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There is a tradition, recorded in various sources, that the prophet Ovadiah was an Edomite convert. This tradition is born of the fact that there is nothing within his short (one chapter) oracle that concerns Judeans or Israelites; the entire thing is an oracle about the Edomites instead.
Sources:
Sanhedrin 39b;
Tanchuma, Tazria 8.
See also Rashi and ...
21
The last of the true prophets (nevi'im) were indeed Chaggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. The Talmud (Bava Batra 12a) cites:
R. Abdimi from Haifa said: Since the day when the Temple was destroyed, prophecy has been taken from the prophets and given to the wise.
i.e. the wise can predict the future using their wisdom, but not through nevua - prophecy.
(The ...
16
The Rambam (Teshuvah 9:2) says he will be a prophet almost as great as Mosheh Rabbeinu.
15
According to R. Yehudah Halevi, a convert cannot be a prophet. The question on R. Yehudah Halevi's view is that Chazal say Ovadiah was a convert. This question, which was raised by the commentators on the Kuzari, is addressed by R. Yitzchak Sheilat who suggests that R. Yehudah Halevi's view depends on a possible dispute in the Gemara about whether Ovadiah ...
15
The answer is no. In Yehoshua 23:6, Yehoshua says to the people:
וַחֲזַקְתֶּם מְאֹד--לִשְׁמֹר וְלַעֲשׂוֹת, אֵת כָּל-הַכָּתוּב בְּסֵפֶר תּוֹרַת מֹשֶׁה: לְבִלְתִּי סוּר-מִמֶּנּוּ, יָמִין וּשְׂמֹאול
Be very strong to protect and do everything that is written in Moshe's Torah. Do not
deviate from it to the right or to the left.
In Deuteronomy 4:...
15
Unfortunately, indeed we do not have prophets today, and Chazal say that the last prophets were Hagai, Zecharia and Malachi.
Rashi's momentous perush on most of the Bible and most of the gemara speak for themselves, however here are a few quotes (loose translations by me, except for the last Rashi) about his special work (this list can go on forever):
The ...
12
Maybe you are thinking of Deuteronomy 34:10: "And there hath not arisen a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses" (OJPS). However, he was certainly not the last prophet; in fact the previous verse refers to Joshua being a prophet. Similarly, there are tons of prophets after Moses later in the Tanach. The verse in Deuteronomy simply means that Moshe was the ...
11
In otzros hatorah page 263 on "vayiftach hashem es pi haton" rabenu bechayeh is quoted asking that Bilam should have been amazed but he was not. He should have marveled at this wonder. However because of his cruelty and evil nature and desire to go curse the Jews, he answered the donkey's question. It continues that from here you can understand why people ...
11
See the Medrash Raba on Shemos (Exodus) פרשה ג that states that (at least initially, at the burning bush) Hashem sounded just like Moshe's father Amrom when He spoke to him.
אָמַר רַבִּי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ הַכֹּהֵן בַּר נְחֶמְיָה בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁנִּגְלָה הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא עַל משֶׁה טִירוֹן הָיָה משֶׁה לַנְּבוּאָה, אָמַר הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא "אִם ...
11
Moses was involved in calling down fire from Heaven during the plague of hail in Egypt.
Exodus 9:23-24 : (See the entire chapter for more details of the story.)
"So Moses stretched forth his staff heavenward, and the L-rd gave forth thunder and hail, and fire came down to the earth, and the L-rd rained down hail upon the land of Egypt."
"And there was hail,...
10
The Rambam (Hilchos Teshuva 9:2:) writes that Moshaich will be a prophet:
[These changes will come about] 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.
See also Melachim uMilchamot 12:3, where he writes that Moshaich will have "...
10
I think that, as far as 'what Gd wants from us', we have all we need from the prophets. We have the whole story of the world, from its creation through Messianic times, foretold in broad strokes, (why broad strokes). We also have all of the laws and traditions of our people that make up Jewish life, from the Pentateuch, and to a lesser degree from the other ...
10
The Talmud (Bava Basra 15b) includes Eliphaz, Iyovs's colleague, as one of a short list of prophets who prophesied for the nations of the world.
שבעה נביאים נתנבאו לאומות העולם, ואלו הן: בלעם, ואביו, ואיוב, אליפז התימני, ובלדד השוחי, וצופר הנעמתי, ואליהוא בן ברכאל הבוזי
9
To posit some sort of "prophetic perfect tense" or the like is entirely superfluous. I am confident that one is unable to grammatically distinguish between regular and "prophetic" usage.
However we do find examples where a prophet will speak from a point of view in which a future event is seen as having transpired, see Numbers 24:17 for example. This is ...
9
Basically the answer would be the same as an answer to a question how do we distinguish reality from a dream. The realness of a prophecy would be overwhelming.
Rabeinu Crescas addresses this question in his book "Ohr Hashem" (Maamar 2, Rule 4, Ch. 3).
וזה, שכמו שיש יתרון להרגש החוש על הרגש הדמיון, שבעבורו יודע המרגיש והוא ער, שאיננו מרגיש בדמיון לבד, ...
9
Yes. Jews killed many prophets. And here is a proof from 1 Kings 19 (14).
