כי יקום בקרבך נביא או חולם חלום, “If there will arise among you someone proclaiming himself as a prophet or as someone receiving messages from heaven in a dream, etc.” [There is a bracket by the publisher in my edition that calls attention to a gematriya our author (did not completely) publish in his commentary known as Baal Haturim in which the letters of the word נביא , prophet, (63) are shown to have the same numerical value as the word ובנה, “and her son.” The author did publish the other half of this, i.e. that the word בקרבך is equivalent in numerical value (324) of the words זו האשה (324) “this is the woman,” i.e. the woman experiencing the immaculate conception, who gave birth to the founder of Christianity who was halachically a Jew. Clearly, the author, living as he did in Christian Spain in the 14th century where the Inquisition held sway, did not want to expose himself to the accusation by the Inquisition that he had labeled that man as a false prophet. Chumash editions printed in predominantly Christian countries either omit the author’s comment on this verse altogether or present it in an entirely unintelligible form i.e. that the numerical value of the word בקרבך=the numerical value of the word זו. Ed.] To the question why the Torah (Moses) refers to such an impostor as נביא, prophet, the answer is simple, i.e. the Torah calls him by the title this man claims to possess. He claims that G’d appeared to him while he was fully awake and appointed him as His messenger. Nachmanides writes that it is possible that the Torah does not refer to an impostor at all, as some people possess souls that have been endowed with some gift of prophecy. Such people have some knowledge of future events although they themselves do not know the origin of such knowledge. They are in the habit of going into temporary seclusion and during that period and while in such seclusion, a spirit reveals to them parts of future events and the when and where of such events. When his listeners find out that the predictions by such people came true, they refer to him as a “prophet.” While we can only speculate on the source of such “prophets’” knowledge, Nachmanides suggests that possibly the soul of such a person, during its nightly sojourn in heavenly regions, established some kinship with disembodied heavenly beings who divulged such knowledge to his soul. Ibn Ezra writes that it is possible that the person described by Moses is someone who had “stolen” his prophetic announcement from a true prophet whom he had overheard as speaking of a vision he had. The “so-called” prophet discussed by Moses uses his knowledge of the true prophecy to establish his credibility concerning additional predictions that he had invented himself. [Compare Jeremiah 23,30 on this subject. Ed.]

