approach.⁶ These words merely mean that the prophet saw himself fulfilling the command in his dream.⁷

Yechezkel's questioning – Yechezkel's expressing concerns about eating impure food and Hashem's resulting softening of His command, presents a difficulty for this position.  If this did not really happen, and all is simply a visual analogy, why incorporate such a conversation into the prophetic vision? How does it enhance the message?

Intended audience – If the symbolic actions were not performed publicly, it is unclear for whom they were intended.  This position could suggest any of the following:

• The prophet – It is possible that Hashem wished for the prophet himself to internalize Hashem's messages, for only then would he be able to effectively relay them to the people in his own manner.⁸  Alternatively, certain messages were not even intended to be relayed further and held import only for the prophet.
• The nation – The messages were relayed as analogies to the nation, but without the accompanying visuals.  Though verbal parables would seem to have much less impact on an audience than symbolic actions, the honor of the prophet precludes the latter.⁹ Moreover, in cases where the audience is a foreign nation, it is possible that verbal analogies were preferred, since any symbolic action would have reached them only via hearsay regardless.
• Future generations – 

Variation of this approach – According to Targum Yonatan, it is possible that many of the troubling symbolic actions¹⁰ commanded by Hashem might have been initially relayed only as a parable, and the prophet never saw himself performing such actions even in a dream.

Symbolic Action

Hashem's commands were actively fulfilled, despite the embarrassment or pain they might have caused the prophet. This position subdivides regarding whether or not the commands should be reinterpreted so as to mitigate the difficulties that a literal understanding would pose for the prophet.

Literal Fulfillment

Hashem's commands are understood literally, without an attempt to soften the directives.

Sources:RidYeshayahu 20:2Yechezkel 4:12-13Hoshea 1:2About R. Yeshayah of Trani¹¹

Prophetic trials – Rid maintains that prophets are initiated into prophecy with the understanding that their lives will be filled with trials and tribulations.  The fact that a command might entail suffering pain, sorrow, or humiliation is part of the prophetic package. Thus, the fact that Yeshayahu could have been told to walk literally naked, or that Yechezkel could be expected to eat meager rations of food kneaded in dung,¹² should not trouble the reader.

Commanding a transgression? The Rid is not bothered by the possibility that a prophet might be commanded to transgress a Biblical commandment. Hashem can permit whatever He wants ("הפה שאסר הוא הפה שהתיר"), and since He is the one doing the commanding, the prophet must listen.¹³  Thus, Hoshea's sleeping with a prostitute or Yechezkel's shaving his sideburns would not be problematic.

Maintaining prophetic standards and reputation – Rid does not address how a prophet's engaging in bizarre behavior would impact his reputation and how it might affect how his future prophecies were heard.  It is possible that people were used to their prophets performing symbolic actions and recognized them as such.  And, even if at first they found the prophet's behavior odd, once the actions were explained, they accepted it as part of the prophet's job.

Purpose of such actions

• This approach might suggest that one of the best ways to get a message across to an apathetic audience is to shock them into attention. This would support reading the verses as literally a possible since the more unexpected the prophet's behavior, the more of an impact it would have had on the listeners.
• In the case of Yechezkel, it is also possible that Hashem's directive that he be mute and not rebuke the people (Yechezkel 3) might have necessitated substituting verbal chastisement with symbolic actions.

Intended audience – The public nature of the symbolic actions would suggest that they were intended for the nation itself, rather than the prophet or future generations.

Non-literal Fulfillment

Many of Hashem's commands are reinterpreted, easing their fulfillment and making them accord more with the standards of behavior expected of a prophet.

Sources:ShadalYeshayahu 20:2Yechezkel 4:4Yechezkel 4:12About R. Shemuel David Luzzatto

Maintaining prophetic standards and reputation – This position attempts to mitigate the shame that would have been caused by certain commands by rereading them:

• "עָרוֹם וְיָחֵף" –Shadal claims that Yeshayahu removed his sackcloth, which resulted in his bare skin showing, but not that he walked around totally naked.¹⁴ He points out that if the latter were true, there would be no point in the verse sharing that he walked barefoot for that would be redundant.
• "שָׁלֹשׁ שָׁנִים" – Though Malbim reads the nakedness literally, he claims that Yeshayahu derobed only for one day or a short while in the privacy of his home. The phrase "שָׁלֹשׁ שָׁנִים" refers not to the duration of Yeshayahu's symbolic deed but the length of time until the prophecy against Egypt would be fulfilled.
• "שְׁכַב עַל צִדְּךָ" – Shadal assumes that Yechezkel did not lie on his side straight for 390 days, but rather during that period of time, whenever he went to sleep at night, he would lie on his side facing the brick engraving of the besieged Yerushalayim.
• "וְהִיא בְּגֶלְלֵי צֵאַת הָאָדָם תְּעֻגֶנָה" – According to Shadal,¹⁵ Hashem did not command Yechezkel to actively mix dung into his bread, but to cook it on top of coals made of dried human excrement.

Prophetic trials

Commanding a transgression?

• This position might claim, like Malbim, that sometimes Hashem gives one time commands (הוראת שעה) which do not accord with Torah law so as to achieve a larger goal.  As an example, he points to Eliyahu's sacrificing on an outside altar when such altars were prohibited.¹⁶
• Alternatively, this approach might posit that none of Hashem's commands entailed transgressing any prohibition, for a prostitute is only prohibited to a priest and Yechezkel need not have been commanded to shave the areas of his hair which are not allowed.

