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Who is the last person regarded as a true prophet in Judaism? What was his time frame?

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The Tosefta (Sotah 13:4) writes:

משמתו נביאים האחרונים חגי זכריה ומלאכי פסקה רוח הקודש מישראל
Once the last prophets -- Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi -- died, the prophetic spirit ceased in Israel.

Additionally, the Talmud (Bava Batra 14b) writes:

וחגי זכריה ומלאכי סוף נביאים הוו
Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi were the end of the prophets.

These three prophets were all active at the beginning of the Second Temple period which is around 500 BCE or 350 BCE depending on how you deal with the Missing Years.

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  • There are lots of references to רוח הקודש after this time. See the Raavad on Hilkhot Lulav 8:5, for one example.
    – Shimon bM
    Commented Mar 23, 2013 at 14:26
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    @ShimonbM, but that wasn't true prophecy, right? The question asks about true prophecy.
    – Baby Seal
    Commented May 2, 2014 at 15:03
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The Ibn Ezra (in his introduction to Malachi) writes that Malachi was the last prophet. The Rambam (Maimonides) in Melachim 11:1 implies that the Mashiach (messiah) will be a prophet (since he refers to the "other prophets"). (I think both of them agree, actually, just that Malachi was the last prophet until Mashiach.)

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  • (I later saw that the Rambam said so explicitly elsewhere; see the link in comments)
    – b a
    Commented Jul 16, 2012 at 5:29
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    M'lachim 11:1 says "וכל מי שאינו מאמין בו. או מי שאינו מחכה לביאתו לא בשאר נביאים בלבד הוא כופר אלא בתורה ובמשה רבינו". This doesn't seem to be calling mashiach a prophet at all. "Other prophets" is not those besides mashiach but those besides Moshe.
    – msh210 ♦
    Commented Jul 16, 2012 at 5:53
  • @msh210 You are right that it is a possible interpretation — and it is possibly the more straightforward one. However, it says אלא בתורה ובמשה רבינו. If you say the other refers to ones besides Moshe, it is also referring to the ones besides the Torah, and the Torah is not a prophet.
    – b a
    Commented Jul 16, 2012 at 7:33
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    how do these answers fit in with the discussion in Bava Basra 12 which states not only that there is prophecy in the chochomim, but in lunatics and children. If that was only symbolic, why give particular examples?
    – rosends
    Commented Jul 16, 2012 at 14:40
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    @msh210 Actually Rambam says this explicitly: see Rambam Hilchot Tshuva Ch 9 Halach2: ... because the king who will arise from David's descendants will be a greater master of knowledge than Solomon and a great prophet, close to the level of Moses, our teacher...
    – Danield
    Commented May 9, 2013 at 22:58

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