ונתן אליך אות ומופת, “and he furnishes you with a sign or a miracle.” Nachmanides defines the meaning of the word אות as a visible sign that what the prophet predicted may indeed come to pass. [If the impostor predicted an event which in his words would occur in, say, three years’ time, he would need something to enable him to enroll his followers before the three years were up. Ed.] He would predict that the “sign” was something that would occur in short order and when it did, it would establish his credibility. The root of the word אות here is analogous to Deut.33, 2 ואתה" מרבבות קודש,“ “having arrived, materialized, with myriads of holy angels.” The word מופת refers to something supernatural that this impostor performs in the presence of all his listeners, immediately, again, in order to establish his credibility as having contact with the supernatural. In both instances the objective of such a “prophet” is not to compete with accredited prophets, but to mislead his listeners into believing that he had had a revelation asking him to make the people “update” their religious beliefs by introducing worship to additional deities. [This editor used to have difficulties with believing that the Jewish people could be naive enough to “fall” for such heretical claims by impostors, until I had learned the passage on Rav Ashi’s nocturnal encounter with the apparition of King Menashe, son of the illustrious King Chizkiyah, and his wife, daughter of the famous prophet Isaiah, and the commentary on that aggadah by Rabbi Yitzchak Arama in his Akeydat Yitzchok. CompareSanhedrin 102, and this editor’s translation of Akeydat Yitzchok, pages 374-378. Ed.] When Moses demonstrated that by throwing his staff on the ground it turned into a snake, and when he took hold of its tail it reverted to becoming a harmless staff, the people were encouraged to believe him when he predicted that G’d had charged him with orchestrating their release from bondage which, of course, would take a little longer to accomplish. According to the plain meaning of the text, the פשט, what Moses speaks about is an impostor who does not even claim to speak in the name of Hashem, but who claims to have been appointed as a prophet for an alien deity, and this is what is meant by ואשר ידבר בשם אלוהים אחרים, “that he speaks in the name of other gods.” He will die, ומת, (compare Deut. 18,20) because this is the penalty for anyone prophesying in the name of other gods whether truthfully or not. That person is guilty of idolatry that carries the death penalty. However, our sages (Sanhedrin 90) explain our verse as speaking of a “prophet” who claims to speak In the name of Hashem,” claiming to have been authorized by Hashem to deliver his message that it is now in order to practice some aspect of idolatry, and that the deity in question is a junior partner of Hashem having assisted in the creation of the universe. The impostor may also try to convince you that Hashem is truly a greater G’d than anyone preceding him. This, while sounding harmless to the average Jew, is a basic form of idolatry, because it posits that there was anything of substance before Hashem created the universe. He claims to have been authorized to ask you to acknowledge these earlier gods in some way, even if ever so briefly. All such propositions are equally idolatrous, and the proponent qualifies for the death penalty. The Torah here commands explicitly that even if such a “prophet” claims to preach in the name of Hashem and his lifestyle is no different from that of any other pious Jew, these are not any considerations in his favour; he tried to lead you astray, hence he must be executed. The impostor in question dresses up his message by acknowledging the Exodus from Egypt, by acknowledging the revelation at Mount Sinai, etc., as he knows full well that it is useless to even question such historic events which are firmly anchored in the people’s collective psyche. [This is why the founders of the Christian religion built on the truth of the “old” testament, but by updating G’d’s attributes tried to introduce a new version of Hashem. Ed.] There never has been another Hashem, there never will be, and His essence or attributes are not subject to change. He revealed Himself at Sinai, in order to leave us in no doubt about all this.

כי מנסה ה' אלוקיכם אתכם, “Hashem, your G’d is testing you, etc.” the reason why Hashem allows such a person to perform a miracle, or to correctly foretell an unlikely future event, is to put your faith in Him to a test, to see if you will use such people to try and foretell future events for you, thus subverting your absolute faith in Him. During the period in our history when there were prophets, the people when puzzled about events, would indeed turn to the accredited prophet and ask him to enquire from G’d about the meaning of events which they could not reconcile with what they had been taught to expect. Nachmanides has explained that the term ”test” when used by the Torah always refers to how it looks to the person being tested. G’d Himself never needs to test anyone as He is aware of man’s belief and reactions to so-called “tests.”

אחרי ה' אלוקיכם תלכו, “You shall follow Hashem your G’d;” Nachmanides interprets these words as Moses urging the people to follow G’d’s advice exclusively, and if they feel the urge to know something in the future because they are consumed with worry, to turn only to Him via His accredited prophets. They are to emulate our matriarch Rivkah, who, when she was unable to account for what by all accounts was an unusual pregnancy, went to “enquire from a Divine source.” (Compare Genesis 25,23)...

ואותו תיראו, “and Him you shall fear.” You should be secure in your heart that life and death are domains that are exclusively His, only He can decree death, and only He can decree life, therefore there is no point in fearing anyone else.

ואת מצוותיו תשמורו, “and His commandments you shall observe;” the Torah taught to you by Moses.

