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August 16, 2021

The False Prophet and the True

Jeremiah’s rivalry with a charlatan highlights the moral center of prophecy.

In Jeremiah 28—set after the Babylonians have already reduced Judah to vassal status, but not yet conquered the kingdom or destroyed Jerusalem—the titular prophet finds himself facing a rival prophet named Hananiah. While Jeremiah urges capitulation and acceptance of divine punishment, his competitor offers hope, claiming that God is poised to “break the yoke of the king of Babylon.” Hananiah proves to be a false prophet, but a popular one. James A. Diamond analyzes the episode, and the way medieval and modern commentators used it to discuss a crucial question: how to tell a false prophet from the real thing.

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August 16, 2021

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    The consequences to the U.S. could be deadly.

  2. Ending the Israeli Rabbinate’s Monopoly on Kosher Certification Will Strengthen Religious Observance

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  3. The 150-Year Back Story to the Sheikh Jarrah Dispute

    The problem may not be what the Israeli government is doing, but what it isn’t.

  4. The False Prophet and the True

    Jeremiah’s rivalry with a charlatan highlights the moral center of prophecy.

  5. The Jewish Woman Who Bicycled Around the World

    Annie Londonderry, a/k/a Annie Cohen Kopchovsky.