I Will Raise a Prophet

In Parshat Shoftim, the Torah states that the king of Israel should not have too many horses for himself, that he should not return the people to Egypt in order to increase horses, that he should not have too many wives, and that he should not greatly increase silver and gold for himself (Devarim 17:16,17).

King Shlomo violated each of these prohibitions, except, it would seem at first glance, that he did not bring the people back to Egypt. However, if the Hyksos were Bnei Yisrael as I suggested, also this evil thing was done, and the above verses turn into an accurate prophetic description of the thousand years of united Israel under "Shlomo".

In another passage of Parshat Shoftim, the Torah states: "Regarding all that you asked of HaShem, your G-d, in Horev on the day of the congregation, saying: "I can no longer hear the voice of HaShem, my G-d, and this fire I can no longer see, so that I shall not die." Then HaShem said to me: They have done well in what they have said. I will raise a prophet for them from among their brothers, like you, and I will place My words in his mouth; He shall speak to them everything that I will command them." (Devarim 18:16-18)

Moshe was stunned at the request of the people that he be their intermediary. How it could be that the people will remain walking in the way of HaShem without communicating with the Divine? HaShem consoled him by assuring that, though the people would indeed likely go astray without direct communication with the Divine, He would then raise for them a prophet like Moshe to bring them back. It seems that the Torah speaks about one particular prophet: Eliyahu. Eliyahu was very much like Moshe. Both started as a relative outsider, and both left without leaving a grave. Chazal (Sanhedrin 21b) say that Ezra received the Torah in Aramaic, as it says that he went up from Bavel, as Moshe went up to G-d. Of Eliyahu it is said that he went up to the mountain of G-d, Chorev, forty days and forty nights, like Moshe.

The Sages say that Eliyahu is Pinchas, the prime student of Moshe who even surpassed his master at one occasion. The Rambam brings that Eliyahu was the student of Achiya: "Achiya HaShiloni was from those who left Egypt. He was a Levi, and learned from Moshe, but his stature was low in the days of Moshe, and he received the tradition from David and his court. Eliyahu received the tradition from Achiya HaShiloni and his court. (Hakdamah to the Mishneh Torah).

This is full of paradoxes. What would Achiya have to learn from David? He learned from Moshe himself! If Eliyahu is Pinchas, what could he learn from Achiya the insignificant student of Moshe? Why would he at all have to learn from Achiya? He heard from Moshe himself!

There are more questions. If Eliyahu is the prophet that will teach us Torah in the future, how come he did not leave us any teachings in Tenach? Why is there no book of Eliyahu in Tenach?

The words of the Rambam describe how HaShem fulfilled his promise to Moshe by raising a prophet like Moshe to bring the people back to the true path. A thousand years after David, when the tradition was largely lost, and idol worship was rampant, HaShem first raised a prophet, Eliyahu, to bring the people back to the Torah of Moshe, to the tradition of Achiya, who lived in the days of Shlomo. The Zohar explains that Moshe said: Like it was said about Aharon that he will be my mouth, also his son (Pinchas aka Eliyahu) will be my mouth (Raya Mehemana Tzav 28a). Eliyahu's name may hint that he is the composer of what is called the EJ source, the core of the Torah text that we have today. It fits the famous declaration at Har Carmel: HaShem Hu HaElohim. [I hypothesize that Eliyahu's document and two documents by the authors of Yeshayahu I and II were the three sources that Ezra combined. Cf. Sofrim 6:4.]

The revolution of Eliyahu lacked permanent success. Worse, soon after the days of Eliyahu the powers of the world, Egypt, Syria, Babylonia, started threatening Yerushalayim. As all seemded lost, the prophets of the old Israel received the vision that the Jewish nation would be exiled, but would return and reestablish itself in its Land in the end of time. After the return, the nations of the world would again arise against Israel, but with opposite results: Israel will prevail miraculously and the whole world will see the Truth. The prophets canonized the Torah as the defining document that would preserve Israel in the exile as a separate nation, until the end of time, to be a tool in the Hands of HaShem when he will reveal Himself.

Know that the Torah system that we follow is a means rather than a purpose. It is a system of landmarks for the individual Jew and for Israel as a nation to find the way back to what was in the early days, as prescribed by Yeremiah the prophet: "Set for yourself landmarks (31:20)". It was for this purpose that the prophets and the Sages refined the system step by step in the face of exile, when they canonized Tenach, and wrote the Mishna, and the Talmud, to preserve the nation, and to instill in it the desire to return to the days of old.

Behold, I will send a Eliya, the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of HaShem, and he will turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the Land with a curse." (Malachi 3-23-24)


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