ובקולו תשמעו, “and to His voice you shall hearken.” As a prelude to observing all His instructions, the ones communicated by His accredited Rabbis, in addition to that which is spelled out in the written text of the Torah. The reason why Moses appears to repeat himself here to some extent is because he wants to counter any effect of the words of a false prophet. Some people, out of fear that maybe the false prophet is a true prophet and not listening to him could bring harm on oneself, are inclined to “play it safe.“ Moses therefore warns such people not to do so. There is no other authority than Hashem that is authorized to issue any instructions whatsoever to His people. This is all part of the warning in 12,31, לא תעשה כן לה' אלוקיך, “do not do thus to the Lord your G’d.” The exclusivity of the nature of Hashem must be preserved at all times and in all places. Ibn Ezra understands the words אחרי ה' אלוקיכם תלכו, as an appeal by Moses for the Jewish people to emulate Hashem whenever and wherever that is possible. We are to follow in His footsteps to the extent that He has revealed them to us. The words: ואותו תיראו, he understands as warning us not to ask “why” before we perform His commandments. The words ואת מצותיו תשמורו, he understands as meaning that “performance” of the commandments is what is what is important, not any additional reason of why you do it, i.e. because you agree with it. The words: ובקולו תשמעו, he understands as any explanations, rationales, supporting these commandments being only a reminder of the essential element of each commandment being its performance whenever possible. The meaning of the words ואותו תעבודו, “Him you shall serve,” is “in deed,” whereas the words ובו תדבקון, “and to Him you shall cleave,” mean “with your heart, throughout your life from its beginning to its end.”

אשר לא ידעת אתה ואבותיך, “that you did not know, and that your forefathers did not know either.” Moses mentions “your forefathers,” so that in the event that someone close to you, as close as your friend, i.e. even your own father, would try and seduce you to follow idolatrous ways, enquire from the other ”fathers” if they had ever heard of such deities as your own father now proposes that you should worship. They will confirm that your father is lying to you.

לא תאבה לו ולא תשמע אליו, “do not accede to him and do not hearken to him.” Moses points out that both a mere expression to accede to such requests, or even listening to it without protest and giving the impression that you consider such proposals seriously, is culpable in Hashem’s eyes.

ולא תחוס עינך עליו, “and your eye must not pity him,” you must not have pity on him so as not to cause him to be executed.

ולא תחמול ולא תכסה עליו, “and do not be compassionate with his plight, nor cover up for him.”

You must not dodge your duty to testify against such a person in court.

ולא יוסיפו לעשות כדבר הרע הזה, “so that they shall not continue to commit such evils.” If the law against people preaching idolatry publicly or privately were not strictly enforced such a “disease” would become an epidemic.

ודרשת וחקרת, “You shall seek information and investigate.” Nachmanides, commenting on this phrase-ology, writes that there is a reason why the Torah urges painstaking investigation in connection with the phenomenon of the עיר הנדחת, the city of which the majority of the inhabitants have adopted idolatry, and also in the case of an individual who is found committing idolatry, whereas the same is not required for the false prophet or the seducer. The self-professed false prophet has already advertised his sin to all the people whom he addressed with his “divinely inspired” message. No court is needed to establish these facts. In the case of the seducer, מסית, the Torah had already called upon his victim or prospective cohort to come forward and to testify against the seducer. It has warned the victim not to be moved by pity. What more could the court do if the people addressed by the Torah fail to come forward? A seducer, who always acts under the cloak of secrecy, cannot be brought to trial except through the cooperation of the victim with the Torah. Knowledge about the first two situations is usually based on rumours first, not on eye-witnesses. The Torah therefore urges not to accept such rumours as fact, but to investigate the accusations thoroughly and without prejudice. We have a similar instruction by the Torah concerning conflicting testimony about a crime or sin by separate sets of witnesses. There too, the Torah (Deut. 19,18) writes: ודרשו השופטים היטב, “the judges must conduct careful examinations etc.,” seeing it is difficult to know which set of witnesses speaks the truth, both having a clean record up to that time.

ונתן לך רחמים ורחמך והרבך, ”He will grant you mercy and be merciful to you and multiply you.” Moses wants us to set aside the concern that by applying death penalties we will decrease the number of Jews, and he promises that, on the contrary, by testifying against such sinners and bringing them to justice, Hashem will see to it that we will continuously increase in numbers.