Case Dependent

Any bizarre command which the narrator states was fulfilled by the prophet must be interpreted as having been fulfilled literally and not in a dream.  Those commands whose fulfillment is not explicit might have been given only in a prophetic vision.

Sources:AbarbanelYeshayahu 20:1Yechezkel 5:1Hoshea 1:2About R. Yitzchak Abarbanel

The various cases – Abarbanel distinguishes between three types of cases:

• Where the text explicitly states that something occurred in a vision, such as Yechezkel being taken "בְּמַרְאוֹת אֱלֹהִים" to Yerushalayim (8:3), the prophecy and all actions mentioned therein can be assumed to be have taken place only in a prophetic dream.
• Where the text explicitly states that a prophetic command was fulfilled, such as Yeshayahu's walking naked and Hoshea's taking a prostitute in marriage, one must assume that the action happened literally.
• In cases where the text is silent, neither mentioning a vision nor an active deed,  such as the commands that Yechezkel shave his hair,  lie on his side, or eat bread baked in dung, one can take either option.

Loyalty to the simple meaning of the text – Abarbanel is motivated by a desire to stay true to the simple meaning of the text. He questions how someone can arbitrarily decide that the narrator's statement, "and he did so" was only within a dream?

Maintaining prophetic standards and reputation – Abarbanel argues that the degree of "absurdity" of a commanded action should play no role in determining whether or not it was merely a vision. It is not for the reader to decide what is "strange" or whether or not they are comfortable with Hashem's commands.

"והיה לאות ומופת"

Transgressing a command? Abarbanel maintains that Yechezkel's shaving might have only been in a prophetic dream, thereby avoiding the issue. He makes no comment about Hoshea's marriage and might agree with Malbim that it was only prohibited for a priest to marry a prostitute.

¹ He assumes that this directive entailed transgressing the prohibition, "לֹא תַקִּפוּ פְּאַת רֹאשְׁכֶם וְלֹא תַשְׁחִית אֵת פְּאַת זְקָנֶךָ".  However, it is not clear from the verses that Yechezkel would have needed to shave areas which are forbidden.

² Those who read the verses more literally would likely suggest that the verse refers to the Perat River found in the Binyamin region (near Yirmeyahu's hometown), which served as a metaphor for the larger Perat.

³ Moreover, one mention of prophetic visions in a book can suffice for a reader to assume that other prophecies were given in the same manner. Thus, for example, the opening of Yechezkel, "וָאֶרְאֶה מַרְאוֹת אֱלֹהִים" applies to the whole book.

⁴ See Bemidbar 12:6, " וַיֹּאמֶר שִׁמְעוּ נָא דְבָרָי אִם יִהְיֶה נְבִיאֲכֶם י"י בַּמַּרְאָה אֵלָיו אֶתְוַדָּע בַּחֲלוֹם אֲדַבֶּר בּוֹ."

⁵ Thus, for example, Rambam and Radak assume that all of Bereshit 15, including the various actions done by Avraham, such as leaving his tent to view the stars and the slicing of the animals in half, are part of the prophetic vision.

⁶ See Abarbanel who questions this approach because of such verses.

⁷ Similarly, if a verse says that time passed (as in Yeshayahu 20:3, "כַּאֲשֶׁר הָלַךְ עַבְדִּי יְשַׁעְיָהוּ עָרוֹם וְיָחֵף שָׁלֹשׁ שָׁנִים"), this, too, refers only to the feeling that time passed in the dream.

⁸ This assumes that Hashem gives prophets an agenda, letting them know what messages He wants the people to receive.  After they have internalized the messages, He them free reign to decide how to best relay these to the people.

⁹ One would think, however, that it would be possible to find an equally effective deed which did not require shaming a prophet.

¹⁰ He says this with regards to Hoshea's marriage specifically, but the approach might be adapted to other cases as well.

¹¹ Rid brings both the possibility that the verses should be read literally and that they might have been relayed only in a prophetic vision.

¹² Rid is somewhat unique in undersatnding that Yechzkel was not commanded to merely cook the bread using coals of dung, but that he actually kneaded it on top of them.  See also the Hoil Moshe who goes a step further to suggest that Yechezkel was meant to mix these into the bread itself, to symbolize the severity of the famine and measures which would be taken when no other food was available.

¹³ This issue takes center stage in discussions of the Binding of Isaac, where commentators question how Hashem could command Avraham to do an action which is later prohibited in the Torah. See Purpose of Akeidat Yitzchak for elaboration.

¹⁴ See R"E of Beaugency Yeshayahu 20:2About R. Eliezer of Beaugencyand Ibn KaspiYeshayahu 20:2About R. Yosef ibn Kaspi who similarly claims that Yeshayahu was "מכוסה קצת".  See also Bavli YomaYoma 77a-77bAbout the Bavli, Targum YonatanYeshayahu 20:2About Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, and RashiYeshayahu 20:2-3About R. Shelomo Yitzchaki who maintain that he wore old, tattered clothing.

¹⁵ Most other commentators explain the verse similarly, but Yechezkel's complaint about not wanting to eat anything which is defiled might suggest that the simple meaning of the verse was that the dung would be somehow mixed into the bread. [See Rid and Hoil Moshe above.]

¹⁶ It is not clear, however, whether Eliyahu as acting on Hashem's command or by his own volition. see Prophetic Actions Without Explicit Divine Sanction.