Then the Lord spoke his word to him: “Elijah! Why are you here?”
10 He answered, “Lord God All-Powerful, I have always served you as
well as I could. But the people of Israel have broken their agreement
with you, destroyed your altars, and killed your prophets with swords.
...
8
The Bavli records (Temurah 16a):
[The verse states: "These are the commandments" (Leviticus 27)] These are the commandments and no prophet is allowed to innovate something from now on.
That said, later authorities do have a number of interesting powers (when not claiming to be doing so under direct divine order) including directing Jews to not perform ...
8
According to Midrash Eicha Zuta, it was written by ירמיה (Jeremiah). This is also reflected in the Septuagint (aka LXX aka Targum Shivim), which opens with the line "By Jeremias, in the Captivity." This is probably the oldest tradition.
According to Rashi, Midrash Tehillim (aka Midrash Secher Tov), Pesiqta Rabbatti, Ibn Ezra in his introduction to Tehillim,...
8
Perhaps you wouldn't know, without someone to educate you.
Ramchal, Derech Hashem, 3:4:3:
הנה אפשר שיגיע גילוי ממנו ית' אל אדם והוא לא יכיר בו כמו שיכיר הנביא אלא יחשבהו בא מן המורגשות עד שיגבר עליו השפע הנבואיי ואז יכיר הענין כמות שהוא באמת. ומן המין הזה היתה קריאת ה' לשמואל שלא התנבא מתחלה ולא שפע עליו השפע אלא שנגלה עליו קול כקול מורגש ולא השיג בזה ...
8
There are a couple sources that indicate that Yishmael was a tzaddik at certain points in his life.
Rashi to Breishit 25:17 notes that the the word ויגוע is only used by tzaddikim, and is used here to refer to Yishmael at the end of his life.
ויגוע: לא נאמרה גויעה אלא בצדיקים:
Also, Rashi on 21:17 quotes a midrash where the angels are trying to ...
8
Midrash Tehilim 18:29 (in the name of R. Luliani) says that Hashem spoke with Moshe with the voice of Moshe himself:
רבי לוליאני בשם רבי ישמעאל אמר בנוהג שבעולם הרב אומר והתלמיד עונה. אבל
הקב"ה אינו כן (שם יט יט) משה ידבר והאלקים יעננו בקול. הוי וענותך תרבני
Seems that the any other characteristics mentioned when applied to G-d's voice deppends on the ...
8
The Yerushalmi (Eiruvin 5:1, 31a) states that Elijah was טירונין לנביאים. The Korban Ha-Eidah defines this as גדול שבנביאים, and cites the Aruch who explains that this means he was the authority of the prophets (ענין שררה--see also here). [The P'nei Moshe, however, seems to understand the word as related to "tyro," i.e., a beginner.] It would seem that R. ...
7
The following is based on Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan's understanding of the history as presented in his introduction to: The Torah Anthology - Book of Esther (translation of Yalkut Me'am Loez by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan). It is based in part on Megila 11b-12a.
Versions of Yirmiyahu's prophecy: (said in 3331 - 460 BCE)
וְהָיְתָה כָּל הָאָרֶץ הַזֹּאת לְחָרְבָּה ...
7
You have a few different questions here which I will try to answer in order.
There is no simple replacement for prophets because the era of prophecy has ended. The role of the rabbi straddles many different biblical "positions" including judge, advisor, and interpreter of law.
I am not sure what you mean by "find truth." If you mean a finding of fact in ...
7
I don't have a source for this, but I always assumed the idea was not Bilaams personal performance, but rather how the nations interacted with Bilaam. "I gave you a prophet and you asked him to help win wars and deliver curses. Couldn't you have asked him for some directions on how to live a meaningful life?" G-d's response to the unasked question is don'...
7
The Medrash (Tanchuma 1, cited by Rashi Bamidbar 22:5) says that Bilaam was only given prophecy to quiet a possible argument of the non-Jews that they were never given a prophet. This implies that there really is no other purpose of non-Jewish prophecy, and therefore there would not be such a thing.
There is no practical ramifications to Jewish law about ...
7
There was once a book that had all the cures you are talking about, but it was buried.
In the mishna of Psachim 4:9 it says that the king Chizkia buried "the book of cures":
ששה דברים עשה חזקיה המלך על שלשה הודו לו ועל שלשה לא הודו לו. גירר עצמות אביו על מטה של חבלים והודו לו. כיתת נחש הנחשת והודו לו. גנז ספר רפואות והודו לו.
The Tashbetz writes (סימן ...
7
The Rambam knew the pasuk in Yirmeyahu. Just because one has a question based on a plain-text interpretation of a verse, that doesn't mean that people should stop teaching the Rambam. There are many Biblical verses, and many Mishnayot that are interpreted in ways other than what the plain-text meaning seems to be.
Rambam designed his framework based on ...
7
R. Abraham de Boton writes in Lechem Mishneh to the cited halacha from Mishneh Torah that you test him until the truth is verified, but anything beyond that is forbidden:
כלומר עד שיתאמת אבל לא יותר מדאי כדכתב לקמן דאיכא איסורא דלא תנסו וכו
According to this there is apparently no set number of tests; it is however many it takes to establish the truth.
R. ...
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