Are there any examples of two different prophets who have the same name?
asked Nov 20, 2019 at 15:09
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judaism.stackexchange.com/a/22949/759– Double AA ♦Nov 20, 2019 at 15:14
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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prophets_in_Judaism#The_49_prophets– Danny SchoemannNov 20, 2019 at 15:14
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2Definitely two Zechariahs– ShalomNov 20, 2019 at 15:35
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2@riki I think he's referring to Zechariah, the Kohen-Navi who was killed preceding the first Temple's destruction, and Zechariah, the prophet who has a Sefer in Trei Asar named for him, who was a member of the Anshei Knesses HaGedolah.– DonielFNov 20, 2019 at 18:46
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@Doniel Rambam writes the former wasn't a full Navi, whatever that means. See Alex's answer at my link– Double AA ♦Nov 20, 2019 at 19:27
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2 Answers
Hoshea ben Nun (later changed to Yehoshua) and Hoshea ben Beeri were both prophets who had the same name
answered Dec 1, 2019 at 11:47
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+1 I like this. I'm not sure the op would disqualify based on this, but do we have reason to believe he was a Navi while he was still Hoshea?– user6591Dec 1, 2019 at 13:40
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@user depends what you mean by "still" but he sang haazinu as hoshea– Double AA ♦Dec 1, 2019 at 14:38
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@Double I'm not sure what you mean by him singing haazinu. And his name would've been changed at the beginning of the stay in the midbar, not the end.– user6591Dec 1, 2019 at 15:08
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1@user וַיָּבֹ֣א מֹשֶׁ֗ה וַיְדַבֵּ֛ר אֶת־כׇּל־דִּבְרֵ֥י הַשִּׁירָֽה־הַזֹּ֖את בְּאׇזְנֵ֣י הָעָ֑ם ה֖וּא וְהוֹשֵׁ֥עַ בִּן־נֽוּן׃– Double AA ♦Dec 1, 2019 at 15:11
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@Double Gotcha. Was he actually still called that at that point according to Rashi there? He seems to have had an interesting name change as he was referred to as Yehoshua before the change and Hoshea afterwords.– user6591Dec 1, 2019 at 15:20
The Talmud [Megillah 14a] says that the number of prophets in Israel was twice the number of Israelites who left Egypt. If you count only the men, that's 1.2 million. If you count everybody that's 6-8 million.
There aren't that many Jewish names. Therefore, it is overwhelmingly likely that at least two prophets had the same name.
(The Talmud adds that Tanach recorded only the prophecies of 48 prophets and 7 prophetesses, because only these prophecies had value for future generations. The other prophecies are not pertinent to us. For a list of these 55, see here. No two have the same name.)
answered Nov 20, 2019 at 19:23
