commentary on deut. 18:22 Ramban

Question

I'm looking for an english translation of commentary on deut. (18, 22) by Ramban. Where is it possible to find it? Thank you

Answer 1

Ramban on verse 22:

If.. the oracle does not come true, that oracle was not spoken by HaShem. And this answers the unspoken second question as well. With any prophet, we expect what ge says about the future to come true. If it does not, we know he is a false prophet and must be put to death. We need not "stand in dread" of his wisdom or skill in performing a sign. If everything he says does come true, then we know he is "trustworthy as a prophet of HaShem" (1 Sam 3:20), and we must heed him. We must obey if he tells us to violate the Torah, if the situation calls for it, as with Eliyah offering sacrifice on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18). The prophet must confirm that he is "like Moshe," either by performing signs (as Moshe did in Exo 4:30-31) or by accurately predicting the future (which itself is a sign). If he does so, then "if anybody fails to heed the words he speaks in My Name, I myself will call him to account" (verse 19); see talmidim discussion on B. Sanh. 89b. I don't think Rashi is correct when he says that such a prophet must be known to be "perfectly righteous". It is merely that his prophecies are considered trustworthy because up to now they have proven true. That is as much the"sign" by which a prophet proces himself as a sign performed in front of us. Perhaps Rashi meant what Maimonides (Rambam) says in the Mishneh Torah: when a prophet is sent, he is given a sign that will convince the people that G-d truly sent him. But not everyone who performa a sign is believed, unless he was already known to the people as someone whose wisdom and pious behaviour, greater than anyone else of his generation, made him worthy of receiving prophecy. If such a person performs a sign, we are commanded to heed him. Admittedly, not every such person really is a prophet: there may be something else going on. Nonetheless, if he is a man worthy of prophecy, we must take him at his word and heed him, just as we decide cases in court on the word of two qualified witnesses. They might indeed be lying, but since they are qualified witnesses, we give them the benefit of the doubt. As such matters fall under the category of "concealed acts concern HaShem our G-d (29:28)" and "man sees only what is visible, but HaShem sees into the heart (1 Sam 16:7)."

Translation: The Commentators Bible - Deuteronomy - The Rubin JPS Miqra'ot Gedolot; by Michael Carasik.