prophecy 4

BH
Prophecy4
There is a question as to the role of Moshe in the transmission of the Torah . If indeed the Torah is purely the word of G-D then how could Moshe’s words in effect be part of G-D’s Torah? Furthermore , why is
The Torah called the Torah of Moshe by the prophet Malachi?
The Rebbe is quoted as saying that levels of Prophecy are at play with regards to Moshe’s Transcription of the Torah .
This alone does not help us with the concept. For in what way did Moshe act as a transcriber if he was saying Deuteronomy on his own?
In the Book Of Samuel King David describes Prophecy thus-”The Spirit of G-d spoke within me and His Word is on my tongue”
In other words , the Prophet only serves as a conduit for G-D .
If that be the case then what causes the different categories of Prophets? If it’s all G-D’s words, then how do they differ in stature?
The Rambam writes in his famous Eight Chapters- the introduction to the tractate Ethics of our Fathers, that the difference between Prophets is the degree of emotional mastery. That is that if a Prophet was imbalanced in a particular trait , then this clouded the Prophetic vision . For truth has to be totally unbiased and if the Prophet had any emotional extremes , then the Prophecy would be colored by his bias.
How is this possible if his words are those of G-d? The answer lies in the concept of conduits or tools. If you wish to bang a nail you look for a hammer not a Geiger counter ! If you are looking for treasure you are not going to turn on a TV!
When G-D wishes to warn the people of impending doom, he does not send them King David who loved the people with a fiery love and hated their enemies. Rather , the Prophet that is sent reflects the tone of the Prophecy . Nonetheless, because the Prophet is lacking
In mastery of his emotions or intellect, the vision is said to be unclear. In what way?
The vision by itself can have far-reaching implications . The clearer the vision the farther in time the Prophecy foresees. The greater the preparation for the vision the more encompassing the message.
In other words , the greater the Prophecy , the greater the time and the range for whom the prophecy is delivered.
This is why the Rabbis tell us that in the future all the books of the Prophets except for the Five Books and the Book of Esther will be dated . This is because the impact of these writings will have for the most part be fulfilled in total.
Let us now return to Deuteronomy .Since Moshe was now even more mature than he had ever been ,there is no reason to believe that Moshe was in a lesser Prophetic state. On the contrary , everything he did in his fateful last weeks was on a higher degree of proficiency
Than anything he had done before. True his physical powers were waning , however his determination was stronger than anytime in his life. He accomplished more in those last furious weeks than he had done in several years of his productive life.
The difference is that in all other parts of the Torah , Moshe was first and foremost a Prophet waiting for G-D to communicate to him for the sake of the Nation of Israel. Here, Moshe wanted to address the
People of Israel.
The difference is that before Moshe would only speak to the nation when G-D told him to. Therefore , the words are from G-D directly to Moshe. Here Moshe WANTED TO SPEAK, because he was so determined to prepare them for their destiny that was to continue without him. Moshe began to speak out of concern for the people .
As he saw the future clearly , it was imperative to warn and encourage them at the same time. As soon as he spoke G-d spoke within him . However, as this was from Moshe’s initiative, G-d did not alter Moshe’s words. Rather , within those words were the same clairvoyance and impact upon all of the cosmos. The only difference was that these words came first through Moshe’s motivation and reflected his personal concerns for them.
As such , because Moshe’s own feelings are communicated the Book is said to be of a lesser source Moshe as opposed to that which was initiated by G-D Himself in the first four Books . In truth, however, the Prophecy of Moshe was on a higher level then than at
Any other time in his life. In fact , the Prophecy from G-D’s viewpoint was also higher. This is because when a matter is imposed from above it has the higher stamp of authority. However, when the recipient understands on his own, this reflects a greater level of true communication. For the student now truly understands the master and the master sees it from the student’s perspective.
Thus the Book of Deuteronomy is as Eternal as the others and in a small way even more penetrating than the other four Books!